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Kitayama and Minamiya Vol. 1
A Boys’ Love rom-com about a horny guy who wants to see his coworker’s erotic expression!
Minamiya has a strange talent. Just by looking at someone, he can imagine what they’d look like when they’re super turned on. In fact, he can’t really stop. However, there’s one exception—for some reason, he can’t picture what his cute male coworker, Kitayama, would look like in the throes of passion. Unable to get these thoughts out of his head, a misunderstanding leads to the two men going out. But can the frisky Minamiya handle the real deal?
Minamiya has a strange talent. Just by looking at someone, he can imagine what they’d look like when they’re super turned on. In fact, he can’t really stop. However, there’s one exception—for some reason, he can’t picture what his cute male coworker, Kitayama, would look like in the throes of passion. Unable to get these thoughts out of his head, a misunderstanding leads to the two men going out. But can the frisky Minamiya handle the real deal?
206 pages, Paperback
Published February 24, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 9, 2026
Your stare was holdin' / Ripped jeans, skin was showin' / Hot night, wind was blowin' / Where you think you're goin', baby? (Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen).
You know when you’re eating Dim sum and you take small savory bites out of at least five different dishes in front of you? Yeah well, the image just popped in my mind for some reason. And look, before I continue this train of thought, I'm aware that this is literally just how you eat Dim sum, but I’m just painting a picture for the layman! Especially those who only eat Chinese food at some gentrified ass restaurant like Din Tai Fung, do you think they know the delight of a real Dim sum experience!? No, they don't. Anyway, this derailed metaphor is the best visual representation I have for how greedy my reading habits have become. Indulge in a little gay short story over here, a bit of a gay manga over there, I can’t stop myself from picking at every book I come across, my greed knows no bounds! I know this a nothing statement here on Goodreads, plenty of folks read several books at once, but whenever I tell people the amount of books I read at once (with the last few being stuff I didn’t even log until I decided that I actually did have something to say about them), I get that kind of bewildered, “why the hell would you want to do that!? I can’t even read one book a year!” vibe that tells me exactly where the conversation is going. Be proud of your illiteracy all you want, Lea Michele, you can't shame me for reading! I mean, it’s not like I’m mad about it or anything (said every person who is mad about it), and anything’s better than the resentful kind of stare you sometimes get from people that think you’re trying to show them up or something by mentioning how many books you read a year. You know, that darkening, resentful “What? Am I supposed to think you’re smart or something” vitriol aimed at you every now and then. And to that I say… no, you’re not supposed to think I’m smart, especially when the stuff I read is gay ass manga like Kitayama and Minamiya. I know what I am! This was an odd one because just based off of the cover, I figured we’d be riding a Sasaki and Miyano or My Summer of You kind of wave, but this manga was less grounded in reality and felt more like a commentary on the genre as a whole.
But why don't I actually talk about what it’s about first, and then we'll to see if I’m able to put my thoughts down onto paper! Minamiya is an always horny gay dude who takes people watching to the next level in the sense that he’s able to imagine any guy he comes across in a state of ecstasy, which again, this is one of the reasons why I didn’t think this manga was very realistic. And after failing to gas up the cute cashier at a gas station, Kitayama, he decides to apply for a job there in order to understand why his “gay porn vision” isn't working on him. Spoiler alert, it was loo~oove or whatever. What follows is both of them ending up gay dating as “an experiment” (I’ve heard that one before!) in order for Minamiya to get the other guy in his birthday suit and for Kitayama to fall in love at a more natural pace. Cue hi-jinks and all that. It's a pretty quirky premise that immediately shows that the story isn't meant to be taken that seriously outside of the humorous commentary on the way Yaoi manga works as a whole. Anyway, outside of the fact that I enjoyed that there were realistic barriers in their relationship (incompatible goals, dealing with being in their first queer relationship, etc.), I think this manga trips over itself in what it wants to be. Is it a cute gay romance or a meta commentary about cute gay romances as a whole? Either is fine, but I'm a sap who just wants a straight romance every now and then. Wait, I don't mean "straight" as in heterosexual, but "straight" as in straight up, you know? I'm a sap who just wants a gay romance played straight every now and then. It’s just that I think Minamiya’s characterization was a little odd in the sense that it almost felt like he knew he was in a manga Deadpool style and was frustrated at the genre’s insistence on slow relationship progress, so he’d be talking about tropes like he’s going down an invisible list somewhere. Like, “Okay, we held hands, now when are we going to do it!” or “Yes, there was our aquarium date, now when are going to do it!” and all that.
