Welcome to Litsy!

Today‘s episode of The Checkout Stack features Orange County Florida librarian Kelley Mayer. Check it out for some manga recs!

This manga is off to a good start when a boy finds himself tricked into delivering food to the village's creepy protector and discovers purpose in supporting him. I'm really enjoying the character development, relationship building, and the slow introduction we are getting to their world. Looking forward to picking up volume 2. #Manga #LGBTQIA

I went in with low expectations for this beautiful guys piece, but it's pretty charming and the art's lovely. The tone reminded me of Native American animal stories where animal characters are often anthropomorphic. It was a bit weird that there were no female characters, which is common to this genre. I enjoyed seeing some of the chatacters' pasts already and hope the next volume dives into more world and character building. #manga #LGBTQIA

Absolute eye candy. The art is so pretty, and every character is ridiculously gorgeous. I love the concept of painted magic. Unfortunately, the story is very much under-developed and the painting magic plays very little role. I'd give this a read because of the pretty art and story potential, but don't bring high expectations for the storytelling aspect. #lgbtqia #comics #astrology #UniqueMagic

This was a cute manga romance in which cafe worker Riku accidentally gets with the owner of the cafe after another breakup. I just didn't care for the miscommunication trope. The whole time he's convinced it's just a friends with benefits situation. Josh lets him believe it because it enables Riku to be himself without the pressure of a relationship title but I wanted him to be more forthright about his feelings

It looks like the second book, Theory of Happiness isn't quite on Litsy yet. I really enjoyed the character exploration we get in this second volume as Tai explores career options in accessibility and Kohei works to understand the ways an inaccessible society have impacted his behavior and social relationships over time. Some very sweet moments in their relationship growth as well. #manga #LGBTQIA #DisabilitiesRep

I'd recommend this even though I give it a so-so rating because it's a pretty cute story. I enjoyed watching this quiet, extremely awkward nerd navigate his major crush on the local delivery guy. There are a lot of shining moments like the jogging thing and both men struggling with feeling like they're enough. The character development could have been better, though, especially for side characters. #manga #lgbtqia

Anyone aim to review a volume and then find themselves 8 volumes in? Volume 1-7 are PAIN (and I‘m sure the rest of the series is as well). This is a tough story with tough subjects; it‘s hard to read. But it‘s the characters that really keep you coming back for more. I want all to read this and watch the anime, but I know it‘s heartbreaking from the very first volume to the very end.

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This book is what happens when someone comes up with a spicy smut idea, dresses it up in weak character and story development, and then gets shy and pulls back from their spicy smut idea and only half executes it. I didn‘t expect this to be very good, and it wasn‘t. I didn‘t bother to add it to any of my ongoing reading challenges. The art is pretty, though. #manga #lgbtqia

I‘ve fallen behind my Goodreads reading goal, so to catch up I‘m finally picking up this series. Wish me luck, because the anime made me cry for about 13 hours. Emotional damage.