don't let your soul get lonely // child, it's only time, it will go by
One of my favorite BL manga ever is Natsume Isaku's Doushiyoumonai Keredo [cover 01 | cover 02]. It's so chock full of cute tsundere uke, sweet domesticity (one of my main kinks and even hotter than the hottest porn .__.), cuddles and silly, conventional plotlines that I keep coming back to it whenever I need cheering up.
Naturally, this is the perfect moment for a picspam with a few translated scenes added into the mix~ ♥
Disclaimer: My Japanese is far from perfect and my photoshoppin' skillz are pretty non-existent. Furthermore, I'm firmly of the opinion that direct translations are a tool of SATAN, so I'm going to try to rely on those as little as humanly possible. Kthxbye.
The sweetest kiss you ever did see.
So how to summarize Doushiyoumonai Keredo? It's basically a silly, cliché manga about the relationship between serious Shimano (the uke) and laid back Kurokawa (das seme with the dark hair). They've been working at the same company for about two years and Shimano's always felt a little awkward around Kurokawa, while Kurokawa enjoys teasing Shimano, the stiff little bocchama. One night, however, while Shimano's on the way home from a business meeting, Kurokawa bumps into him on the street. As it's late enough that the last train for the evening has left, Kurokawa invites Shimano to spend the night at his sweet bachelor pad (which is naturally in such disarray that Shimano's uke instincts kick in and he cleans the place up :'D).
You can probably guess where this is heading. That's right, it's RAEP o'clock! Kurokawa gives Shimano a handjob, which of course prompts Shimano to threaten to tell his ~daddy~, the CEO of their company.
Kurokawa: Well, then I'm just gonna have to do something even more embarrassing.
Shimano: [SFX: Waah!] No, don't! I got it, I won't tell!
Kurokawa: [SFX: Heh] I'm just jokin'.
Kurokawa: Did I scare you that bad? You're so adorable. // So what would you even tell the police? [tiny text: "Help, a man made me come~!" or somethin'? 'Cause I'd just play innocent.]
Shimano-the-roll: You're such a bastard!
As this is BL, this delightful bit of non-consensual diddling leads to a sweet, silly relationship. It turns out that Kurokawa's been feeling lonely and suffering from insomnia thanks to his recent divorce, but whenever his uke's around, he falls asleep quickly and snores into poor Shimano's ear ♥ Shimano on the other hand, being the nicely conventional uke that he is, cleans and cooks and pines for his seme~.
Kurokawa: Whenever you're here, I can finally get some sleep.
[big SFX: thump]
[tiny SFX: kiss]
These two are so sweetly domestic that I can't even ;3;
Anyway, one of the bigger story arcs deals with Kurokawa's ex-wife, the nice and v. v. efficient Kurata. The guys' company sets up some sort of collaborative project with Kurata's, so she and one of her coworkers, Yamamori, come over to work with Kurokawa and Shimano. When Shimano sees how well Kurokawa and his ex-wife still get along, he gets jealous and lonely, wondering if he'll ever learn to know Kurokawa as well as his wife seems to know him. When Kurokawa and Kurata end up going on a short business trip together, Shimano's pretty upset about it, even if it's just for a few days.
Box: I wonder when he got so far under my skin.
Yamamori: Seriously, is something wrong?
Shimano: Huh? I'm fine. [tiny text: Really.]
Yamamori: Then why the long face? [tiny text: I'm worried about you.]
[SFX: pat]
Tiny text: Do you feel sick? Should we go to the infirmary?
Shimano's thought bubble: Oops.
[SFX: startle]
Yamamori: Hey c'mon, what's wrong?!
Shimano: I-it's nothing.
Shimano: I want to see you. Where are you? [lit: "What are you doing right now?" but it doesn't work in English.]
[SFX: open]
Shimano: Kuro...
[big SFX: yank]
[smaller SFX: clatter]
Shimano: Kurokawa-san, what...?!
[big SFX: bang]
[smaller SFX by Yamamori's head: dumbfounded]
[black SFX: open]
[small SFX: startle]
Kurokawa: You do that again and I'll KILL ya!
Yamamori: Do what?
[last SFX: slam]
Possessiveness and forcefulness are hot ♥ (Except not in real life.)
