Soshite Tsuzuki Ga Aru No Nara
22.5.2021 A honest portrayal of how two men who where senpai (editor) and kouhai (mangaka) in high school get together later in life because of mahjong manga. The mangaka fell in love with the editor back in high school, and for him it was unrequited love until they met again. He only drew because his senpai liked how he drew. The editor realizes his own feeling first after the kouhai actually manages to confess, and then decides to do whatever he can to help the mangaka in his work. They seem happy, even if senpai is a tsundere who never wants to talk about his feelings, and the mangaka is this introverted and socially akward person that easily cries from fristration. And seriously! There’s leghair and crotch hair drawn in this manga! Realism for the win!
Michizure Policy
30.5.2021, 29.2.2024 Manges to feel realistic, about two friends who become lovers, with the gay one of them being the insecure one and the straight/bi one really wanting to be together with him. Like, fluffy without the fluff. Two guys wanting to be clingy but in a guy-like-way.
Chicken Heart Serenade
5.6.2021 This one is a definite reread!
Namae mo Shiranai Machiawase
10.6.2021 Between the adults, there is no shaming done whatsoever about them also meeting others on the side. The art teacher and art student have this accepting of the student being a minor between them. The high school story is about the spring before, and the summer when, two very different gay boys suddenly take their first step into having their first more adult relationship. And they’re really fluffy.
Sagatte Omachi Kudasai
16.9.2020 The second story about the two coworkers is the far better relationship story. They just (finally...) dare to admit to one another that they actually would want to have sex and a more intimate relationship with one another. Consent all the way there. This is what someone else wrote: This manga does something really special, it walks this fine line between realism and fantasy, and yet doesn't truly feel like either. The trope doesn't feel like a trope because the MC is actually traumatised and it shows, not always, but it's there, and it's respected in a way other real life problems aren't usually (see rape culture, abuse, CONSENT, rape culture, C O N S E N T, etc.). And yet there's still this fantasy to it, in that it's a BL; that wonderful meet-cute, saviour-of-your-life, love-of-your-life thing that we come here for. Yet because this is BL, it obviously brushes over a lot of the real consequences of living with this trauma, which is frustrating, even as the story uses it so well (also how everything is so tidy when we know life is a flaming hot cheeto, defcon 1, kaijin level mess) I love the way Doujima tries so hard and wears his heart on his sleeve (I would have hated him if he weren't like this, will discuss if asked, but nobody will), the way the mangaka shows how Tanaka is feeling every step of the way so we feel with him, not just for him, the respect there is between them, how they're both so humanly flawed, yet perfect at the same time. I don't know. It's like the realism sucks me in, but it doesn't truly satisfy me on that level, instead it makes me love it as a fantasy only, which is confusing because the circumstances actually exist.
To Dear, My Sorrow
28.6.2021, 3.8.2021, 23.12.2021, 24.7.2022
Dining Bar Akira