New Read - Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl (Complete Manga Collection)

I saw that Seven Seas was advertising "Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl" with a premise that caught my eye, so I decided to pick it up for myself when it was released digitally. I am glad I did.

The story begins with Satomi has a crush on the cute "guy" in her class, Mizuki Kanda. She invites "him" to help out with a maid cafe fundraising event where guys are dressed as maids. Kanada agrees if Satomi would go on a date. This was a dare, this was done because Kanada is actually a girl and assumed Satomi knew and, if she didn't, would figure it out then.

She didn't know. She didn't figure it out.

And they end up going on the date.

And then another.

And another as they become a couple.

The series follows a slow burn, adorable romance where one of them is hiding something key about themselves from the other.

While Satomi is introduced first, a lot of the series is told through the focus and perspective of Mizuki. This makes the series, in my opinion, stronger as it shows Mizuki not wanting not to lie about herself, her internal struggle as she's never realized she was attracted to girls, and ultimately the real confession both of her love for Satomi but the revelation about herself. It leads to some great moments by the end.

There is some partial nudity toward the end of the series as they "prove they're women" to each other, just as a warning to those who try to avoid such content.

Overall, I enjoyed this series and I'm glad I took a chance on it.

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New Read - I Think Our Son Is Gay, Volume 5 (Final Volume)

What an ending to this short series.

Hiroki is involved in the plot, kind of, but much of this volume is about his Mom, Tomo, and his brother.

First on Yuri. Yuri finally finds the words to understand that he's asexual. After hearing another kid at school who is, he started up a conversation and struck up a friendship. Yuri is finally embracing and understanding who he is better as an asexual person, and it was so sweet to see. It's good to see more asexual representation in media.

Next, the Dad is no longer on long term assignment out of town and as he's around more, he's saying more homophobic things. So, the Mom finally sits him down and tells him, "I'm pretty sure Hiroki is gay, you're being hurtful." The Dad finally has a "Holy crap" moment as he rolls through in his head all the homophobic things he's said in the past. He still doesn't get it, but from then on you see him actively making a concerted effort to show that he loves his son and that he's open / supportive of gay people. It was a very "Oh my goodness, I said that? Why did I say that?" He needed that metaphorical slap in the face and, frankly, it seems to be making him wake up to realize how wrong he was.

He also met Tomo's gay coworker and as he saw two gay men who were not this caricature he built up in his head. Just a regular, average folks like him. This plus his wife's conversations helped him realize how wrong he was.

We need more conversations like this and we need more Mom's out there like Tomo who are ready to embrace and love their LGBTQ+ kids.

Support LGBTQ+ Kids.

Always.

Anyway, love this series. Would read again.

@manga@a.gup.pe

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New Read - I Think Our Son Is Gay, Volume 4

Okay there, Volume 4. Coming in hard. Let's review quickly.

It's becoming clearer that Hiroki's brother Yuri is likely asexual. They handle it gently and have done so throughout. He wants to have friends. He likes having friends of various genders. However, he never is interested in dating / romance. This volume ramps up more of Yuri's story and the Mom (Tomoko), once again, being incredibly accepting.

Further, we get more with Hiroki and Daigo, including an entire chapter from Daigo's perspective - which was fun. Daigo gets a girlfriend in Volume 4 and Hiroki's way of dealing with it is to just stop spending as much time with Daigo. But Daigo doesn't want that. He thinks Hiroki is incredible and wants to spend time with him. Which is adorable.

Tomoko continues noticing things about how the world treats LGBTQ+ people. First, she notices TV shows that use gay people as the butt of a joke. Second, she notices how some of her coworkers have been treating Mr. Tano differently now that they know he's gay. She internally frustrated by the whole thing and, at times, outwardly chastises folks about it.

Which I appreciate.

