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One of Ougi Yuzuha's best stories, this starts off as a modern horror tale about a boy's coming of age, with suspense and drama to keep readers clicking each page, and transforms into a gentler romance. It may feel strange to cheer on a teacher x student relationship, but thank goodness Yuki has Gotou. Read this! One of my faves.
Fujima Taisei is a self-absorbed boy with a pretty face and a whole lot of resentment toward the transfer student, Okachimachi, who apparently rejected his friendship in middle school. He swears his revenge, but loses his motivation in soft, pink, fluffy clouds of twue wuv the moment Okachimachi says something to him. Really, a little communication could've resolved all this before it blew up in their faces, but then we wouldn't have this hilarious little pastry of a French bedroom farce.
Older, careworn and hemmed in by responsibilities and circumstances, Tanihara has no hopes for the future, no dreams left, no thoughts that there may be someone out there who could love him until he meets Dr. Takafumi Saji, the physician who has taken over the local pediatric clinic, who happens to be gay and who is attracted to Tanihara's 'type'. A mature and easy-going story about real adult men. I liked this better than its prequel, Yume Musubi, Koi Musubi.
Aoyama Toomi took on some very trigger-laden subject matter, especially in the first story, but she treated her characters with such respect and kindness that it overcomes the power imbalances. The stories are generally light with realistic emotional responses. The main story is about a doting uncle and his relationship with his introverted teenaged nephew, based on an emotional connection built up slowly over time and games of chess.
A young man has a sexual relationship with his cram school teacher in order to explore the meaning of 'like' and 'love', never realizing that this teacher was in an intimate relationship with his regular high school teacher. His intervention provides a means for both teachers to connect with their feelings honestly. An exploration of emotional detachment and the toll it takes on the heart, rendered in beautiful line drawings by Yamagata Satomi.
Bildungsroman about a young man whose life revolves around the love hotel his late father left behind, the sense of pride he takes in its purpose and the censure he picks up from others. Throw into this mix a gay romance whose premise is based upon an impulsive lie told to protect a younger brother whom believed to be in peril from someone believed to be a predator, and you have an excellent, thoroughly believable story with sympathetic characters who do the best with the fates dealt.
Astrophysicist fellow, Kawamoto Kuroki, has cast his wandering gay eyes on Koroki, another doctorate student in the Astronomy department, who he met during a particularly magical meteor shower viewing one night. Sadly for him Koroki is solely fixated on the professor, and there is no attachment to his desire. So what is a jaded maneater like Kawamoto to do? A richly developed and realistic story about mature love, the lack of expectations and personal sacrifice. A very satisfying read!
Very cute story about a scruffy, older guy, Yamada, who saves a young student, Chihiro, who is semi-passed out drunk in a park after suffering his first episode of unrequited love for another guy. Realistic, slow and kind (so far), there are many lovely moments and the art is beautiful. I particularly love the scene where Yamada wishes for all his luck in love to pass over to Chihiro.
Noano Bohra's stories range from wildly original, interesting to sheer cracktasms. I especially like Chapter Three from Alluring Sentiment, the story of a young man who can't let the attractive male model who moved next door know he's had a huge stalkerish crush on him for ages.
A series of short stories by Naono Bohra, one of which cannot be beat for sheer crack: Chapter Three's hilarious Love Snatcher, in which a man wishes upon the moon for a better world and is whisked off to a desert island to become the bride of the Tiger Spirit. Mpreg isn't plausible at the best of times, so might as well go Full Loon.
Messages
I followed you on my old account that I have since deleted years ago and just realized after many years that I didn’t follow you on this one.I always loved your comments and recommendations. I noticed it has been 6 years (approximately) since you’ve commented or updated. I hope wherever you are you’re happy and doing well! Time moves so fast. (づ￣ ³￣)づ
Almost all of your recommendations are my favorites. Some are really old ones I read before that I'm so excited to read it all over again. They all actually have good plots unlike most mangas these days with the rape/rapist theme. TY !!!!
(づ￣ ³￣)づ
I don't know why I didn't peruse this list of yours sooner; I'd seen it pop up on several pieces I've really liked. I have read quite a few on here, but I am adding several to my list for future reading. Some of the ones on here that I've already read I'm glad to see are here, because some of them are quite underrated.
Always love your commentaries, I look for them usually in mangas to remind myself if I've read the manga already but from a different site :) If you don't mind, I recommend Dog Style and Haru wo Daite Ita(very long)! I don't know if you'll like the art style but the plot is good!
