This is a world where humans keep beasts and beasts obey humans.
When Reiji, the neglected second-born son of a wealthy family, is gifted a beastman caretaker, he never imagines that the serious and loyal Tsubaki would become his closest friend and confidant. Knowing that his growing desires for his companion is forbidden, Reiji resolves to never give voice to his secret yearning... until the day he comes across Tsubaki suffering and overwhelmed from his heat and the two of them spend a night together that changes everything.
What does Tsubaki mean when he says that he and Reiji are now mated...? And can Reiji really claim to love someone so beholden to him, and can the two of them find their way in a society that rejects their relationship?
This book contains sexual content and is intended for an audience aged 18 years and up.
this was so close to being a 4 star, but it was so rushed. one minute they’re making out, and the next, they’re claiming to be in love and are defying societal norms (humans and beasts can’t be together romantically). cute storyline, but i wanted more backstory between the two. there was also a different couple thrown in towards the end, which imo wasn’t really needed. tbh, those extra pages should’ve been used to develop the main story a bit more, but i digress..
I wanted to like this far more than I did. I loved the cuteness of how Reiji worries about overstepping the bounds of the power dynamic he holds as Tsubaki's "master" and the sweetness of how they were childhood friends who fell for one another. I thought the smutty bits were quite good. And I even adored the way the main (frankly, nearly only) characters interacted for most of the manga. But I just couldn't like it as much as I wanted to, because there are so many things working against it - or, at least, working against my personal tastes.
For the obvious one, which wasn't obvious to me since I chose this impulsively based solely on the cover: there's a whole discrimination and slavery angle that I thought was completely unnecessary for the "rich person and lower-class servant" dynamic. That easily could have been accomplished with just a 'the butler's son has grown up and become the butler for the homeowner's now-grown son' sort of thing; based on what I know from television, they could even have kept the whole "Master Reiji" aspect since that seems to be how live-in employees of rich folk address them. There just isn't enough worldbuilding to explain or properly cover that kind of heavy topic. The manga tries, but it just doesn't succeed.
Other than that, there are moments where the characters look like their child-selves (seen in flashbacks) during the present-day scenes due to the way the artist draws chibis. I found that super confusing, especially when chibis show up in a smutty scene. Eek!
But most egregiously: there's an awful "miscommunication" wherein one of them says awful things to and about the other then tries to make what they've done seem like some kind of martyr situation. Sure, there's a reason: . I just happen to think it's an awful and unacceptable and cowardly reason. There's no true atonement for that, just angst and a rushed resolution. The ship sank to a watery grave for me at that point due to the cruelty and lack of necessary groveling to make up for it, but in the actual story it plowed through to an unearned HEA which gave me emotional whiplash.
It's a shame, because there's so much potential in the friends-to-lovers trope being combined with an employer/employee sort of dynamic and I liked the chemistry between these guys (both spicy and tame). I just didn't end up liking it that much.
Not really sure why there's a random chapter at the end of two completely unrelated characters in a seemingly unrelated scenario doing the naughty, either. But it's there, nestled between the ending of the volume and a 'bonus digital exclusive' chapter which once again features Reiji, Tsubaki, and a whole bunch of stuff that you wouldn't want to bring anywhere near the workplace.
this could have been so interesting but there were SO MANY plot holes and so many times that i was just like "what the heck is happening how did we get here"
i liked the short story in the back more than the actual story lol
I didn't expect this to be so adorable, to be honest. Yes, of course there's delicious smut, sometimes the panels were a bit confusing as the art is uneven at traits, and there's the whole in-heat and mate-for-life trope (which I still greatly enjoy when well done), plus these two together are just too cute and sweet. And hot, that too. Very.
For such a short story, there's a bit of social commentary, a society where Beastmen are a commodity and have no rights seems pretty awful to me, and it's pretty applicable to our actual society with little effort. Issues with dependency and power dynamics are briefly but clearly mentioned (if one of them is in servitude, can there really be love?), super relatable insecurities of the human character and then just warm, big and small, love gestures that put such a smile on my face. Misunderstandings were clearly solved, thank god, I hate when those drag on forever for no reason, and their future is bright, realistic.
Sometimes one really needs the fluff. And explicit sex scenes, yep.
