Personally-followed manga, under-the-radar for everyone else

Arasa Dakedo Hatsukoi Desu (I'm Around 30 and Finally in Love) A man and woman, 32 and 28 respectively, are introduced and become each others' first boyfriend/girlfriend.

Edited by sgamer82 on Oct 7th 2019 at 12:10:59 PM

Its basically a non-otaku, more lighthearted version of wotakoi. End of year is going to be awesome, 4 of the manga I'm following are releasing new tankobons in november. The blu rays of the live action adaptations of Kingdom and The Fable will also be released on november and december, respectively. Cant wait

Edited by jun_kagami on Oct 7th 2019 at 7:09:25 PM

'Tis Time for "Torture", Princess. In a war between the human and demon kingdoms, the human Princess has been captured by the demon army, and she's been subjected to heinous tortures for information ever since! By torture we mean a chance to experience pleasures she never got to enjoy because of the war. But of course the strong-willed princess won't succumb to temptations like freshly baked toast or playing videogames together, right?

An episodic gag manga where the princess is faced with the pokiest of poodles of tortures every chapter.

That one is quite hilarious.

"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."

I also forgot to mention that it's available on Manga Plus now, so you can read it legally for free.

Edited by TrueShadow1 on Oct 8th 2019 at 3:58:43 PM

Indeed you can. Just looked at a few chapters myself.

Edited by sgamer82 on Oct 8th 2019 at 6:59:28 AM

On the isekai front, what was the one where the "good guys" actively try to kill the hero so he reincarnates, again? I remember loving the first few chaps but it was bi-monthly so I kinda forgot about it…

Edited by Lyendith on Oct 8th 2019 at 5:00:53 PM

Goodbye, Isekai Tensei.

I forget the official English name offhand not I think I mentioned it a page or two back

Edit: official English is Goodbye! I'm Being Reincarnated!

Edited by sgamer82 on Oct 8th 2019 at 9:03:23 AM

Thanks!

I'm kinda surprised I never thought of bringing this up here before. Is anyone here into yaoi, but want something genuinely good that doesn't fall into the typical trappings of yaoi? Say, an interesting story, three-dimensional characters, beautiful, anatomically-accurate artwork, great character development, sex scenes that actually advance the plot, and twists that make you want to keep reading? Last year, I discovered Sakura Gari, a yaoi manga that meets all of those criteria and more. Keep in mind, I absolutely hate yaoi and all of the tropes associated with it, yet I checked out Sakura Gari on a whim, and...it's actually great! Also, Yuu Watase made it. I'm not joking.

I won't go into the story, as the summary on the main page summarizes it already, but the manga is one of my personal guilty pleasures, for many reasons: The main character reacts realistically to his terrible situation, the seme character's Freudian Excuse actually works in explaining his behavior without giving him the Draco in Leather Pants treatment in-universe (Something Watase did attempt with Nakago in Fushigi Yuugi but failed, making him Unintentionally Unsympathetic instead), the side characters all play their roles extremely well, the artwork is some of Watase's best and is much more realistic-looking than her other work, the story is short, tight, and always moving forward, and the mystery is full of so much intrigue, you want to know what happens.

But should you decide to read this manga, I should let you in on a crap ton of warnings: This manga is dark and violent as all get-out. The manga contains the following: Murders, suicide attempts (Both successful and not), rape, sexual assault, sexual extortion, people being set on fire, child abuse, and child molestation in extremely graphic detail (Not hentai level, but enough to leave little to the imagination). And while the manga does still indulge in some cringey yaoi tropes, it also brilliantly averts, subverts, and deconstructs just as many. Seriously, if you want to read a GREAT yaoi manga, read this one. You can find scanlations pretty much anywhere without much trouble, though the final two chapters are older versions that used the old print version and aren't as clean and polished as the first seven. It's really short, too, only nine chapters long in three volumes, so its a short read. A very, very PAINFUL short read.

The artwork here is especially great, and many consider it to be Watase's absolute best. I'm inclined to agree, especially with the way she draws facial expressions in this manga. They're all so amazing and well drawn, even downright scary in some scenes!

Edited by TwilightPegasus on Oct 8th 2019 at 3:34:24 PM

I usually don’t read yaoi, and probably never for porn but

Off the top of my head, No. 6 was one I enjoyed and I heard Banana Fish was another one that was acclaimed of pretty dark?

Just went through what's currently available for 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess and finding it funny.

I think that I like is the irony that the very things that make the princess such an apparent badass are also exactly what make her so vulnerable to the "tortures".

Demon king: Location of strongest weapon, the day they are weakest, cipher of king army... You haven't got single usefull information out of the damned princess at all!!

To be fair, Demon king cannot attack humans during time they are weakest because cram scool (of his daughter?) and anime premieres...

Edited by Tenzen12 on Oct 8th 2019 at 2:00:06 PM

x4 I read it when I was in my discovering BL phase. Too dark and angsty for my tastes. Nowadays I prefer my BL cute, fluffy, and relatively drama-free, like Itoshii No Nekokke or Honto Yajuu. Admittedly, the convention of this genre make my preferences rather rare.

