I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #tragic backstory(98)

Two businessmen with a past are trapped in an elevator, which gives them the chance to explore suppressed longings, regrets and bittersweet ruefulness.

A gorgeous retelling of the Romeo x Juliet romance trope with two boys from very different backgrounds, one an onnagata at a traveling traditional theatre, the other the overburdened son of an arrogant and fearful doctor. They meet up in the doctor's small town where he holds too much power, recognize the same struggles in each other and reach a fateful decision. The ending surprised me. Quite an inspirational and happy-making story.

Inspired by ante-WWII western domestic architecture and gardens, Kinoshita Keiko daydreamed up a story about Yukiyo, the gay man who inherited one such home, where he lives with Takashina, his lover, and Yuuta, the son of his ex-wife and the man he once loved, who suffered from depression and commit suicide many years previously. Filled with remorse for confessing to his late friend, and muddled by disappointment and unresolved grief, Yukiya swings wildly between seducing and rejecting Takashina. Things remain in stasis until Yuuta makes a confession of his own, summoning Yukiya's protective instincts. A slow building emotional simmer with some very beautiful watercolour drawings.

Homophobia and bullying set the backdrop for a story about the confusion and psychological turmoil of two high school boys learning to connect, one as a regretful former instigator of bullying, the other as a victim of homophobia. Strong characterizations, beautiful art, and an emotional story

A series of stories involving different obsessions and kinks: a fetish for hair,selfish demands over a lover's time, a photography fetish, the fear of being revealed as a homosexual, and emerging from a horrifying past through prison and cheating the yakuza.

In the past, Chihiro, heir to the Saotome Yakuza, was kidnapped as his father was ambushed and murdered. After he was repeatedly gangraped and enslaved as a prostitute by the Russian mob, Chihiro was rescued by two hot bodyguards, Shirotae and Kuroba, who now, in addition to protection and enforcement, help him relieve the persistent "arousal problem" that was the apparent side effect of his abuse (really?) Anyhooo, Chihiro is now making a play on the "quality" gun trade, finds himself prone to fits of murderous rage, only to be reined in by the young hot leader of the Gojou group. Now that the Russian mafia has returned, it's a wonder how hometown gangster boy plans to make good on honouring Daddy's memory. Yup, that's where it's going for realsies. Kitazawa Kyou likes to craft a slightly unhinged cupcake yakuza always on the edge of a psychotic meltdown. The question isn't whether a reader can suspend disbelief. Obviously not. It's whether the story is any fun to read. I don't know. If it goes too James Cagney, it might be a twitching facial nerve too far.

Interesting story with a lot of smart psychological tension built up between two men, sex partners in high school, who reunite after a 20-year rift.

Sota and Koga's relationship didn't have an auspicious start. Sota dumped some used fishbowl water out the classroom window, inadvertantly soaking Koga and prompting the boy to make some rude remarks about his cat, who happened to sneak into Koga's house for the express purpose of killing his goldfish, a gift from someone he loved. Sota is a kindhearted boy, if not the most courageous fellow on the planet, and his attempts at atonement open some new possibilities for Koga, whose life has been more constricted than most, through no other fault than bad luck. This is a sweet and intelligent shounen ai which shows how life opens up when a person takes a few risks.