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Finally I find a fantastic piece that dives into the intricacies of BDSM and S&M in a proper way. WITHOUT the smut! Aporia has a tried-and-true romance base of a story but it's biggest difference to all other manwhas is it's ability to properly present what the BDSM world is in it's proper and safest form. The S isn't a rapist. The M isn't letting themselves fall into ruin.

As another commenter mentioned, it was a possible worry going in that this was going to be yet another red flag read, but it is instead filled with a lot of green flags and leaning moments. I ... felt to delighted to sink my teeth into a lengthy and full story without being slapped in the face with sex and non-consent.

There was a lot of realistic portrayals of not just BDSM but also the confusion, frustrations, and relationship troubles that go along with it. I applaud the author(s) and artist(s) for doing a delightful work to show folks who may not know of this world in a HEALTHY light.

The only reason I have not given this a 10 is because I feel there could have been more detail and variation in color added into the artwork for showing a more fuller world/setting. Otherwise I find the story and characters to be at a 10.

I hope this story gets more attention, moving forward. I'll be sharing it with people as a proper BDSM romance tale.

*Non-Spoiler Review*
Review at chapter 18 release:
________________________

Story & Characters: 10 || The author did a fantastic job crating very unique feeling characters and all of them distinguishable from the next. This allows ease of reading, so a huge bonus point from me. We also see a lot of endearing characteristics to go alongside the comedy in the story, so you quickly get pulled into the story and characters. The two main characters have an interesting dynamic and it's incredibly wholesome. There is a lot of silliness with the comedy, but the author never resorts to cheap tactics of non-consensual interactions. (Seriously, thank you!)
I can ... enjoy this story without having awkward/weird feelings of forceful affection. Instead, we have innocent emotions, hilarious interactions, wholesome character development, and an overall satisfying story.

Art & Presentation: 9 || One thing that really stands out for me here is the attention to design for each character being special and distinct that helps give the unique feel to each person. I love this, and it never feels forced. Since it's a comedy manga, this actually helps lend to the light-hearted feeling overall. There is gradual art changes that happen alongside the character development to further aid the storytelling. I do not notice this capabilities in many other shounen-ai works. Very enjoyable!!

Overall: 9 || A fantastic piece, and it's not even finished! I've added this a special place to keep up with it as it releases. I'm so delighted to have found it. It's also listed under my "Wholesome Shounen-ai & Yaoi" Interest Stack if you are interested in similar works.

Happy Reading <3

TL;DR: Enjoyable story building, disappointing wrap-up and ending.

SLIGHT spoiler review on this (currently) un-reviewed piece. I will be discussing why I do not recommend but that has to do with the later part of the series. So with that, the breakdown:

Story & Characters: 4 - This story started out with characters than I enjoyed seeing as they learned of their problems, learned about each other, and learned how to tackle it all together. Being able to see people heal is a wonderful thing. I would like to explain why I would give this story and it's parts a 4 when I just said it was ... enjoyable. Around the later chapters (roughly the last 30~ chapters) there is a period where the author decides to cause a trauma to a main character, and then portray that character as becoming somewhat mentally unstable. While this is not uncommon in a person, what makes it bad is that the author decided to then normalise the emotional and sometimes physical abuse to the character's partner. The story even wraps up and finishes with the abused partner accepting it and taking it in stride without trying to find a way of healing. Their excuse is such things as "he helped me through all the bad" and "he's really a good person". I don't mind if you wish to write/read a story on an abusive relationship, but if you spent the WHOLE story about healing and finding a comforting place, why would you write in that one of the characters then develops extreme trauma and becomes abusive. And then end it.

Perhaps I am missing something.

Art & Design: 9 - So this is a manwha and we often get to see fantastic coloured works with this piece being no exception. The character design and careful details put in to help show strain and stress help show the stages of trauma and relief in the characters. I also enjoy being able to see characters that look a bit more their age, and not super young or handsome as a lot of comics do. Well done, and no further comments.

Overall: 4 - I will be keeping the score low as I am still quite disappointed in the choice of story direction contradicting itself and trying to show how to accept abuse without trying to heal.

Final (personal) note: Please make sure you remember that abuse comes in different forms. And none of them are okay. Sometimes the person doing the abuse may not be aware or able to heal and become better, but I hope they try and I hope people around them are able to help them try. If you aren't sure about your situation or someone else's who's close to you, talk to people.

Be safe. Be healthy. Put your well-being first.

