If you’ve ever asked yourself “I wonder what Dr. Doom [fill-in other favorite villain] does on his day off? Does he go shopping in his full armor and cape or what? What’s he like when he relaxes?” then Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san / Mr. Villain’s Day Off is for you. SPOILERS . . . If you’re looking for something fun and light, with a tiny bit of a heart, this manga is nearly perfect. There are a couple of weird subplots that I skim when I hit them (namely a very out of place story of a friendship between an oak tree spirit and a cherry tree spirit, but also some of the origin stories of the Good ..read more

… And now back to our safe, little bishies. I don’t even know what I was looking for when I stumbled across Hoshizora wo Mitsumeta Sono Ato de / After Staring at the Starry Sky. Probably smut, but, you know, sometimes you gotta settle for romance. SPOILERS . . . If you are someone who actually needs to use a wheelchair, I would not necessarily recommend reading this one. I suspect it would drive you crazy on a lot of levels, but also a big part of the romance seems to involve the astrophotographer, Tougo Amase, randomly picking up and carrying around, princess style, our protagonist, Subaru M ..read more

So, yeah, Akuma no Kare is a one shot and is exactly as dirty as the cover implies. It’s also not yaoi, but bara. SPOILERS . . . . Tsutomu is a regular salaryman who, somehow, buys a grimoire and attempts to summon a demon. Initially, his plan seems to be to exact revenge on the people at his job, but the demon that appears in the magic circle is so hot that Tsutomu is like, “Nah, what I want is sex!” Which for levels of bara hotness, I don’t necessarily think this is a bad choice on Tsutomu’s part! I mean… hello, MUSCLES! At any rate, after the signing of the contract, the devil, Kurahato ..read more

If you’re in the mood for a very light, cute romance with an actual love triangle (instead of a love-Y), Kieta Hatsukoi / My Love Mix-Up might be for you. SPOILER . . . . I’ve only read the first volume so far, and what’s nice about Kieta Hatsukoi / My Love Mix-Up is that it’s nearly a complete story in one volume (and it is TRULY complete in 8 volumes). You do, at least, get to the end of the “joke” of the set-up by the end of the first volume. I can see, however, how fans might clamor for more. I really want to see what happens with these characters. The meet cute (mess) goes like this: Aok ..read more

Finally, some yaoi. If your fantasy is sweaty high school baseball players, RePlay is for you. SPOILERS . . . . I can’t say that this one was for me, exactly? I honestly only picked it up because I got so giddy with my new library card from St. Paul Public Library that I accidentally put it on hold, not realizing it would come as an e-book. I’d like to imagine that the concept for this manga came to Tsukuhara-sensei like this, “Oh, my god, did you know that there’s a baseball term called a battery, in which a pitcher choses a favorite catcher and they stick together in every game! Also, oh my ..read more

I’m not normally the type for straight-romance, but the schtick of Hades-sama no Mujihi na Konin / Lord Hades’s Ruthless Marriage is that Hades is really NOT interested in marriage. Unfortunately, that rat b*astard Cupid stuck him right int he forehead with an arrow (as you can see on the cover of the first volume.) This whole thing is unbelievably stupid, but I have to admit that I enjoyed it anyway. SPOILERS . . . . Look at this terrifying creature (with a literal pansy on his a$$). A person can suddenly understand everything that’s wrong with Greek and Roman mythology, if you imagine this ..read more

Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu / The Summer Hikaru Died is a poignant, deeply sublimated, barely acknowledged (but definitely queer) love story between a boy and… the monster that returned in the body of his dead friend. A new genre, perhaps? Horror Romance or Romance Horror? SPOILERS . . . . Yoshiki has a problem. His best friend (and unrequited love) Hikaru went missing in the mountains. In desperation, Yoshiki went looking for him and found a body, but before he could tell anyone, he collapsed with a fever. When Yoshiki woke up, who should have miraculously returned but Hikaru? Yoshiki knows that ..read more

Here on this site, I have complained MANY TIMES that I sometimes have to wonder if librarians read the manga before they decide where to shelve it. But, this is the first time I’ve had to ask myself… did the Official English language publisher read this book? Like, at all? SPOILERS . . . They did potential fans of Arai-sensei a great disservice, in my opinion. Because, you might think, from the title, that what this story will be about is Arai-sensei’s self-discovery. What happened at 30 that caused Arai-sensei to declare they have no gender? What does it mean to Arai-sensei to be genderless ..read more

Aku no Himitsu Soushiki Neko/ The Evil Secret Society of Cats has worked its wicked spell on me, because this series is as addictive as it is adorable (literally their superpowers.) SPOILERS . . . You know, I’ve reviewed a number of manga like this from Chi’s Sweet Home to Wonder Cat Kyuu-chan and there’s not a lot I can really say about the cuteness of cats that is groundbreaking. As a cat owner–or am I a member of the human arm of the Evil Secret Society???–I have to say that this one had some real laugh out loud moments for me. I was particularly charmed by the evil society’s ability to ma ..read more

I promised a return to smut, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to meet you halfway. There is a lot of nudity and sex in Last Gender: Nanimono demo nai Watashitachi / Last Gender: When We Are Nameless, but I’m not sure it counts as smut, per se. I don’t know exactly what was happening in Japan in 2020-2021, but this is yet-another “gender and sexual minorities 101,” type of manga, but this one is fictionalized and framed around a sex bar in California where sexual minorities can meet and mingle. SPOILERS . . . . I was actually able to get the first volume of Last Gender from the Saint Paul Publ ..read more