Collections of Short Stories & Oneshots (that are actually worth your time)

A short poking gentle fun at BL convention through the contrivance of a character is attracted to those whom most would consider to be "ugly" and finds traditionally handsome men revolting. His current boyfriend was an ugly duckling in high school and, as an adult, has turned into a beautiful swan who feels deeply insecure, fearing that his conventional handsomeness is a turnoff and his superficial boyfriend will run off with the next ugly man he sees. Silly & stupid, but fun and satisfying.

Five folk tales with BL twists. Sumptuously illustrated, each story maintains the tenor and logic of myths; each one is distinctive and interesting. Resolutions range from happy to bittersweet to tragic, and all are satisfying. I recommend checking this out if you have a yen for supernatural stories that avoid the BL trap of importing elements from folk tales into the usual BL cliche; here, for the most part, the BL fits seamlessly into the logic of the myths.

A story of youthful romance redolent with the sweetness of remembered summers. The manga has a dream-like quality to it, since it is largely told through the inner monologue of a teenager and through the metaphor of the marble within the ramune bottle. Sweet, nicely realized, and just the right length. Recommended if you want something light and syrupy for the summer.

This volume is recommended not because it is all (or even mostly) good but because of the sheer variety of kinds of stories contained therein and the heights that it attains when the storytelling works. It's a wild mix of historically grounded snapshots of a life, parodic sci-fi, over the top space western, and yakuza drama. Again, not everything in this volume is worthwhile, but it's a delightful grabbag of short stories of variable quality. Where it's good, its great.

Mature, genre atypical oneshots featuring morally ambiguous characters; has the vibe of a slow-paced independent film at times. Not overwhelmingly tragic, but complex, nuanced, melancholic, no unambiguous BL happy endings. Recommended if you want well-written, understated, complex oneshots that read more like seinen than BL, stories that have moments of sadness, yes, but also moments of healing.

A varied anthology collection united by the theme of "boxes," ranging from understated, melancholic historical stories to goofy and high-concept school life romps. These were written early in the mangaka's career, but they are one of the better BL writers and it shines through even in these first few works. I definitely recommend checking these out for their variety and creativity, even if I don't think every one hits it out of the park. A delightful smorgasbord of BL shorts.

Modern takes on classic tales, a master class in visual storytelling, with striking visuals and a keen sense of pacing and scale. Each story has a different mood and approach, ranging from fanciful kink to tragic melodrama, every one a delight. Like folk and fairy tales, the stories don't go into a lot of detail or depth, but remain nevertheless evocative and satisfying. Recommended if you're in the mood to sample a series of quality shorts inspired by folk tales with a variety of tones and mood

A collection of shorts with wildly varying tones and themes, which means there is no way all these stories would appeal to everyone. That being said, I actually think this collection is, on the whole, worth reading. Not every story is brilliant, but some of the more interesting and unusual BL shorts are in this collection. Has a non-BL romance at the end, but it's cute enough and also worth reading.