This might be the only manga I brought with me to college. Possibly.
I have not done one of these things for a while, but hey, the mood strikes. What are you talking about, homework, you can wait and you know it.
This is Makoto Kubota. (And some other characters, but he is the one the picture focuses on.)
Kubota is a quiet eighteenish-year-old who likes mahjong and video games. He's also an illegitimate child, so his family likes to pretend he doesn't exist, and they haven't been in contact with him for a while. He does maintain a connection to his uncle, though (top left, guy in the trenchcoat), so he's not completely alone. His uncle is a decent guy, if not the most touchy-feely person in the world, and happens to be a detective. This occasionally proves useful, because Kubota, having been ignored and unwanted the majority of his life, grew up kinda crazy. Not in an immediately obvious way! Just, y'know, the way that means he has no compunctions whatsoever about killing people. I mean, he doesn't actively seek it out, he just doesn't mind it when it comes up. Which it does. Because when you let a semi-psychotic but well-mannered young man spend most of his time being far too successful in gambling parlors, he ends up joining a local branch of the yakuza.
Guy in the bottom right with the bandaid is Komiya, Kubota's right-hand-man at the time. Komiya is also a decent sort, for a yakuza member, and ends up pretty devoted to Kubota. In that way. Unfortunately for him, Kubota is either unaware of this or chooses not to do anything about it. Poor Komiya. Kubota's official position in the organization is the leader of the youth group, which means he spends most of his time playing video games. Or beating people up. Or killing them. But mostly video games. And mahjong! He's very good at it.
^ The last thing a fair number of people see.
He can't keep living the relatively uncomplicated life forever, alas, and news of a mysterious new drug starts to leak out through the underworld. Uncle Detective's been investigating it too, and is rightfully concerned about it--every person found with it in their bloodstream sprouts fur, claws, inhuman strength, and insanity. Which does not last long! Because then they explode. The drug is only known as WA, and both the local yakuza branches are very interested in it. Murderously interested in it.
Stuff happens.
Kubota leaves the yakuza with a bang--quite a lot of them, really. Of course, he doesn't really know what to do with himself now, and it doesn't help that some very, very violent people are very, very mad at him. So he's wandering around the streets, trying to figure things out--
--and finds a guy unconscious in an alley.
And decides to take him home.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Tokito.
Tokito is also about eighteenish, or at least that's the theory, because he can't remember anything before waking up in Kubota's apartment. He is understandably freaked-out about this! In addition to having no memories, he also has a freaky mutant hand. Furry, clawed, super-strong...well, ain't that interesting. But it's just the hand, and he has yet to go crazy and explode. Curiouser and curiouser. It takes a while for him to be comfortable around Kubota (or anyone, really), but he has nowhere else to go and no idea what he would even do if he left. People with no official identity and a freaky mutant hand can't get jobs very easily. In terms of personality, he's more or less the complete opposite of Kubota--brash, loud, and prickly. The last part is admittedly understandable, because the very few memories that occasionally get drudged up imply that he wasn't being treated very nicely before he escaped. They also imply that he was in that situation for quite a long time, which personally makes me wonder why he's functional at all, but they never really go into that.
Also worth mentioning: when said memories are occasionally drudged up, he tends to freak the hell out and accidentally break stuff. Like Kubota's arm! This does not add to his issues at all, oh no. Fortunately, Kubota is very good at calming him down. Albeit with...slightly unconventional methods. Which brings me to the reason I picked this series up in the first place--well, really I picked it up because it was shrinkwrapped and that intrigued me, but here are some examples of it.
Actual promotional art, people.
I did mention that these were shrinkwrapped, yes? That's actually because of the violence. Sorry. Aside from a couple prostitutes and the yakuza bosses being sleazy, there is no sexual content whatsoever. That does not stop it from being the most blatant gay I have ever read. That they live together in a small apartment with only one visible bed barely scratches the surface. Kubota's remarkably affectionate for a near-sociopath--and you'd think someone with severe PTSD and trust issues (one brief memory implies he might have been raped when he was a kid) would object to this, but nah, Tokito seems fine with it. When Kubota thinks Tokito's left for good, he ends up slumping down in the same alley where he found him in the first place. A woman who used to know Kubota straight-out asks Tokito "You really love him that much, huh". A guy who knew Kubota from his yakuza days happens to see them across a crowded room, and is surprised that Kubota looks so happy. When their apartment is bugged, they pretend to have sex just to mess with the guys listening in. Which could admittedly just be played for laughs, except one has to wonder how they both thought of it in the first place; "Come over here" isn't exactly a cue for "Let's pretend to have slightly dubcon sex". And then after they crush the bug, Kubota does the physical-affection thing again. Nice job pretending, guys.