“Wow, I was pretty sure I’d be prepared for anything, but I wasn’t expecting you to be that bi–“
“HEY!”
I mean, that level of self-awareness was pretty funny at points, I can’t lie, but whenever your work starts walking over to into parody territory, then it can only be examined as a work of parody, meaning that whenever the manga did try to go for cute romance, it didn't quite land. The genuine moments of heartfelt sincerity and coming-of-age milestones are undercut by the narrative constantly making jokes at the genre’s expense. Don’t get me wrong, self-awareness can definitely work in a story like this as it’s the entire basis for Sasaki and Miyano in how Sasaki is obsessed with gay manga and constantly tries to apply that to his real life situations, but whereas Sasaki and Miyano constantly plays with the notion of diluting multi-faceted people into genre stereotypes, this manga likes to act like it’s “the voice of the people” by speed-running through tropes in order to get to “the good stuff.” Sorry, but the good stuff is only the good stuff because it was preceded a natural story pace that didn't bother adhering to or avoiding certain story conventions simply to subvert expectations. In other words… just tell a good story! That’s the best way to surprise and delight readers, I reckon. I’m narrowing in on Kitayama and Minamiya (this manga) and that’s not really fair because any other day I might have loved it wholeheartedly, but the truth is that writing in manga has always irked me in very specific ways that almost never apply to literary fiction. For one, it has always irritated me how in order to stand out against the rest, manga writers in general tend to center their entire story around one gimmick that’s the source of all conflict within the narrative. Instead of going with the flow in and seeing where the story takes us (one of the reasons why Akira Toriyama and Dragon Ball are the GOAT), they “stick to the plan” above all else. Even when that plan should have probably changed five hundred chapters ago. That's why the manga with the most basic premise will always end up being the one with a real longevity, because otherwise your story lacks the flexibility needed to go wherever the wind takes you.
Find the One Piece, find the Dragon Balls, find somebody who can withstand more than one punch without turning into a smear on the wall, these are all manga that can be easily distilled into a few words, and yet they're the ones that have the fluidity to take on any kind of story curve the writer feels like throwing at them at any given moment. And my specific issue here is that because the story will often become increasingly dependent on its gimmick in order to keep going for eons and eons, the core problems erode the story into tedium and busy-work so quickly that by the time we reach the end, the author hadn't even bothered concluding the conflict in a satisfying way because they're as tired of this shit as we are. You can probably think of at least three manga right now with terrible endings (My Hero Academia, Naruto, Bleach) that all meandered for way too long until the author was so burnt out that they just wanted to get it off of their plate. In regards to Kitayama and Minamiya, the big drama surrounding their relationship is essentially that Minamiya wants to have sex right away and Kitayama wants to take it slow. “Baby all I want to do, is do that thang with you, right here. Heh, baby I ain’t never been the type to wait” and all that. Really though, it’s a pretty normal source of conflict in real life relationships and a good foundation to build your story around, right? Yeah well, having read this manga, I can safely say that this wasn’t really brought up because it was intended as an actual topic of discussion, it wasn’t meant to be a true examination of Kitayama and Minamiya’s relationship, but rather just a vehicle for which the author can keep the charade going. I guess that’s on me for expecting the narrative of a manga to have explored any kind of real relationship dynamics outside of cuteness and wholesomeness and heightened reactions in a sensitive or realistic manner. All that said, it really can’t be denied that this manga was cute and the art was beautiful and the wholesomeness was rather heartwarming… so you know, it’s cool. It's whatever.
I trade my soul for a wish, pennies and dimes for a kiss / I wasn't lookin' for this, but now you're in my way.