Behold a concept of Shakespearean theater mixed with Japanese anime. This was a random pick that I was worried I may not enjoy but I was incredibly delighted to find that Baraou no Souretsu delivers a theater-like environment for it's dramatic storytelling with the hallmarks of anime that we enjoy, and somehow they work in tandem.

An Overview - This felt like it was designed from the original dramatic period pieces I grew up with with all the lords and ladies and drama enough to satisfy the most devout royalty romantics. (I maybe showing my age, with this one.) I believe the majority of the ... hate I see for this series is due to the kind of subject and delivery. It's absolutely like the old dramas and movies depicting romantic trysts and useless wars over territories back in the 'olden days' of Europe. But, most folks who would be on this website and partake in anime are probably not the same demographic who enjoys those types of works. So unfortunately we see more distaste rather than praise for Baraou no Souretsu.
However I would say that this story delivers very well the cadence of Shakespearean theater, the still arts using watercolors and thick oil paints, and the fluidity of animation all together for a good performance.

Story & Characters - 7 - Typical pacing for theater-type royalty romantic pieces, character development is suitable and I felt it was fleshed out. Due to the sheer amount of drama, I cannot give this a higher score. While drama is necessary for this type of piece, it's also limiting the ability to be much better. The characters we well designed, and I felt there were enough diversity in personalities and styles without being over the top or unbelievable.

Art & Design - 8 - I already previously touched on this but the directors and artists that put in all their hard work absolutely understood what it meant to keep with the Shakespearean themes. Particularly looking at the oil-based still painting for harsher scenes, or even the water-color-based stills for the more general storytelling or lighter moments. This really brings in a live theater feeling, like how you see scenes designed and placed for the actors on stage or utilize. As well I have noticed the art team chose to go with more sombre colors and not straying too far from natural pallets to allow a more realistic approach, which I absolutely appreciate since we too often see vibrant hues that don't quite belong in the setting they are placed.
Another note to be said about the speech patterns and voice actors and their fantastic use of rhyme to again keep to the olde theater theme. It absolutely keeps you remembering of the theater stage and the art's emotions.

Overall - 8 - I celebrate this piece that brings Shakespearean theater to life through anime. This is unique in it's delivery and unique in it's design. While not perfect, I still greatly enjoyed my time.

Happy watching!

Well I don't often feel compelled to write reviews that aren't positive, but this one takes the cake.

This is yaoi, and as us fans know, the yaoi scene is filled with foal play, abuse, rape, and worse. However this time I feel like the poor writing as if straight out of a fangirl's wet dream takes the cake. Let's do a little dive into why.


Story & Characters - 4 - I should have known this wouldn't be much of a good story when it starts off with a guy groping another man's crotch out in public while looking at the man's father and ... making jokes. Red flag number 1. While it's not completely hopeless, I would say there's not much you could do to salvage the broken design for a story of parental figures being extremely irresponsible and sexualizing a minor. One of the main characters was the step father for this kid for 3 years and they fell in love with each other, and this spurs on the new lover who's entered the scene to almost provoke the child to react and vice versa. It's like watching a tug of war game and no one is stopping it to say "this isn't right, how about we DON'T talk about having sex with the 16 year old?"
At one point the ex-father gets pulled aside by his step-son and they end up making out. The new boyfriend in the situation notices, calmly lets it slide and does nothing. (Author, just a heads up most sane folks who immediately put up red flags and at least berate the ex-father for allowing/continuing this behavior.)
The continuous behavior of the two older men constantly trying to get frisky with each other (because they apparently can't keep it in their pants for 3 days while the son is over) is beyond confusing. This could have been written better.
I believe this story was just a way for the author to display their NTR and incest fetish at this point. And look, I ain't judging anyone here because I think most of us can admit to looking at some interesting themes for our porn, but this excuse of a story is so bad that even the minute pornographic parts aren't interesting in the slightest.

Art & Design - 5. Average across the board. Nothing interesting to note.

Overall - 4 Bad and not work the time to read. I felt more confused and annoyed than even just "meh" or "okay".

Anyways, happy reading as always!

*Non-spoiler review*

Suicide Line is neither bad, nor good. "Fine" is a great way to put it.

Story & Characters - The premise of the story is interesting enough, since it's the concept of working in the police force with the ability to "sense" the dead. It's a good setup. The characters don't feel quite fleshed out, to be honest, and it seems they are instead just romanticized idols with no character progression. It's not bad, but it's not good.

