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manly men made of mush
May. 20th, 2010 07:25 pmI recently reread two books that have somewhat similar premises and very pretty art. Sukinante ienai! by Ioka Itsuki and illustrated by Arima Katsumi and Mister romantist no koi by Sunahara Touko and illustrated by Sakuragi Yaya both feature handsome capable guys who can't get what they really want--someone to love them. They are the typical seme types who just really want to be ukes.
In the first one, a salaryman has always known he's gay but he's been too afraid to venture out to where the gay people are. So he'd dated the random gay guy he'd run into, who'd inevitably look to him to take the lead in and out of bed. He is both jealous of and attracted to a designer he works on a project with. The designer has the soft, almost feminine-but-not looks that he'd always wanted instead of his masculine good looks. The designer turns out to be a lot more aggressive than first appearances would indicate, and so he gets his wish.
The second book is about a high school student who is the ace of the tennis team, student council president, a good student with top scores. But inside he's mushy. He's had a crush on an underclassmen for a year. He has no courage to speak to his crush, but he will borrow his sister's magazine to check how his compatibility is with his crush in the horoscope. He has a best friend who looks adorable and sweet (the way he'd always wanted to look), but has quite a sharp tongue. At one point he sees his crush and says, "Isn't he so cool! ♥" to which his best friend responds, "If you like that type, just look in the mirror." XDXD; The crush is a normal guy who at first is put off by the main character because the main character is one of those types who just looks expressionless (even if he's melting inside) and seems too perfect (from the outside), but he learns to see the adorable sap inside.
The second book has a bit too much of the misunderstandings that come from insecurity in the second half for my taste, but it was still very sweet. The first book is much better at not succumbing too much to the misunderstandings cliche.
I would love to read more of these types of stories...Hopefully I'll come across more that don't suck, and maybe have just as nice artwork as these two. ^^;
In the first one, a salaryman has always known he's gay but he's been too afraid to venture out to where the gay people are. So he'd dated the random gay guy he'd run into, who'd inevitably look to him to take the lead in and out of bed. He is both jealous of and attracted to a designer he works on a project with. The designer has the soft, almost feminine-but-not looks that he'd always wanted instead of his masculine good looks. The designer turns out to be a lot more aggressive than first appearances would indicate, and so he gets his wish.
The second book is about a high school student who is the ace of the tennis team, student council president, a good student with top scores. But inside he's mushy. He's had a crush on an underclassmen for a year. He has no courage to speak to his crush, but he will borrow his sister's magazine to check how his compatibility is with his crush in the horoscope. He has a best friend who looks adorable and sweet (the way he'd always wanted to look), but has quite a sharp tongue. At one point he sees his crush and says, "Isn't he so cool! ♥" to which his best friend responds, "If you like that type, just look in the mirror." XDXD; The crush is a normal guy who at first is put off by the main character because the main character is one of those types who just looks expressionless (even if he's melting inside) and seems too perfect (from the outside), but he learns to see the adorable sap inside.
The second book has a bit too much of the misunderstandings that come from insecurity in the second half for my taste, but it was still very sweet. The first book is much better at not succumbing too much to the misunderstandings cliche.
I would love to read more of these types of stories...Hopefully I'll come across more that don't suck, and maybe have just as nice artwork as these two. ^^;