She's trying to be an ally in her own way as a protective Mom who is seeing things she never noticed before in the world and about how LGBTQ+ people are treated. It's an awakening and I know exactly how that feels. As a straight person, I went through this same process of being "Wait, this is wrong and bad" about the treatment of LGBTQ+ folks in our culture and just not even noticing problematic things before.

I included here a set of panels that I think captures that moment well in the manga.

Only one more volume to go.

@manga@a.gup.pe

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New Read - I Think Our Son Is Gay, Volume 3

I finished up Volume 3 of "I Think Our Son is Gay" yesterday and still cute.

First, let's hit the Mom's arc. She's speaks to her gay coworker (see few shots here) asking the question any straight parent of an LGBTQ+ kid would ask, "How can I best help my child?" Her coworker then asks if she'd change Hiroki, to which she says, "No." He then says, "Then you're off to a good start." As he said, just be supportive and if she wants to talk about what he lived through, he's there. It's a sweet, deeper moment amidst all the moments of cute moments with her son.

There is a growing issue of the neighbor girl who CLEARLY has a crush on Hiroki who CLEARLY doesn't know. He's super nice to her because, frankly, he is to everyone. Which is sweet. But he is clueless that this girl has a crush on him. And she's a little clueless that he has a crush on his best friend Daigo.

Also, the Mom chastises the Dad a few times when he hurts Hiroki's feelings. No, she understands that Hiroki doesn't have any girls he's into. That doesn't make him weird. That doesn't make him strange. That makes him Hiroki. And the Dad implying that he's less than because he isn't into girls at the moment (ever) is hurtful. The Mom, I can tell, is going to keep stepping into protect her gay son and I just am very proud of her for doing so. Which seems weird...but I am.

I am very much enjoying this series. Especially being that I'm a parent myself who has to grapple with all the things parents grapple with as they are raising teenagers (and two nearly 10 year olds). I am striving to be as supportive, if not more, as the Mom here.

Anyway, two more volumes to go.

@manga@a.gup.pe

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New Read - I Think Our Son Is Gay, Volume 2

After reading volume 1, I reserved from the library all four additional volumes of I Think Our Son is Gay so I could read through it.

Volume 2 - still cute.

Volume 2, Hiroki is still into Daigo. Still hiding that he's gay from everyone. His Mom is still trying to do everything in her power to show that she will support him when he's ready to come out.

We also learn that the Mom works a part time job and that one of her coworkers is gay. She is very interested in asking him questions about his life, his upbringing, about how his parent's reacted. It's kind of sweet seeing how she wants to ask an older, out gay person because she truly wants to know how to help her son.

Another subplot in this volume revolves around Hiroki's younger brother. He has girls who have crushes son him, but he is just...ambivalent to the idea of dating altogether. Which is fine. However, the girls in his class get very angry at him for just trying to be their friends and he really doesn't understand why they want to move on to dating. I feel this will develop more in subsequent volumes.

Overall, it continued being cute. The Mom continued trying to be supportive. Hiroki continues to be in the closet.

On to Volume 3!

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New Read - I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up

Machi Morimoto is being constantly bothered by her parents about the fact that she's a single woman. They keep trying to set her up on dates with men to try to force her to "Settle down and get married." Her friend Hana suggests the two of them get married instead saying, "That'll shut them up."

Japan does not have widespread legalized same-sex marriage, but certain Wards do allow similar legal arrangements to a marriage. So that's what they do. Her homophobic parents do shut up and basically shut her out.

Hana is a lesbian. She realized she was attracted to girls in high school. Machi always assumed she was straight, but relationships never went very far before because she could never really get too invested. As the series progresses and the two of them live together as a couple, Machi becomes more and more comfortable with Hana and slowly falls for her.

There are some moments where I cringed, like moments where Hana focuses on the size of Machi's breasts. But, overall, this was a sweet, short, but slow burn romance of two best friends becoming lovers. The flashbacks to high school moments between the two of them were also cute when compared back to modern day.

