I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #realistic(74)

A man is dumped by his gay lover on Christmas Eve and, suffering from loneliness and heartbreak, spontaneously rescues a vagrant and kitten who have fallen asleep in the front garden of his apartment complex. The vagrant is suffering from his own tragic loss, and the two of them slowly come to understand and love each other, but not before denying their true feelings.

A father is stressed beyond his capacity to cope while trying to raise his preschool-aged daughter while working in a Japanese restaurant. He is saved by a hopeless flirt and serially unfaithful gay customer who is attracted to him, but he is straight and very suspicious of such a flighty man. The relationship takes time to develop and is full of realistic emotional responses. The daughter is adorable and the ending is full of cheer!

Sugiura Sakae returns as a teacher to the elementary school where, years before, Fukada Ryuuji, his own teacher, saved him from grave personal danger, but age and despair have taken their toll on Fukada-sensei, and Suguira has a difficult time reconciling the memory of the man who protected and inspired him, with the scruffy man whose laisser-faire attitude offends his sense of effort and accomplishment. Can anything be done to mend Fukada's crushed soul? This inspirational story is one of my favourites and cemented Tenzen Mamoko as one of the greatest yaoi mangakas ever! Just a beautiful realistic story.

Serizawa, the technology section manager at a popular bookstore, is asked to deal with a customer whose appearance frightens fellow employees. He is surprised to discover what a gentle and goodhearted young man Keita is and, slowly, they develop from a good friendship into a more loving and trusting intimacy. This story is full of rewarding goodhearted gestures of kindness. The sweetness slays me! One of my favourites.

It's strange to call a story realistic, when it's about a drop-dead gorgeous male model (Ray) who happens to be straight, and his best friend from school (Shingo), who's so smitten he blurts out that he's gay the minute they introduce themselves to each other. In every other respect, Shingo is completely discreet, keeping even his crush on Ray so quiet, Ray is unlikely to learn of his feelings. What does it take to change a stalemate? As usual, Tenzen Momoko outdoes herself for believable characters, an interesting story and some really funny moments. I enjoyed this thoroughly!

Salaryman, Sanoshita, is in a quandary about how to thank Manaka, the mover who saved him when he accidentally bumped into a pile of boxes at his new apartment, but was, in turn, injured himself. Attraction develops into a caring friendship and a wonderful love affair, with a few bumps and rocky patches along the way. Not only has this manga got one of the best lines ever, but there is an entire wordless picture story section. Other sweet and sexy short stories round out the collection.

After 9 Hours tracks Deguchi as he develops a crush on the straight Onoda, but doesn't dare reveal his feelings for fear of rejection. The World is Full of Colour is about how Onoda and Deguchi negotiate their feelings for each other as they deal with the realization of mutual attraction, fear of betrayal, jealousy and moving past games. Realistic, truthful, yet light and breezy, this is one of the best yaoi mangas I've read, and definitely on my favourites list.

One afternoon at school, Mashita spies Matsushita sitting at his desk, resting his cheek against the top, and realizes that his friend is infatuated with him. After that, he compulsively toys with and teases him, deluding himself that it's to make Matsushita love him even more, but never realizing that his own heart was lost that day. One of Tenzen Momoko's great stories.

One of Kawaii Touko's light, sweet stories: sales license procurement officer, Haruna, tries to secure a contract with the dreaded and renowned Nakagawa Sake company, whose owner is so rude and ornery, he throws things at people he doesn't like. But his son is just Haruna's type. Haruna throws himself at the computer technician unreservedly, but Nakagawa has his own reasons for playing things cool, and he will not put up with betrayal. Will Haruna persuade him?