You know when you’re eating Dim sum and you take small savory bites out of at least five different dishes in front of you? Yeah well, the image just popped in my mind for some reason. And look, before I continue this train of thought, I'm aware that this is literally just how you eat Dim sum, but I’m just painting a picture for the layman! Especially those who only eat Chinese food at some gentrified ass restaurant like Din Tai Fung, do you think they know the delight of a real Dim sum experience!? No, they don't. Anyway, this derailed metaphor is the best visual representation I have for how greedy my reading habits have become. Indulge in a little gay short story over here, a bit of a gay manga over there, I can’t stop myself from picking at every book I come across, my greed knows no bounds! I know this a nothing statement here on Goodreads, plenty of folks read several books at once, but whenever I tell people the amount of books I read at once (with the last few being stuff I didn’t even log until I decided that I actually did have something to say about them), I get that kind of bewildered, “why the hell would you want to do that!? I can’t even read one book a year!” vibe that tells me exactly where the conversation is going. Be proud of your illiteracy all you want, Lea Michele, you can't shame me for reading! I mean, it’s not like I’m mad about it or anything (said every person who is mad about it), and anything’s better than the resentful kind of stare you sometimes get from people that think you’re trying to show them up or something by mentioning how many books you read a year. You know, that darkening, resentful “What? Am I supposed to think you’re smart or something” vitriol aimed at you every now and then. And to that I say… no, you’re not supposed to think I’m smart, especially when the stuff I read is gay ass manga like Kitayama and Minamiya. I know what I am! This was an odd one because just based off of the cover, I figured we’d be riding a Sasaki and Miyano or My Summer of You kind of wave, but this manga was less grounded in reality and felt more like a commentary on the genre as a whole.
But why don't I actually talk about what it’s about first, and then we'll to see if I’m able to put my thoughts down onto paper! Minamiya is an always horny gay dude who takes people watching to the next level in the sense that he’s able to imagine any guy he comes across in a state of ecstasy, which again, this is one of the reasons why I didn’t think this manga was very realistic. And after failing to gas up the cute cashier at a gas station, Kitayama, he decides to apply for a job there in order to understand why his “gay porn vision” isn't working on him. Spoiler alert, it was loo~oove or whatever. What follows is both of them ending up gay dating as “an experiment” (I’ve heard that one before!) in order for Minamiya to get the other guy in his birthday suit and for Kitayama to fall in love at a more natural pace. Cue hi-jinks and all that. It's a pretty quirky premise that immediately shows that the story isn't meant to be taken that seriously outside of the humorous commentary on the way Yaoi manga works as a whole. Anyway, outside of the fact that I enjoyed that there were realistic barriers in their relationship (incompatible goals, dealing with being in their first queer relationship, etc.), I think this manga trips over itself in what it wants to be. Is it a cute gay romance or a meta commentary about cute gay romances as a whole? Either is fine, but I'm a sap who just wants a straight romance every now and then. Wait, I don't mean "straight" as in heterosexual, but "straight" as in straight up, you know? I'm a sap who just wants a gay romance played straight every now and then. It’s just that I think Minamiya’s characterization was a little odd in the sense that it almost felt like he knew he was in a manga Deadpool style and was frustrated at the genre’s insistence on slow relationship progress, so he’d be talking about tropes like he’s going down an invisible list somewhere. Like, “Okay, we held hands, now when are we going to do it!” or “Yes, there was our aquarium date, now when are going to do it!” and all that.
“Wow, I was pretty sure I’d be prepared for anything, but I wasn’t expecting you to be that bi–“
“HEY!”
I mean, that level of self-awareness was pretty funny at points, I can’t lie, but whenever your work starts walking over to into parody territory, then it can only be examined as a work of parody, meaning that whenever the manga did try to go for cute romance, it didn't quite land. The genuine moments of heartfelt sincerity and coming-of-age milestones are undercut by the narrative constantly making jokes at the genre’s expense. Don’t get me wrong, self-awareness can definitely work in a story like this as it’s the entire basis for Sasaki and Miyano in how Sasaki is obsessed with gay manga and constantly tries to apply that to his real life situations, but whereas Sasaki and Miyano constantly plays with the notion of diluting multi-faceted people into genre stereotypes, this manga likes to act like it’s “the voice of the people” by speed-running through tropes in order to get to “the good stuff.” Sorry, but the good stuff is only the good stuff because it was preceded a natural story pace that didn't bother adhering to or avoiding certain story conventions simply to subvert expectations. In other words… just tell a good story! That’s the best way to surprise and delight readers, I reckon. I’m narrowing in on Kitayama and Minamiya (this manga) and that’s not really fair because any other day I might have loved it wholeheartedly, but the truth is that writing in manga has always irked me in very specific ways that almost never apply to literary fiction. For one, it has always irritated me how in order to stand out against the rest, manga writers in general tend to center their entire story around one gimmick that’s the source of all conflict within the narrative. Instead of going with the flow in and seeing where the story takes us (one of the reasons why Akira Toriyama and Dragon Ball are the GOAT), they “stick to the plan” above all else. Even when that plan should have probably changed five hundred chapters ago. That's why the manga with the most basic premise will always end up being the one with a real longevity, because otherwise your story lacks the flexibility needed to go wherever the wind takes you.
