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Manga Review | My Frilly Secret by Tamuko Kuwata

Title: My Frilly Secret

Author(s): Tamuko Kuwata

Artist(s): Tamuko Kuwata

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.

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Manga Review | Please Don’t Bite Me So Much! by Sangou Mitsuru

Title: Please Don't Bite Me So Much!

Author(s): Sangou Mitsuru

Artist(s): Sangou Mitsuru

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?

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Manga Review | The Beautiful Greenness by Miecohouse Matsumoto

Title: The Beautiful Greenness

Author(s): Miecohouse Matsumoto

Artist(s): Miecohouse Matsumoto

Taro is an author, or at least he is supposed to be, but he has been experiencing writer’s block that has been impossible for him to overcome. In the meantime, he has been freelancing and writing articles for a couple of publications to make ends meet. Otherwise, he spends his days lounging about his apartment, depressed and alone. Life doesn’t seem like it will change anytime soon until he runs into a greengrocer hawking his wares. Taro doesn’t intend to buy anything, but the greengrocer targets Taro and offers him a deal he can’t possibly refuse: 100 yen for a carrot and spinach.

Despite Taro not knowing how to cook, he accepts the deal and spends the rest of the day complaining about the persistence of the greengrocer. That night, he discovers his bath is out of order, and the following day, he is forced to go out to a public bath, where he runs into the same greengrocer. The two get into an argument due to Taro’s poor attitude and homophobic comments, which prompts Haruki, the greengrocer, to buy back the produce. However, while heading back to Taro’s house, Haruki discovers that Taro might be hiding something tender and sad inside him. When they finally arrive, Haruki takes the chance to see if he can peel back Taro’s layers to find what secrets he has hidden within.

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Manhwa Review | My Way with You by u-pi

Title: My Way with You

Author(s): u-pi

Artist(s): u-pi

Giran doesn’t care about most things anymore. Since his father’s suicide as a child, Giran has been raised by his grandmother, who devoted her entire being to raising him all on her own. As a result, Giran feels wholly indebted to her and spends his whole life working hard so he can one day pay her back for everything he has received from her. Unfortunately, though, Giran’s grandmother passes away at home alone during his work. Wracked with guilt for leaving her to pass away alone and being unable to fulfill the many promises he made to her, Giran’s life and goals fall by the wayside. He spends his days simply going through the motions, unable to move on with his life.

That is, until one day, he is at a club and catches the eye of a beautiful man named Seon-gyeong. The two have this immediate connection and magnetism that Giran can’t seem to shake. Somehow, they are constantly and inexplicably drawn to each other until they finally spend day after day together. Without any official declaration from either of them, they end up living together and spending more time together than they do doing anything else. But, as time goes on and their flame and passion fail to wane, it is clear something darker is pulling them together. Where did Seon-gyeong come from, and why is Giran so drawn to him?

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Manga Review | Perfect World by Rie Aruga

Title: Perfect World

Author(s): Rie Aruga

Artist(s): Rie Aruga

Tsugumi has been in love with Itsuki since high school. They were never in the same class, but they would often share moments in the library or the hallways, and in these innocent times between friends, Tsugumi’s love for Itsuki blossomed. Itsuki was an active and popular kid, ready to take on the world. He dreamed of becoming an architect, and Tsugumi was prepared to support him. However, just as Tsugumi was working up the courage to confess to Itsuki, he gets a confession from someone else and begins dating her. Heartbroken, Tsugumi fades into the background of Itsuki’s life, and the two naturally grow apart.

Now, Tsugumi is a grown woman working at a job she loves as an interior designer. Deep down, though, she can’t shake the torch that still burns for Itsuki even after all these years. One evening, she is invited to a small reunion with her classmates, and Itsuki happens to be there. They hit it off immediately, which only fans the flames of Tsugumi’s dormant crush. Feeling like this might be destiny, she begins working up the courage to pursue him again, but as everyone begins to leave, Itsuki asks for his chair. He has a spinal cord injury from a car accident and is now wheelchair-bound.

This shocks Tsugumi, and she’s unsure if she can handle dating someone in a wheelchair, but as time goes on and she finds herself actively seeking out Itsuki, the fact that Itsuki is in a wheelchair begins to matter less and less. However, Tsugumi’s acceptance of the new Itsuki isn’t the only problem. Since his accident, Itsuki has sworn off love. Can Tsugumi break down the walls Itsuki has put up around himself? Or are they destined to forever orbit around each other?

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Manga Review | Ten Count by Rihito Takarai

Title: Ten Count

Author(s): Rihito Takarai

Artist(s): Rihito Takarai

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?

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Manga Review | Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku by Fujita

Title: Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

Author(s): Fujita

Artist(s): Fujita

Narumi and Hirotaka have been friends since childhood when they bonded over their love of nerdy hobbies. For Narumi, she loved manga and anime. For Hirotaka, his love of video games dominated everything else in his life. However, as their carefree childhood days flew by, Hirotaka soon realized that he cared for Narumi almost as much as his video games. Unfortunately, though, those idyllic days of childhood bliss faded away, and so did Narumi and Hirotaka’s friendship.

