Linnea's manga / #Beautiful Art(524)

The four stories in this one, about four very different couples, come together to form such a frighteningly beautiful whole. We have: The radio talker (Masahito) who is introverted and scared of connecting with the one he starts crusching on, and the café owner (Ryou) that loves the radio talker’s voice, and wants to be his friend. The metal engraver/yakuza odd job guy (Aoi) and the young salaryman with the cat (Yuusei). The man (Akiha) who lost his lover in a car accident and is still grieving, and the man (Yahiko) who is his fuck buddy but wants to be more. The yakuza son (Shinobu) who survived the car accident, and the brother (Takaaki) of the man who died in his stead. The ”links” between them all become apparent the more you read on, and the themes of ”taking the next step”, ”letting go” and being brave enough to do just those, is one of the major things that the manga brings up.

One of the themes in this piece is about how difficult it is to do some things in a non-hetero relationship, like holding hands and kiss in public, if the norm is discriminating against it.