It's been a while since I've had a BL binge, and of the ones I read this one was super cute and my favorite!

Eh, the whole "he's half vampire and ages twice as fast but conveniently stops at age 22" (or as I call it a "Renesmee character") just makes me uncomfortable.

Also, a semen vampire? LOLOLOLOL. This manga was very much PWP.

I'm all about villain (possibly?) redemption stories!! This one is actually pretty intriguing and fun! Not a fan of Makoto's dad and whatever all is going on there, but I can easily ignore it.

This manga is only 2 volumes but I liked how it ended, I liked the characters and the story overall. It left it a little open-ended and not everything was explained, but I'm okay with that!

I had read the short prequel to this a few years ago, so I was super happy to learn that the author had written a full novel that followed it. You've got my usual favorite elements to a classic, page-turning monster horror: a cast of characters that all have their quirks and character development through the story, but nothing surprising (you hate the baddies, love the goodies), killer "mermaids" as the monsters that pick off the crew one by one, the classic "we're going to make the same mistakes as the last ship that was doomed to study the 'mermaids'" and no one learned from past mistakes due to hubris, so you can just sit back and read as their downfall echoes the other ship's and hope your favorite character(s) survive. Always a good recipe for a fun monster horror! :)

Update: reread it because it was our pick for the July Horror Book Club. Everyone seemed to like it as well! I didn't think the dolphins had so much of an impact, I personally barely remembered that part, but it definitely affected a few people in the club! LOL

None of the characters in this book have ever known a happy childhood or experienced a healthy relationship, but when Roos and Agnes find each other it's beautiful. Is their relationship healthy? No, not at all. But was it what both of them needed? YES.

A haunting, possessive, sapphic love story about loving spirit companions, madness, and two women finding each other and struggling to stay together despite the horribleness of the living.

So in BL manga, m/m relationships are very rarely realistic and often times there is much reluctance from one of the characters to admit love, hold hands, kiss, or engage in sexual activities (and its in these cases where I start to feel uncomfortable because I am no longer a teen in the early 2000's). While this has a little bit of that reluctance from Nozue, these are both men in their 30s and 40s and it's nice to see them communicate (to the best of their ability in Japanese culture) their feelings and wants and expectations. I also appreciated how they brought up how far behind Japanese culture and businesses are in accepting LGBTQ+ workers and relationships, and how Nozue knows that if he and Togawa are found out in their relationship there is a very real possibility they'll lose their job. There is a very excellent scene in this manga with Nozue talking to his coworkers and how accepting they are until he mentions his current dates have been with a male.

On the OTHER hand, in this and the previous volume, I feel like the Japanese work ethic was a little heavy handed. Nozue keeps talking about how life has become routine and boring, but boring is safe. What does he need to make his life better? Sure, the unexpected friends to lovers romance is great, and their pursuit to re-experience the world through younger eyes and become revitalized. But everything seemed to boil down to his job, his career, his work, his coworkers. Work and the office is the center of his life. The plot points and stress points are work-centered. Oh boy! Look how much my work is improving now that I've got a fresh new look on life and am in a relationship! Yeah, sure a big plot point is that Nozue is Togawa's boss, kohai/sempai relationship, but I think my favorite parts of the manga was when they got to be together and be themselves and banter and work wasn't a part of it.

I did like how everything worked out though!

Oh good, I needed a BL manga with realistic characters and a healthy relationship! Very sweet slow-burn with the older character being my age (and calling himself an old man, yikes)!

I have a much more detailed synopsis in my review for book two of this manga.

Anyone else get FAKE vibes from this? Especially in volume 2 (the ryokan gave me FAKE movie vibes LOL). You could replace Nozue with Ryo and Togawa with Dee and I wouldn't notice!

3.5 stars. That was...hmmm, disturbing. Very uncomfortable and eerie. I definitely didn't hate it and the audio book was a great way to experience this book but...man... these characters.

As always, Tremblay makes you think "Did something otherworldly/magical/paranormal occur or was it just because this book's narrator is a crazy person?"