Genre: Drama
A category or genre of narrative fiction intended to be more serious than humorous in tone.
Manga Review | Love Stage!! by Eiki Eiki
Cross-Dressing in Commercial = Becoming Famous Actor‘s First Love
Manga Review | Golden Sparkle by Suzumaru Minta
Title: Golden Sparkle
Himari Uehara has a fear of women. It all started when he was a child, just before starting school. He has a mother and a sister. His father left to work overseas, so he assumed all women were exactly like his mother and sister, with no one to tell him otherwise. When he starts school, he finds that women can be pretty terrifying and bullies, and as such, he fears all women outside his family. To keep himself safe, he makes himself less enticing, bleaching his hair to look like a delinquent and being unapproachable in general. So when he gets the chance to attend an all-boys school, he jumps at the opportunity, able to finally relax.
Unfortunately, due to his avoidance of women and his father being out of the country, Himari has never really had the “talk,” nor has he had any interest in sex. This all comes to a head when he begins to have wet dreams but has no clue what they are or what they mean. While in class, his classmates discuss porn, sex, and the like, all of which fly over his head. While alone with his closest friend, Gaku Asada, Himari takes the opportunity to figure out what all of that stuff means. Shocked and intrigued by his naivety, Gaku invites Himari to his dorm room. There, Gaku takes the time to teach him exactly what sex means, and while they enjoy the lesson and continue enjoying each other’s company, this only complicates their relationship.
Can two friends do things like that with each other and still be friends?
Manhwa Review | Talk to Me Tenderly by SingSing
Title: Talk to Me Tenderly
Gabriel Kee doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life. Having graduated without ever confessing to his crush, his best friend Ray, and still in the closet for the most part, he escapes to the military before coming home and taking a dead-end part-time job at a bar. Realizing his life is going nowhere fast, Gabriel decides if he’s going to be alone, he might as well do something with his free time.
So, he buys a special vibrating toy to help stave away the loneliness and his backdoor virginity. Unfortunately, though, the moment he takes his new playmate out for a spin, it dies on him. In the throes of sexual frustration, Gabriel calls the customer support line for the website he purchased from, only to find his lust reignited by a sensual voice on the other end. He ends up doing just fine without the vibrating toy, thanks to the mystery voice man and finally understands the allure of toys.
However, due to his enthusiastic session, he finds that his little soldier doesn’t want to stand up anymore. Fearful that he’ll never get an erection again, he goes to work and mourns his short and lonely sex life. To his surprise, though, while working the bar, he runs into the very man who put him into this predicament in the first place: Luke, the customer support guy with a sexy voice. Thankfully, all it takes is hearing that voice again to stir those feelings. Now that he knows exactly who this person is, Gabriel must do all he can to make that voice his.
Manga Review | Adorable And Impossible by Owal
Title: Adorable And Impossible
Tatsuya has decided to take a part-time gig teaching graphic design at an art college. He doesn’t have a passion for teaching or anything like that, but he needs money to help support the business he wants to start, so he accepts the dreaded task of educating the youth. One such youth he finds himself teaching is a particularly bubbly young adult named Tsumugi. Tsumugi wants to be a fashion designer, but he is often late to class, is quick to play around, and often comes in hungover or buzzed, which doesn’t convince Tatsuya that Tsumugi is all that serious about his goals.
That is, until one day, after a class training students on a program that allows people to design things, Tsumugi ends up begging Tatsuya for personal training after hours. While Tatsuya isn’t fond of working for free, he can’t help being moved by this serious Tsumugi he’s never seen before, so they stay after and train on the program together. Once again, Tatsuya is surprised by how serious and diligent Tsumugi is about this. He’s really drawn to his student for the first time… until Tsumugi decides to reward him with a sexual favor.
Tatsuya, though he is swept up in the heat of the moment, knows just as well as anybody that this can’t happen again, but after the first time, Tsumugi seems to be obsessed with getting him back in bed by any means necessary.
Manga Review | Raveled Tightrope Knot by Ship Hita
Title: Raveled Tightrope Knot
Natsuki has carried a torch for Haruomi since they were in high school together. Unfortunately, due to his own insecurities, Natsuki rejected Haruomi when Haruomi confessed to him, and from that point on, they never really spoke again. Years pass, and at a wedding, Natsuki runs into Haruomi. However, Haruomi is no longer the shy, nerdy kid he knew in high school. Instead, Haruomi has become alluring and hypersexual. He’s nothing like the innocent Haruomi he tried to protect by rejecting him all those years ago.
To make up for lost time and for his regret over rejecting Haruomi, Natsuki is determined to get close to Haruomi once again. Though Haruomi still cares for Natsuki, he’s no longer the shy and innocent boy. He’s got jealous lovers Natsuki has to contend with, plus Haruomi is quick to put up a wall between them. Can Natsuki win back a distrustful Haruomi’s heart? Or will a decision he made in high school ruin any chance he has with his long-lost love?
Manhwa Review | Escape into Oblivion by Gawee
Title: Escape into Oblivion
Woojin is willing to do anything to escape. Escape from what? His family, school, his lovers, and life in general. He’ll do whatever it takes to escape, whether through sex, alcohol, moving away, hiding from school, or anything else. It’s almost like a game to Woojin, and it’s one that he wins often. That is until he meets Hwon.
Hwon does anything Woojin asks, even when Woojin does everything he can to either run from Hwon or hurt him. This intensity of love is new to Woojin, and it scares him. What scares him even more, though, is who Hwon might be. Part of why Woojin feels the need to escape is that when he was a child, his friend was beaten by a homeless boy they would occasionally pick on and whom Woojin would confide in. Rather than save his friend, Woojin ran away, never to see the friend again.
Could Hwon be that friend seeking revenge? Or could he be the homeless boy, finally back to take what belongs to him, Woojin? Woojin’s not sure which he would prefer, but he knows one thing for sure. No matter who Hwon ends up being, Woojin has fallen hopelessly in love with him, which is something he can’t escape.
Novel Review | Soul Vibration by Dr. Solo
Title: Soul Vibration
Chi Nan has always dreamed of working in the music industry as a singer-songwriter. He got his first taste of that world when he went on a singing gameshow where he was praised by Salinger, his idol and the bassist for one of the top bands in the world, Lotus. Not long after his run on the show, Chi Nan gets the opportunity to put out an album. However, in the middle of his budding career, he is diagnosed with an incurable ear problem, slowly but surely deteriorating his hearing ability. Unable to reliably continue his career, his agent drops him, and Chi Nan is at a loss.
Desperate to at least stay in the industry, Chi Nan ends up finding a gig as an assistant for a musician. It just so happens that the musician is the one and only Salinger. Chi Nan jumps at the opportunity to assist his idol and quickly learns what it’s like for a prodigy in the music industry as Salinger is bashed, harassed, and even harmed by the media and public. Chi Nan doesn’t care what anyone else says about Salinger. Chi Nan loves him exactly as he is. The question is, how does Salinger feel about Chi Nan?