Thank you for your charming and encouraging message. This will date me, but the last time I read Haru wo Daite Ita, it was only half-finished and, as I kept losing track of the characters and plot-points between releases, I decided to wait until the manga was completed before coming back. Your little poke is a good reminder that it's time to revisit the story and finish reading it. I try not to post unfinished manga on my favourites list (sometimes, I forget), but this one has been finished for awhile.
This list is great! Thank you very much! btw, your comments are great too. You always point something out about the mangas you commented on, until I found myself following your recommendations.. hehe..
I just noticed your comment today. Sorry for taking so long to respond. Thanks for the lovely comment. I hope you're having a happy new year.
Dear I Thot You Was a Toad, I absolutely love this list and thank you for making it! Whenever I'm interested in reading a potential manga, I always look in the comments section. As soon as I see your username, I know that the manga will be fantastic. I think you're a good critic and I admire you and respect your passion. I always like to think of all the different kinds of people who frequent this website. In the end, I think we're all just people who care about the world. I think you're a wonderful lady (unless you are actually male, in which case I apologize.) Sorry if this was all a bit blunt and strange; thanks again! (▰˘◡˘▰)
That's a very sweet letter, and lovely to receive. If my name is in the comments, though, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good manga, because I'm just as inclined to say something's awful if I think it stinks. I am quite (*cough*) passionate about some issues, yes ... although less tactful people just say I'm an opinionated hothead, and I reckon that's pretty accurate, too. Thing is, people know what they think and feel if they really look inside, and they need to express that sort of stuff because that's the only way to be true to oneself. It isn't always going to go over well. People can't even agree whether cats or dogs are cute (both, as far as I'm concerned.) Might as well say it. Thanks for your kind words. I'm glad you like my list. It's entirely due to the talents of the various mangaka featured on it that I even have one. They are the real people to thank! Cheers.
I always ALWAYS get jealous of your comments & reviews!! How do you squeeze in the summary & your comments with only a few but highly informative lines?? I can't help but love your comments from the bottom of my heart. They inspire me to keep improving my reviews which is nothing compared to yours. Thank you. Hope to see more from you :)
Thanks for your kind comment. I had to laugh because quite a few of my reviews are really long-winded, and I know some readers find that irritating. I try to say everything I need to say in order to remind myself of what I've already read, though, and why I did or didn't like it. The summaries that get posted don't always do that for me, and for quite a long time, the people who uploaded manga onto this reader site didn't even bother posting a summary. Now they've started including very good notes, which leaves me free to explore other themes. Basically, though, that's the main reason I write them.
Also, a good friend of mine, a teacher, told me that the best way to remember something is to re-frame it in your own words. So, I want to encourage you to continue writing your own summaries! You have your own way of saying things and your own outlook which I won't necessarily key into.
Thanks! I'll keep that in mind. Of course everyone has their own writing style. Mine are mostly simple details, points i liked about the manga & a bit jumbled. I do get happy when other people like it. So never once , have i thought about changing it, but there's always room for improvement :)
I was here so I thought I'd share...when I hit reccomend it said it was "optical" I assume it meant optional lol
Great list Toad :D
Thank you. I think so, too, thanks to all the mangakas who actually wrote these stories.
Weird, but the tally of people who have hit "recommend" hasn't changed at all.
hmmmm that is weird.
maybe I recommended it already and I have a mind like a sieve...cause I stalked this list when I was new to manga...
In either case, thanks!
Lol your welcome heh
Your descriptions are so well written 0_0
English was my worst subject EVAH so my descriptions are all unintellectual things like
"AAGGGGHHHH OMG ITS SO CUTE
LIKE
OMG
READ IT
JUST READ IT"
or something along those lines
Cheers, BloodLust!
(I kind of wish I was able to squee and flail more, without sounding like a complete wally, that is. Apart from keeping my lists, my comments tend to be a bit dry, "Oh, that was very good. Bravo!" --- Like the comments of someone who requires orthodontic equipment to smile.)
i need that irl but online i think im able to express my emotions pretty clearly through the use of not-very-intellectual words and emojis
Emojis are wonderful shorthand. (〜￣△￣)〜
I finally dropped by x) Some of old manga I used to read found in this list.. THANK YOU! you also make good review.. and, seems like we have similar taste (after I check on your fave list) this is the 2nd list I love after Kathy x) Thank you!
I like Kathy's list, too, and although I think the artwork has gotten better recently, some of the old yaoi stories can't be beaten. Plus, there are dozens and dozens of people collecting all the newest stories, so it's nice to have collections that aren't all the same.
I like your list. I thought if someone was going to write such a well thought out blurb, then they must have great taste about their yaoi. I wasn't wrong.
Thanks, Froggyis. This comment made my day. Welcome to my work-in-progress.