Ambiguous Relationship

by Masara Minase

Satoru is used to being alone. Ever since high school, he has lived his life without anyone else. Then one rainy night he encounters a stranded stranger. Taking him in, he unexpectedly finds that being alone is not what he wants at all, and that what he wants may just be within his grasp. But does Reiji feel the same way? And will Reiji's family accept it when they discover where he is? A selection of angsty romance stories by master mangaka Masara Minase, published in English for the very first time!

Genres: Manga, Yaoi, Romance, Graphic Novels, M M Romance, LGBT, Comics

200 pages, ebook

First published August 12, 2008

About the author

Masara Minase (水名瀬 雅良 [みなせ まさら]) is BL (Boy's Love) manga author and Illustrator of Japan.

Birthday: December 16

Zodiac sign: Sagittarius

Blood type: B

Born in Iwate, live in Tokyo, Japan.

First published work: 「empty heart ～偽りの恋だから～」2003.

Wikipedia: 水名瀬雅良 (Japanese only)

Likes: cats, chocolate
Dislikes: bugs
DJ Circles: Flourish, ça et là, Ca et La, Seventh Sea

Reviews

[Christina, but with tea · Rating 1 out of 5]

The stories in this volume started out a bit cute, but forgettable. Then about 2/3 of the way through I almost threw this into the DNF pile.

All of the stories deal with younger man/older man couples - which I don't have a problem with usually - but two of the stories really put me off and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish the book.

One is a story about a pediatrician who falls in love with a young man who has been his patient since he was a baby. The young man keeps pretending to be sick so he can see the doctor.

The other story is about a young man who is adopted by a man he's known since he was a child, something to do with their families' companies. The man adopted him to get close to him so he could confess his feelings.

Both of those stories just gave me the heebie-jeebies. It brought to mind too many questions regarding consent, ethics, etc. Like I said, those two stories put me off. Still, I did manage to continue with the rest of the book. If it weren't for those two stories in the middle, I'd have rated this slightly higher because it was an okay read. But once I took my feelings into account about the middle stories, I had to bring that rating down much lower.

[Maria Cecilia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ay no, que feo caso

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was scrolling through the Libby app showing my friend how it works, and I found this book in the graphic novel section. It looked kind of interesting so I downloaded it. It was not good at all.

On the one hand, it didn’t take me long to read, on the other hand, I just could not stand the multiple stories that involved non-consensual sex. I’m not a prude, but wow, the characters themselves discuss being forced to have sex! Yikes. Do not recommend.

[TT · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeous cover but most of the stories are boring and I've never been a fan of the finding a stranger at your doorstep storyline that seems to be so popular in yaoi! Collection of forgettable stories, i'll probably sell my paperback copy.

[Miss Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

why is the primary theme of this collection rape to love

how do i get a refund on my time

1 stars

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ummm was not expecting that much rape or a little bit more sexiness during the sex? Main story has the guy being a pushover and doesn't want to be lonely and lets a random guy rape him in a one night stand after he rescues him from the rain. Not my cup of tea at all. I'm a fan of dubious consent but there has to be something that compensates for it and it doesn't really happen in this manga.

Image quality on the Kindle ebook was super trashy and low quality, like the images didn't fit on the full screen of an ipad? I would definitely NOT recommend buying this as an ebook if you're a fan of this mangaka and it's a waste of space in a manga library if you're looking for new BL/yaoi to read and it's on sale somewhere.

[Sarah Pierce · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is so bad. It’s full of VERY problematic content labeled as love/romance. In truth it’s a bunch of mini stories of high school students with older men, child grooming and sexual assault. There was no reason for this to be published.

(Wish I would have read reviews of this one before renting it from Libby.)

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of these stories were forgettable to me. One of them lost my attention midway through. Also this book does have a theme of rape / force. Unless the older man / younger man dynamic is really your thing you can probably find a better collection of short stories.

[Jennifer Longoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

If i remember correctly...this book was kinda cute but also all over the place and quickly paced. Like...one page difference was like 30 pages in a regular book. Everything moved too quickly to really enjoy. Art was nice though.

[terasaki-skies☔️ · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one is a bit old school in stylizing. And while I liked maybe one or two of the stories, for the most part, it felt really dry and un-remarkable. Additionally, it became hard to differentiate between one story to the next as all the characters started to look the same.

[Cydney Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Compilation of Stories

Not all stories were great, but not all were horrible. Some are even very questionable as far as the age gap, and the "expression" of feelings. These stories are not for the faint of heart. Readers have been warned.

[Lainy122 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, this should have been ambiguous consent because oh dear. A series of short stories about power imbalance, age imbalance, and serious consent issues too. There were a couple that were almost sweet? but overall, I would avoid this problematic mess.