One recent BL that stands out to me is Junai Dropout, which manages to be both fluffy and lewd-as-hell at the same time. It's one of the really few depictions of a healthy SM relationship. No rape, no angst, just two guys who love each other and share the same fetishes.

The moment the demon king announces he has cram school, I knew it would only get wackier and wackier. Why would a femon king with a daughter have cram school??

I think tenzen was suggesting it was his daughter's cram school.

Well, that makes more sense. And less funny.

Agreed. We shall now declare the Hell-Lord attends cram school

I went ahead and made a page for 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess. Just a basic job right now, description + 3 tropes, so there's plenty of room to add more.

Woops, didn't mean to double post.

Edited by sgamer82 on Oct 8th 2019 at 9:28:09 AM

I find it amusing that the demons are actually really nice about it. Like she asks for one piece of toast and they're like what no you weirdo we're giving you LOADS of toast since you told us everything. Thanks for caving in for some ramen, have some free char siu on the side <3

Just to throw in a manga with a similar idea, but a less purely comedic tone: Negative Yuusha To Maougunkanbu (The Negative Hero and the Chief of the Demon Army)

The classic story of Hero meets Demon Lord. The twist? The Hero, Rene, genuinely doesn't want to be there, but feels compelled to fight because she has to live up to everyone's expectations. In fact, when the Demon Lord says he'll send her to her parents in the afterlife, she's grateful, because her parents died when she was a child; killed not by demons but by villagers who blamed them for the demons' attack targeting little Rene.

All in all, the poor girl is such a woobie that the Demon Lord immediately takes her in and makes her his assistant, all while the demons of his castle go out of their way to make her as happy and comfortable as possible.

5x I would say Demon Lord the super doting parent is funny enough running joke (I mean when his daughter got secret codes he had them framed and put on wall instead using them)

Renai Flag Zero Joshi no Meisou (Struggles of a Zero Love Flag Girl).

Toono Himeki is a sweet, caring girl...or so she acts. In truth, her dream is to have a massive reverse harem of handsome men. So, when offered a chance to move to a faraway village with 99% men population, she instantly jumped at it. The catch? Well, the village is cursed with "only gay love will ever blossom in the village".

This is one of the funniest manga I've read recently. The MC is such a magnificent Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, almost on par with the guys from Grand Blue in terms of scumbaggery. Her reactions and exaggerations to all her resultless efforts are pure gold.

I haven't read Spy × Family yet, but here's a video that summarizes it (spoilers for the first 11 chapters).

And boy, that engagement scene alone makes me want to jump in the bandwagon.

Have a few shorties to share:

Uchi no Musuko wa Tabun Gay (My Son is Probably Gay) - Currently only four chapters, chapters are only a few pages long. A mother realizes her son is probably gay, but she doesn't mind and ignores his (frequent) slips (such as referring to wanting a 'boyfriend' instead of 'girlfriend'). Author also did a series called Sorairo Flutter (or That Blue Sky Feeling)

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I've also found myself noticing series where the premise is characters entering a job that should be terrible, but is, in fact, a great place for them. I might ask if anyone knows any other series like this to recommend.

Kanako's Life as an Assassin - Only about 6 chapters, also only a few pages long. Kanako Nishino quit her job due to its constant power harassment and other difficulties. She finds herself interviewing at a place she finds out too late is an assassin's organization. She's about to back out, but then is told that the pay is good, the hours are steady, they recently instituted full employee benefits, and her "entrance exam" is sniping her old boss, who sexually harassed her and treated her like a slave. She takes the job and proves hilariously competent at it.

A side note is that she apparently has a thing about speaking/thinking in animal puns ("No way no way no way no way look the otter way,") that the translator(s), to their credit, has managed to work around the majority of.

Wakamono no Kuro Mahoubanare ga Shinkoku desu ga, Shuushoku shite Mitara Taiguu Iishi, Shachou mo Tsukaima mo Kawaikute Saikou desu! ( Though Young People Recoil From Entering the Black Magic Industry, I Found Its Treatment of Employees Quite Good When I Entered It, and the President and Familiar Are Cute Too So Everything Is Awesome) - If this isn't actually a Light Novel I'll be shocked.

Anywho, Franz has a talent for magic after years of study and training in school, but never cultivated that most vital of skills: how to perform at a job interview. As a result he has no offers on the tail end of his school career at any of the white magic companies. Then he's offered a job at a black magic industry. Despite their seedy reputation, , his coworkers are friendly, the pay is great, he gets room and board, a familiar to call his own (who turns out to be a succubus) and encouragement to do things his own way.

Note that if mention of the word "succubus" didn't already raise the red flag, this series is an ecchi one.

Been checking My Son Is Probably Gay as well but I don't know if I'd say I'm really following it.

New chapter of Contract Princess. Damn, some of the shots where you see the characters together really make it clear how tiny Leslie is.