To put more analysis into it, though: I think they're the first pairing I've come across that isn't based so much on love as need; Tokito needs someone to trust beyond a shadow of a doubt, someone willing to help him with his issues without judging him for it, and Kubota, well, needs someone who needs him. It's mentioned several times throughout the series that he doesn't care about himself, didn't used to care about anything at all--it's not until Tokito that he starts showing signs of giving a damn. Small wonder Kubota's even more willing to kill than usual when it comes to the guy. Hell, "Tell me you need me" is an actual line from the fifth volume. (The response, of course, is "Yeah, it seems like I do". OH BOYS.)
(Also, in case the reader hasn't managed to notice it yet, the character bios that are in every volume make a point of mentioning that "Tokito seems to be the one thing Kubota cares about". Subtlety: they don't has it.)
Against all expectations of that particular genre, the series continues to have an interesting and exciting plot; the yakuza still aren't fond of Kubota, and Tokito would quite like to know, well, pretty much everything about what happened before he met Kubota. Probably Kubota wishes the rest of the world would just leave them alone, but hey, that ain't the way things go. And thus their life is filled with crime, danger, tricky situations--and conversations about whether curry's still good if it's been sitting out for four days. Also a shitload of stray cat metaphors, but those aren't really relevant to the plot. Doesn't stop'em from being funny, though.
So I leave you with this: a complete list of its scanlations at MangaFox, though I do recommend buying the volumes (I just really want to give the lady money, okay, plus the translations are better), a specific link to the beginning of the pretending-to-have-sex scene (because hey, why not), and one last promotional picture:
--yeah, I don't know either. And that is why I love it so.
This is Makoto Kubota. (And some other characters, but he is the one the picture focuses on.)
Kubota is a quiet eighteenish-year-old who likes mahjong and video games. He's also an illegitimate child, so his family likes to pretend he doesn't exist, and they haven't been in contact with him for a while. He does maintain a connection to his uncle, though (top left, guy in the trenchcoat), so he's not completely alone. His uncle is a decent guy, if not the most touchy-feely person in the world, and happens to be a detective. This occasionally proves useful, because Kubota, having been ignored and unwanted the majority of his life, grew up kinda crazy. Not in an immediately obvious way! Just, y'know, the way that means he has no compunctions whatsoever about killing people. I mean, he doesn't actively seek it out, he just doesn't mind it when it comes up. Which it does. Because when you let a semi-psychotic but well-mannered young man spend most of his time being far too successful in gambling parlors, he ends up joining a local branch of the yakuza.
Guy in the bottom right with the bandaid is Komiya, Kubota's right-hand-man at the time. Komiya is also a decent sort, for a yakuza member, and ends up pretty devoted to Kubota. In that way. Unfortunately for him, Kubota is either unaware of this or chooses not to do anything about it. Poor Komiya. Kubota's official position in the organization is the leader of the youth group, which means he spends most of his time playing video games. Or beating people up. Or killing them. But mostly video games. And mahjong! He's very good at it.
^ The last thing a fair number of people see.
He can't keep living the relatively uncomplicated life forever, alas, and news of a mysterious new drug starts to leak out through the underworld. Uncle Detective's been investigating it too, and is rightfully concerned about it--every person found with it in their bloodstream sprouts fur, claws, inhuman strength, and insanity. Which does not last long! Because then they explode. The drug is only known as WA, and both the local yakuza branches are very interested in it. Murderously interested in it.
Stuff happens.
Kubota leaves the yakuza with a bang--quite a lot of them, really. Of course, he doesn't really know what to do with himself now, and it doesn't help that some very, very violent people are very, very mad at him. So he's wandering around the streets, trying to figure things out--
--and finds a guy unconscious in an alley.
