Yes, My Boss!
4.5/10. Sweet story, fun characters at first, average art, romance left a lot to be desired, bad ending. The author wasn't 100% comfortable with the romance idea and it showed. Strong season 1, comedy, slice of life, fluff. Season 2 felt rushed and the ending hastily wrapped up loose threads in an unsatisfying way. Could have had a few more chapters to flesh out the ending. -SPOILERS AHEAD- I don't know if this was an author issue or because we lost chapters, but suddenly the main character jumped from vaguely blushing at the things Jim did to unambiguously liking him after the jump from S1 to S2. Despite my gripes with the story, I really liked Jim. I found him frustrating at first, but came to understand him and relate to his social awkwardness. Ilene was... Ok? Sometimes I loved her. Season 1 Ilene was funny and her reactions were totally believable. Season 2 Ilene seemed juvenile, despite these characters being adults. Adults can also be 'bad' at romance, however, both characters are frustratingly like tweens who can't figure out how to say they like each other. It's unreasonable to assume that Ilene has never been in a relationship or been in love by the age of 27. While there are understandable reasons why Jim would find it difficult to get a girlfriend, Ilene is well adjusted and is initially attracted to her Evangelion looking co-worker (who I also really liked by the end despite the rushed conclusion making his actions unbelievable at this point). One of the draws of a story set with adults is that you can explore the actual relationship of these characters without the boring- will they won't they- plot a huge proportion of shojou manga utilises. I was waiting for Ilene to take the reigns and confess so the good stuff could happen. Then the ending cucked me out of even the token first kiss. It's a real shame there was so much there to explore here- an office romance is interesting. He's her boss; if they got into a relationship the dynamic in the office would change, she'd likely have to move to a different department and the couple could navigate their new workload without the support of one another. Give the office a redemption arc, particularly Evangelion boy. He was already pretty cool, but it would have been nice to see him become friends with Jim more naturally. The internal conflict around whether he should betray his friend or stay loyal to his company would be interesting (Unintentional Love Story is a BL that explores this idea but with a lover. However, it is far from perfect and falls into its own traps and tropes). This is really only a josei because the love interest isn't initially conventionally attractive and we are told they're adults. But this really is just a story aimed at a shojou demographic. The tropes it fits into are the same, Jim (despite being a really sweet guy) is not someone most adults would choose to date. He's a total oblivious idiot in a childish, naive way. Ilene, the adult in the situation, falls in love out of nowhere and has a weird cliche 'we both like the same guy so I'm gonna tell you' moment. When you stop and think- this woman is 27??? This whole thing seems silly. HOWEVER, this doesn't make it all bad. For its audience, teens, this is an alright story with plenty of things to enjoy about the characters and their lives. A story for adults? Nah, this ain't it chief. For a better comedy-romcom for adults, I'd suggest Wotakoi. The characters are superficially similar to this story but better in almost every way. The romance is also a slow burn but in a realistic and (mostly) mature way.
Heaven & Hell Roman Company
7.5/10 Cute, cute, cute! The main couple is so fucking cute! Ginger is an adorable doof and Rum is just a perfect partner for him. What a great primary couple. Furthermore, the art is pretty and I really enjoyed the way the cast interacted with each other, the dialogue was funny and felt natural. However, the secondary couple left me feeling sour at times and there were some pretty bad pacing issues. The second half of the story I didn't love and there were times where I had to re-read full chapters as things got pretty confusing. *SPOILERS AHEAD* Ok, a 7.5/10 is probably too high. If it was just the first season I'd have given this story the 8 it deserves. The main couple is so sweet and I love their dynamic, Ginger is suuuuch a doofus but he's super loveable. Plus, Rum is honestly one of my favourite characters I've had the pleasure of seeing recently. He's got the perfect balance of quiet sass and acts as the straight man (ha) to Ginger's bullshit. Despite this, I find that the final part of their arc as a couple was... dumb. Ginger did some realllly dumb shit and almost killed himself and the guy he likes because he couldn't just be honest about his feelings. However, I did leave their arc pretty satisfied. I just wish we had, had more of them as a couple. We got plenty of build-up and not much pay-off. That isn't to say we got nothing- they did have some more development later on! But the second half of the story was devoted to the secondary couple and it was... so-so. Now, I don't *hate* the secondary couple. They're fine. But the fact that I can't remember their names does not bode well. The uke was really sweet! I liked him a lot, he was compassionate, kind, and far better than the man he was paired with. I don't exactly hate the seme, he just didn't do much to interest me. I found his pushiness gross and just wanted the uke to tell him to fuck off. In the second half, the story basically revolves around their relationship and the weird *save the uke from his bad memories* plotline. It was pretty weird and confusing and I did not care for it. Why does this only drop the story to a 7.5? Because I can easily ignore it and just re-read the first season as its own story. Overall, I like this story. The characters are pretty fun! However, I was left feeling lukewarm about the secondary couple and the weird pacing. The whole concept of the heaven and hell company was interesting but really confusing at times. I just can't in good faith give it a higher score, it honestly deserves lower. I just like this main couple too much! If you want a recommendation I strongly suggest you read 'Dear Door' if you're looking for some demon flavoured smut. If you're looking for a story with angels I'd lightly recommend 'Angel Buddy', although I feel that story is pretty flawed. If you're looking for a shounen ai story I'd recommend 'Beware of Demons', the main couple is pretty cute! (Justice for Lego, shoulda given him the second season!!!)