The next short excerpt from the manga is an omake that refers to an earlier chapter where Kurokawa and Shimano went drinking with their colleagues. For some reason I've already forgotten, Shimano was upset with Kurokawa and jealous of all the attention he'd lavished on everybody else, so Shimano got brilliantly drunk and passed out right in from of Kurokawa :'D (Who, of course, then proceeded to haul Shimano home princess style to the amusement of their co-workers ♥)
After seeing Shimano get so drunk on so little booze, Kurokawa decides to help him develop a tolerance for the stuff. He gets some beers and they sit down to drink (despite Shimano's many protests~).
Text: 30 minutes later.
Shimano: Hic.
Kurokawa: You sleepy? [tiny text: Is that all it takes?]
Shimano: 'M not shleepy!
[SFX: snoooooore]
[SFX: ngah]
Shimano: I washn't shleeping!
[SFX: snoooooooooore]
Kurokawa: Okay, that's it. Get in bed.
Shimano: Nnngh.
[small SFX: nh]
Shimano: I'm not sleepy.
[SFX: creak]
Kurokawa: Yeah, yeah.
Shimano: ...Ah. // We gonna do it?
Kurokawa: 'Course not! [tiny text: Sleep already.]
[SFX: flap]
Shimano: Why nooot? // 'Cause I wanna.
Kurokawa: What the...?!
Poor Kurokawa's all befuddled because a proper uke (and Shimano's about as prim and proper as they come) always says 'no' first~. His confusion doesn't last that long, so the omake ends with some sweet, drunken sex Shimano doesn't remember the following day :'D (Seriously, just say no to rape.)
So yay, plot happens again. Shimano's status requires that his daddy dearest set up an omiai for him. The girl, Maya, turns out to be Shimano's junior from high school, and although Shimano thinks she's nice, he doesn't want to marry at all. There are all kinds of hijinks (and an angsting Kurokawa), but in the end Maya - who turns out to have had a major crush on Shimano in high school - discovers the guys' relationship and more or less gives them her blessing.
The next part of the story happens closer to Christmas. It's been very busy at the company, so Shimano and Kurokawa haven't seen each other in two weeks. Furthermore, it looks like they'll both be working over Christmas, so they won't have the chance to spend the holiday together. It's also Shimano's birthday, which is something Kurokawa doesn't know, so Shimano heads out to drink with some of the women from work. While he's out partying, Kurokawa bumps into Maya and finds out that it's actually his boyfriend's birthday. Cue panicking :'D In the end, Kurokawa calls Shimano about a million times and tells him to hurry on over to Kurokawa's apartment. Once Shimano gets there, Kurokawa bounds through the door.
[mini SFX: huff]
Shimano: Ah. // Um. [SFX: thump]
Shimano: It's been a while. [thought bubble: Yikes! Why am I so...]
[background SFX: thump, thump, thump etc. (it's his heartbeat ♥)
Shimano: So what's the big rush? Why did you want to meet m...?
[SFX: rustle]
[SFX: huff]
Kurokawa: Happy...
Kurokawa: Birthda- uuuurgh. Man, that hurts!
Shimano: How did you know it's my birthday? Why the flowers?! [small text: And why were you running?]
Kurokawa: (small bubble) Mayu told me.
Shimano: (small bubble) Where did you bump into her?!
Kurokawa: (small floating text) And I couldn't get a taxi [so I ran].
Kurokawa: It's just...
Kurokawa: You didn't answer yer phone, so I couldn't ask what you wanted. // It was gettin' late, too, so all the shops were closin'.
Kurokawa: Flowers were all I could come up with. // Why didn't ya tell me earlier that it's your birthday?
Shimano: It's really no big d...
Kurokawa: 'Cause birthdays are special, right?
Shimano: Really? [tiny text: Never thought I'd hear that from you.]
Kurokawa: What, you don't think so?
Shimano: Uh, that's, um. Not really?
Kurokawa: Really now?!
Shimano: No, I mean, of course birthdays are special!
Kurokawa: That's what I thought.
[and this is where I forgot to add an extra layer of color to my scans, so they're way too light]
Shimano: Thank you. // I'm so happy.
[SFX: hug]
And then they almost have birfday sex, but Kurokawa's too tired so they cuddle instead ♥
This last short translation is a sort of extra chapter that features a crossover with characters from Natsume Isaku's other manga, No Color (Iida and Sakamoto~). Kurokawa and Shimano are at a shopping mall thingy, and while Kurokawa goes browsing for a new rice cooker for the guys, Shimano heads to a self-help terminal to print out photos from their company trip.
The seme from No Color, Iida, is a photographer, so he's at the terminal printing his photos. When Shimano can't seem to figure out how to get the photos to print, Iida helps him. They end up chatting about Iida's photos, so in the end Shimano lets Iida see the photos from his company trip. Unfortunately, the photos are kind of discriminating~.
