Writer Can’t Choose Between a Photographer and His Stepbro
Title: Love or Hate
Incest / Pseudo-Incest
These works feature relationships sexual or romantic in nature where the individuals involved are either related biologically, by marriage, by adoption, or through an adoptive method, such as unofficially taking in an unrelated child and raising them as their own and forming a child-parent relationship that then evolves into more.
Manga Review | MADK by Ryo Suzuri
Title: MADK
Makoto has an obsession. It’s one that could never be accepted in society, and so Makoto feels isolated and trapped. As a last-ditch effort to fulfill his grotesque desires, he resorts to the occult, summoning a demon. The demon appears before him, praising his talents. The demon will grant him whatever he wants in exchange for Makoto’s soul. More than happy to trade his corrupted soul, Makoto asks for the one thing he has always wanted but never been able to obtain: the chance to eat someone. The demon is surprised but has no qualms about fulfilling this request.
So begins Makoto’s strange relationship with the demon. For a while, Makoto takes his time, slowly eating the demon’s flesh and savoring it. Eventually, though, even this routine becomes dull. The demon, bored himself, offers an alternative. He tears into his throat and offers Makoto the chance to have intercourse there. It’s horrific and disgusting. But Makoto is all too happy to give it a try. Once the act is complete, Makoto breaks down into despair, realizing he’ll never be able to experience pleasure like that again. Satisfied, he’s ready to be taken by the demon.
But the demon has other plans. Instead of taking Makoto’s soul, the demon named J takes Makoto’s severed head to Hell. There, he proclaims that he will get Makoto a new body and raise him into a fantastic demon, one that could tear J down from his perch as the Archduke of Hell. Makoto is furious, having assumed his life would finally be over. Makoto goes along with J’s plans, both because he hates J and because he loves him.
But the road to the top is long, and everyone in Hell is trying to raise their station. Can Makoto make it to the top without being destroyed? Or was J mistaken in his abilities as a demon?
Manga Review | Fox-Colored Jealousy by Machi Suehiro
Title: Fox-Colored Jealousy
Akiha has never been able to live the average life of a child, a teenager, and not even a college student. Unfortunately, his family line has been cursed by a fox spirit. The fox spirit waits until Akiha’s heart is weak, usually when he is scared, angry, or feeling some other intense emotion, and then takes over his body. This leads to many situations where Akiha “awakens” in a place he doesn’t recognize or outside, having ruined someone’s garden. Akiha is completely aware of what is happening when the fox takes over, but he has no control until the fox lets him go.
But maybe more troubling than the possession, the fox almost always manifests ears and a tail, which makes it impossible to go out in public without exposing his secret. As a last-ditch effort, Akiha signs up for a college in the city where his distant relatives live and manage a shrine. There, he hopes they will be able to help exorcise or at least put a leash on the fox spirit inside of him. On the way there, he ends up being groped on the train. Worried he might expose the fox if he reacts, Akiha is at a loss of what to do until an attractive stranger rescues him.
As it turns out, the stranger is his cousin, and while he isn’t the sibling who’s a priest, he does seem to have some control over animals. Perhaps he’ll be the one who can help Akiha control the beast inside him. Regardless, the fox does seem to be attracted to him for some reason.
Manhwa Review | Miscreants and Mayhem by Brothers Without a Tomorrow
Title: Miscreants and Mayhem
Nanmu has been punishing himself for years. He’s in a leadership position in a gang, having been adopted from a cult by the leader of the gang alongside his two closest friends, who he considers his brothers. Unfortunately, Nanmu committed one of the greatest sins, having fallen in love with the leader’s, his adopted father’s, mistress. To be with her and adopt her son as his own, Nanmu willingly gave his body over to the gang, where he was ruthlessly raped and passed around by all the members. In a desperate attempt to rescue him, his two brothers offer to take the punishment with him. Instead, their father commands Nanmu’s brothers to have sex with him instead. It’s a perverse and painful situation, but one that Nanmu believes he deserves, especially when he ultimately loses the woman he did this for, along with the child he considered his son.
Many years have passed, yet Nanmu is still punishing himself with painful sex between his two brothers. As if that isn’t already hard enough, the men of his gang are steadily being assaulted, bludgeoned with a hammer, and left for dead. Nanmu struggles to find the culprit until one of his men calls him for help. When he arrives, he sees a familiar face, a beauty like the one he lost long ago. But it’s not the woman he was in love with. It’s her son, Pil-gyun, and Pil-gyun is looking for the man he calls ‘dad’ – Nanmu. But Pil-gyun has no intention of being a filial son.
