moody_bish's manga / #Closet gay(4)

Piled up tropes being tackled with a realist lens. But we know Yaoi shrugs it off if it isn't tagged as Tragedy.

A closet gay is at awe with a man whom he met at the cafe—the cafe where they wait for their respective lovers. However, Takase can only fool himself for so long. He preferred men and Itou stirs love in his life. It's only a matter of opening the closet doors and stepping out of it with confidence.

It was awkward at first, both the plot and contrastingly stunning yet stiff art. To be fair, the plot was becoming steadier. Jordyn isn't really a character I like reading but he is interesting. Owen was actually a more relateable character, and feels more solid with himself than the rest of the cast. Simon has that charm that happens kinda far off into the story, so he was actually personally boring before he had a clash with Owen. I wouldn't say it was a great read, but more a good experience.

Shima is a new employee who is pestered by his stinky superior, Togawa. Not only does his quiet yet snarky personality match Togawa's shamelessness, his unraveled past makes it more difficult for Shima to completely shut off his feelings. An impulsive and simple sex relationship began to turn into a complicated web of surfacing feelings and insecurities. Togawa has always talked about children because of his past and Shima has always felt insufficient. Hence, the dissonance of their cores made it more difficult for Shima to simply accept Togawa when the latter confessed. The physical distance then becomes absolute with Togawa's transfer while Shima tries to properly entangle his fear, guilt, and regret. Meanwhile, Onoda, a bystander who've witnessed and had a role in their relationship, began feeling swayed by Shima. A realization of attraction which he does accepts to be in vain as Shima already had Togawa. Nonetheless, it didn't stop him from sharing his discreet love and heartbreak to his 3-years drinking buddy, Daguchi. Unknown to him is the window of opportunity he had just pretended to his secretly gay drinking buddy, and the cycle of restraint and high hopes it also caused Daguchi. Being 3 years older than Onoda, Daguchi tests the waters by teasing Onoda to go out with him. Being told that it was impossible made it difficult to treat it as a joke and decides to leave. But the dense yet also untimely quickwitted Onoda realizes the truth behind his joke and recognized a few signs of Daguchi's affections. But the man who was still going on about Shima was confused, yet also wished Daguchi wouldn't be too quick on severing ties. As a compromise, he asks Daguchi to let him think about while also retaining the relationship they already had. Problem is, loving someone can only tolerate enough tension and self-control.