Sur fond de science-fiction, Hayate Kuku livre une romance aussi improbable que charmante entre un cyborg sexy et un adorable scientifique. Leur histoire pleine de tendresse saura vous faire fondre ! Ethan est un cyborg lassé de sa carrière de soldat. À la recherche d'horizons plus paisibles, il se fait embaucher comme agent de sécurité dans un centre de recherche sur la planète Péridot. Dès son arrivée, il rencontre Mikhail, un botaniste qui se prend d'intérêt pour lui. Très vite, l'affection du jeune homme provoque d'étranges réactions chez Ethan. Mais est-il réellement capable de tomber amoureux, lui dont le corps de métal est dépourvu de " cœur " ?
Self-portrait is a dog, due to the second kanji in her surname and is also known as SYUBUKA Masamune. Neriyakanaya blog - http://nerikana.blog.shinobi.jp/
Really cute slice of life on a different planet with romance between a cyborg and human. Honestly, this could have been so epic if it had like maybe one-two more volumes and really examined the question of what makes a human/cyborg human. Ethan and Mihail were super cute, though. I really wish the smut scene had been longer too lol
3.5 stars! a bit slow in the beginning, but a cute and wholesome story overall. also, the penis catalog was so funny. they could really switch it up if they so desired 😏
Ethan, a military cyborg, chooses a quiet security placement in a terraforming community instead of another army posting. Mihail, a gentle human biologist, chose this terraforming project in order to study alien flora. Ethan goes out on surface excursions with Mihail to collect specimens, and the two begin to develop feelings for each other, despite the many differences. This a single volume BL comic, and it does a good job of developing the couple from met-cute to sexy times pretty quickly but with nice pacing. The robots are lovingly rendered while the humans are occasionally very off model, but that's okay I came for the robots!
With its introspective main character and his frequent reflections on what it means to be human, this initially appears heavier than it actually ends up being. Our robot lead is gentle, and his human love interest is even gentler. Their romance is one of discovery and acceptance, and I love how supportive the other characters are. Overall, this was a very sweet story with beautifully detailed art and lovable characters.
I was honestly pretty nervous about this one. It's a totally different genre within the usual BL, and it could've gone a number of different directions - but it chose a pretty heartfelt narrative about what it means to be human.
Some of the worldbuilding could've been more fleshed out. All of the cyborgs were originally humans who chose to trade out most/all of their organic parts (in Ethan's case, everything but his spinal column and neural network) for cutting edge technology that outfits them for war. There's no explanation as to why Ethan chose this path, or what his life was like before he became a "Black Blood" cyborg - the most modern and up-to-date battlefield cyborg. All we find out, later on, was that he did have a girlfriend when he was still fully human, so he did have a whole preexisting life.
It's also a bit surprising to me that the cyborgs can seemingly just choose to retire, or to take a break, whenever they want. When Ethan lands on a distant, peaceful planet inhabited by scientists and botanists, he joins a security team made up of four other retired cyborgs from different builds. Who were they fighting on those other planets? Whose cyborg armies did they belong to, and whose cyborgs were they blowing apart? What's the goal of all this battling, and how are there quiet planets like this on the fringes?
If any of that had been explored in more detail, this could've been a pretty amazing sci-fi story. As it is, it's mostly just a sweet romance about how love doesn't have to stick to any traditional rules about looks, physical forms, or anything other than the presence of a human soul - which Ethan gradually heals from the battlefield and realizes he still has, buried deep within.
Mihail is a sweet, enthusiastic scientist who throws himself into studying the strange plantlife on this planet, and also into befriending Ethan. Despite their fairly short time knowing each other, their mutual interest does feel genuine and natural. Their romance is also...not remotely secret or "forbidden" (an incorrect summary that was originally on this page).
