Monthly Reading Round-up

Inspired by the wonderful thotcrimes

Woooooohhhh! It's been a minute but now that the semester is over I am happy to be back uploading an all new reading round-up for the month of April.

Apothecary diaries I watched (slight cheating) and read a bit of

What an adorable show with one of the best depictions of a woman in anime I have seen (not to mention the hottest eunuch ever, ahem Jinshi). Maomao’s feline excitement over trying poisons and crafting brand new medicines had me UwUing with her. The cunning investigations she takes up were so fun to tag along for. The show also does not shy away from taking seriously many of the experiences of being an imperial consort in China: the pressure to produce an heir and to worry about maintaining the romantic and sexual whims of the emperor. A beautifully drawn and animated show with excellent speculative explorations of women in Tang dynasty’s imperial palace and court.

UwU/10

Death by Landscape

The book calls itself “fan nonfiction” because of its creative use of many different source materials. From first-person experience larping, essays on comparative literature, fantasy novels, to Instagram influences, the book playfully dwells on weird narratives and the even weirder contexts we live in. This weirdness is created by the current context of severe local/global/irreconcilable climate change and consumer capitalist dominance. Yet, Wilk’s endlessly inventive spirit encourages us to get weird and go outside of classic progress narratives of history, self-help, or narrative story-telling, but encourages readers to sit with the countless oddities that surround us as many worlds collapse. By far the best book I have read this year and it has inspired me to create my own fan nonfiction.

10/10

Sun+Moon Volumes 1 and 2

This BL series had me hooked for its refreshing premise. A drag queen make-up artist takes in a yakuza good-for-nothing homophobe and turns him into a loving partner. Largely the yakuza man’s masculinity getting channeled into bottoming throughout the series was cathartic (as I am surrounded by hypermasculine loud truck owning straight men daily). Also, the depictions of him experiencing gay sex for the first time was actually quite well layed out as they worked there way through volume 1 and early volume 2 just doing oral and fingering (which I found refreshing from the full throttle sex most narratives display). Overall, quite wholesome and would recommend as a light read, especially if you like non-traditional (even for BL) powerplay and gender dynamics.

7/10

Well that concludes this months round-up, wishing you all an amazing summer. <3 Stay pink :>

School just finished! So suffice to say this final month of school was not the most reading filled experience... but I sure did make time for some things.....

Soooo some of you mayhave noticed I have made a Beastars fan listing. Yet, I am actively procrastinating making some buttons for people who join to copy and paste onto their site to signify they are the coolest freak ever for liking Beastars (/you are an undercover furry). Well, Beast Complex 1 and 2 were excellent.I think I recommend them for anyone looking to ween themselves off of the crack (maybe justme) of Beastars the series and return to "reality" . Cute short stories in the world of Beastars with one absolutely adorable date between Legoshi and Haru at the end of Beast Complex II.

Alright: fuck and love this book. As a gay boy growing up in rural Alabama this book so thoroughly critiqued and enlivened and reactivated this world for me I almost perished from emotions I had long forgot. So, if you are a fan of magical realism, boyhood queer sexuality, and coming of age (but in the opposite way of Catcher in the Rye)I would recommend this book. Deeply impactful.

And... last but not least

I have listened to all the feral fujoshi's in my life and have become a convert to danmei. I have read the first two books of this children's series (I mean this as a Japanese BL fan who is used to graphic sex in the first chapter) and loved its slow build. The slow romance and backstory, written so lightly and in fantasy novel pros, has me swooned. Would highly recommend as light reading that nurtures your heart but keeps you desperately drooling for more.

Stay Pink everyone through the early winter cold

Who Knows! School could be as bad as a curse, I can't READ BL. Maybe I should, maybe I should read all of the time, but then I am sitting next to some rando on a flight: do I really want to whip out a book of two sadomasochistic teens charming eachother through the matrixes of pain and pleasure for my (and soon to be this stranger's) eyes? Yes, ofc, but then I don't know if that is ethical . So alas here I am. I have read the first two installments of this one BL/horror corss over:

This horror BL is soft... sorry, dont expect to be scared and don't expect to be titillated. It's a slow burner that I would recommend for its beautiful art style, slow burn of creepiness, and its horribly done Southern accents. But! What is fascinating is this manga is super popular in Japan among male readers! I know a BL becoming popular for men?! in Japan?!?!? Yes, that is why I had to pick it up and wade into horror manga waters (which I can't stand but for BL I will suffer anything to see how tastes are changing). Yet, the themes are super interesting and pertinent to BL as a whole, or some of its fundamental questions. When a monster takes up the body of a fellow boy you love, are they still the same because they have the same memories, physical attributes, and senses?

absolutely not. He can now open a massive black hole in his chest that sucks you in, making you feel deathly and ecstatic. For me, this work fits really nicely within fond ruminations on experiences had with your best guy friend from elementary scchool (who you happen to have a crush on). Yet, turns out this crush is none other than Valkner, the electric gym leader of gen-4 Pokemon games. What is inside him? This digi-affectatious entity that you embody by doing Instagram roleplay has a similar feeling of dread (at the idea of your mom or anyone you know finding out you do this) and titillation (as you come close to the darkness of strangers who are just as in love with characters as you). As we come closer to this other: the character on the page I can't quite reach, the sprite of a powerful Luxray using Thunderbolt not on you, but your Pokemon (aka a conduit of you) -- all tugs, pulls, shreds at what you can call the boundaries of you. Of course this is exillirating. So all in all, I would give it a read if you like light horror, creepiness, pretty innovative art style, and boyhood crushes in the inaka.

