I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #loneliness(7)

Shinoda, broken from divorce and loneliness, stumbles into the antique shop of Askura, who treasures broken things, and Shinoda slowly comes to life under the gentle sweetness of Askura's interest and attention, even though he has never identified as being a gay man. This manga has a beautiful use of realism with hesitant and circling conversations, lots of details about how they live and the slow way in which these two people come to love each other. It's an incredibly satisfying read.

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.

One night, Mizushima, an assistant at Nanami Florist, steals a single rare white bloom from an exotic flowering shrub in a stranger's garden. The next day, wracked with guilt, he prepares a bouquet as an apology for the owner, unaware that his activity was already caught on camera. Before he can present his gift, the shrub's owner, Fujisawa Morihiro, confronts him at the shop and ends up hiring him to create a floral arrangement for the entrance to his mansion. Mizushima is pleased by this turn of events, and drawn to the loneliness of this wealthy man, but a mysterious young woman approaches him and warns him that his life is in danger. Are her accusations against Fujisawa legitimate or figurative, and has she exaggerated Mizushima's peril? Mizushima feels impelled to ignore her advice, setting a new series of events into motion. An interesting story premise (so far) which escalates quickly.

Taichi, impoverished, underemployed and hungry, falls onto Kouhei, a deaf boy with great homemade obento, who's looking for a note-taker to help him understand his college classes. Slowly, they come to respect and like each other, but with a disability like hearing loss, misunderstandings arise, and Kouhei has slipped into isolation and loneliness all too easily. Will Taichi be able to pull him back into a spirited life?

A serious manga about partner abuse. Yumi's boyfriend beats him, demeans him and tries to isolate him from others by controlling when he leaves and returns to their apartment. Yumi tells himself that there isn't anything this man could do to him that would actually hurt, but when Mayama, a friend from school who never called or texted him in spite of his obvious attraction, suddenly shows up at Yumi's workplace and appears to have kept a flame burning for him, will this change?

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.