Find the One Piece, find the Dragon Balls, find somebody who can withstand more than one punch without turning into a smear on the wall, these are all manga that can be easily distilled into a few words, and yet they're the ones that have the fluidity to take on any kind of story curve the writer feels like throwing at them at any given moment. And my specific issue here is that because the story will often become increasingly dependent on its gimmick in order to keep going for eons and eons, the core problems erode the story into tedium and busy-work so quickly that by the time we reach the end, the author hadn't even bothered concluding the conflict in a satisfying way because they're as tired of this shit as we are. You can probably think of at least three manga right now with terrible endings (My Hero Academia, Naruto, Bleach) that all meandered for way too long until the author was so burnt out that they just wanted to get it off of their plate. In regards to Kitayama and Minamiya, the big drama surrounding their relationship is essentially that Minamiya wants to have sex right away and Kitayama wants to take it slow. “Baby all I want to do, is do that thang with you, right here. Heh, baby I ain’t never been the type to wait” and all that. Really though, it’s a pretty normal source of conflict in real life relationships and a good foundation to build your story around, right? Yeah well, having read this manga, I can safely say that this wasn’t really brought up because it was intended as an actual topic of discussion, it wasn’t meant to be a true examination of Kitayama and Minamiya’s relationship, but rather just a vehicle for which the author can keep the charade going. I guess that’s on me for expecting the narrative of a manga to have explored any kind of real relationship dynamics outside of cuteness and wholesomeness and heightened reactions in a sensitive or realistic manner. All that said, it really can’t be denied that this manga was cute and the art was beautiful and the wholesomeness was rather heartwarming… so you know, it’s cool. It's whatever.
I trade my soul for a wish, pennies and dimes for a kiss / I wasn't lookin' for this, but now you're in my way.
April 27, 2026
This was so sweet and silly. Minamiya is the definition of a loveable idiot, so smart but so clueless when it comes to his own feelings. But it's his first love and his slow realizations are endearing. Kitayama is equally precious and so patient. While a few things were a little awkward, it made the feeling of "first love" feel more authentic. I'm glad there are more volumes. I want Minamiya to prove his feelings in a way beyond horniness for Kitayama. He just started getting there at the end and I'm eager to see their relationship grow.
March 12, 2026
SO FUCKING PRECIOUSSSSSS !! PROTECT THESE BOYS AT ALL COST !!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s unfortunately censored guys and gals 😞
It’s unfortunately censored guys and gals 😞
August 17, 2026
3.75 ⭐️
March 7, 2026
This story had no right being as sweet as it was, when it has such a dumb premise! Love all the feels, and the art was super cute.
March 16, 2026
I love the cute art style. Reminds me of seaside stranger.
So, we have a story about a guy who wants to seduce the other and a guy who wants to make the other fall for him.
It was such a weird premise but I liked it!!! I can’t wait to see what else the mangaka has in store for these two.
So, we have a story about a guy who wants to seduce the other and a guy who wants to make the other fall for him.
It was such a weird premise but I liked it!!! I can’t wait to see what else the mangaka has in store for these two.
May 3, 2026
This was a little problematic in some aspects but I think our characters did really well in resolving those issues together. Like a proper couple does, it’s not always perfect, sometimes it’s messy. They definitely need to work on communication.
March 14, 2026
This was the cutest, sweetest thing I've ever read and I need the second one IMMEDIATELY
March 18, 2026
They are so fucking cute ugh!!! I want to read more of their story!!!
May 6, 2026
3.5 stars rounded up
June 22, 2026
Super cute none sense, give me 500 more 🏃🏾♀️
August 29, 2026
Super cute! Also, I appreciate the hair growth coloring to showcase the passage of time. It was the attention to the detail that made me enjoy this book even more!
June 3, 2026
This was very funny but also turned out to be cute and sweet! Looking forward to reading the 2nd volume :) though I did enjoy it, I also feel like It probably won’t stick in my head for too long after I finish reading it.
March 20, 2026
This was cute, but not much more than that. A silly premise to the story for sure. Mostly I wished we spent more time actually developing the relationship between the two, as instead there’s time skips as they’re waiting to reach the next mile stone in the relationship toward sex.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews