Cressida's manga / #age gap(10)

The pacing is quite awkward and slower than it needed to be, it remains a very engaging story nonetheless. I'm a sucker for the" men raising children trope" kids are cute, and I like the couple. There is a fascinating topic that is brought up almost as to call out to the reader, a person mentions that they feel pity for the 17-year-old who has to take care of his little brother and that he is losing so much of his life due to the crushing responsibility that has been placed upon him. Later on, that person is made to apologize by the other young caretaker, stating that it wasn't polite to speak about his life with pity when she barely knows him. We are made aware that he takes care of his brother because that's what he chose for himself, and he has no regrets. PS: The uke(a senior in high school 17) is much younger than the seme (vaguely college age or older) for no reason at all, serves no purpose to the story other than making it inappropriate and honestly concerning. I got over it to enjoy the couple, but I understand if most people can't accept it.

This manga really made me reevaluate how I view the concept of pity. So basically the seme approaches the uke because he sees him crying alone (after having broken up with his cheating boyfriend), throughout the story, he second-guesses the seme's feelings and intentions believing to be humiliating that they may have begun as pity and not attraction. The story refutes that by understanding that the type of pity the seme felt is not the kind where you look down on someone for how unfortunate they are and that makes you feel uncomfortable, so you help them in some way to make yourself feel better. The kind of pity he felt was seeing a person in pain and wholeheartedly wanting them to feel better, (then after getting to know the uke better and falling in love with him) wanting to be the person that makes him happy after all he went through. There is nothing wrong with needing and accepting help, sometimes you meet someone wonderful who loves you wholeheartedly and genuinely wants to make you happy, so don't let pride get in the way, just enjoy. In case I hadn't made it clear already, I absolutely adore this couple with all my heart.

Inappropriate age gaps are often brushed off when it comes to yaoi, but I think this is a prime example of an age gap having a harmful impact on a relationship. The seme is 17 and the uke is 27 when they start dating, later on, he's 18 or 19, and they end up living together while the seme attends college. Even though the uke is extremely insecure and has some moments of clarity that he shouldn't be pursuing the much younger seme he does it anyway. The seme begins feeling left out of the uke's life since he can't help him with his florist shop and the uke doesn't want to have sex because he feels this crippling anxiety that the seme is straight and will disappoint him as most men do. Even though the seme would never conclude that the reason why he feels so worthless is that he is comparing himself to an adult when he's a teenager who shouldn't have to behave like a reliable caretaker and provider, he never comes to that conclusion. That's why whenever the uke reminds him that all he should worry about is studying and making friends at college, he feels offended and infantilized because he knows that on a fundamental level, he is a child in this relationship.

Quite confusing and bland. I also don't enjoy the artwork.

This is a story that features a very hard-to-like uke who is homophobic, classist, and greedy. I almost quit reading it 4 times because of how horrible he is to the other characters, but what kept me reading was how self-aware the writing is. He grows up a lot and becomes more comfortable with himself. We learn that a lot of his behavior is due to internalized homophobia, which isn't presented as an excuse, just as motivation. It features one of my favorite tropes (of them living together for whatever reason and getting to know each other better and being forced to communicate) while being a better version of that, with both being honest the entire time. There is also a lesbian couple, which is rare but wonderful when done right, which was the case here. They also live there and present very needed pushback against the new tenant. PS: Features a hilarious scene regarding a facemask and an adorable kitty.

It's quite generic, but I can't help enjoying this kinda simplistic, older one-shot. The seme is a delinquent who gets rehabilitated by a store clerk who sees more in him. There is a bunch of "casual violence" that I really don't like, but I decided is part of general Japanese comedy that I will never understand.

I'm not gonna re-read this, mostly because a 15-year-old girl spends over 50 chapters of the story in love with her 23-year-old teacher (they even go out for a while). Fortunately, she ends up letting go of that infatuation and chooses to pursue a relationship with a very sweet age-appropriate boy. This is a very rare turn of events, most shoujo starts inappropriate and miserable and end the same way, so that's what makes this special.

A refreshing and unique concept not destroyed yet utterly soured due to a tasteless age gap. Their dynamic as boss and employee is already inappropriate, but then we find out about their past, and it gets much worse. No concrete numbers are stated (we can all guess why that is), but based on context clues, we can infer that the wolf was around 17 and the goat was 5 to 7 years old at best when they first met. It is unclear when he began feeling romantically or sexually towards this person he met in an almost babysitting situation. We are clear on one thing, though: it is not looking good for him. At one point, the wolf says, "I felt like I might snatch you and run away if I saw you," to a 5-year-old boy. The implications of such continuous interaction in infancy and the reinforced power imbalance in adulthood emphasize grooming. One could argue that the past doesn't matter because they are adults now, except the wolf does not treat the goat as an adult (nor is the goat depicted as such). All of these patterns from the past are reinforced now; the wolf scolds him, tells him what to do, and, from the middle of the story forward, has sex with him. I don't enjoy the "playful smacking" present in this story. I say that between air quotes because I do not believe any smacking should occur between an employer and an employee, playful or not. But then again, that bothers me about 99% of Japanese content. Now for things I liked: I absolutely adore the visuals. Herbivores and carnivores have distinct ears, tails, and fur, even among the same species. It's delightfully creative and well-crafted in terms of visual world-building. As for the rest of the story, it was as light as a story featuring grooming could have been.