muse ✨'s manga / #satisfying length(17)

Haru decides to confess to Rin, who grows frustrated by the lack of change in their relationship in the coming weeks, and thus they go on an aquarium date for Christmas. This is beautifully done and easily 2-3 times the length of many DJs. It focuses on the relationship build and culminates with intimacy, but as part of the relationship's growth and doesn't go into explicit detail. Easily the best Free! DJ I've read to date.

This is long, so it's good for a cold day or spaced across a week. Childhood friends grow into something more over a period of years. Great female best friend character as well.

An uncultured young man is forced by his sister to join the tea club, where he meets his opposite: the poised and serious club president. I didn't care for this story much until the two got together and faced challenges as an established couple. Then I really enjoyed their relationship and the hurdles they got past!

Sister story to "Ookami Papa wa Hitsuji Tsura shite Yatte kuru." A man still getting over the emotional fallout of his last relationship has been single for five years and pining for his best friend. One afternoon, when he's picking up his nephew from daycare, the robotic teacher at his daycare calls him out on his lovesick expression - and then begins to insert himself into his life.

This was the slow-burn love story of my dreams. After being cruelly dumped on Christmas Eve, Ei finds a man and a kitten asleep outside of his apartment in the snow. He takes them in out of pity, and Junpei becomes a fixture in his life, helping him to emerge from his stoic shell and to learn to love someone good for once. This was one of the most realistic stories I've ever read. A few years ago, I probably would've been frustrated with Ei's behavior, especially taking back his ex. But I did the same thing because I was so desperate to save my relationship, which I clung to because it was familiar, not because it was happy or healthy. People do make mistakes. They do seek out other humans just for comfort, even if they love someone else. They do withhold their love for fear of being hurt. This was touching, exquisitely drawn, and the pacing was just right. I cannot recommend it enough.

After being turned down by a childhood friend, Rei falls for a senior employee at his parents' store. Be advised there is on-page dubcon (I read it as noncon, to be perfectly honest) twice.

A working man in his late 30s meets an unfriendly artist, just twenty, who runs a boarding house. This story did nothing for me the first time I read it, but I'm so glad I sat down with it again a year later. I must've rushed the first time and not paid attention to the emotional development. This is a beautiful story about letting go of the past's hold on you and moving forward with life. This is a true slow burn. I don't think they are together until the fifth volume, but they really care for each other by the time anything happens, which makes it really sweet when it does.

After his family's shrine burns down, Kotarou and Koma - the shrine's cat spirit - reluctantly take refuge in a place called the Haven, home to the 12 animal spirits of the zodiac and their caretaker, Masataka, who is possessed by a different one each month.

Junjou's spinoff. When Miyata's lover leaves him because of lingering feelings for his ex (Keisuke from Junjou), he goes drinking in Nichoume and encounters a work acquaintance, Ikuya, who insists on seeing him home. Miyata settles for a cab and intends to apologize at their next encounter, surprised when Ikuya asks to date instead - using work as leverage. This is primarily a love story but also deals with Miyata's biphobia and issues bottoming for a partner because of past trauma. Caution for one dubcon scene. The ending was perfect.

There are elements of this that are great. Fumi has been in love with Shunpei since they were kids, but Shunpei has been oblivious to his feelings - until Fumi starts dating a guy at school. Shunpei has to own up to his own jealousy and makes the decision that if Fumi has to date a guy, it's going to be him. Over the course of the story, he falls in love himself, and it has a happy ending. Now the bad parts: The early chapters demonstrate the homophobia and fetishistizing that are common in fandom and BL. For example, Shunpei's sister - a huge BL fan - is horrified when she learns her brother is dating Fumi, saying she'll be mocked at her wedding for it. She's further upset to find he plans to bottom. It's stressed that her interest in BL is purely fetish, and the attitude is pervasive in the early chapters. As the story goes along, we pick up supportive friends, but the sister - who seems to be an avatar for the mangaka and the reader - never changes her attitude, even going so far as to keep Fumi and Shunpei from being able to sleep together under threat of telling their parents. Beyond that, this manga also wanders into dubcon territory. Several times, Fumi announces that he has no plans to stop what he's doing, even if Shunpei says no. And there are times he says no, and Fumi doesn't listen. That's common for this genre, not specific to this manga, but it perpetuates the idea that noncon can be sexy if everyone gets off. Not so, and kudos to Shunpei for kicking Fumi off the bed toward the end of the story when he didn't stop when Shunpei asked. Overall, a really sweet story, but I felt like the mangaka herself is the one who has a lot of these beliefs, and that made reading this less than pleasurable at times.