Alcohol, Shirt and Kiss

When Naruse's girlfriend suddenly leaves him, he ends up drowning his sorrows in sake and ends up losing his memory of the evening waking up in the morning at his colleague Kita's house. Naru doesn't think much of the events, but next night the same thing happens again... and then again. But the third morning Naru wakes up naked in Kita's bed, and Kita tells him that he was wonderfully "aggressive and sexy" the previous night - thus begins Yuko Kuwabara's Alcohol, Shirt and Kiss. Turns out that Kita is lying and nothing happened, but he's using the opportunity to pursue naive Naru, and a cat and mouse chase with plenty of laughs follows.

There is very little that sets Alcohol, Shirt and Kiss apart from your average BL manga, but what it does, it does very well. The change of scenery from a high school to a police station is nice, and Kuwabara's art is particularly pleasing - but the slapstick humor and the endless hemming and hawing about whether Naru should have sex with Kita or not gets a bit tired about half-way through the book. It still manages to be very cute and sweet, though. Kita, the blond manly seme, is supposed to be the cold and calculating one but is actually quite sweet and finds himself falling in love with Naru. Naru, the dark-haired cute boyish (yet non-feminine) uke, blushes easily and truly cares for Kita - but is embarrassed about his feelings towards another man.

Although this manga is rated mature, don't expect too much on that department. The mandatory sex scene in the end is short and sweet, and very much non-explicit - for me some of the sexiest scenes where actually the titular kisses Kita constantly steals from Naru, those Kuwabara draws with love and attention and results are absolutely lovely. Alcohol, Shirt and Kiss is yet another quality release from Juné, and they pay attention to retaining the honorifics and translating sound effects. There is also a short extra non Kita & Naru story in the end, and short one page message from the mangaka.

If you're in a mood for something light and funny, Alcohol, Shirt and Kiss is a good choice. It's not to be taken seriously and it doesn't provide you with a raised pulse or a lump in your throat. However it does leave warm and fuzzy, and that's not a bad thing.