— Healing Paradox Such an interesting premise. I adored Naoto for his earnestness, he is such a prey. And then we have Kishibe, walking the thin line between caring professional and terrifyingly obsessed man with a 20-year plan. The fact that his entire success was a love letter to Naoto... a little sick and twisted, but romantic as hell. It's not just an ambition but a religion. It’s devotion polished until it glows and cuts. And aside from the intricate storyline, the art is just immaculate. My god, I am so hooked!
— Healing Paradox: Deeper (Volume 1) And I was so glad to find out it has a sequel. Kishibe’s gloves are off, heart bare. But instead of downhill spiral, Naoto is also finally slowly letting go of fear to meet Kishibe halfway. Every chapter was just absolute cinema. The calmness masking a desperation. There’s so much tension under the surface, so many little moments of emotional vulnerability hiding inside lines that feel like both confessions and challenges. Kishibe is begging for Naoto to want the same cage he’s offering. This is so PEAK. I don't want to talk so much so I don't spoil but this story is for anyone who wants their romance emotionally unhinged but deeply earned. Just read, I swear!
In light of this, Kishibe reminds me of Luo Binghe from SVSSS, and I love them both so much! Devoted, terrifying, patient. But underneath, a storm of longing that refuses to be denied.
— Healing Paradox: Deeper (Volume 2) I'm so happy, it has another volume! Although this might be the last, but I'm just so obsessed! This volume is the descent of madness, omg. Kazuma's obsession grows so much more. But the most chilling, and yet most compelling, layer: Naoto is self-aware. He’s not in the dark about Kazuma’s madness, he acknowledges it, accepts it, and realizes he himself might already be sick because he can’t live without Kazuma anymore. It’s not just Kazuma dragging him into obsession, it’s Naoto choosing to stay, fully conscious of what it means.
I love how this story doesn’t romanticize sanity; it romanticizes the shared insanity of devotion. Kazuma builds the cage, and Naoto steps into it of his own will. Together, they create a world where their love is both terrifying and absolute. Thank you sensei! I'll be surely thinking about our couple from time to time.
This book was #3 for Erotic BL in the 2022 BL Award. I originally hesitated to buy it as I’m usually not a fan of erotic category, other than Zariya Ranmaru sensei’s works.
This is Hirune Cyan sensei’s debut BL manga, please don’t judge a book by its cover and get distracted by the brief intro blurb. I really liked Hirune Cyan sensei’s 放課後のエチュード series, she knows human anatomy well, the body postures flow naturally and the muscle lines are beautiful.
The seme 岸辺一舞 (28) is the owner of a reputable chiropractor/physiotherapy clinic, he has been interviewed by TV programs and has many celebrity clients. His parents used to own a clinic and his dad used to treat the little uke after his baseball practices.
The uke 黒岩直斗 (28) is a poor guy drained out by work and severely lacking sleep, he’s been working for an advertising agency for the past 6 years. His colleague 服部 recommended the seme’s clinic to uke for urgent treatment.
Back in elementary school, the seme was short, skinny and weak. His parents didn’t love him and despised him. He was a loner and got bullied by other kids, uke was the only friend he had. The seme would practice messaging techniques on the uke.
The uke was a strong and bright kid, always the center of attention. His professional baseball dream got shattered when he injured his right shoulder during the first year of high school. After dropping out of the team, he’s lost the passion and spark in life, and grown up to be an ordinary adult.
The seme had long-term crush on the uke since they were kids, they made a promise when uke moved away, that uke will become a famous baseball player and the seme will be his sports therapist. The uke gave his glove to the seme as souvenir and it’s been well kept in seme’s bedroom.
The seme’s not been in touch with the uke since high school. He studied and trained hard, patiently waited until he’s mature and successful, then opened a clinic near the uke’s office. He plans to strategically make the uke fall for him after they meet again.
The uke’s mesmerized by the seme’s techniques, after relaxing his tense muscles he feels light all over and can finally have good night sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about the seme and the pleasurable experience, so he’s becoming addicted to the seme’s touch and smell…
The uke who saved the seme when they were lil boys is now being healed by seme both mentally and physically. The seme is very devoted to uke and patiently waited for 20 years, although he’s flirtatious with the uke he’d kept professional distance with other patients.
The seme would take care of uke when he’s drunk, but not take advantage of the situation. He also supports the uke’s job by proposing new program content and appearing on the show to chat with sports celebrities. During busy season, he’d pick uke up from office late at night and bring him home to relax and rest.
When uke watched an interview clip of the seme, he finally realized that seme was the boy from elementary school. He then rushed over to the seme’s home and confronted him. The seme explained that supporting uke is fulfilling his dream. The seme didn’t want to reunite and just be good friends, he waited for the uke to become attracted to him and can’t live without him.
Kuroiwa unwittingly crosses paths once more with a childhood admirer turned osteopath, Kishibe, who was set on this career by his desire to help Kuroiwa in their youth, and achieves his dream about 15 years too late since Kuroiwa’s baseball career never took off.
This manga requires you to ignore the following: ▬ stalking and highly manipulative behavior from Kishibe ▬ extremely questionable customer “handling” ▬ Kishibe’s crazy, crazy, crazy eyes ▬ how their extremely coincidental reunion came about considering that Kishibe pursued his ~dream to support Kuroiwa but never actually figured out how they were going to meet again ▬ basically absolutely all the red flags that Kishibe is raising
But honestly, for some reason, Kishibe’s frank obsession had me going, “He’s crazy, but I like this guy.” There’s no rationalization of “this is for his own good, my dream is to help him blabla” — no. Kishibe is THORSTY.
And you know what I say?
Let him drink.
Actually, I’m far enough into this that I am looking forward to the sequel, ヒーリングパラドックス deeper. I’m ready to read about how crazy a stalker can be when no one has asked him to reevaluate the life and purpose he’s been dedicated to for the past 15 years.
Also he apparently legitimately has like God’s Hands and can turn any cement block into jelly. He can’t quite do 7 minutes to heaven, but 25 minutes is a pretty decent turnaround.
I went into Healing Paradox expecting some tension, but I did not expect Kishibe to be this unhinged. The man is completely unhinged: possessive, obsessive, and just a little too enthusiastic about cracking Kuroiwa’s spine (and his personal boundaries). But somehow, instead of being terrifying, he’s weirdly endearing? Like if a lovesick stalker and an overenthusiastic chiropractor had a baby lmao.
Kuroiwa never stood a chance. Now I’m just sitting here, waiting for the sequel so I can watch Kishibe be even more insane lmao.
I wasn't expecting someone so obsessive, red flag, seductive and sexy. A red flag at first sight, a totally crazy person... but at the same time impeccable and phenomenal! Am I making sense? I don't even know. But I loved every bit of this story. Smut (trust me, it's sexy smut and full of chemistry), love, an engaging story and incredible characters. And the art is gorgeous.
Someone somewhere described this as 'one-sided psychopathic love' and I lowkey agree with that. The ending of chapter 1 almost made me drop the story and send Kishibe straight to jail. But, I kept reading (obviously). I'll say that the smut and dirty talk were A1. Absolute chef's kiss - I still think that Kishibe needs jail time though - and some therapy
Pretty interesting! I’m not sure why so many BLs center relationships where one MC just never got over a crush they had during middle/high school. In this case, I think the characters were in middle school before one MC moved away.
Anyway, the spicy scenes were hot, the dynamic was interesting, though there were some moments that definitely fall more into the dub-con realm.