Not sure what the unrelated one-shot at the end was meant to add, but extra smut for who wants it
Entretenido, adorable, y arriesgado. Es una historia un tanto diferente con elementos clásicos, fáciles de aceptar. No ahonda mucho en el tema de los beast o el tipo de sociedad en la que se ubica esta historia, pero como una lectura autoconclusiva está bastante bien y sirve para mantenerte pegado leyendo por mucho tiempo.
Entertaining, adorable, and risky. It is a somewhat different story with classic elements, easy to accept. It doesn't delve much into the theme of beasts or the kind of society this story is set in, but as a stand-alone read it's pretty good and serves to keep you glued on for a long time.
Where to Read: INKR and available in digital and physical print from Tokyopop
In this world beast people are kept as pets/servants for the rich. Reiji is the second son of a wealthy family and was given Tsubaki as his servant/caretaker. Overtime though Reiji's feelings for Tsubaki quickly turned to love and one day Reiji playfully kisses Tsubaki, which immediately causes a beastly heat. This makes Reiji realize how different the two are and makes him doubt that their love can even be possible.
This was a lot cuter than I was expecting. Idk something about the cover was giving me problematic, forceful vibes, but it was actually pretty wholesome and a little silly. The description might be giving age gap, but I'm pretty sure they're only 2-4 years apart? And Tsubaki is the younger one even though he's the caretaker so Reiji is both older and his technical boss so it could be viewed as an unhealthy power dynamic, but for me it didn't really give off that. Reiji's a lonely kid and he's always cared for Tsubaki. He also gave him opportunities to thrive on his own because he didn't want to trap him. Then Tsubaki only knew the servant/master role so when love came into play he wasn't sure what that meant. It was overall sweet story and a very quick read. I enjoyed it.
This is a Japanese Manga. They have a genre with humanoid beasts that they use. I don't really get the reason behind it. So, in this story, we see a wealthy young man in his manor. In this world, there are beasts that are human like and they don't have rights. It's the fad for the wealthy to buy these beasts like pets.
I think this story would have been better if it were more realistic and not used the human-beast thing. It's simply so odd and weird to me, but I know this is meant for a different audience. Still, it was entertaining.
The relationship is between the young man and the beast-cat. The whole story is interesting in how it deals with society and their relationship. It's a Yaoi for certain.
This trope is certainly different and interesting. Just more to learn about the Japanese people and what they enjoy. This is a fantasy romance.
1.5 Reiji knows the dynamic is wrong but doesn’t do much about it, except degrade Tsubaki and completely pushes him away. And the beast just cannot live without his owner. Taubaki’s only personality trait is Reiji. In a society that discriminates at least they’re pushing back. The art is good, the story needs more work and development.
I didn’t think this was particularly bad, but I also didn’t think it was outstanding. Mostly, this was just too rushed for me to fully love it. I liked the concept fine enough, but it needed a bit more time to be developed.
Still, the smut was well drawn 👌🏼 At the end of the day, I did enjoy the relationship between the two.
when i tell you i almost cried while reading this !!!! the love confession and yearning in this manga was perfect!
humans and beasts being in a romantic relationship is considered forbidden in this story, but the main characters didn’t care what society had to say and became a couple.
they loved each other LOUDLY. they made sure that the whole world knew that they were in love. so cute!!
Before I bought this, I downloaded the sample which has the first 15ish pages. As I scrolled through the sample, I kept questioning myself about why the beast man looked weird…. He doesn’t have human ears!
More of a 3.5 star rating because I’m a sucker for childhood friends to lovers. Seeing that this story wasn’t entirely romance and smut but, also had some prejudice moments towards the beastman, since it fight into the story well and didn’t make the story feel incomplete.
I was really pleasantly surprised by the story. I wish the story had been in chronological order, but I guess it only makes more sense when it isn’t that being said, it’s still bugging me a little bit. The art was beautiful and the characters were interesting.
I read this while stuck in a border crossing trying to get into Bellingham. It was SO CHEESY but also it would absolutey be my hyperfixation if I was 13 and back in my Black Butler era 😂
Good way to waste an hour but like…its gay manga what do you expect?
3*5+ A little pining, lots of sex, and a dog boy... I didn't hate it. Just fluff. Nice art. The unrelated short included in the book was also SUPER adorable.
I loved Tsubaki and Reiji’s story, it was kind of like a watered down omegaverse story, but at the same time, it wasn’t. (If that makes any kind of sense)