BL Manga
Manga Review | Until I Meet My Husband by Ryousuke Nanasaki
Title: Until I Meet My Husband
Based on a novel of the same name by Ryousuke Nanasaki.
This is the story of Ryousuke Nanasaki. From the time he was small, he always knew he was different. Whether it was the way he spoke, the way he walked, or the things he enjoyed, he never could mesh with what the world expected him to be as a little boy. This only became all the more apparent when he began going to school and was incessantly bullied for being a “girly-boy.” Whether it was by adults or his peers, he was always treated as an “other” until he met Tsukasa. Of course, Tsukasa was Ryousuke’s best friend, but more than that, he was his unrequited first love.
This starts a journey of self-acceptance, self-love, and the journey for true love for Ryousuke Nanasaki. Ryousuke has never been what the world perceived as normal, but that would never stop him. He wants true happiness with the one he loves and wants that for everyone, no matter who you choose to love.
Manga Review | Metro by Chika Hongo
Title: Metro
Mizuki spends his days under the watchful and paranoid eyes of his mother. It was of no fault of his own that he is monitored so carefully, but it is instead due to his father’s infidelity. Because his father ended up having a scandalous affair and left both Mizuki and his mother behind, Mizuki’s mother now views everything sexual as evil. To prevent her son from following the same path as his father, she makes him write out every hour of his day, monitors the media he consumes, and controls every aspect of his life that she can so he never encounters anything she deems as immoral.
This causes Mizuki’s life to become rather hollow, especially since, due to an illness, he could not graduate high school and is forced to attend his final year again as somewhat of a social pariah among the strangers in his class. The only spark in his life is the few times he rides the metro. There, on the train, a faceless man assaults him. For someone else, this would be traumatic and horrific, and though it does scare Mizuki, he finds it thrilling and the only intimate connection he’s ever had with another person.
This happens nearly every day like clockwork, with the man touching Mizuki for a while only to disappear without a word, until one day, while touching Mizuki, the man tells Mizuki that if he gets off the train with him, he’ll give Mizuki more. Having been isolated and sheltered for so long, Mizuki finds himself unable to refuse this offer. But is what he finds on the other side worth risking his simple and routine life for?
Manga Review | Kabukicho Bad Trip by Eiji Nagisa
Title: Kabukicho Bad Trip
Toru is a top-rated host. That’s not surprising, seeing how attractive and personable he is. However, he can’t give all of the credit to those things. In fact, most of his success comes from his unique ability to read minds. Using this ability, he sways the masses and becomes one of the most popular hosts in Kabukicho. Of course, he could have any woman or even man if he wanted them, but Toru doesn’t want just any person. He wants Mizuki Hikawa.
Mizuki is a popular and equally attractive male model, and Toru is obsessed with him. He is so obsessed with him that Toru uses “Mizuki” as his name while hosting. But Toru does his best to keep it under wraps, even going so far as to travel out of his way to pick up magazines with him on the cover. On one such occasion, at a convenience store, Toru runs into Mizuki – literally. They end up falling over each other and, in turn, start talking. It turns out Mizuki needs some help getting to a shoot, and Toru is more than happy to be his knight in shining armor.
After all of Toru’s help, Mizuki makes an effort to keep in touch, and the more they meet up, the more Toru can see into Mizuki’s private thoughts. Of course, Toru is beyond pleased that Mizuki is attracted to him. What he isn’t as pleased with is that almost everything Mizuki imagines or wants has to do with BDSM and absolutely dominating Toru. Though scared of this new territory, if it means being with Mizuki, Toru is willing to give everything a try, and he does mean anything.
Manga Review | My Dashing Delivery Driver by Sabamiso
Title: My Dashing Delivery Driver
Isshin just lost his job. Thankfully, the super hot and outgoing delivery man Haze is there to offer him a position at the delivery business he works at. Surely, this can’t be any harder than what he did at his company job, right? Wrong. As it turns out, the delivery business is pretty labor intensive, which explains how Haze ended up with his ripped body.
Regardless, thankful for the opportunity to get so close and personal with Haze, Isshin does his best to succeed. After his first major blunder, his coworkers decide to throw him a celebration, much to Isshin’s dismay. It only gets worse when Haze arrives to take part in celebrating his mistake. To dull the embarrassment, Isshin drinks excessively, resulting in him throwing up all over Haze and, in turn, his leather jacket.
With the jacket ruined and possibly even his chance with Haze ruined along with it, Isshin is determined to pay back Haze for the jacket. Haze is more than happy to take him up on the offer, taking advantage of the situation to work Isshin harder at work. Plus, this gives Haze the chance to tease his secret admirer, but what happens when Isshin takes the bait?
Manga Review | Learning to Love at Your Feet by Atono Matsuri
Title: Learning to Love at Your Feet
In this world, there are secondary genders and sex characteristics known as dynamics. As part of dynamics, there are doms, subs, switches, and normals. Doms are those who wish to control, praise, and punish. Subs are those who want to be controlled, earn praise, and be punished. There are exceedingly rare switches, and they can take the role of either a dom or sub during play. Then, there are normals, those who aren’t inclined or in need of any dom/sub play. Kippei is a sub but would like nothing more than to be anything else.