Arrow 01: He's looking.
Arrow 02: Really staring.
Arrow 03: Him too.
[SFX: yoink!]
Iida: Wha-?!
Shimano: I'm sorry! Really, it's nothing!
Shimano: (thought bubble) Who the hell took these?!
Iida: (thought bubble) Was there something strange about the photos?
Sakamoto: What is he doing? [small text: If you're done, come get me.]
Sakamoto: And why is that man blushing? What did Iida pull this time? [mini text: Doesn't really trust him.]
[SFX: Oooooooooooo!]
[SFX: striding purposefully :'D]
Sakamoto: Oh, that's the guy who was looking at rice cookers just now. [small text: Run, Iida! Or something.]
[SFX by Shimano's head: bluuuush]
Kurokawa: Hey.
Shimano: Urk!
Kurokawa: You done here?
[SFX behind gorilla: Roooaaarr // Defending his uke Menacing glare.]
Shimano: Y-yeah!
[SFX behing lion: Groooowl // Gives as good as he gets.]
[small text: Has no idea why, though. // SFX: Grar?]
Kurokawa: Okay then, let's go.
Shimano: Yeah. // Oh, thanks for everything. [small text: Bye then.]
[SFX behind gorilla: snort!]
Iida: What the hell was that? // Huh, when did you get here? [small text: Hi~.]
And then all four lived happily ever after ♥ Seriously though, I do wish there were more of Doushiyoumonai, but I guess two volumes is plenty for a no-plot story about two guys and their epic everyday love for each other :'D The rest of volume two, though, is actually another story I love almost as much as I do DK. If I ever figure out photoshop well enough to be able to edit stuff, I'll definitely scanlate at least one bittersweet oneshot that made me all ;3;
In the meantime, have one last scan of Kurokawa and Shimano ♥
Kurokawa: 'Cause your heart's beatin' like crazy.
The sweetness! I can't take it ;__;
Lawl. In other news, I passed my degree qualifying exam \o/ (Basically I just had to write a short essay in Finnish on a topic based on my BA thesis, which is in English.) It turns out that even though they let me pass, my essay was actually too short and should've been titled in some way, so it's a bittersweet victory. I'm such a perfectionist that it still really smarts D8 Damn you, self, for being so incompetent~! *shakes fist*
[lyrics in subject from Be Here Now by Ray LaMontagne.]
Naturally, this is the perfect moment for a picspam with a few translated scenes added into the mix~ ♥
Disclaimer: My Japanese is far from perfect and my photoshoppin' skillz are pretty non-existent. Furthermore, I'm firmly of the opinion that direct translations are a tool of SATAN, so I'm going to try to rely on those as little as humanly possible. Kthxbye.
The sweetest kiss you ever did see.
So how to summarize Doushiyoumonai Keredo? It's basically a silly, cliché manga about the relationship between serious Shimano (the uke) and laid back Kurokawa (das seme with the dark hair). They've been working at the same company for about two years and Shimano's always felt a little awkward around Kurokawa, while Kurokawa enjoys teasing Shimano, the stiff little bocchama. One night, however, while Shimano's on the way home from a business meeting, Kurokawa bumps into him on the street. As it's late enough that the last train for the evening has left, Kurokawa invites Shimano to spend the night at his sweet bachelor pad (which is naturally in such disarray that Shimano's uke instincts kick in and he cleans the place up :'D).
You can probably guess where this is heading. That's right, it's RAEP o'clock! Kurokawa gives Shimano a handjob, which of course prompts Shimano to threaten to tell his ~daddy~, the CEO of their company.
Kurokawa: Well, then I'm just gonna have to do something even more embarrassing.
Shimano: [SFX: Waah!] No, don't! I got it, I won't tell!
Kurokawa: [SFX: Heh] I'm just jokin'.
Kurokawa: Did I scare you that bad? You're so adorable. // So what would you even tell the police? [tiny text: "Help, a man made me come~!" or somethin'? 'Cause I'd just play innocent.]
Shimano-the-roll: You're such a bastard!
As this is BL, this delightful bit of non-consensual diddling leads to a sweet, silly relationship. It turns out that Kurokawa's been feeling lonely and suffering from insomnia thanks to his recent divorce, but whenever his uke's around, he falls asleep quickly and snores into poor Shimano's ear ♥ Shimano on the other hand, being the nicely conventional uke that he is, cleans and cooks and pines for his seme~.
