Higuchi Kiyotaka has hit rock bottom. Once a rising star in the field of cardiovascular surgery, a traumatic incident derailed his career and sent him spiraling. Now transferred to a remote town in rural Kyushu, he spends his days practicing general medicine--struggling to understand the thick local dialect of his elderly patients and to suppress the crushing guilt that haunts him.

Each night, he drowns his sorrows in alcohol, but one particularly miserable evening, he's approached by a mysterious man who calls himself Tenju: a yakuza who offers him a night of escape. Swept into a haze of unfamiliar pleasure, Higuchi begins to feel something stir beneath the numbness. And as the Afterglow of the night refuses to fade, one question gnaws at him: Who is this man--and what does he really want from me?

Afterglow has story and art by Wagase Wagimoko. Translation by Minna Lin and lettering by Kaitlyn Wiley. Published by Seven Seas (November 18, 2025). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Get your mind out of the gutter - according to creator Wakase Wagimoto, the title of Afterglow has nothing to do with sex. Instead, they're working with the dictionary definition (or rather, a different dictionary definition) of the word referring to the last glow of light after the sun goes down. In Wagimoto's story, Kiyotaka represents that for Tenju: the final glimpse of light and hope in his world. And although they don't specifically say it in the afterword, I'd argue that Tenju fills the same role for Kiyotaka. The two of them, despite their disparate lifestyles and situations, provide each other with much needed light.

Tenju is, of course, the yakuza on the cover, while Kiyotaka is a young doctor. He's been sent to a remote rural hospital in Kyushu after sustaining a trauma related to his specialty, cardiac surgery. Feeling beaten down and like a failure, Kiyotaka is reluctant to even attempt to fit in as a GP, spending his nights at the local bar attempting to forget. That's when he meets Tenju, one of the higher-ups in the local Yakuza family. Tenju starts out by simply picking Kiyotaka up on the street, after which they have a passionate one-night stand. But the two men find themselves drawn to each other's loneliness and darkness, not in a misery-loves-company sort of way, but because they both recognize that the other needs help.

The romance here is an odd combination of slow-burn and instantaneous. The sex scenes are explicit and frequent, jumping right in towards the start of the book. But the actual engagement of emotions to go with it happens much more gradually. Sex isn't really a stand-in for love, or even a means for it to happen; it's instead simply an activity the two partake in. Their emotional connection is forged through talking to each other and quieter moments of mild physical contact. It's an interesting approach that really works for the characters, because as their emotional bond becomes stronger, the sex takes on more nuanced meaning for them. These are both men afraid on some level of making a real connection, so the juxtaposition of sex and emotional communication both demonstrates that and helps the story to build over the course of the book.

Wagimoto's art also helps. It's fully uncensored, but where it really shines is in Tenju's tattoo and facial expressions. The tattoo is spectacular in its level of detail and artistry, but the gentle way Tenju always looks at Kiyotaka is the real eye candy here. He wears his heart in his eyes, even if he has no idea he's doing it.

This would have been a better story with about fifty more pages to really round things out, but it's still quite good. If you like your smut to come with deep emotional connections – or you just like buff tattooed men – this is worth your time.

Bolts
Rating:

A boys' love story that explores the idea of repressed guilt and our fleeting mortality as a means of generating sexual arousal? Sign me up! I never pegged a doctor and a member of the Yakuza to make for one of the more endearing couples that I've seen in this guide, but here we are. That isn't to say that this is a wholesome story, because it definitely isn't. This was no time wasted getting into the sexual aspects between our two leads and one thing I really appreciate is just how much dialogue is involved during the sex scenes. It's really nice to read a story that recognizes how teasing or enticing your partner verbally during intense sex scenes can make things feel that much more engaging. The story doesn't lean into this angle super hard, but there definitely are some strong dynamics that are played with during the sex scenes and I like how it rides that line.

Outside of the sex scenes, this is a surprisingly grounded and tragic story. We have a doctor named Kiyotaka Higuchi who gets relocated to a new area and he thinks it's because he made a horrible mistake while on the job. He ends up getting taken in by this tattooed badass named Tenju who looks straight out of a young adult novel and claims that he's going to make him his. One thing I like about this book is how our two leads are both dealing with really depressing issues while also understanding that the nature of their relationship could potentially make things difficult. There's an idea that both characters enjoy what they have, but they're scared that their own personal issues will potentially affect the other. There's a firm line in the sand drawn, and reading this book is all about exploring how close these two will get to that line before they break it.

I love the mortality angle here too. Recognizing your own mortality can make you feel desperate, alone, and yes, even horny. All those angles are explored here as we have a Yakuza member who will most likely have to put his life on the line while our doctor makes it his mission to save people from dying. That's a really obvious idea, but you wouldn't think this was a story that would go into it that much, and I'm very thankful that it did. The designs are a little bit funny because sometimes it feels like the faces are lacking details as other panels have the characters more realistically shaded. So that it's a little inconsistent, but outside of that, this is a really emotionally mature and enriching experience that I can easily see myself revisiting again in the future.