I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #Kojima Lalako(8)

The sweet and fulfilling story of Hideo and Tomohisa, two people who, having been betrayed by previous lovers, find comfort and kindness in each other. Fluffy without being cloying.

Confusing and muddled. It starts off as a sweet romance and turns dark, then darker, revealing a horror-filled tragic backstory. Somewhere along the way, there's a suicide pact, and then, ghosts. Good luck making sense of it.

Crowded out of his home, after his mother remarries, Hirano moves into the dormitory at his all-boys' high school where he is put under the care of Morioka, a student who had been accused of bullying his juniors in the basketball club. At first, Morioka's taciturn deflections and sullen appearance make it seem as though the rumours about him are true, but Hirano discovers there's more going on. A story that starts off slowly and builds momentum and interest as it goes on.

The Yeti Story. Yes, that one. Like the chicken story.

Two JPop boy bands, one established and the other freshly launched. Here, the whole world is gay (except for one boy ... maybe ...) and infatuations bounce around more than springs on a mattress. Still, oodles of cute.

Idiot couple at school with an especially naive uke for ravishment fantasy scenario. Uke goes from virgin to rape trope, fruit kink, sounding and adult forums within a matter of hours and still dithers whether they are friends. From the art style, it's meant to be cute, but I found it scattered and dialed to near constant freak-out, and couldn't suspend my disbelief even for the purpose of pure smutty goodness. Weird. So much kink and it still tastes like vanilla.

Hideo and Tomohisa, the two sweet characters we first met in Kimi to Parade, now share a sweet life together as lovers when their busy schedules allow them to meet up, but the couple must go through some heartbreak together.

Three lovely shounen ai from the Queen of Fluff, Kojima Lalako; but make no mistake, these stories are complex and subtle missives on the difficulties of negotiating homosexual partnerships in a community and culture of intolerance. (1) Two young boys elope from the countryside, but are too young, inexperienced and short on resources for the adult problems of living in a city, so that their misadventure results in tragedy, but not because of a very cute pet piglet. (2) Troubles arise between two childhood friends whose affections deepen into love, in spite of one of them becoming a Johnny's Entertainment-style idol. Realistic apologies in this one. (3) Supernatural intervention teaches an emotionally repressed young homosexual to express his true feelings after horrific violence disturbs his neighbourhood. One of my favourites.