Kurokawa: Whenever you're here, I can finally get some sleep.
[big SFX: thump]
[tiny SFX: kiss]
These two are so sweetly domestic that I can't even ;3;
Anyway, one of the bigger story arcs deals with Kurokawa's ex-wife, the nice and v. v. efficient Kurata. The guys' company sets up some sort of collaborative project with Kurata's, so she and one of her coworkers, Yamamori, come over to work with Kurokawa and Shimano. When Shimano sees how well Kurokawa and his ex-wife still get along, he gets jealous and lonely, wondering if he'll ever learn to know Kurokawa as well as his wife seems to know him. When Kurokawa and Kurata end up going on a short business trip together, Shimano's pretty upset about it, even if it's just for a few days.
Box: I wonder when he got so far under my skin.
Yamamori: Seriously, is something wrong?
Shimano: Huh? I'm fine. [tiny text: Really.]
Yamamori: Then why the long face? [tiny text: I'm worried about you.]
[SFX: pat]
Tiny text: Do you feel sick? Should we go to the infirmary?
Shimano's thought bubble: Oops.
[SFX: startle]
Yamamori: Hey c'mon, what's wrong?!
Shimano: I-it's nothing.
Shimano: I want to see you. Where are you? [lit: "What are you doing right now?" but it doesn't work in English.]
[SFX: open]
Shimano: Kuro...
[big SFX: yank]
[smaller SFX: clatter]
Shimano: Kurokawa-san, what...?!
[big SFX: bang]
[smaller SFX by Yamamori's head: dumbfounded]
[black SFX: open]
[small SFX: startle]
Kurokawa: You do that again and I'll KILL ya!
Yamamori: Do what?
[last SFX: slam]
Possessiveness and forcefulness are hot ♥ (Except not in real life.)
The next short excerpt from the manga is an omake that refers to an earlier chapter where Kurokawa and Shimano went drinking with their colleagues. For some reason I've already forgotten, Shimano was upset with Kurokawa and jealous of all the attention he'd lavished on everybody else, so Shimano got brilliantly drunk and passed out right in from of Kurokawa :'D (Who, of course, then proceeded to haul Shimano home princess style to the amusement of their co-workers ♥)
After seeing Shimano get so drunk on so little booze, Kurokawa decides to help him develop a tolerance for the stuff. He gets some beers and they sit down to drink (despite Shimano's many protests~).
Text: 30 minutes later.
Shimano: Hic.
Kurokawa: You sleepy? [tiny text: Is that all it takes?]
Shimano: 'M not shleepy!
[SFX: snoooooore]
[SFX: ngah]
Shimano: I washn't shleeping!
[SFX: snoooooooooore]
Kurokawa: Okay, that's it. Get in bed.
Shimano: Nnngh.
[small SFX: nh]
Shimano: I'm not sleepy.
[SFX: creak]
Kurokawa: Yeah, yeah.
Shimano: ...Ah. // We gonna do it?
Kurokawa: 'Course not! [tiny text: Sleep already.]
[SFX: flap]
Shimano: Why nooot? // 'Cause I wanna.
Kurokawa: What the...?!
Poor Kurokawa's all befuddled because a proper uke (and Shimano's about as prim and proper as they come) always says 'no' first~. His confusion doesn't last that long, so the omake ends with some sweet, drunken sex Shimano doesn't remember the following day :'D (Seriously, just say no to rape.)
So yay, plot happens again. Shimano's status requires that his daddy dearest set up an omiai for him. The girl, Maya, turns out to be Shimano's junior from high school, and although Shimano thinks she's nice, he doesn't want to marry at all. There are all kinds of hijinks (and an angsting Kurokawa), but in the end Maya - who turns out to have had a major crush on Shimano in high school - discovers the guys' relationship and more or less gives them her blessing.
The next part of the story happens closer to Christmas. It's been very busy at the company, so Shimano and Kurokawa haven't seen each other in two weeks. Furthermore, it looks like they'll both be working over Christmas, so they won't have the chance to spend the holiday together. It's also Shimano's birthday, which is something Kurokawa doesn't know, so Shimano heads out to drink with some of the women from work. While he's out partying, Kurokawa bumps into Maya and finds out that it's actually his boyfriend's birthday. Cue panicking :'D In the end, Kurokawa calls Shimano about a million times and tells him to hurry on over to Kurokawa's apartment. Once Shimano gets there, Kurokawa bounds through the door.
