[Manga] Ikujinashi no Shiawase (意気地なしの幸せ)

This started when a friend of mine tweeted about Naono Bohra’s work with the keywords: Older Uke x Younger Seme. It catches my attention real fast that I searched immediately for a list of her works. Of course, the dumb me forgot to ask for a recommended story and so I’m like “whatever, let’s just click randomly ヽ(゜∇゜)ノ”. Among the titles that I pick, this story stands out the most and I start reading it!

Please note that all the summaries are from MU. :>

1) Coward’s Happiness or Ikujinashi no Shiawase
The owner of a rice shop, Kawada feeds a poor student, Mori, after he tried to steal food from his shop, saying ‘The duty of a student is to study’; and starts to look after him. But Mori starts harboring deeper feelings towards Kawada, not just gratitude…

— This is cute. XD You see, Mori is insanely tall; almost like a giant. Then, Kawada is smaller than the average guy (almost like Ed from FMA |D). Imagine the difference in height, it’s like a giant and an elf! 8D It’s not only a height difference, but they also have age and personality gap. Our big guy is a college student who struggles with his financial independence but fails miserably. Hence, Kawada takes care of his well-being being the older and more mature of the two.

Mori has the cutest reaction. He is so moe. And gawd he is too head over heels at Kawada ASDFKSDLFKSLDKFS. Naono is good in making an adorable blushing faces. x3

I also loved how Kawada doesn’t look like a shota even when he is blushing. Naono does not bother in softening his features and retains the ‘roughness’ of his looks even during smexy times. And that I think is a good thing. It wouldn’t have been good if the older guy turns 10 years younger just because he is blushing.

2) Slave of Love
Mitsuo is the manager of a host club owned by his cousin, the violent and ruthless Eito. Eito raised Mitsuo from a very young age, but they’ve grown apart, despite still living together. When Mitsuo decides to help a younger coworker quit the business, he runs the risk of making Eito very angry…

 

3) Revenge of Love
The drama continues with a twist.
(This is a continuation of story #2.)

— Putting this together since they are same characters and storyline. I’m telling you now that this story contains rape. However, it is not one of those stories where the victim falls in love with the rapist after the crime. Mitsuo is already in love with Eito way before all of this happened. But due to Eito’s possessive personality, he misunderstands things and thus results to what he has done.

Eito looks more like a yakuza to me than an owner of a host club. There are some instances that he reminds me of Asami of Viewfinder (Asami is waaay hotter though ;D). He looks good, yes, I’ll give him credit for that. But he always looks serious and intimidating, not to mention his seemingly 24/7 crankiness. Since the host club is just one of his many businesses, could it be that he is secretly a yakuza too? 8D

4) Homemade Vampire
Letting his oversized half-Japanese nephew live with him is one thing, but a man will soon discover that the nephew is keeping a dark secret…

— THIS. Overly cute. But, uh, hello incest? ^^;;

I admit that this is sexy. The sucking of blood part is the one to blame for that lol. Raito is freaking cute too! Gaaaah. Lol Raito + Vampire is giving me Diabolik Lovers flashbacks.

Still incest… (´･ω･`)

5) Child’s Secret or Kodomo no Himitsu
Mori and Kaname are cousins with secrets. Mori is harboring a crush on his older cousin and is plagued by erotic dreams at night. Kaname, on the other hand, likes to tease Mori by giving him alcohol and ‘playing’ with him after he passes out.

— Why are the cutest stories involves incest? Oh gawd WHY? Q.Q
I don’t know how or why would you want to touch somebody else’s dong especially if it’s your cousin; even if you say that it’s to tease him. (´･ω･`)

Incest aside, I love Kaname’s possessiveness. You’re probably ready to throw up at this point if I say cute b-but he IS really cute, or rather that part of him. (๑´ლ`๑)

I can’t understand how he fell in love with his cousin though. His reasons are quite shallow. ^^;;

Extra – A Coward’s Blunder
Rice shop love continues.

— This time Mori cuts his ‘Gegege no Kitarou’ hairstyle into a more clean-shaven, bishie-like look which makes the customers swoon over him. This pairing is still as cute as ever.

While reading each chapter, I find myself giggling with the character’s interactions. They are all hilarious! There is actually some plot in it so it’s not just pr0n.

The art is okay, not great but also not bad. The lines are tad thick and dark which gives the characters a rough feature. They are not really the sparkling bishie look. Still good-looking nonetheless. What I really liked about Naono’s drawing is the way she draws the chibi faces and expressions. Extremely endearing! The reactions often give a good laugh to me which makes the reading more enjoyable. Smexy times? Steamy *o*. Enough said. ufufu

Wrapping Up!
A fast and good read. I enjoyed every bit of it. Even as a collection of one-shots, it feels complete and I’m satisfied with the endings. The incest might tick you off but you might probably want to do what I do and just pretend that they are not related (even if the characters are shoving it in my face). Will definitely read more from this manga-ka. Recommended. 😀