Kippei has lived his life trying everything he can to avoid the fact that he is a sub. He’s relied on medications to keep his needs at bay, but unfortunately, the time has come. He’s developed a resistance to the meds, so now he needs to find a partner. He’s not too keen on hunting for one organically, so he signs up for a government-run matchmaking service. What are the odds that the person he is matched with is his coworker Sota? With his secondary sex exposed, Kippei agrees to establish a partnership with Sota in exchange for his discretion.
Over time, Kippei begins to learn the joys of being a sub, but as he grows closer to Sota, he wonders if Sota sees him only as a sub or as something more.
Manga Review | My Frilly Secret by Tamuko Kuwata
Title: My Frilly Secret
Aoi is known as the gloomy kid with no friends, and he agrees. However, it’s not for lack of trying. He would like to have friends, but his insecurities regarding his hobbies make it hard for him to reach out. His hobby in question? He enjoys the art of cross-dressing. Since he was a small child, Aoi has always been drawn to cute and feminine things, which he expresses in his bedroom decor and his collection of dresses, wigs, and accessories. Unfortunately, due to his insecurity, Aoi is forced to hide his hobby at home, unable to express himself publically.
One day, Aoi sees a dress he is drawn to. Unfortunately, the dress is $300, which is way out of his price range. Disheartened, he is forced to leave the dress behind… until his sister and classmates mention a method of earning money through “sugar daddies,” aka compensated dating. Interested in the opportunity, Aoi signs up for a profile and mentions his hobby in the listing, which draws the attention of a rather enthusiastic customer. While on the date, the customer pushes Aoi into going with him to a hotel to take photos of him while cross-dressing, which has Aoi on red alert and panicking.
Things aren’t looking so good until Yuto, one of Aoi’s silent and stoic classmates, comes in and rescues him. On the way out of the rescue, though, Aoi ends up exposing his cross-dressing hobby to Yuto. Thankfully, Yuto doesn’t seem bothered by it. Instead, he almost seems interested. In exchange for Yuto’s heroic rescue, Yuto asks for one thing in return: date him while cross-dressing so he can become comfortable with women. Grateful for all Yuto has done for him, Aoi agrees. Over time, though, Aoi begins to question why Yuto is so affectionate and kind, even though their romance is fake. Meanwhile, the enthusiastic “sugar daddy” continues to lurk around.
Manga Review | Please Don’t Bite Me So Much! by Sangou Mitsuru
Title: Please Don't Bite Me So Much!
Yanagi wants to be cool. So he’s bleached his hair and changed his image to achieve just that. But even with that change, Yanagi still isn’t putting out the image he desperately craves as a self-proclaimed “plain face.” Of course, it doesn’t help that he is put face-to-face every day at work with a guy who embodies all of the attitude and aesthetic he craves for himself: Igarashi. Igarashi is the talk of the town. He’s good-looking, a bit of a playboy, and he’s got an aesthetic that Yanagi would die for.
Needless to say, Yanagi isn’t Igarashi’s biggest fan. Even so, much like everyone else, Yanagi can’t help but be drawn to the tall, dark, and handsome coworker. But what draws Yanagi to Igarashi isn’t the same thing that draws anyone else in. Igarashi has a unique characteristic: a set of pronounced fanged canines. For whatever reason, Yanagi desperately wants to touch them. Instead, he wouldn’t mind if Igarashi bit him with those sharp teeth. But when would that chance ever come about?
Manga Review | The Beautiful Greenness by Miecohouse Matsumoto
Homophobic Author with Writer’s Block is Taught a Lesson
Manga Review | Ten Count by Rihito Takarai
Title: Ten Count
Shirotani suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. He spends every day in fear of being contaminated. The only way he can make it through his day-to-day life is by covering himself completely and avoiding as much human contact as possible. As a result, Shirotani is always in long sleeves and long pants along with a set of gloves to protect his hands. Even with all of the protection, though, the moment he enters his home, he must strip completely and put the contaminated clothes away, then he has to wash his hands as many times as possible until they are chapped and bleeding. This is Shirotani’s routine.
At least it was, until the day his boss narrowly avoided being hit by a car. While parked on the side of the road, the company president received a phone call, which he took just outside the car. While on the phone, he failed to notice a car heading his way. Shirotani, seeing the oncoming vehicle, calls out to the president and reaches out to him, but at the very last second, his aversion to human touch stops him. Thankfully, though, a passerby on a bicycle saves the president. As it turns out, this savior is Kurose, a counselor at a psychiatric clinic, and the moment he sees Shirotani’s gloves, he identifies that Shirotani has germophobia.
Ashamed by his inability to save the president and from Kurose’s urging, Shirotani begins seeking help from Kurose. First, Kurose has Shirotani write down ten things he can’t do due to his obsessive-compulsive disorder – 1 being the easiest to achieve, 10 being near impossible. Then, together, Kurose and Shirotani go through each one and try to overcome them with exposure therapy. However, the line between counselor and patient begins to blur, and soon Shirotani is doing things with Kurose that disgust him, yet he craves it. Does Kurose truly see Shirotani as a patient needing treatment, or is there something more? And if there is more, can Shirotani overcome enough of his aversions to let Kurose in?