SnotWeek almost over? Still hungry for more Otasune?
Never fear, the “Notasune Manga Rec” list is here! That’s right, carefully curated yaoi manga selections that are “close enough if you squint” to give you those “Nerd and his Tough Guy” feels you so desperately crave. Let’s get started! (Standard “Problematic Yaoi” tropes apply, please tread lightly.)
Hasegawa is on his way home from work in Akihabara when he decides to help a man from getting robbed. Hasegawa gets hurt and the man he tried to help takes him home to recover.
Some really fun interactions between an “uninitiated normal” and a genuine Akihabara dwelling otaku. Also a lot of neat, kinda realistic glimpses of the Akihabara area!
Tomoe Tatsumi is a freshman attending university in Tokyo. Life couldn’t be better: he’s living in a really nice apartment for less than most people pay for a single room. This is all thanks to Mitsugu Kurokawa: salaryman, landlord, and (hopeful) lover. It is due to Kurokawa’s generosity that Tatsumi is able to live in Tokyo on such a tight budget. Kurokawa’s intention is clear: to love, honor, and cherish Tatsumi until his dying days! And if big brother Souichi Tatsumi has his way - that day will come sooner than not! For Kurokawa, progress can only be made by “challenging the impossible….”
This is… one of my favorite things I’ve read in a long time? The retro art style (at least to begin with) was a lot of fun for me, and I like how sweet and accepting Mitsugu tries to be of Tomoe’s boundaries (basically Ace, just a heads up) - something he is still working out for himself.
Quiet, sweet story of an emotionally shuttered university sempai and his conversationally clumsy junior. Sharing the same last name and a love for classical music brings them together a little. But will this be enough to bridge the gap between the sempai’
This is just a sweet college story with a more relaxed pace and storyline as opposed to high drama. A relaxing and sentimental read.
Tomoe Karuma is an up and coming ero-mangaka who is a pro at creating tantalizing sex scenes in his work, but is clueless about relationships in the real world. It’s up to his hunky editor to teach him a thing or two about love between real people.
Tomoe is a cute af megane and his editor isn’t half bad either. This story is kind of adorable and the unexpected moe-kinkster aspect is a welcome change from the usual.
Scientist Eric Stuart has been kidnapped! To rescue him, Steve McDaniel, an elite soldier, must infiltrate the enemy’s fortress, find the kidnapped scientist, and bring him home.
Kind of… the Notasune manga. To say this yaoi was “inspired” or “influenced” by Metal Gear would be a huge understatement. Most fans agree this probably started as a doujinshi that got out of hand.