Manhwa Review | Lover Boy by ZEC
Title: Lover Boy
Eunho has loved Jaeha since he was a child. They’ve known each other for the majority of Eunho’s life, but Jaeha, being so much older, moves forward in life, leaving Eunho behind. Yet, no matter how far Jaeha goes, he always seems to find his way back to Eunho. Unfortunately, that changes when Jaeha announces he’s getting married. As much as Eunho loves Jaeha, he accepts that they will never be together in the way he wants. So, he swallows his love and sadness and congratulates Jaeha.
Years later, Eunho is now in college, and though he’s dated someone else, he still longs for the love that could never be with his childhood friend, Jaeha. By seemingly fate, they happen to run into each other. Jaeha is now running his own art studio, providing classes open to the public. But more importantly, he’s now divorced. Eunho had to let Jaeha go before, but with this new opportunity before him, he has no intention of letting Jaeha pass him by. Jaeha, however, has had a turbulent past, and though he cares for Eunho, that care and love he has makes him afraid.
He’s afraid of hurting the one most precious to him. Will Jaeha be able to find happiness? And can Eunho break through the cold walls Jaeha has built around himself?
Manhwa Review | Shoot My Shot by Solanine and Suhyeol
Title: Shoot My Shot
Officer Jaehui Yoo lives in an extremely small town. While that means his work is relatively peaceful and easy, it has the negative effect of making it nearly impossible to find other gay men. Jaehui would love to get off with someone, but no matter how often he checks his dating apps, there just aren’t any options in his small town. He’s bemoaning his unfortunate situation when a whiny man is brought into the station. The man throws an absolute tantrum, claiming he doesn’t remember where he lives as he’s just moved into town. Jaehui approaches to help when the man stops, stunned. Instantly, the man claims Jaehui is the one for him.
The young man’s name is Hoon Dokgo. And though Jaehui would love a bedmate, Hoon is a bit too obsessive for Jaehui’s taste. But Hoon isn’t dissuaded in the least. Every moment of every day, Hoon hunts Jaehui down, hangs around the police station, and declares that Jaehui is his. Unfortunately for Jaehui, this leads to multiple unwanted sexual encounters that he ends up enjoying. Hoon is packing, and while Jaehui may not be interested in the man, he’s interested in what the man has to offer. Jaehui is determined to shake off this annoying fly of a man until it’s revealed his father is none other than Police Commissioner Youngsik Dokgo.
He doesn’t believe Hoon at first, but when they head to his father’s house, he encounters not only the commissioner but also his own father. If things weren’t already bad enough, it turns out Jaehui’s father, Taeha, and Youngsik were lovers in college, and they’ve now found their way back to each other. So, now he’s being pursued by what is the equivalent of his stepbrother? Will Jaehui ever find peace, or is he destined for this chaos for the rest of his life?
Novel Review | The Flower of Alosha by Jang Ryang
Title: The Flower of Alosha
Kay is living his best simple life as the vice captain in Lablen. He’s a bit of a womanizer, enjoying the company of women, though never more than one at a time. This does come at a price, earning him the ire of his captain, who often longs for the very women that Kay ends up with. It is an annoying but small problem in his life, so Kay is relatively happy at the end of the day. But Kay’s simple world is rocked when none other than the Grand Duke, Zigryl Rhyner, arrives in this small, cold region of the empire unannounced.
Zigryl is well-known for his chaotic and cruel nature, and though he isn’t the emperor, his brother, the emperor, who has been ill for some time, has no successors. So, he has all the power of the emperor without the shackles of the crown. What is a man with such power and freedom doing in this snow-covered rural region of the empire? As it turns out, Zigryl, alongside his attendant Schumann, isn’t here for Lablen but for the subregion of Edor, which is well-known for being dangerous and near-impossible to reach thanks to the surrounding Forest of the Dead. They are after something called the Alosha’s Flower, and they need a guide to get there.
Unfortunately for Kay, as soon as Zigryl lays eyes upon him, the Grand Duke wants Kay and only Kay for the journey ahead. Kay, unable to deny the wants of someone with such power, has no choice but to acquiesce. Kay anticipates this mission will only take a few days, and then he’ll be able to return and live his everyday life back in Lablen. But what Kay doesn’t realize until it’s far too late is that Zigryl wants Kay as a guide and a bedmate, and once he gets a taste of him, he has no intention of letting Kay go.
Manhwa Review | Bongchon Bride by Gaepi
Title: Bongchon Bride
Soongap is enslaved. The child of a concubine, when his mother died, he lost his place in the household, passed on to another master, and was raised by his grandmother. Alongside him, he had a childhood friend, and as they grew up, their friendship evolved into a romantic partnership, which allowed them to plan and hope for the future. They wanted to work and buy their freedom, then move away to have their own farm and home together. Unfortunately, before they ever get the chance, Soongap’s lover, who has been chronically ill since childhood, ends up bedridden. No matter how hard Soongap tries to save him, he inevitably passes away.