This month was getting into the thing of things because of school picking up. Less time to read, or reading lots and lots of stuff for school but not for fun...

First I read: (TW: rape, noncon, NSFW 18+)

I finished BEASTARS, you will def be seeing more of this soon so I won't even mention it here, but writing an essay for a class on it and also will be making some sort of fansite/shrine for it in the near future.

Happy Crappy Life by Harada (Volumes 1)

What a wild BL. I saw this around at several bookstores when I was in Japan so I had to pick it up when I saw an English translation of the first volume at my local store. The concept is pretty hilarious: two straight guys who are obsessed with anal sex. The main character got sent to a rural branch of his company after he got caught being fucked by his boss's daughter. This is basically the tone for the entire BL with these two characters trying to find ways to have anal sex. Would you know it, they are neighbors. The manga is staged like a comedy and the whole thing has a pretty humorous tone. However, the main plot-line is being fueled by the fact that the secondary character when he was in high school was accidentally being sexually assaulted by his then girlfriend's brother. This girlfriend was also down to give him what he wanted most: anal. So... we find out all of this multiple years down the line and they all live in the same town. Pretty insane, but honestly I'm pretty bought by all of this tomfoolery. Maybe I was just starved for any BL because of the insane amount of school reading I had. Would recommend to those who like comedy BL, but wouldn't to those who like more serious or don't tolerate non-con content. (I pre-ordered vol. 2 >x<).

Caste Heaven Volumes 1 and 2 by Chise Ogawa

I've talked about this series on a previous page of my website. I found myself wanting to revisit it because it centers around toxic and abusive relationships. This series graphically depicts rape, masochisim, co-dependency, among other tropes any avid BL reader is used to seeing here and there. But, what interests me about this series is the way it chooses to hyper explore these "taboo" forms of fantasy. I wrote a paper on this series in a class on feminist theory last year and think I might edit it someday and upload to my website but I saw this series had finished recently in Enlgish so I thought I'd pick up the final four volumes (5,6,7,8) and start re-reading. I will let you guys know my thoughts once I finish the series.

August 2023

This month was interesting in it was my first month back in the hellscape of the US manga market. Which I say its a hellscape because buying the physical copies are literally $13 dollars a piece.... Outrageous, take me back to Japan. Also I miss access to doujinishi, but I think being back will make me really appreciate the works I have. I hope to one day scan and upload all of the covers of my doujinishi and then be able to send the scans to people who want them over email. Somedayyyy >x<

Okay time for what I read this month :3

First was the absolutely incredible:

The Dragon's Betrothed by Meguru Hinohara (Volumes 1 and )

As someone who loves dragons and may or may not have read Eragon fanfic from a young age I had to pick up these works just after seeing the covers.

They did not dissapoint. Firstly, a warning: this series is a def a slow burner. There romance develops overtime in the best way and there aren't any too easy tropes of randomly falling head over heels. There is a bit of push and pull that takes place within the main character. Also, Meguru makes us wait to volume 2 for the ultimate copulation. WHICH, I cannot stress does not dissapoint. Like, so beautiful and they don't just leave his dragon characteristics by the wayside. They actually infuse aspects of his dragon god identity in the way he articulates himself in bed. Like... so good. Would highly recommend to any BL fans and especially if you like Meguru's previous work of Therapy Game. She has only uped her style in terms of beauty, narrative, and character design. Am obsessed.

Love is an Illusion Volume 2 by Fargo

I had read the first volume of this series a long time ago. Also it is a manhwa or Korean comic so you can read online. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend this series unless you can't get enough of the Omegaverse trope. The characters relationship is sooooooooo toxic and all over the place and sometimes I can enjoy a really messy couple but not this time. Like the main character is sooooo impossible to understand and is also getting hella taken advantage of/abused, but at the end of the second volume SPOILERS: he says he's in love with his abuser. Like. At least put some effort in making it slightly believable. Idek, just wouldn't recommend. The narrative just isn't absorbing or believable. (But.. I will be buying volume 3 but that's just cause I can't leave a narrative unfinished or a hypocrite (probs both).

Finally.....

BEASTARS by Paru Itagaki (Volumes 13-16)

As a diehard fan of the manga and anime you can expect what I think... I loved it.

Really I think what draws me in over and over and has me laughing, crying irl is Paru Itagaki's ability to make us love these character's complicated, often contradictory, personalities. In a world where you are living next to your predator or vice versa, it makes sense there would be infinite amounts of contradiction and confusion in daily life. I love that this isn't sugar coated and it feels so relatable especially on coming back to the South where people live shoulder to shoulder with people who think they shouldn't exist. Idk, the way the violence of these animals is all on the surface and the main character refuses to settle for ethically wrong mindsets that are easy is inspiring. The solution is far more illusive and it takes lots of continued effort. Well whatever I am going on a stupid rant but I just am so obsessed with Louis as well. Don't even get me started. I need Juno and Louis to get together soon. Just would highly recommend to anyone, the anime or the manga. But, the manga does go more in-depth into characters backstory, the general world of BEASTARS, and the drawing style of Itagaki is next level. 10/10.

Thanks for reading my first write-up, see you next month, Stay Pink!