Bike's manga / #shounen-ai(41)

Hmm, tentative 3.5. I like the art-style, it's quite gorgeous, and the characters and conflicts are pretty decent, there's just something about it that's missing. Still reading it, though, because I haven't managed to stick this long to a vampire BL (not that I've read many).

Feels oddly dated, but it holds its charm. It's a simple(ish) concept, but it's done well. Super pretty.

Cut one-shot

Gorgeous art. Got really fucking confused, though. Wasn’t bad.

While they work together, they also end up in a situation wherein they eat together everytime they meet. The older guy's a chef; the younger dude likes his cooking. Within each chapter is a recipe one can try for themselves, as they watch the two get closer to one other.

I remember this one for its artstyle and I believe the weird plot development at the end? Two dudes end up in a video game, they complete the game, and then the ending...which I cannot remember for the life of me.

humor's a BIG miss for me. I hate everyone here — humor's a BIG miss, kinda curious to see how it'll go later, however.

Read this a while back! Love the "old-school" art style. It's a pretty cute book, too (although they don't get together, unfortunately).

volume 1 Starts in middle school with them being first and third year respectively, but pacing (+hint of additional novels) indicate it'll go into high. First year's a new student who's the only other person who goes to the same train station as third year for commute (it's a school with dorms, most people live in the dorms). He sleeps a lot, and third year's the only one who can wake him up. Very sweet. Mainly slice-of-life/school-life shenanigans with an underlying romance plot. Whole thing is that the shorter dude's going to grow taller so that, when the day comes, he can confess to that dude, as he sees him like a little brother (or does he?).

ch. 16 Dude tries out a game his friend made and he ends up reincarnation as a summoner. Dude can't escape until he beats the game. Blond guy's a hero he's summoned from the dead. Intriguing premise that's enhanced by world-building components and themes. Game's effectively a mobile-gatcha in IRL equivalence. However, there's ideas regarding life and death---talks about how heroes are summoned after having lived a past life in order to continue fighting for summoners. They fight while summoners simply stand by. They fight, as if alive, while summoners are idle, as if dead. MC's navigating this dynamic with his own hero as he sees everyone else treat their heroes like crap. Ironically by treating the fantasy world as a game (recording their stats, e.g. damage, range, move set, synchronisms), he provides much more care as a sorcerer compared to the other guys. Brings the question of the heroes' perspectives, how easily they're tossed to the side or simply work labor. Emphasized that guilds carry them in coffins whenever they're idle, denoting their ranks by the types of coffins they use. Treated like objects. MC's likely OP, but it's only been recently introduced where I'm at (ch.16), will probably be brought up more later.). Sweet dynamic between MC and ML. MC's a bit silly, so ML's earnestness/mysteriousness balances it out quite well. How they appear to genuinely enjoy each other's company (after initial qualms about ML's mere rank) is also nice. Interested to seeing more.