I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #age difference(2)

Tamaki loves Tomoyuki, a professional photographer who suddenly disappeared from his life three years prior. Now that Tomo has returned to Japan, Tamaki wants to renew their friendship, but Tomo avoids him. Tamaki thinks this is because he was too much of a child, but there is a tragic event in his past which precipitated Tomo's desertion, and it hasn't been resolved. This story is included in a three-part series of yakuza-themed manga: 1) Zetai Unmei Houteishiki 2) Tsumasaki ni Kiss: a story about Tamaki's oldest brother, Homura 3) Gravity Eyes: a story about Homura's rejected suitor, Kyouya.

A overstretched and teetering vignette which feels as though the mangaka was working through personal discomfort with certain themes, primarily age disparities between sex partners, one underaged, and straight boys experimenting with gay sex. The set-up of an averted gang-rape, however, is all out-of-proportion as a plot-device means of establishing an adolescent's attraction toward his saviour, compared to the hints of male prostitution which merit barely the bat of an eye. The former wipes out all semblance of realism, but the latter depends on it. The resolution is all mature tenderness, self-awareness and concern, quite the about-switch compared to the initial casualness of the encounter which involves infidelity from both. Is the adult self-aware, or not? Partially, I guess. Is it realistic, or not? Elements of it are, enough to provoke some thinky-thoughts—not particularly profound ones, although better than most yaoi, and certainly enough to reveal that the mangaka shows promise. The art is beautiful. I liked it and would like to see the author do more work, but with the guidance of a very good editor who understands realism and can urge her to discard the more excessive stretches.