The others, both cyborgs and scientists, clock their growing relationship pretty early on, and are almost more enthusiastic about it than the couple are. They even gift Ethan with a special cyborg add-on appendage so they can take the physical part of their relationship all the way. All this support was nice, but at points the cyborgs almost felt...too human. I think it would've been more interesting if they'd felt more like alien beings than just regular humans in metal/ceramic suits.
Apparently human/cyborg relationships are fairly common in this universe, with marriages and babies even being a thing...so I guess they build cyborg wombs, too? That wasn't really explained...Mihail asked if it was IVF, but Ethan said there are different ways of doing it, so that was a bit more of the handwavey explanations.
Can't really go past 3 stars because of those narrative gaps, but I did really like the heart of the story, and it's nice to have such a different setting for a love story to unfold.
Science-Fiction and BL? Already 5 stars. Then it's also so damn cute, Ethan and Mihail are just ugh, really damn cute together. And the art (especially from the cyborg) are so pretty and hot - reminded me a bit of No guns life, but very gay and very sweet. I'm really kinda sad its just a one shot ;W; there is just not enough gay and scifi.
C'était pas une ride de zinzin, mais un petit BL bien ficelé sans trop d'enjeux qui passe comme une lettre à la poste !
On a des thèmes classiques de la SF, à savoir les émotions, les sensations, ce que ça veut dire d'être humain, la corporalité, les différences, la guerre... Mais tout ça est effleuré. C'est pas gênant du tout, pour du slice of life, mais c'est maîtrisé en tout cas.
J'ai trouvé le perso humain un peu trop "poussin piou" mais le perso du cyborg est plutôt intéressant.
Bonne note aussi, ça fait plus de 10 ans que je lis du BL et on trouve enfin de manière plus répandue des relations saines, consenties et un poil plus naturelles (discussions autour de l'intimité par ex.)
Tldr : pas besoin de réinventer les crèpes quand la recette est déjà bonne. (Comment ça c'est pas clair ?! Allez bisous.)
consider my very specific craving for cyborg romance thoroughly satisfied 😌🙌
i enjoyed this story immensely, but it did leave me hungry for more — more talk of what makes us human, more planet-hopping and research, more quiet slice-of-life bits, more cyborgs. more volumes! the story’s flow was effortless, and the plot was surprisingly engaging. the cyborg cast was phenomenal in its diversity as well (i’m not even subtle about my infatuation with rena). i wish i could see more of them — and the mcs too.
my only gripe with this manga is the way the humans (mc included) were drawn. those faces were not it... with stronger human designs, this manga would’ve gone from great to perfect for me, but alas.
also, what's with the mc being called mikhail? not gonna lie, it killed the vibe a bit
The year is 3020 C.E. Ethan is a cyborg soldier who has traveled to the planet Peridot in order to take a break from the battlefield. He'll be working security - on Peridot, whose only inhabitants are a few human scientists, their family members, and some weird native plant-like things, that should be a piece of cake.
Since Ethan can handle the high oxygen content of the planet a bit better than most of the other members of Peridot's security, he's assigned to help Mihail, an enthusiastic botanist who's finally been given permission to go out and do some fieldwork. As Ethan gets to know Mihail, he starts feeling things he hasn't felt since before he became a cyborg. His emotions were dialed down so that he could handle battle better, and there's very little of him left that's still organic tissue...but maybe even he can still feel love?
Overall, this was a fairly sweet, low-angst volume. It didn't take long for both Ethan and Mihail to figure out that they had feelings for each other and that those feelings were mutual, and there didn't seem to be any taboos about fully human folks being in a relationship with cyborgs. And, hurray, there were no rapey moments. All sex was consensual.
I did have a few questions. What/who was Ethan originally fighting for? If his body was so high-tech, why wasn't he still on the battlefield? Who paid for his cyborg parts? Were there still any fully human soldiers left, or was it just cyborgs vs. cyborgs forever? What was his life like prior to becoming a cyborg, and how much of it did he remember? And as far as Mihail went, how the heck did he manage to crossbreed Earth plants with Peridot plants when he wasn't even sure that Peridot plants were 1) plants or 2) even living beings?
