I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #Ichikawa Kei(8)

Laid-back Narasaki gets thrown into the job of library supervisor and babysitter for the much wilder Natsuke, who takes to surprise!kissing him. Narasaki is so laid back, it takes him weeks to figure out what that means, throwing Natsuke into a self-inflicted rejection/self-loathing feedback loop. Funny and real.

College student, Shousuke, comforts his childhood friend, Tomoki, every time he gets dumped by a new girlfriend. Tomoki never realizes that Shousuke is suppressing his true feelings for the sake of their friendship. This is the story of what happens when these feelings build up too much. Ichikawa Kei's art has a rough beauty which makes these characters and this story quite charming. The first chapter "The Day They Became Lovers" is hilarious, or would be if it weren't also touching and real in a slightly overblown way.

One schoolboy falls for another at first sight, simply because his face resembles that of "an angel", or rather, a porcelain doll that his mother collected. Unfortunately, when he realizes his angel is a boy, and a surly, bad tempered one at that, everyone freaks out at "the homo" proving the general adage that school is shitty and soul-crushing. Fortunately, "the homo" seems to have some good friends who don't care about that.

Another school-based story. This time childhood friends suddenly stop talking to each other after a night of drinking, and one of them can't remember why, although the other one seems to remember quite clearly.

Two lovers explore the fantasy use of force during sex.

A young man's heart reacts viscerally to the unexpected news that his longtime friend and drinking buddy is married. It continues to go through different paroxyms as new revelations crop up. A beautifully rendered oneshot that makes me feel so happy for this couple!

A tragic backstory underlies a highschooler's methods of thanking adults for general kindness and small acts of generosity. His neighbour, a much older adult salaryman who was on the receiving end, wants to sort that, but isn't sure of his own motivations. Nor is this reader. Is he planning to exploit the teenager, or help him learn to value himself as someone of worth beyond a sex-toy? I assume the mangaka is going for a "love heals all" angle. The realistic responses from a survivor of sexual molestation are worth a mention, just not sure where they are taking this story.