HertZ band 40

I am always excited for HertZ. If I didn’t feel obligated to devote my love to Cab I would probably easily and gladly say that HertZ is my favorite anthology. Always worth the price in both quantity (fucking huge anthology is always fucking huge) and quality of the authors and stories inside. This issue (though some of my favorite mangaka such as Ogura Muku and MatsuMieco are sadly absent) is a pretty good example of that.

General warning for R-18 content applies. Also spoilers if you happen to read any of the stories in here and are not currently caught up. (Does anyone else read HertZ religiously? Anyone? Anyone at all? Does anyone else read any BL magazines religiously? /needs people to talk to lmao)

First story I want to talk about is the second story (after Shima Asahi, whose art I’m sadly just not fond of), chapter three of Moto Haruko’s Byousoku Zero Mile. Honestly, I still have very little idea as to what this manga is about but I try to read it every time because… well… come on, bro, it’s by Moto Haruko. It has to be good! It’s about land and his adoptive father and… something. But this chapter had a sex scene which I obviously totally ate up, being the creep that I am. However, during the sex scene the uke cried out “otousan!” which is just. Uh. I really don’t know how I feel about that but OKAY I guess he just has a really big father complex?? orz;; Sorry, someday I’ll read this with my tablet hooked in so I can look up the kanji that I don’t understand.

Then the next story is one I really loved: a oneshot called Koi to Mail to Kare to Uso by Tomoe Fumi. It’s seriously so cute! The story is about withdrawn, bookish Nonaka who is approached by his popular charismatic classmate Hori since Hori is interested in Nonaka’s older sister and he wants Nonaka to give her his number. However, Nonaka’s sister is actually a devil disguised as a cute girl and Nonaka knows she’ll just be a let-down for Hori, so instead of giving her his number he replies to Hori while pretending to be his sister, gently rejecting him. The next day in class, though, Hori is withdrawn and pitifully depressed, causing Nonaka to feel guilty and, again, mail Hori while pretending to be his sister and agree to at least be mail buddies. One thing leads to another and as they get closer Nonaka starts falling for Hori—but Hori has been under the impression that Nonaka is actually his sister the entire time. Will Nonaka finally be honest and work things out, or will they both end up heartbroken?

Then there is Kamo Nabako’s story Ue wo Muite Koi wo Shiyou. It’s about a businessman who goes to a host club after getting dumped and the owner suddenly takes an interest in him and decides to turn him from boring and timid to stylish and charming while grabbing a few bedroom perks along the way. I think this one will be a two-part but I’m not sure.

Skipping the story by Ishida Ikue, next is Minazuki Akira’s Noboseru Karada. This seems to be about a young man who moves to a new job at a bread shop, which seems to be something he’s passionate about. There, he attends the public bath houses and notices the man behind the counter staring at him a little too much—to the point of it being a bit creepy and embarrassing. But the man doesn’t seem like a bad guy. Mostly, he just seems fascinated with the scars on Suzumi’s arms. Also, I must say that I’m starting to like Minazuki Akira more and more these days. It seems like her art is becoming more expressive as far as character’s faces and movements go. I really enjoyed reading this one and look forward to the next chapter.

After that is the sad last chapter of Kojima Lalako’s Neko no Yomeiri. ;; No seriously I cried so hard it’s kind of embarrassing. Dorasuke and Yukiharu finally consummated their love, and Dorasuke disappeared. Ahhh it was a really sad scene where after they were cuddling after sex, Dorasuke walked out of the room and just never came back. But there is still a happy ending—when he’s grown up Yukiharu encounters Dorasuke again, who is now a full-fledged living human being. It’s just. Ahhh. So sweet. ;w;

Next chapter is by SHOOWA but, uh… this is the first time I’ve had SHOOWA in a HertZ issue that I’ve bought and it’s supposedly chapter four, so I didn’t bother. But here are some pictures just because I like SHOOWA and it had a sex scene.

Konjiki Runa’s fifth chapter of Hana no Arashi wa finally shows Kaede and Sou being honest with each other, and Sou finally taking the lead toward making Kaede his. I guess all it took was Kaede almost sleeping with Sou’s twin brother to make him realize that he’s not the only person who isn’t wanted by Kaede. Now let’s just see if they’ll follow through with holding each other or if they’ll both chicken out again.

After that is a short column and then a chapter of Mieno Saori and Riwo’s Hakumokuren which I’ve already talked about so I’ll leave that one alone. I also didn’t read the Nishimura Shuuko chapter (maybe later…) so we’re moving on all the way to Kanai Kei. Her’s is a short-ish oneshot about a bartender whose customer is always helping him fend off random males that hit on him by pretending that he is actually the bartender’s lover. But the bartender, Houjou, is actually in love with this man, Haibara. Is there any part of Haibara’s possessiveness over Houjou that’s actually real enough for Houjou to get his hopes up, or is Haibara just a really good actor?

Following this is Konno Satomi’s final chapter of Osananajimi to Koigokoro. After Shou kicks Seigo in the face and escapes getting molested, there’s a short period in which they both consider what happened while they’re apart. When they see each other again in the park later they talk and one thing leads to another and there’s this really amazing scene filled with sexual tension in which they sit and make out and grope at each other but know they can’t go any further outside. But it’s all good, because soon enough they go back to Seigo’s place and have really hot sex. THE END. Okay so I really love Konno Satomi you guys. I hope a tankoubon for her is announced soon-ish or my life will lose all meaning.

After that is another short column and then the final chapter of Komizu Kiyo’s Yoru wa Furu. They got together in the end, of course, which was very cute and I still am totally in love with Komizu Kiyo’s art. But I have to say, I really loved the scene where Nao tied Kikuta up, came out wearing the dress his sister originally bought to impress Kikuta, and then gave him a footjob while insulting him. That is just. Beautiful.

Then is chapter two (of three?) of Yamamoto Kotetsuko’s Mad Cinderella. Saku shows up again on Ryouta’s doorstep after returning from America and then moves in with him, and their life together and with all of Ryouta’s housemates borders on being quite loving (though Saku’s chances to get into Ryouta’s pants are few and far between). But then some random pretty guy in sunglasses shows up speaking English and the only thing Ryouta understands is the phrase “kill Ryouta”. Not exactly a good first impression.

Finally, the last story I’ll talk about (excluding only Inariya Fusanosuke) is Kinoshita Keiko’s sixth chapter of Koyoi Omae to. Rikurou is still happy that Yasu is willing to try and accept his feelings, but Yasu’s kindness is leaving him unsure if he should get his hopes up or not. But Rikurou isn’t the only one becoming confused—Yasu as well isn’t sure if he’s uncomfortable with Rikurou’s advances because he isn’t interested or if it’s because he’s just scared.

The next volume… idk. ;; A lot of my favorites will be gone, including Ogura Muku (making two issues of absence at this point, but she’s probably been too busy working on Castle Mango so it’s understandable), Mieno Saori, Matsumoto Miecohouse, etc. But in the bright side, there’s Ike Reibun, Kojima Lalako, Konjiki Runa, Asou Mitsuaki, Moto Haruko—the list goes on. So even if my favorite stories all seem to be absent or completed with this volume, the next volume will still hopefully be worth it.

Plus, Komizu Kiyo and Konjiki Runa get color pages, so that’s exciting. /o/

Also, I’d like to apologize in advance for the picture quality over the next half year rofl. I live in a state that has a long, cold winter and the days are getting short and chilly so I can’t really go outside and take pictures during the brightest part of the day anymore. But I will make due with these crappy dark photos for now rofl. :T Sorry.