I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #Incest(27)

Wow, this is wonderful. Incest doesn't normally turn me on, but this is gentle and slow-paced with just enough weirdly joyful melancholy to keep it interesting. The opening chapter is one of the most beautiful I've come across in yaoi manga.

Descendents, some of them, of a particular family line have the ability to bond others to them by projecting sexual vibes at them. Others in the family, who are immune to its effects, have used this power to control people for power or wealth. This is the story of two men who come from this sort of background, and what they do about it. As usual, Minase Masara's illustrations are beautiful and elegant.

An absolutely stunning story about a trigger-loaded subject, father x son incest. It's handled with such originality and sensitivity, though, against a context of time travel, loneliness and alienation, that ... how does Ike Reibun transform something so icky into something so heartwarming and healing? By crafting a wonderful supernatural mystery like this. Stick around for the happy ending. This one's worth reading again and again. One of my favourites.

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. There are two secondary stories, one about mistaken identities and judging people on appearances, and the third about how cats respond to gentleness.

Basically, a long convoluted rationalization for yaoi sex between a pair of twins and their older brother. At one point, the rationalizations got so over-the-top, it almost called for a soundtrack from Night at the Proms ... "Land of Hope and Glory" or something like that. But then they dropped the whole "How come we're horny for you, bro, let us count the ways" silliness and just got on with the smut, and that was lovely. Basically, it feels like this is yaoi designed for readers who are uncomfortable admitting to themselves that their libidos include some kinky shit and want to be eased gently into it.

Twincest story about a young man who pretends that every sexual encounter he has with his twin brother is because his brother is dreaming, and what happens when he discovers that his brother is wide awake.

Threesome, twincest, masturbatio-not-quite-interruptis, self-lubricating butthole, PWP ...

Setting aside that the main story combines yakuza and incest as an aniki uses a tougher love than the usual to rescue his younger sibling from imminent self-destruction, and that the side stories include a writer whose best inspiration for graphic gore and horror comes from romantic rejection, there is a streak of realism running through this manga which makes for a worthwhile read. Not that the stories are realistic and it inclines toward dramedy and, yes, sadistic psychological horror more than tender romance, but there is something refreshing and natural about the drawing style and the way the characters reveal themselves and their motives, which rescues it from being the same old yaoi.