[mini SFX: huff]
Shimano: Ah. // Um. [SFX: thump]
Shimano: It's been a while. [thought bubble: Yikes! Why am I so...]
[background SFX: thump, thump, thump etc. (it's his heartbeat ♥)
Shimano: So what's the big rush? Why did you want to meet m...?
[SFX: rustle]
[SFX: huff]
Kurokawa: Happy...
Kurokawa: Birthda- uuuurgh. Man, that hurts!
Shimano: How did you know it's my birthday? Why the flowers?! [small text: And why were you running?]
Kurokawa: (small bubble) Mayu told me.
Shimano: (small bubble) Where did you bump into her?!
Kurokawa: (small floating text) And I couldn't get a taxi [so I ran].
Kurokawa: It's just...
Kurokawa: You didn't answer yer phone, so I couldn't ask what you wanted. // It was gettin' late, too, so all the shops were closin'.
Kurokawa: Flowers were all I could come up with. // Why didn't ya tell me earlier that it's your birthday?
Shimano: It's really no big d...
Kurokawa: 'Cause birthdays are special, right?
Shimano: Really? [tiny text: Never thought I'd hear that from you.]
Kurokawa: What, you don't think so?
Shimano: Uh, that's, um. Not really?
Kurokawa: Really now?!
Shimano: No, I mean, of course birthdays are special!
Kurokawa: That's what I thought.
[and this is where I forgot to add an extra layer of color to my scans, so they're way too light]
Shimano: Thank you. // I'm so happy.
[SFX: hug]
And then they almost have birfday sex, but Kurokawa's too tired so they cuddle instead ♥
This last short translation is a sort of extra chapter that features a crossover with characters from Natsume Isaku's other manga, No Color (Iida and Sakamoto~). Kurokawa and Shimano are at a shopping mall thingy, and while Kurokawa goes browsing for a new rice cooker for the guys, Shimano heads to a self-help terminal to print out photos from their company trip.
The seme from No Color, Iida, is a photographer, so he's at the terminal printing his photos. When Shimano can't seem to figure out how to get the photos to print, Iida helps him. They end up chatting about Iida's photos, so in the end Shimano lets Iida see the photos from his company trip. Unfortunately, the photos are kind of discriminating~.
Arrow 01: He's looking.
Arrow 02: Really staring.
Arrow 03: Him too.
[SFX: yoink!]
Iida: Wha-?!
Shimano: I'm sorry! Really, it's nothing!
Shimano: (thought bubble) Who the hell took these?!
Iida: (thought bubble) Was there something strange about the photos?
Sakamoto: What is he doing? [small text: If you're done, come get me.]
Sakamoto: And why is that man blushing? What did Iida pull this time? [mini text: Doesn't really trust him.]
[SFX: Oooooooooooo!]
[SFX: striding purposefully :'D]
Sakamoto: Oh, that's the guy who was looking at rice cookers just now. [small text: Run, Iida! Or something.]
[SFX by Shimano's head: bluuuush]
Kurokawa: Hey.
Shimano: Urk!
Kurokawa: You done here?
[SFX behind gorilla: Roooaaarr // Defending his uke Menacing glare.]
Shimano: Y-yeah!
[SFX behing lion: Groooowl // Gives as good as he gets.]
[small text: Has no idea why, though. // SFX: Grar?]
Kurokawa: Okay then, let's go.
Shimano: Yeah. // Oh, thanks for everything. [small text: Bye then.]
[SFX behind gorilla: snort!]
Iida: What the hell was that? // Huh, when did you get here? [small text: Hi~.]
And then all four lived happily ever after ♥ Seriously though, I do wish there were more of Doushiyoumonai, but I guess two volumes is plenty for a no-plot story about two guys and their epic everyday love for each other :'D The rest of volume two, though, is actually another story I love almost as much as I do DK. If I ever figure out photoshop well enough to be able to edit stuff, I'll definitely scanlate at least one bittersweet oneshot that made me all ;3;
In the meantime, have one last scan of Kurokawa and Shimano ♥
Kurokawa: 'Cause your heart's beatin' like crazy.
The sweetness! I can't take it ;__;
Lawl. In other news, I passed my degree qualifying exam \o/ (Basically I just had to write a short essay in Finnish on a topic based on my BA thesis, which is in English.) It turns out that even though they let me pass, my essay was actually too short and should've been titled in some way, so it's a bittersweet victory. I'm such a perfectionist that it still really smarts D8 Damn you, self, for being so incompetent~! *shakes fist*
[lyrics in subject from Be Here Now by Ray LaMontagne.]