Basic Plot: Kotaru doesn’t have many friends, he also has never dated anyone. He often spends his time alone. One day while eating lunch by himself he receives a call from Miyako who wants him to pose as her boyfriend to deter another guy (Yoshino ) from persuing her further. Kotaru accepts thinking he’ll never actually meet this guy…..until he does.
Kotaru and Yoshino go to a cafe where Yoshino starts to ask questions about his relationship with Miyako, Yoshino becomes suspicious when Kotaru isn’t annoyed by his deeply personal questions…definitely not responding in a way a boyfriend would….
My Thoughts:
I quite enjoyed this manga~
I’ll be honest though, I hate bathroom sex. It’s really not appealing to me at all, I understand in a university setting there are limited places to get it on but a public bathroom….? Eugh… go to an empty classroom or something (!)
Anyway…
I know a few people take issue with the first chapter because Yoshino is forcing himself on Kotaro but straight up says “I know I should this immediately …and yet…. //// I want to know what it’ll feel like after this point” So I’m not under the impression that their first time was forced.
Kotaro has a passive nature about him where he just sort of lets things happen to him. Miyako wants him to be her “boyfriend”, Yoshino wants to have sex with him, Yoshino invites him to a Goukon…all these things he just goes along with, working out for himself what he wants and likes.
At the Goukon he realises that he is fine with doing ecchi things with Yoshino but not with the girl who approached him at the goukon….slowly Kotaro is learning things about himself and is open about it. It’s nice to see 🙂
Sungjoon worked himself so hard by working many parttime jobs in order to get himself a small one bedroom flat. Everything was going well for him until his flat ended up burning down. Now homeless and facing sleeping on a park bench in the freezing cold, he contacts the only people he knew living in his city: Lee Hyoin.
Luckily for Sungjoon, Hyoin is looking for a roommate…or a pet?
My thoughts:
I was a bit weary going into this one. Just from the title “make me bark” I thought oh god this is going to be some real kinky petplay stuff which, no lie, isn’t really my thing.
HOWEVER
It was so much more than that! Don’t get me wrong there was pet play and s&m but it wasn’t the whole storyline which i appreciated. If you’re into that then maybe this manga isn’t for you 😉
We start off with poor Sungjoon losing everything and desperately calling Hyoin to ask if he can stay with him since he’s the only person he knows in the whole city. Things are going well for the two, but still awkward. One day Sungjoon comes back tired and asks to sleep in Hyoin’s bed while he is out. Sungjoon finds a collar belonging to Hyoin’s old puppy Ruby, whom he loved more than anything.
Hyoin is looking to get the same feeling of unconditional love he got from Ruby. Luckily for him, Sungjoon is more than willing to play puppy~
The story then follows the two of them falling in love with each other, Sungjoon and Hyoin navigating each other’s feelings and overcoming misunderstandings.
We also get a linked story with Bin and Yeonsoo which is a really fresh story and could be it’s only stand alone manga!
In general I really enjoyed this story, the misunderstandings didn’t anger me (as some usually do!!) and the two (four!) had a happy ending…it’s a really lovely story!
DongGyun is a shy guy who enjoys watching his favourite Broadcasting Jockey (BJ) Alex do live shows. Alex seems like the perfect guy: perfect body, sexually experienced, the way he talks draws you in…he must be handsome behind that mask…
At a uni event DongGyun ends up drinking too much, luckily for him student council president and all-round nice guy Jiwon is there to help him home. After having been thrown up on Jiwon puts his clothes in the wash, in his drunken state DongGyun notices somethings that are similar between Jiwon and his favourite BJ, Alex…..
Personal Thoughts:
It’s been a while since I read yaoi and since I couldn’t sleep I decided to get back into an old habit ahaha. I was reading until the sun came up, I was hooked.
This story is so captivating. From the moment when DongGyun finds out who Jiwon is, to them being sex partners for Jiwon’s job, to their dating (but not really), to their break up, to Jiwon realising his past traumas are causing him to miss out on real experiences, to a happy ending….OR NOT?? #cliffhanger!
At the moment we’re looking at 69 chapters but omg please put some more out. I can’t deal with leaving it there
The art style is really nice, not necessarily my favourite type but I do appreciate it.
Really guys, this is a really good story!
There are some S&M parts, a few misunderstandings but nothing too heartbreaking/troubling to read 🙂
I have done my fair share of speaking exams and now I’m exam specialist I’ve done my fair share of marking speaking exams! I feel I’m in a place to give tips not only to learners of English but to anyone doing a speaking exam in a langauge which isn’t their own.
