Lenni Reviews: “The Metalhead Next Door” by Mamita

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

Kento is a broke college student who moves out of the dorms to abnormally cheap apartment to save money knowing the place has no heat or hot water. When he almost freezes to death outside, his neighbor, Soushi, saves him. They become friends but the outgoing Kento hasn’t told Soushi he’s gay. After a year of friendship, Kento vanishes; leaving Soushi to deal with some confusing feelings.

This manga takes place over three  years and at 200 or so pages, there are some time skips that are pretty clear. I would classify their relationship as a slow burn but there’s not enough pages to get bogged in that. Since Kento works with kids, there’s some funny interactions he has with them and while it’s probably not the best to get relationship advice from a kid, their interaction was pretty funny. You have to get to the end to see any smut which is not overly detailed but you absolutely get what’s going on. And I’m not even going to pretend the metal head in me wasn’t biased towards the misunderstood shy guy who likes metal music. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “My Dearest Patrolman” Vol. 2, by Niyama

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

Shin and Seiji are now living together and while Shin is over the moon to finally be with his long time crush, Seiji wonders if he’s able to satisfy his younger partner.

Now that they’re together, this volume is them learning more about each other and getting used to being a couple. It’s sweet and spicy the way a new couple should be and it’s just adorable how besotted Shin is. Seiji’s insecurities are relatable and handled well but quickly since there are a bunch of scenes to get through: an overnight trip, Shin working on New Year’s, Seiji getting a cold; the usual quick little plot points. Also, cats make well timed appearances and add to all the cuteness. 4.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Takara’s Treasure”, by Minta Suzumaru

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

Taishin Nakano moves to Tokyo from Fukuoka to attend the same college as Takara Shiga after Takara left quite the impression on Taishin when he was younger.

I like stories where the characters are forthright. It minimizes silly misunderstandings and focuses on the feelings of the main couple. These two are pretty seamless as they get together; there isn’t a huge conflict or a bunch of complications to get them into a relationship. The smutty parts are staved for the end and are kept pretty short; almost like an epilogue. Since it’s short overall, I wish we had more time with them, especially at school or the hiking club they’re both a part of. But, I did like it. 3.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “My Dearest Patrolman” Vol. 1, by Niyama

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

Officer Shin Nakamoto is assigned to a small town where he runs into an old mentor, Seiji Tajima; who runs a small store. They haven’t seen each other in ten years but Shin’s feelings haven’t changed.

These two goofballs are so sweet. It’s a cute story of a long standing crush and their relationship is wholesome and fucking adorable. I like how the art style tries to make Seiji look older but honestly, they still both seem young. Of course they’re adults since there are plenty of smutty scenes. There is an age gap and while late 30’s is hardly old, it’s nice to have characters outside of the late 20’s zone most of these stories fall into. Overall, this is a low angst romance with a good story and a fun couple. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Birds of Shangri-La” Vol. 3, by Ranmaru Zaria

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

After being with Phi for so long, it’s time for Apollo to be with other birds to prepare them for clients. But Phi is far from comfortable sharing Apollo with anyone else, breaking the rules about getting attached. Meanwhile, there are still unknown people following the birds around and digging into their pasts.

As much as I wanna be rooting for our main couple, I am concerned about the implications of what’s going on around them. All the men at Shangri-La are a risk of who knows what and could lose their jobs and home. The relationship drama is interesting but we also don’t know Phi’s full back story and – maybe it’s just me – Apollo has some work to do on himself before Phi throws away everything to be with him. The divorce and unpacking being attracted to men for the first time is something that Apollo needs to reckon with before that can move forward. 4 out of 5.

Lenni reviews: “Pink Heart Jam” Vol. 2, by Shikke

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

After a camp trip, Haiga realizes his feelings for Kanae but since his finances took a hit, Haiga has to take as many work hours as he can get to try and see Kanae at the brothel. But Kanae doesn’t want Haiga at his brothel anymore and he is also grappling with his developing feelings.

While the official summary implies a lot of drama, this is actually pretty wholesome and honest, even with the smut. I like when stories have some suspense for the couple but don’t lean on repeated misunderstandings or other contrived conflicts. Those can be entertaining but can also grow tiresome so it’s interesting to see characters talk things through. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Love Nest 2nd” Vol. 2, by Yuu Minaduki

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

While still keeping their relationship a secret, Masato and Asahi take a trip during the holidays to see Masato’s mother; who introduces Asahi as his friend. While he believes that one day his mother will take the news well, Asahi’s past comes back to haunt him.

It’s understandable for Masato not to come out right away but yeah, his mom doesn’t seem the type to want anything more than for her son to be happy. There are a few bumps in the relationship; like Asahi’s concerns about having too many feels but it’s not heavy on the angst. It’s all things that are worked out with earnest conversations and a healthy sprinkling of smut to make a sweet story about two people slowly opening up more to each other. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Pink Heart Jam” by Shikke

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

Haiga moves from the country to the big city for college and joins the rock club to meet new people. After a night out with them, he learns about the red light district and figures it’s a great chance to explore his sexuality. What he didn’t expect was to see a senior in his club, Kanae, working there.

Of course Haiga makes visiting Kanae a regular thing and things are developing between them. While this is a classic stoic/cinnamon roll pairing, Kanae isn’t cold, he’s just professional at the brothel and a bit more open with Haiga when they’re at the rock club in school or just jamming out to music. Haiga is exploring his sexuality while Kanae is exploring his feelings. This also handles sex work without being exploitative and sensationalized. The smutty scenes are only with our main couple, not any of the clients Kanae takes. I like it so far, its just a journey with these characters coming together. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “MADK” Vol. 3, by Ryo Suzuri

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

It’s been a long time since Makoto summoned a demon to indulge in his fetish for eating demon guts. Now, Makoto is a demon himself residing in hell trying to discover the true name of the demon he granted his wish and destroy him.

J, the demon, always seems a step ahead of Makoto’s plans but allows whatever schemes he concocts to play out so we learn more about J’s past. I did not expect this to end the way it did but it’s really interesting. There isn’t much smut, it’s more about Makoto trying to overcome J. It was intriguing to see Makoto go from this mousy weak little freak to a powerful demon on par with J, the most powerful of his kind. This is not one of those fluffy stories were the love of a human touches the demon’s heart and they ride off into Hell’s happily ever after. This is dark and conniving. It’s not super graphic but it is not for romantics. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Old-Fashioned Cupcake with Cappuccino” by Sagan Sagan

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

After Nozue allowed Togawa to open his experiences to fun as well as romance, their relationship is running into issues with intimacy and the fear of someone at work finding out about their relationship.

This volume handles a lot of emotional work on their relationship so if you’re looking for just smut after the first volume, you’ll have to wade through a bit of angst to get to the sweet and spicy parts. The smutty bits aren’t super detailed but they get the point across enough to make this for mature readers. They’re an odd couple but they work together and if you’re looking for yaoi with an older character (not that 39 is old) this isn’t half bad. 3 out of 5.

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