Sleeps In Sunbeams's manga / #older seme x younger uke(4)

I was a little hesitant reading this story as there were a few negative comments about the uke being bratty and spoilt or clueless and irritating, but I have to totally disagree. Far from being spoilt, Keisuke was pretty much a victim of his brothers physical and verbal abuse (the older sibling struggled with taking on a father role after their dad died). If he wasn’t being hit or yelled at, he was hiding from his mum and brother fighting. It was so distressing for him he ran away from home. Fortunately this consisted of staying with his brother’s childhood friend, Hisashi, who was kind and gentle and who had fallen for this boy when he was merely 13. When Hisashi finally shared that he had “dangerous” feelings for Keisuke, Keisuke was very surprised and was a little confused as he started to recognise his own reciprocating feelings. I found all of this beautiful and his reactions totally relatable (especially given that he was only 16 or 17). I loved the intensity of how they eventually came together, the artwork was fantastic and the mangaka was a talented gem in portraying Hisashi’s passion and Keisuke’s nervous determination. Simply gorgeous! I also enjoyed the brothers story and hope that he will be ble to stop lashing out and simply relish being the important one to his new stepbrother.

A story of new beginnings and love, this was interesting and enjoyable. There was a scene of dubious consent (the one being forced was surprised but not resistant, but the seme’s actions were not intended to be loving). I always think there are better storytelling options so I took a point off for that. The rest of the story had some moments dealing with loss which were sad, and lots of new love which was sweet.

I liked these short stories. The first was about an office worker and the high school guy he pursued. He was very patient of the younger guys uncertainty about his sexuality especially when you realise that he was responding to the longing glances and flushed arousal signals the younger partner initiated. By backing off he gave his partner the space and time needed to accept and be open about his feelings. The second story I also really liked. Another age gap, the seme was more than twice the age of his younger coworker and initially resistant to the advances of the uke. His reason for hesitating was understandable and the uke’s reaction to him agreeing was very cute. The third story about the misunderstanding between established lovers was my least favourite. It was short and harder to connect with the characters and understand the overreaction. The final story was taboo brother x brother and quite erotic (especially given that they didn’t have sex) and even humorous. One brother pretended to be a sleepwalker, the other took advantage of his sleeping onii-chan and both felt guilty. Open, unresolved ending, I would have liked to see how it progressed.

I was a bit disappointed at the pacing of this manga. The mangaka tended to just dash to major events without any character development time. For example, story starts and the pair meet, then boom they are in each other’s arms hiding, then boom the seme asks Shiki to go with him, then boom he is gone, but now it’s the next day and Shiki is accused of theft and boom in walks Seomi who sweeps Shiki off. It simply leaps between these big plot moments without a breath and before you know it they are declaring their love. Very unsatisfying sadly.