Depressed and hopeless, Soongap just goes through the motions until he discovers his master’s daughter having a secret love affair with another woman. Seeing himself in her, Soongap makes it a point to try and help them be together. Unfortunately, his efforts fail, and he is beaten nearly to death for his actions. Soongap is willing to simply fade away, only to wake up in an unfamiliar house. As it turns out, his master, a miser, sold him to a man who works his fields for fifty sacks of rice. The man is enormous and unkempt, with rumors that he is a murderer or a monster. Yet, he carefully nurses Soongap back to health, resembling a teddy bear more than a monster. His new master is Bongchun, and over time, being doted on and dubbed his ‘darling’ to trick Bongchun’s ailing mother into thinking Soongap is his bride, Soongap finds himself wanting to live for Bongchun.
Just as his life settles into a comfortable routine, a remnant from his past, back when his mother was still alive, comes to call. It’s his younger half-brother, Pilgyeon. Pilgyeon has come to take back Soongap — not as an enslaved person, but as his lover. But Soongap never had any affection for his brother, and that hasn’t changed. He has no intention of leaving his new master, and he’ll do everything he can to protect his newfound happiness.
Manga Review | Return of the Prince by Junko
Title: Return of the Prince
This is a collection of three BL shorts by Junko.
Return of the Prince (plus A Ring’s Tale)
Adult life isn’t all it’s made out to be for Kou. He works all the time, is constantly berated by his boss, and ends up home alone. While at a relative’s wedding, as if to rub salt in his wound, Kou runs into his cousin Fumihiro, whom he always picked on in their childhood. But as an adult, Fumihiro has become a handsome prince and is charismatic on top of that, causing all of their mutual family members to compare them, often leading to insults toward Kou. Frustrated, Kou takes advantage of the festivities and drinks himself silly. Fumihiro offers to care for Kou, leading to a steamy liaison between the two. Though it was only meant to be a one-night stand, Fumihiro seems to have no intention of leaving.
Metamorphosis
Ritsu Kitagami and Yasuhiro Adachi have been friends for as long as they can remember. Ritsu has always been quiet and considered a bit odd by those around him, but Yasuhiro cares for him all the same. Nothing has changed, even in high school, or so Yasuhiro thinks. While walking around campus, Yasuhiro sees Ritsu in a screaming match with someone, even going so far as to threaten to fight them. Yasuhiro doesn’t even recognize Ritsu. Although Yasuhiro doesn’t want to believe it, Ritsu has changed. But has Yasuhiro?
Beside Him
Haijima believes his best friend Shimizu might be in love with him, and in realizing this, he finds that he is in love with him, as well. But then Shimizu comes to school, announcing that he has a new girlfriend, and though Haijima believes Shimizu doesn’t really love the girl, over time, he discovers that Shimizu never loved him in the first place. Heartbroken, he goes to their mutual friend, Hachiya, for comfort, only for Hachiya to admit that he loves Haijima. But Haijima still loves Shimizu. What will this mean for their friendship?
Manhwa Review | Your Wish Is My Command! by Sagold
Title: Your Wish Is My Command!
Chiwoo longs to be with Hwan. Unfortunately, Hwan and Chiwoo were raised together as brothers after Chiwoo’s parents passed away when a bridge collapsed. Chiwoo has always felt guilt as a result. He feels guilt for having survived when his parents died. He feels guilty for troubling Hwan’s mom when she was already a single mother. And, of course, he feels guilt for sullying his relationship with Hwan, making it lustful when he knows it’s anything but for Hwan. So, as soon as he can, he moves out of Hwan’s home to live independently, but even with distance, he still finds himself drawn to Hwan.
Chiwoo orders a special toy for himself to try and sate his lust, but upon opening it, the toy lights up and summons a strange pink creature. As soon as it appears, it introduces itself as Sunny, and his goal is to grant Chiwoo’s wish. Chiwoo can hardly believe it, and already, he imagines his one true wish coming true: being in a romantic relationship with Hwan. But surely it can’t be that easy, and, of course, Sunny explains how his wish could come true. If Chiwoo joins Sunny in his war against his counterpart, Moony, Chiwoo will gain magical powers, which he will use to fight monsters sent by Moony.
Before he can even decide, a tentacle monster attacks, but to Chiwoo’s surprise, the monster isn’t as interested in destruction as it is in defiling Chiwoo. Thankfully, before he loses his innocence, he gets Sunny’s power and defeats the tentacle creature. Having experienced the power of a magical guardian prince, Chiwoo sees this as a one-way ticket to having his dream come true. But what Chiwoo doesn’t know is that the power of light he uses isn’t so different from the power being used against him.