There it is, Plain as Daylight

On Bended Knee
By Ruri Fujikawa
Published by 801 Media
Rated 18+

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Hibiki and Wu Xiong are childhood friends, now grown up and settled into the roles planned for them by their parents: Wu Xiong as the next heir to his family’s corporate empire and Hibiki as his bodyguard. Each has harbored secret love for the other over their many years together–something that neither is willing to own up to until a brush with death forces them both to face the truth. “On Bended Knee” is the first of several short stories in this collection by Ruri Fujikawa, establishing the volume’s dominant theme, “learning to accept one’s true feelings.” The other stories feature two doctors who secretly love each other (“Slight Fever”), a university student and teacher who secretly love each other (“I Won’t Lose to the Sun!”), a model and his manager who secretly love each other (“Cinderella’s Lure”), and so on.

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Color
By Eiki Eiki & Taishi Zaou
Published by Digital Manga Publishing

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Takashiro is a young art student whose painting, “Color,” has been chosen for display in an exhibition of amateur works at a local gallery. When he arrives at the gallery to view his painting (bumping into another boy on the way in), he is shocked to discover that hanging right next to it is a strikingly similar painting with the identical title. Eager to meet the artist, Sakae Fujiwara, who so obviously shares his sensibilities, he rushes to confront the gallery owner, only to find that the other artist has just left the exhibit. The gallery owner lets him know, however, that the other artist (whom he refers to as “Sakae-chan”) is planning to attend the same prestigious Tokyo art high school as Takashiro, leaving Takashiro anxious to pass his exams and begin classes where he can finally seek out this person who seems to have a window into his soul. After his school exams, Takashiro (literally) runs into the same young man he encountered that day at the art gallery. Laughing at the coincidence, the two walk together to the bus stop, becoming fast friends. The other boy’s bus arrives and he hurries to jump aboard, but not before leaving Takashiro with his name: Sakae Fujuwara.

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Future Lovers, Vol. 2
By Saika Kunieda
Published by Deux Press

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It’s been a year since the events of volume one and Kento and Akira have become comfortable in their relationship, though there are still a few surprises in store, beginning with a visit from Akira’s mother, a pampering, ostentatious multiple divorcée with a somewhat scandalous past. New revelations about Akira’s background cause some turmoil in his relationship with Kento but as with most everything in this story, the conflict gives each of them a deeper understanding of the other, ultimately strengthening their relationship. As the volume continues, the two of them confront coming out to friends and colleagues, Kento’s jealousy of a former teacher of Akira’s, and the complicated question of same-sex marriage in Japan.

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U Don’t Know Me
By Rakun
Published by NETCOMICS

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“I realized that the reason the two of us couldn’t stand forever in the same place wasn’t just because I couldn’t keep up with his height–a height, by the way, which began outgrowing my own little by little.” – Prologue, U Don’t Know Me

Seyun and Yoojin have been close since childhood, raised like brothers by their parents who were best friends–so much so that when Seyun’s father made the decision to take on the debt left by his own father, Yoojin’s parents offered to take Seyun in as their own child to ease his burden. Though Seyun’s father refused the offer and moved his family to a cheaper neighborhood to tough it out, Seyun and Yoojin remained friends, despite the distance and their ever-shifting lives. Continue Reading »