Review: YUBISAKI MILK TEA

Puberty is a time when a lot of people (be they real or fictional) explore their gender presentation.  This particular manga is not the best representation of it, though.

YUBISAKI MILK TEA (Yubisaki Miruku Ti), by Tomochaka Miyano.  First published in 2002 and first published in North America in 2006.

PLOT:

Yoshinori isn't entirely sure what to do.  First, his childhood friend Hikari starting acting weirdly around him.  Then he finds himself drawn to his brainy classmate Kurokawa.  When Kurokawa starts tutoring him, jealousies flare and Yoshinari has to come to terms with himself, his friends, and his fondness for cross-dressing even as growing up makes all of these things more complicated.

Review: THIGH HIGH: REIWA HANAMARU ACADEMY

This month we'll be looking at some the ways that manga plays with flipping sexes and genders.  Since March is also the time for the start of the new school year in Japan, this series seems doubly suitable to kick things off.

THIGH HIGH: REIWA HANAMARU ACADEMY (Reiwa Hanamaru Gakuen), by Kotobuki.  First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2021.

PLOT:

Hanamaru High School is a place where handsome young men can enjoy their free and youthful days.  Alas, this is not the case for the uptight, prudish, and socially awkward class representative Kiritani.  Thankfully his friend Harumi is there to help him get over his hang-ups and maybe even help out some of the other lovely boys with their own problems.

Review: HAPPY CRAPPY LIFE

It takes a lot of talent to write a BL comedy about two messy dudes trying to fix their respective lives and make it work, and this manga is the proof of just such a talent.

HAPPY CRAPPY LIFE (Happi Kuso Raifu), by Harada.  First published in 2018 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

Kasuya had it all: a powerful, high-paying job, an engagement to his boss's daughter, and all the benefits of big-city nightlife.  Thanks to a sex scandal, he was shipped out alone to the countryside, left to stagnate in a small town full of gossipy old men and Kuzuya, a jobless, horny mess of a man.  

When a visit to the local bar leads to Kasuya's big secret going public, Kasuya realizes he can't go back to his old life.  Furthermore, Kuzuya is more than happy to indulge Kasuya's love of butt stuff since he can't get laid either.  That one terrible, drunken night might be the beginning of something beautiful for them both...if they can just figure out how to tolerate one another first.

Review: PETER GRILL AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S TIME

It's so hard (pun not intended) to find a good sex comedy manga, and crap like this isn't helping things.

PETER GRILL AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S TIME (Pita Guriru to Kenja no Jikan), by Daisuke Hiyama.  First published in 2017 and first published in North America in 2020.

PLOT:

Peter Grill has proven himself to be the strongest warrior in the land.  He hopes that this amazing feat will finally allow him to marry his beloved but deeply sheltered girlfriend Luvellia, but things get complicated when he's cornered by the ditzy but determined ogre sisters Mimi and Lisa.  They want him to impregnate them both with the strongest warriors, and they're not above using both blackmail and Peter's own weak will against him.

Now Peter is caught in the midst of his hardest battle yet, as he tries to hide his affairs from Luvellia (and her extremely strict father/guild master) all while fending off a growing harem of demi-human ladies demanding his seed in increasingly outrageous ways.

Review: TO SIR, WITHOUT LOVE: I'M DIVORCING YOU

 February means another round of Bad Romance manga here at the Manga Test Drive, and it's only fitting to start with a romance that begins with a demand for divorce.

TO SIR, WITHOUT LOVE: I'M DIVORCING YOU (Haikei Mishiranu Danna-sama, Rikonshite Itdakimasu), based on the light novels by Kori Hisakawa and character designs by Airumu, with art by Iroto Tsumugi.  First published in 2023 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

The last thing Byletta wanted was marriage.  Unfortunately she does not get a choice in the matter, as her father has married her off to a promising military officer named Arnald Swangen.  No sooner is she brought to her husband's household than he departs for war.  That's no problem for Byletta, as it gives her plenty of time to focus on setting up her own dress shop, winning over her younger sister-in-law, and reforming her drunken, wayward father-in-law.  In return she has only one condition: when the war ends, she wants a divorce.

Eight years later, the war is over and the first letter Arnald receives is Byletta's divorce ultimatum.  He has no desire to let her go and she has no desire to stay, so the two make a wager: he will grant her a divorce...if he cannot manage to impregnate her within a month's time.