The Vampire And The Virgin Rose by Komachi Katsura

 

Yayoi’s in love with his classmate Chitose. Up until now, he’s been satisfied with watching the attractive but aloof vampire from afar. Then one day, Chitose asks to feed on Yayoi, who hesitantly agrees. But there’s one condition before each feeding: they must sleep together first. It’s a startling proposition for anyone, especially for Yayoi, who’s never even had his first kiss! And even though Chitose insists that all they’re doing is feeding, the warmth of his embrace suggests otherwise...

My Rate: 8 (tapas.io/series/the-vampire-and-the-virgin-rose-mature/info)

The graphic of Komachi Katsura is somewhat disconcerting, and at first you even wonder if the characters are really appealing or not, but once you enter her visual world, you found that indeed it's very beautiful and the characters are sort of mesmerizing. I really liked this story, even if it's not joyous or sweet, it has always a bittersweet undertone, it's at the very end and happily ever after (with a cat too!). Even the starting of the love between Chitose and Yayoi is bittersweet, but in a way Chitose is always nice and true to Yayoi, and he doesn't force the other boy to do nothing, actually he indulges in his every wim, like saving one canary life. I would have not minded to read more of adult Chitorse and Yayoi, but this is just one volume story, and it focuses mostly on their high school life.

Jealousy by Scarlet Beriko

The prequel to the popular yakuza rom-com Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato!

A yakuza head finds himself ensnared in the unwavering attentions of a sometimes impetuous but always cunning schemer. If being yakuza doesn’t get him killed, his new lover just might!

Uichi Rogi is in a bind, both literally and figuratively, when he meets Akitora Oyamato, the yakuza head who’s come to collect a debt from Uichi’s lover. Instantly smitten, Uichi concocts dubious and often dangerous schemes to get closer to the man, but his lies come at a heavy price—one he may regret having to pay for Akitora’s affections.

My Rate: 7 (amzn.to/41QCWJJ)

The love story between Uichi aand Akitora is totally twisted, not at all sweet and hardly romantic. Nevertheless I found myself wishing these two could find a way to be together. Having read Fourth Generation Head, the story of Akitora's son, Tatsuyuki, I found even more upsetting the fact that Uichi knew Tatsuyuki since he was a child, but nontheless he raped him. Because yes, in these Yakuza series, rape, violence, murder are common events, so common that, at one point, you don't believe possible that there is a positive resolution for the two main characters. But in their own way, this is a positive ending (saying it's an happy ending maybe is too much).

Therapy Game: Restart by Meguru Hinohara

Sparks continue to fly in this Therapy Game sequel where Shizuma and Minato learn to navigate commitment—in both work and love!

From a forgotten one-night stand to a plan for revenge, Shizuma and Minato have been through it all. But now that they’re officially a couple, new challenges await, and their fledgling relationship must learn to soar!

Minato, with Shizuma along to assist, is on location for a photo shoot he’s doing for the girls at the bar. In true Minato fashion, he fully immerses himself in his work—so much so that he doesn’t realize until the shoot is over that he completely forgot Shizuma’s birthday! And to make matters worse, being on location means he’s unable to get him any presents. Shizuma says it’s okay, but Minato has made up his mind. He must do something!

My Rate: 8 (amzn.to/4faro9C)

I really love this series; sure, Restart is dragging a bit the relationship between Shizuma and Minato, and sincerely that after 5 volumes they haven't yet moved in together is a little bit disappointing, but it's also true that the introduction of Shizuma's boss, a female boss (or at least that is how it's introduced, but I would bet everything he is a man crossdressing) has given a little bit of unbalancing to Shizuma and Minato. Minato is jealous, but even if the logical option would be to move with Shizuma and stakes his claim, he is reticent cause he is worried about Shizuma's mother, that has yes accepted the homosexual relationship of her younger son, but is still hoping Shizuma will marry a woman and have children. Of course it's a given that the graphic is wonderful and the sex scene are spicy but not vulgar, even if very detailed.

This Wolf Is Not Scary by Rico Sakura

 

When humanity evolved and gained half-human, half-animal forms, a new social order was established. Now thoroughbred wolves like Shirou stand at the top of the heap. But Shirou has a secret: Unlike his relatives who are all about strength and dominance, he's into cute things. That's how this whole deal with Usami started—ever since he saw the boy's rabbit form and fell head over heels, Shirou's desperately wanted to eat him up like the big bad wolf he is…

My Rate: 8 (amzn.to/4dtbTaH)

The first book in this series is more cute than sexy; the forbidden love story between a carnivore (wolf) and an herbivore (rabbit) happens in high school. It's for sure less tragic than Romeo and Juliet, and actually, no one of the respective family seems really opposed to it. It appears that Shirou and Usami have just only to start really talking to each other (and not just stealing glances) for their story to happen. The graphic is nice, and the characters, even if the story is short, have a specific personality. The alofness of Usami actually is quite nice, even if sometime I wondered if he, maybe, didn't have some relationship issues... sure he had a bad experience in the past (nothing traumitc, just children stuff), but it seemed a little too much for him to behave in such a detached manner. Anyway, also this aspect made him an interesting character.

Thoroughbred Doesn't Flutter by Rico Sakura

Shishidou the lion is a playboy who's always in conflict with the thoroughbred honor-student Toshimasa Shiba. However, they were childhood friends and used to get along well in the past. Everything changed between them when Shishidou reached puberty.

My Rate: 7

The second book in the series it's a little less cute and a little more sexy. Shiba and Shishidou are childhood friends, but when puberty hits, things got derailed. In this series basically sexual urges are equalled to hunting, and Shishidou, a lion, was unable to control his urges when he was an adolescent. Not that later things got better. Actually Shiba decides to "sacrifice" himself to avoid Shishidou hunting other herbivore... even if, I think Shiba was just jelaus. I think the second book doesn't have a satisfying ending, meaning that, I'm not sure how these two will overcome their family in order to be able to be happy together. Right now I think they are just living an high school romance, we don't have the basis to say if it will last.