So I’ve been studying foreign languages for over half of my life. I’ve been though GCSE and A-level speaking exams, University speaking exams (Chinese and Japanese), and NOW I’m an English teacher who conducts speaking exams…. However, no matter how many exams you’ve done, you’re bound to get nervous, I do!
Tip 1! – Preparation!
Make sure you know exactly what your speaking exam will look like.
How long will it be?
What do the tasks look like? (monologue/describe a picture/conversation with a partner/ conversation with the examiner)
What topics are going to be covered (daily life/free time/environment etc..)
Think about the grammar and vocabulary you could use to “show off” to the examiner
Tip 2! – Try not to memorise!
I know at GCSE you are asked to give a pre-prepared speech. Usually people write out the entire script and then try to memorise it before the exam and attempt to reel it off in the exam…with all that pressure! Omg…
I used to do this, but I get nervous during the exams…so nervous that I accidentally forget my speech and then I am totally thrown off, I start thinking “what I just said comes after what I’ve got in my head now and omgggg I should be talking right now!” and then get myself into a right panic.
HOWEVER! I have now come up with a better way of doing it. Instead of trying to remember the whole thing and attempt to reel it off like there’s no tomorrow, what I do is I make bullet points of things I want to include.
Here are my notes I made for a speaking exam I had back in 2015
In this speaking exam I had to prepare 2 presentations…but only give one. We didn’t know which one it would be until the examiner tells us during the exam.
I made some notes on my 3 wishes and then I could think of these things I could say within those points. For my favourite character I could use comparative and superlatives! I could compare him to another character, or why some people doing like him and why I do…try to be conscious of the grammar you’d like to use.
Tip 3! – Record yourself!
Creepy as it may sound. Or weird as it may look, it helps! Honestly!
If you know you have a speaking exam coming up why not just whip out that voice recorder/camera and record yourself speaking in your target language?
It doesn’t have to be about the topic of your exam, it could just be about anything! Like…what you did that day, what movie you recently saw, what you did at Christmas or what you want to do next weekend.
This really helped me when I was taking A-level exams, because the exam was free and you could lead the conversation or discussion in any direction. By recording yourself speaking you can practice using what you already know and if you don’t know a linker (such as: however, anyway, also etc.), or a specific word you may need if you’re talking about one of your prepared topics you can easily look it up and write it down on a post-it note and remind yourself for the next time.
A lot of the time you don’t know what you need know until you want to say it! ….unfortunately for me that was during a speaking exam AHAHAHA
I often pretend I’m doing a live broadcast and just talk for ages..not fluently(!) but at least I now have a list of words I can use whenever I need to. The more you use these little words, the easier it is to remember them during your exam! Over time the list of words you can’t remember will shrink!
Tip 4! – Prepare some questions!
Write down some question you think you might be asked on a few slips of paper.
Turn the upside down or fold them in half and then mix them up.
Then randomly select one and ask yourself the question.
Don’t prepare an answer in advance, this helps you prepare for those sneaky questions the examiner might ask.
You can write things such as “What is your name?” “Where do you live?” “What did you eat for breakfast this morning?” “Why are you studying (insert target language here)?” “What do you want to do in (insert country of target language here)?” Or for those tricky A Level topics “What is your opinion on global warming?” “Is globalisation a problem?”
It’s nice to get a friend or someone from your family to ask you the questions. However if your family are as linguistically challenged as mine, you’re better off asking yourself these questions ahaha.
You can also record some questions and play those to yourself so you can hear the question instead of reading it.
Get a fellow classmate to send you voice notes on whatsapp and you can reply too in a voice message! Do whatever works 🙂
Tip 5! – Try not to worry about mistakes!
You’re bound to make mistakes. Even native speakers make mistakes when they’re under pressure… unless they’re super human…. A lot of the time the examiner is assessing your ability to respond to their questions quickly and as accurately as possible.
They want to know that you’ve understood what you’re being asked and are able to respond appropriately. For example “How did you get to Japan?” “I walked” Is not a very appropriate answer ahaha. However it shows you understood what was being asked, you just didn’t answer it appropriately ^^;
If you can’t remember a specific form of a verb…don’t freak yourself out trying to work it out, yes have a go, but don’t panic if you don’t get it.