All About Lust
9/10 Thoroughly enjoyable. Great characters, smut is p.nice, just lots of fun to read. The art isn't the best but I actually enjoy the minimalistic style. Not much in the way of story which is so refreshing. It just follows one relationship per season giving you time with the characters which I really enjoyed. Very solid, only drawbacks are the art and possibly the one tsundere character (but I like tsundere's sooooo). *SPOILER WARNING* I really enjoyed this story. The couples from S1 and 2 are both really fun to watch interact. There aren't very many tropes in this story that are played straight (no pun intended). I mean, in the first chapter Sunjin talks about how much he wants to fuck Wooseung. What an open. It might put people off but these characters have *funny* interactions. I genuinely spent most of S1 with a big grin on my face. Their growth from horndog and pure cinnamon roll to the middle ground they end up in is so pleasant to see. The way they fall for each other is a tad weird but I can suspend my disbelief for it. Just a really nice S1. However, there are drawbacks to this season. I touched on the art in the prologue but I do understand that many people were turned off by the art style. It is minimalist and the characters do not look like the cover used on this site. Despite this, I do believe that the art pops when it needs to and the quality noticeably gets better as time goes on (good job to the author and their assistant!). If you like beautiful/consistent art you may be disappointed with this one. Usually, art is a deal-breaker for me but this story was just too fun for it to turn me off! Another criticism is that the sex scenes (despite being well-drawn and enjoyable) were not quite as... rough(?) as I expected in S1. With Sunjin's imagination, I expected a lot more kinky/rough scenes. I'd expect them to be consensual, of course. But we got quite a lot of vanilla love. It was adorable and still more than enough, just a slight disappointment for me. Season 2 is also very good! I like the secondary couple a lot despite their differences. However, if you don't like tsundere's then you should probably skip this season. I just want to take this moment to appreciate Hyunho. He could have been an awful love triangle character like 90% of love triangles in fiction but he was such a BRO. Sure, he tried to stop Beomchul. But he was happy for him when he finally got into a relationship with Jaehee and didn't push it when it was clear he had no chance. What a great friend, dude, love you Hyunho <3 Aaaanyway. Beomchul. Biiiiig tsundere. But he experiences character growth! I like his dynamic with Jaehee and was not expecting to respect their relationship as much as I did. Jaehee is also a good boi. I like that they're able to argue and learn to open up to one another. S2 is a bit more serious than S1 but it was still funny at times and the tone was still appropriate. Even their brief split wasn't frustrating. The art was also better too! Happiness all around. (ps: the sex scenes between these two are... nice). Overall, this story deserves the 9/10 I'm giving it. I'd recommend Therapy Game if you want something more akin to S2. It's the third part in a series and the strongest in my opinion, plus if you read the first two parts you get a story that's as sweet as S1 (but not as good). Maybe try Two&Too for a shounen ai with a himbo like S1.
Sign
9/10 I loved this story, loved the characters, liked the smut, it was a great overall package. Cons would be that the art wasn't amazing in the beginning (who cares, lmao) and for some people there may be an overabundance of smut. HOWEVER, that shouldn't put you off. Gyoon is amazing and Yohan is the most fucking sweet teddybear in all of manhwa. I loved this story and chances are you will too.
ReLIFE
9/10 Absolutely love this story. The whole cast is great, please read it!!!
Penthouse XXX
8/10 God, I love this couple. They're both such loveable dicks, lots of fun to read about. Highly recommend.
The Story About You x Me