Masterpieces

Gilbert is a child born of a wild, dionysian principle. Serge is a half gypsy boy, discriminated against. Whereas Gilbert is fancied because of his looks, Serge captures attention with his talent as a pianist - Serge had nothing but love growing up, Gilbert had everything but love. The two meet in the middle, during the springtime of their youth, puzzle pieces belonging to different images. This is the story of how they tried against past traumas and fostered their love against time.

This series is on hiatus but it is one of the most powerful reads I've ever to come across. The story telling seamlessly slips from innocence into defiled, dissonant insanity. It isn't a violent read so much as it is a read about emptiness, when you come to find that the truths about your life are so shocking that they don't just tear you into pieces, they grind you into dust - into nothing. This is the story about a boy living in such a void and the history leading up to it.

Hetalia DJ, but you can certainly read it without watching Hetalia. This story demands attention from the reader; there are many things implied in the plot. In the end, the questions asked are essential in the life of any (celebrity of a) person: how do you balance being a cultural icon and being a unique individual? How do you let go of the past, when it is everything that has built and destroyed your character until this point? As with life, there aren't really answers, only compromises..

I was hesitant to put this on my list, because of how similar it is to Kaze to Ki no Uta, an older, but equally powerful read. J no Subete (All About J) is about a boy named J who was born in the 1950's and for whom develops and insatiable desire to become like the sex icon Marilyn Monroe. The series stretches over a few decades of J's life.

Please Note: Accidental Pregnancy (Implication: Bisexual male characters), Adultery, Neglect, Sexual Abuse, Attempted Suicide and Incest

An incredibly powerful foundation for the acclaimed series, "Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai." The inevitability of being different from other people is entirely embraced by Yashiro - a young high schooler who is totally and utterly a masochist. He doesn't really care that his past is fucked up. He doesn't really mind that he's disgusting. Everything he does is the opposite of a sane person.

But one day the appeal of being normal becomes known to him: when he falls in love

Soulmates do not always find themselves together, in the end. The quiet fancy of two men is overshadowed by their inexhaustible responsibility to family and society as a whole. The prequel to Takarai Rihito's iconic Hana no Mizo Shiru: a story of a romance ill-bred, against fate, quietly swept away in the reality of a man's tradition.

Years ago, I wrote a detailed review for this. I will leave the link here. For now, here is a short snapshot: a male prostitute and a serial killer - what could possibly be more over the top? And yet, what is it that is missing between the logic of a common person and those of the societal underbelly? This story attempts to answer that question by showing us the lives of two men, inevitably mistreated from birth. Link: http://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=53325

This story is like a rich, black cup of coffee.To the public eye, Takezou and Shinobu are two step brothers with a very poor relationship. But behind closed doors, the two meet frequently, passionately, and anonymously. Between the thin, black trail of a blindfold, they exchange toxic tokens of Dionysian lust and fancy. Although the blindfold divides them, they are constantly communicating, even without words. Beautifully gritty read.

Very strong incest trigger warning!

FMA doujinshi - with this one it helps to have watched the 2003 anime. Traumerei focuses in on a snapshot scenario. Through the eyes of Edward, we see him daily conversing with his brother Alphonse, reminiscing of times past. But to the eyes of all others, Alphonse died long ago, and Edward has chosen to live in a delirious dream, where his brother is still beside him. The central theme to this short read: the compromises one makes in order to maintain "sanity" in the face of loss.

Zion no Koeda is a vast, psychologically real depiction of two individuals locked in an emotional connection beyond love or reason. The motifs in this series are very Judeo-Christian and are not overly romanticized, as they are usually in manga. The story includes very subtly, beautifully integrated pictorial and spoken themes of the crucifix, the dove, and Noah's Arc, etc. The overarching mood however is dominated by the calculated anti-spiritual politics of post-nazi-Germany.