The other part of this is that through their relationship, both Machi and Hana grew stronger as people. Both did better in their respective careers. And Machi finally stood up to her homophobic Mother in a dramatic fashion including kicking her out of her home.

Overall, I enjoyed it. Glad I got it for an early birthday present and will definitely re-read it again!

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New Read - Is Love the Answer?

Is Love the Answer? is a story of self-discovery for Chika as she embraces her true self as an asexual person.

Before I go too far, I want to note an early volume trigger warning - there is a scene where Chika's the boyfriend tries to push himself onto her sexually. She makes it clear she doesn't want it and he stops, but it is a potentially triggering panel.

Continuing on.

The story begins in high school with Chika feeling weird, isolated, and hating that she can't feel "normal" like her friends when it comes to dating / sex. She has never really felt sexual attraction to anyone and when she discusses it with friends, she is constantly brushed off.

That is, until she gets to college and meets an asexual Professor who helps her to find the words to describe how she feels and who she is. The entire story is about Chika learning to understand herself, her new friends she makes who embrace her as she is, and the community of folks she surrounds herself with. From beginning to end she goes from alien, in her mind / the minds of her friends to trusted friend who actually helps mediate a relationship issue between two others.

It is a well crafted story provides asexual representation. In the closing notes on the manga, mangaka Uta Isaki, notes they wanted specifically wanted more asexual representation in manga with characters who were more sociable and friendly, in their view.

This is the fourth work of Uta Isaki I've read, the previous three were self-published works translated by Irodori Comics. All are great and I definitely recommending looking into their work!

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New Read - I Think Our Son Is Gay, Volume 1

I had been seeing this and considering reading it for a while. It is supposedly a cute series about a Mom and her kids, one of whom is gay. I am glad I picked it up from the library.

Each chapter tells a relatively self-contained story with some continuity between chapters about Hiroki, his Mom Tomoko, and his brother Yuuri. In each chapter, Hiroki is trying to hide that he's gay. He's embarrassed and afraid to share that side of himself with the world. However, every single chapter, his Mother is doing everything in her power to make it very known that she loves and supports him if he decides to acknowledge it.

The first volume gives us chapter after chapter of Hiroki being a cute teenager with a crush on a boy at school, who may like him back. It also has the Mom being supportive and encouraging all while Hiroki keeps trying to hide that side of himself.

It's cute, but also bittersweet. I want Hiroki to feel he can comfortably be himself and I find myself rooting for him each chapter. His Dad, who shows up intermittently, makes little dings and comments here and there about how "weird" or "gross" it would be for two men to kiss; all the while the Mom is encouraging and supportive. You get an inside look into her thoughts the whole time and all of her thoughts are, "I think my son is gay and I love / support him." I love this.

It shows two types of parents - the one you hide yourself from and the one you are open with. I want to be the latter and it's kind of emotional seeing just how loving / supportive Tomoko is for her son.

Yes, I liked this volume and plan to keep on reading.

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New Read - Go For It Again, Nakamura!

Go For It, Nakamura! was an adorable, single volume manga series about the titular Nakamura having a hard time accepting his crush and trying to befriend a boy in his class, Hirose. It was adorable and charming. I really enjoyed it!

When a sequel manga was announced (Go For It Again, Nakamura), I was excited to read it. I picked it up this past weekend from the library to check it out. Let me tell you...it's, okay.

The art is still adorable and Nakamura's nervousness / awkward moments are still mostly cute. However, it just doesn't hit as well as the first part. There's some odder moments about Nakamura sniffing sweaty clothes, some moments where a straight boy is flirting with Hirose because the girl he likes is into BL manga. There's also moments where it's implied that one of the male teachers has a crush on a Nakamura's crush (Hirose), which felt uncomfy. Just, overall, it's less charming and less cute than the first part of the series. Which, is disappointing, because I had mentally built it up so much in my head.

Long story short - it's mostly cute, not as charming as the first part, but still it's good to have more awkward Nakamura stories for those who enjoyed the original.

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