[Syarifah Nabila · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books are contain multiple story
I have high expectation since minase have a good story development and feels. However this books are just so-so. Better to read her oneshot with just one story.

[Hayleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay so a lot of these stories were actually really cute and I love it when the younger person is the one who takes charge and is proactive ^//^

[Nav · Rating 1 out of 5]

These stories are very short so they lean heavily into tropes and there’s a bit of uniformity in looks. Every story involves non-con on at least level too so avoid this if that’s upsetting for you.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many issues with consent in this book. Like. Yikes.

[Alyssa · Rating 1 out of 5]

What is happening?

[Iphigen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks God it's my first time reading something so terrible, and I have read mangas for the past 15 years.

[Djinn · Rating 1 out of 5]

😠😤

The art is of fine quality and a few of the story lines are sweet, but the disgusting Japanese stereotype in shonen ai of gay men raping or forcing themselves upon other men is disturbing. These types of story lines are not just hurtful, but damaging and I encourage people to read work from authors who don't use this false and misleading plot device.

[Blak Rayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

To read the entire original review: http://www.blakrayneblog.com/2015/11/...

Masara Minase’s art is good and some of her characters showed a little promise. But on the whole, I wasn’t impressed with this group of one shots because half the stories used nonconsensual sex, which like I mentioned, has begun to drive me insane. Also, the mangaka used the same tropes everyone’s seen a million before which made every plot predictable. Sadly, only two of the one shots were decent: More Than a Child, Not Quite an Adult and Miracles Don’t Happen. I realize that “one shots” aren’t generally meant to be Pulitzer Prize winners, but at the same time I’ve read some that are extremely well done. This isn’t a reflection of Ms. Minase’s work, she’s created some really awesome stories, and several are my personal favourites. In the end, I didn’t know what rating to give this anthology, but finally decided on 3 stars.

[FoxClouds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3 stars

I liked the art and some of the stories but the obvious lack of consent and abuse of power and references to rape are not something that I enjoy. (Not to mention that some of the characters were a tad too young.) I have read a lot of yaoi/shounen-ai manga to notice that the lack of consent/power abuse is the most common theme for all mangas. (For heterosexual relationships too but in a bit of a different way.) Makes me sad really as it is obviously stems from the cultural differences and the way gay relationships are viewed in Japanese culture. Obviously, you can't make assumptions of the whole culture from manga but this recurring theme is a bit disturbing.

If you are ok to read something that involves lack of consent, you may also find these stories cute. If not - then skip it.

[Jennifer Lavoie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was really disappointing, but not on a story level, or even an art level. Those were fine. It was the production of the book that was the problem. The copy I had is so disjointed and poorly put together that it's missing entire sections. I only got to read the beginning of "Trade-off," there is no beginning to "Man On!" and the end is repeated TWICE. "More than a child..." is interrupted at one point by the second ending of "Man On!" so it's really hard to read these stories.

If it weren't for that I'm sure the book would have been great, but my copy is terrible. I wonder if anyone else has this problem.

[Rei ⭐ [TrulyBooked] · Rating 1 out of 5]

So... I don't mind age gaps in stories, but it's really weird and skin-crawly when the older person in the relationship starts being attracted to the younger one when the younger one is a child. Yes, yes, they waited until they were of age, good for them. It doesn't change the fact that someone fell for a literal kid.

That, plus the numerous problems with consensual sex...

One of the solutions to a problem in the book is that someone raped someone and that supposedly fixes everything? I've been away from manga for a long time and this wasn't the most comfortable foray back into it.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5 stars, technically. But they don't let you chose that do they? So we have to make do with these things. The art was good and, given a bit more room, I'd have liked to have seen the first short story extend a bit further because it was my favourite. The rest were pleasant but some were straining on my patience due to the insta-love thing. I just can't abide insta-love. Still worth reading =)

[Sophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Love as justification for rape was a theme through the first few stories, which did not make for particularly good writing. Also, this book is a set of 8 VERY short stories, and the reader doesn't know if the characters they've just read about will appear in the following story or not.
Overall, not really worth the 20 minutes it takes to read this.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Associated Names:

Aimai na Kankei
Ambiguous Relationship
Itsuwari no Daishou
Kodomo Ijou Otona Miman
Man On
Mijuku na Kareshi
Miracles Don't Happen
Sweet Restraint
Yasashiku Toraete

Author:
Minase, Masara

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick but satisfying little read about younger men and the older men they love. I quite enjoyed this one, and since I have been on a manga kick this year, it is nice to once again read one with some heart, humour and hotness. Good fun.

[Adelle R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5*

[The Eighth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable. There isn't much to the stories, thus the three stars. I like Masara Minase and own quite a few of her books.

[Grace 🎻 · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute little short stories