I probably thought about all of this more than I should have for something that was more feelings and sex than plot. Anyhoo, I loved Hawk, the most prominent minor character and basically a reader stand-in. He served as Security's maintenance cyborg. His excited support for Ethan's developing feelings for Mihail was adorable, and I was amused at his idea of an appropriate gift to a military cyborg with a crush on a human.
Extras:
One page of full-color artwork.
Rating Note:
Really more of a 3.5 star volume, but since Goodreads won't allow that, I opted to round up for overall enjoyment.
When I picked this up, only knowing it was a romance between a cyborg and a human, I had no idea the story would be so slice of life. It was lovely just following Ethan and Mihail as they got to know each other on this other planet.
Mihail was an absolute cutie. I adored his love for plants and desire to investigate further the plant life in the planet Peridot. His cute lil nerd rants warmed my heart 💖
I also really liked Ethan. We got to see him as he tried to navigate his developing feelings for Mihail when he hadn’t felt like that for another person in so long. It was adorable seeing how he kept having little “malfunctions” when he was nervous around Mihail. He was just too sweet!
I also adored that all the cyborgs were rooting for Ethan and Mihail the second they found out how Ethan felt 😂 They were so silly. It was great!
I would genuinely recommend this to anyone who is even a little bit interested! It’s a tender little romance with a couple of high stakes scenes since Ethan and Mihail are currently living in a planet that is inhospitable to humans. I truly have no complaints about this manga!
Military cyborg Ethan (brain in a robot suit) × biologist Mikhail. Excelled in lore building right off the bat. The two of them hit it off and we start to see the separation between cyborg and human. They develop feelings for each other and it feels genuine. Black blood is in reference to war zones being black since cyborg “blood” turns black when exposed to air.
They make a cute couple as they survive together on this planet with oxygen problems. Ethan is pretty worried about Mik and vice versa. One day an explosion happens but everything is okay! They get validation that they love each other.
Then Ethan gets a dick and this author knows how to end a one off comic! But please, more as that is truly the only thing against this book, that it needed more. Every emotion from war fatigue to fitting in is touched on but it would be nice to have the full thing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
omg wow what a hit! I was going thru a minor reading slump and I didn't know what to read and I saw this manga in an IG reel and that cover is so beautiful so I impulsively downloaded it...it was so unique and inventive. not sure I've ever read anything like it. weird cyborg sex...gotta love it, man
This was definitely one of the strangest BL I've ever read, but was still super cute! Who'd have thought robot yaoi would actually be good?! Anyway, Ethan was so sweet, Mihail strong and protective, basically followed the typical formula. Them falling for each other was so heartwarming, I loved the robot/ sci-fi elements. Simple yet fun, romantic and a little spicy at the end!
While the premise and overall message of the story was cute, I felt like there were too many gaps where more could have been explained. Maybe a backstory on Ethan's pre-cyborg life? More on the research facility? Please go read the review by K, as they explain wonderfully what I'm trying to get at.
5+ ⭐️ I loved everything about this manga! It had a great story, the art was beautiful and the characters were so diverse and well written. I think overall the story was very creative and had so many great details that made the story come to life. Anyone that loves cyborgs, sci-fi, opposites attract and futuristic stories, check this one out!
I didn't love the art for the humans, but the cyborgs and backgrounds were extremely well done. This was a pretty simple, but well thought out sci-fi. The romance was cute.
The cover alone made me want to purchase this, but after actually reading it, I wish Ethan and Mihail’s story was much longer than just one manga volume. I want to learn Mihail’s backstory and see an in-depth version of Ethan’s time as a soldier. All of the side and minor characters had such interesting personalities and appearances so I want to see more of them, especially more Hawk. Overall, the art style was beautiful and the plot outside of the romance greatly intrigued me, and I just wish this one-shot was a much longer series.