Art & Design - This one is a solid "meh" for me. I think some folks would like the art direction because it's Josei, but I ... can't get behind it. It has this feeling of constantly trying to push the "pretty boy detectives EVERYWHERE" vibe which gets boring when all the characters start to look the same (even the older characters). Variety is key for a good story, even in art. Also sometimes you'd see panels that don't quite go together, as if the story was being a bit more rushed through in certain areas, so you'd see a longer span of time over fewer panels. This leads to a bit of confusion and an incoherent feeling.

Overall, solid "fine". It's not bad, it's not good.

*Non-spoiler review*

Now HERE is an amazing experience that had me laughing, crying, worried, happy, excited, anxious.... and so much more. I can't believe this masterpiece fell into my lap. Holy hell, by the end I'm just stunned. Absolutely entertaining!

Story & Characters - The main point of this story IS the characters. The self, who they are, what is happening. Change the World is a fantastic work of art of storytelling from different points of life and how people collide (literally and figuratively). Without going into too much detail, I found the characters to be absolutely enthralling and enchanting. Kanzaki brought to life all of these ... different types of personalities without failing to keep their unique (heh) identity. All the way to the end the character development and story pacing was perfect for me. Absolute delight.

Art & Style - One point that is really sticking with me is the flawless aptitude for expressing emotions and the most INSANE character changes through careful art. Change the World's art style and execution is one of the most perfectly designed pieces I've seen in manga, and it helps with a story that is this crazy to begin with. No other art style would have fit this absurd and twisted story.

Overall, I have this at a 10. I sat for a bit to think if there are ways it could have been made better or why this WOULDN'T be a masterpiece in my eyes, but I am failing. This was such a thrilling and enchanting experience I wanted to cry and smoke a cigarette at the same time. (Jokes aside, please don't smoke.)

Happy reading!

**Warning - Manga has an 'incomplete' ending**

That being said, I still found it a wonderfully enjoyable story even if it wasn't finished.

Story & Characters - The story concept is perhaps common. 'Psychic' detective using his ability to do his job. But what I felt put this aside from the rest is the drive of the main character and how he operates. The character development helped set the story apart from the others of the genre, and the pacing of a new case every 2~ chapters helps keep the story going with more information rather than resting on a single case. I do have a ... preference for this type of storytelling, so I admit a bias on this part.

Art & Style - This is not remarkable, and the art is average or a little above such. I enjoyed the work, and felt it was all well done to tell the story properly. Otherwise, I have no comments.

Overall, a 7 is a solid rating even if it doesn't have a complete "ending". I am very glad I took the time to read this short series.

Happy reading!

*Non-spoiler review*

This is a short and sweet story - wholesome and romantic.

Characters & Story - Story was fleshed out, and nothing felt left out or unfinished. However the author's style did cause a bit of confusion as not all scenarios were clearly portrayed or written. Short story also means less time for character development, but Tantei to Neko-chan fulfills this perfectly fine for the main characters.

Art & Style - This one is a lower scoring, maybe a 5. The art work is not my style as it's too "soft" on the design which makes images seem almost incomplete/unfinished. However if you enjoy that ... style, this'll be up your alley. Having said that - the softer and unfinished style of drawing does lend to the more wholesome and 'light' feeling that this manga gives.

Overall - 7 - the story and wholesome atmosphere carries this piece, while for me the art is more subpar.

Happy reading!

*Slight spoiler warning*

Alright, folks. Let's take a look at this masterpiece of a smut fest. I .... well I will be the first to admit I'm a sucker for a good story paired with fantastic smut and art. So I'll give some feedback on Anata wa Iyarashii Hito.

Art & Design - 10 - Just 10. The art for this is exceptionally detailed and planned out, and nothing felt over-done or under-done. This had the feeling of the OG 90s manga but with the new age art style. The artist was able to perfectly portray emotions without going down the overly female-esq characters (side note ... that the artist loves eyelashes to the extreme, however). Showing tenderness on a masculine face is probably harder to do since we don't see it often. I appreciate little things like that.

Characters & Story - 9 - This is a more masculine cast, but not at the Bara level. So going into the characters we have a bit of a rougher feel from them, but the story is delivered in a way that it still feels more tender/soft (as we are used to seeing with BL manga). There is solid character development and the pacing is steady. For context, there is a touch of BDSM/power play involved in the relationship, so we see one of the main characters have a side to him you would not expect but the author delivers this fluctuating personality perfectly.

Overall Takeaway - This became an instant favorite because of the more masculine cast with the detailed art. This doesn't feel half-assed and it really is a solid 10 for me (perhaps bias for the fetishized themes). For such a short story I am very surprised by how well the main characters are written and drawn. The detail and carefulness shows.

Recommended. Cheers and have a good day!