As adults, Hirotaka and Narumi end up working at the same office. While they don’t immediately kick off as friends again in adulthood, they find solace in each other’s company once they reveal that their previous obsessions have only intensified. Able to be 100% herself with Hirotaka, Narumi spends a lot of her time complaining and confiding in him, whether it be about her fujoshi-related hobbies, work concerns, or even her failing love life. Hirotaka, still infatuated with Narumi, faithfully stands by as her shoulder to cry on. One day, though, listening to another tale of woe from Narumi due to her various love interests leaving her because of her otaku hobby, Hirotaka takes the plunge. He asks Narumi:

Why doesn’t she just date him instead?

And so begins the struggle of love between a closeted fujoshi and a game-obsessed, antisocial otaku. What could go wrong?

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Manhwa Review | A Thousand Cranes by Jeong Seokchan

Title: A Thousand Cranes

Author(s): Jeong Seokchan

Artist(s): Jeong Seokchan

Craig’s life has always been challenging. He’s always played the role of a parent to his younger sibling and had to be a punching bag to their father. So when his father disappears, Craig momentarily believes this is the relief he and his sibling desperately need. Unfortunately, though, debt collectors come knocking once their father is gone. It turns out that Craig’s father has accumulated a massive amount of debt and listed Craig as the guarantor for all of it. Craig sticks around, unable to leave his sibling behind and unwilling to throw away all of the responsibility his father did. He quits school, takes on as many jobs as possible, and starts the neverending task of paying off his father’s debts.

Over time, though, the responsibility is only getting heavier and heavier, and as time goes on, the debt never seems to let up, no matter how much he pays off. Life is beginning to seem not worth the effort. Then, on an evening when those dark thoughts are incredibly taxing, Craig comes upon a scene one would only expect to see in gangster films. In the shadows of a dark alley, there is a dead body, and standing above the dead body is a killer. Craig runs off but is soon captured by the killer. At first, the killer, whose name turns out to be Dean, is fully intent on silencing Craig forever, but there is something about Craig that Dean can’t seem to let go of. So, instead of killing Craig, Dean decides to hire him and take on all of Craig’s debt, so Dean is the only creditor.

With some of his stress lifted, Craig finds himself lighter and freer, even when tied exclusively to Dean. As they continue to work and learn more about each other’s pains and struggles, the superficial line between debtor and creditor begins to blur. Can these two broken and struggling people find solace in each other? Even as Dean’s job in the dark underbelly threatens to tear everything they’ve built apart?

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Manhwa Review | Rain Again by Jeong Seokchan

Title: Rain Again

Author(s): Jeong Seokchan

Artist(s): Jeong Seokchan

Wujin is living life listlessly. He goes through the motions, just enough to stay alive and keep a roof over his head. He’s a recent graduate with no thoughts or feelings about his future. To escape the past that has placed him in this frozen state, he moves as far away as his funds will allow him. One day, while running an errand for his new landlord around the apartment building, he runs into his neighbor, Jin. Jin is a mysterious man. He comes home more often with wounds than not, with looks that could kill.

Most people would be dissuaded from getting close to him. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, Wujin is drawn to him. As Wujin tears down the walls of this mystery man, he discovers that Jin is much more gentle and caring than he lets on. He also has a darker past that he is doing his best to escape. What Wujin doesn’t expect is for Jin to turn around and tear down his walls, as well. With two people suffering from mistakes they can’t escape, will they continue to run together, or will they run apart?

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Manga Review | Dekoboko Sugar Days, Dekoboko Bittersweet Days, and Dekoboko Sugar Days – Extra: Boys, Enjoy Your Youth! by Atsuko Yusen

Title: Dekoboko Sugar Days | Dekoboko Bittersweet Days | Dekoboko Sugar Days - Extra: Boys, Enjoy Your Youth!

Author(s): Atsuko Yusen

Artist(s): Atsuko Yusen

Yuujirou Matsukaze and Rui Hanamine’s lifelong friendship began when they were small children. Rui fell into a drain, and Yuujirou was there to rescue him. From that day on, Yuujirou was always there to help defend and protect his soft-hearted friend Rui. However, protecting him has become a lot more complicated since Rui now towers over Yuujirou, and he’s no longer that cute little bundle of joy always trailing behind Yuujirou. Regardless, Yuujirou still hangs out with Rui every chance he gets…

Until Yuujirou realizes that he still thinks Rui is cute – way cuter than any girl or any guy he has ever seen. Does Yuujirou actually like Rui? Faced with this realization, Yuujirou is no longer sure how strong the foundation of their friendship is. Could it withstand him confessing to Rui? Could Rui even like him back? While Yuujirou is grappling with his own feelings, his friendship with Rui grows tenuous. Can Yuujirou come to terms with himself before losing Rui’s friendship altogether?

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Black and White / Sepia / Single Color

Manga Review | My Frilly Secret by Tamuko Kuwata

Manga Review | Please Don’t Bite Me So Much! by Sangou Mitsuru

Manga Review | The Beautiful Greenness by Miecohouse Matsumoto

Manhwa Review | My Way with You by u-pi

Manga Review | Perfect World by Rie Aruga

Manga Review | Ten Count by Rihito Takarai

Manga Review | Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku by Fujita

Manhwa Review | Rain Again by Jeong Seokchan

Manga Review | Dekoboko Sugar Days, Dekoboko Bittersweet Days, and Dekoboko Sugar Days – Extra: Boys, Enjoy Your Youth! by Atsuko Yusen

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