If you can’t remember a word..have go at explaining it! I remember I forgot the word for Sea in Japanese….do I said “big water where you can swim…fish live…” and the examiner gave me the word I needed…ahaha!
It happens in real life too! If you can’t remember the word but you’re able to describe it…go for it!! Just try to give a better description than ‘big water’ Personal note: the teacher appreciated my attempt at trying to convey “Sea” she awarded me extra marks . It does work!
Tip 6! – Relaaaaaaaaaaaaaax!
I know it is insanely difficult to relax during a legal interrogation speaking exam …but once those first 2 minutes are over with… you’re practically done! You’ll feel so great when you’ve finished and you’ll never have to do it again!! Or until your next speaking exam ahaha~
Itsumi Tachibana is a delinquent looking type, unfortunately for him this isolates him from his schoolmates and attracts some unsavoury characters. Despite his appearance Itsumi likes cats and other cute things, Student body president Seima Takajou takes a liking to Itsumi in this role-reversal cute story!
Personal Thoughts:
I love that the “tough” guy is actually incredibly kindhearted and the beautiful Seima is the one who persues Itsumi 🙂
The art style is totally my type. I wish there were more chapters! (T-T)
Name: Kimi wa Junjou Incubus Genre: Yaoi, fantasy-ish
Basic Plot Thing: Akasaka, an architect, has some pretty epic sexy dreams where a mysterious man always appears, every night he gives into this man. The new company president, Junichi Izumi, looks an awful lot like mystery sexy dream man….ohhh 😉
Personal Thoughts: It’s a oneshot….but it’s really good! I like how Junichi is such a seductive incubus in the ‘dreams’ but in real life he’s so cold and guarded ^o^
Basic plot thing: Because of his nice name, Ayamoji Kokuei was being targeted by a yakuza’s son, Shirogane Michihiko (real name: Kintarou). Ayamoji began to skip lessons and repeat grades to avoid meeting Shirogane. When they met six years later, Ayamoji drugged Shirogane and they had sex. The next day Ayamoji left, leaving Shirogane alone.
Personal thoughts:
I love this style of art!~ The story was really interesting too. I particulary liked the “Be A Bad Child” story (chapter 2 onwards) with Midori and Mizoguchi. Ayamoji and Shirogane appear too after chapter 1 Read it guys!~
I’ve always struggled with how I look, I’ve had moments -periods of time- where I’ve hated myself so much, kinda ignored my own feelings about myself because it’s too painful to actually go down that rabbit hole.
It wasn’t until I went to university did I start watching plus sized YouTubers and start experimenting with my style. Slowly I started to really feel myself and enjoy wearing clothes. When I was a teen I would wear jeans and some tshirt or top. I never wore skirts or dresses execpt when I went on holiday to hot countries.
After watching these gorgeous women with bodies bigger than mine rocking these clothes : jeans, baggy tshirts, tight dresses, leggings, shorts etc.! I was slowly starting to feel more confident and that I was actually “allowed” to wear clothes like that.
“Allowed”, I know. I’ve never not been allowed to wear certain clothes but I always remember people making comments about strangers saying things like “Oooh she really shouldn’t be wearing that” just because it was tight or something. For the longest time I thought the same and adopted that on myself.
Bigger women shouldn’t wear shorts or skirts. Or clothes that shows off their big stomach, or bat wing arms, or double chin. As if we’re hiding the fact we’re fat?
How dumb is that?
It’s hot outside and I’m here sweating in a pair of jeans, a tshirt and a cardigan because I’m afraid people will see what…?
Once I started watching these women, and they showed me that YES, we can wear what we want and we can rock it my attitude towards myself started to change.
This has been a long and slow process, but I was doing well!
I mean I still wouldn’t wear shorter clothes to work – despite working in 40 degree weather. But I would go to the supermarket in shorts. Go out for drinks in a skirt. Maybe even a crop top combination? Ohh how different I was.
But all that progress can easily be destroyed by one comment. And it did.
Last summer someone close to me made a comment and I broke down, full on ugly crying and all the progress I had made…gone.
I felt like that 14 year old girl who hated herself
That’s the reason why its a self love journey. Journeys have ups and downs, twists and turns. Am I doing better since then? Yes, kinda. Am I close to being where I was before? again, kinda. Do I wish to exceed where I was? Hell yeah.
I always have to remember
Be healthy for you. Be beautiful for you. Be kind for you. Love yourself.
Take The Slice 