And decides to take him home.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Tokito.
Tokito is also about eighteenish, or at least that's the theory, because he can't remember anything before waking up in Kubota's apartment. He is understandably freaked-out about this! In addition to having no memories, he also has a freaky mutant hand. Furry, clawed, super-strong...well, ain't that interesting. But it's just the hand, and he has yet to go crazy and explode. Curiouser and curiouser. It takes a while for him to be comfortable around Kubota (or anyone, really), but he has nowhere else to go and no idea what he would even do if he left. People with no official identity and a freaky mutant hand can't get jobs very easily. In terms of personality, he's more or less the complete opposite of Kubota--brash, loud, and prickly. The last part is admittedly understandable, because the very few memories that occasionally get drudged up imply that he wasn't being treated very nicely before he escaped. They also imply that he was in that situation for quite a long time, which personally makes me wonder why he's functional at all, but they never really go into that.
Also worth mentioning: when said memories are occasionally drudged up, he tends to freak the hell out and accidentally break stuff. Like Kubota's arm! This does not add to his issues at all, oh no. Fortunately, Kubota is very good at calming him down. Albeit with...slightly unconventional methods. Which brings me to the reason I picked this series up in the first place--well, really I picked it up because it was shrinkwrapped and that intrigued me, but here are some examples of it.
Actual promotional art, people.
I did mention that these were shrinkwrapped, yes? That's actually because of the violence. Sorry. Aside from a couple prostitutes and the yakuza bosses being sleazy, there is no sexual content whatsoever. That does not stop it from being the most blatant gay I have ever read. That they live together in a small apartment with only one visible bed barely scratches the surface. Kubota's remarkably affectionate for a near-sociopath--and you'd think someone with severe PTSD and trust issues (one brief memory implies he might have been raped when he was a kid) would object to this, but nah, Tokito seems fine with it. When Kubota thinks Tokito's left for good, he ends up slumping down in the same alley where he found him in the first place. A woman who used to know Kubota straight-out asks Tokito "You really love him that much, huh". A guy who knew Kubota from his yakuza days happens to see them across a crowded room, and is surprised that Kubota looks so happy. When their apartment is bugged, they pretend to have sex just to mess with the guys listening in. Which could admittedly just be played for laughs, except one has to wonder how they both thought of it in the first place; "Come over here" isn't exactly a cue for "Let's pretend to have slightly dubcon sex". And then after they crush the bug, Kubota does the physical-affection thing again. Nice job pretending, guys.
To put more analysis into it, though: I think they're the first pairing I've come across that isn't based so much on love as need; Tokito needs someone to trust beyond a shadow of a doubt, someone willing to help him with his issues without judging him for it, and Kubota, well, needs someone who needs him. It's mentioned several times throughout the series that he doesn't care about himself, didn't used to care about anything at all--it's not until Tokito that he starts showing signs of giving a damn. Small wonder Kubota's even more willing to kill than usual when it comes to the guy. Hell, "Tell me you need me" is an actual line from the fifth volume. (The response, of course, is "Yeah, it seems like I do". OH BOYS.)
(Also, in case the reader hasn't managed to notice it yet, the character bios that are in every volume make a point of mentioning that "Tokito seems to be the one thing Kubota cares about". Subtlety: they don't has it.)
Against all expectations of that particular genre, the series continues to have an interesting and exciting plot; the yakuza still aren't fond of Kubota, and Tokito would quite like to know, well, pretty much everything about what happened before he met Kubota. Probably Kubota wishes the rest of the world would just leave them alone, but hey, that ain't the way things go. And thus their life is filled with crime, danger, tricky situations--and conversations about whether curry's still good if it's been sitting out for four days. Also a shitload of stray cat metaphors, but those aren't really relevant to the plot. Doesn't stop'em from being funny, though.
So I leave you with this: a complete list of its scanlations at MangaFox, though I do recommend buying the volumes (I just really want to give the lady money, okay, plus the translations are better), a specific link to the beginning of the pretending-to-have-sex scene (because hey, why not), and one last promotional picture:
--yeah, I don't know either. And that is why I love it so.