The Spring 2025 Manga Guide

Pink Heart Jam Beat (18+)

What's It About? 

College student Haiga, now a senior, has finally moved in with his boyfriend, Kanae, a former classmate and brothel beauty who's since graduated and joined the workforce. And although they're living together, that doesn't mean they aren't both still busy with their own lives—Kanae with work and Haiga with his career aspirations.

Noticing Haiga's job search hasn't been going well—and that they haven't been on a date in a while—Kanae decides to take him out to cheer him up. Unfortunately, even that doesn't go well, and Kanae falls ill. But as the seasons pass, the two affirm and reaffirm their relationship, and before long, it's time for Haiga's final college performance—his graduation concert!

Pink Heart Jam Beat has a story and art by Shikke. English translation by Adrienne Beck. This volume is lettered by Deborah Fisher. Published by SuBLime (May 13, 2025). Rated M.

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

I didn't think that Shikke's two-volume BL series Pink Heart Jam needed a sequel, but I'm not complaining. Pink Heart Jam Beat picks up around the epilogue of the first series, with Haiga now a senior in college and Ryo a working adult. The two are living together and things are going well for them. That's a storyline that carries throughout the book – yes, Haiga has some moments of insecurity, but they're largely fleeting. This book serves to reinforce the nice relationship the two men have.

Given that when they met, Ryo was a sex worker, that was by no means a guarantee, and I admit to being concerned that this sequel would undermine the happy ending they reached before. But that turns out not to be the case, and Haiga's jealousy never comes from Ryo's days at the brothel. For one thing, he knows that penetrative sex was prohibited between workers and customers (and as a former customer of Ryo's, he knows his boyfriend followed the rules), but more importantly, he recognizes that it was just work. Haiga only gets squirrely when Ryo's older brother Jun suggests that Ryo and Hayashida, a classmate and band member from his college days, might have been dating. Since the two are still good friends, Haiga's insecurity makes at least a little sense, rendering the plotline a normal piece of their story rather than an attempt to artificially insert Drama.

That's really what I like most about the Pink Heart Jam books. There isn't any unnecessary or ridiculous drama. Haiga and Ryo are open with each other and have a very mutual relationship, especially in this book. Haiga worries about Ryo working too much and too late, but that's because he's concerned about his health, which is perfectly reasonable. Ryo's not great at expressing his emotions, but he tries, and Haiga understands that about him. They're a comfortable couple, and that's pleasant to read about. They're also still very much in lust, and while these are the most explicit sex scenes ever, they're also enough to more than earn the 18+ rating.

You definitely want to have read Pink Heart Jam before you pick up Beat. It's not that it would be impossible to follow without it, but since the romancing is done in the previous series, the unfolding of their life together hits better with that knowledge. It's an easy series to read, and this volume is no exception, giving us a nice glimpse of how, for these two, it looks like everything is going to be okay.

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Lauren Orsini
Rating:

Two overworked young lovers do not make a romantic fantasy. This pair is so overtaxed, I'm impressed they ever find the time and energy to get busy. Pink Heart Jam Beat is about a tired college student who moves in with his tired audio engineer boyfriend, and the snatches of affection they enjoy with each other before collapsing in an exhausted heap. This title is notable among other manga guide entrants because it is something of a continuation. Though it is the first volume in Pink Heart Jam Beat, it is technically a sequel to Pink Heart Jam, the far more engaging story of how this couple got together in the first place. Pretty art and feminine character designs illustrate this couple's continued story, but the guys' heavy workloads make this manga more of a slice of life story than the expected hot and heavy romance.

Haiga is a senior in college, working hard on his thesis project and finding a job as a music teacher. His boyfriend Kanae works late, conflicting hours in a recording studio and often gets home when Haiga is already asleep. The central plot is about this pair moving in together and beginning a new life as live-in boyfriends, but they're often too busy or tired to take advantage of that. The sex is censored by giving the characters invisi-dicks, leaving much of it to the imagination anyway. Reading this story without having read Pink Heart Jam, it was hard to see what drew this couple together in the first place. They are clearly affectionate to each other, and share a mutual interest in music, but the constant references to “the brothel” surprised me. They met when Haiga visited the brothel where Kanae worked. It's hard to imagine these workaholics as former prostitutes and patrons. Life comes at you fast.

One issue I have with manga that relies on music is that I want to hear it. It's why Ya Boy Kongming! is better as an anime. It's why I'm psyched for The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at All to get a manga adaptation (though that one was easier to read considering all the music the characters listened to was music I'd heard before). I wanted to hear what kind of music Kanae's band, The Cigars, was playing. Is it gritty, industrial, electronic? It's a good-looking manga, but not knowing how it's supposed to sound feels like a blank spot, the same way I'm a little lost coming into this couple's love story in media res. There's a good chance I'd like it more if I read the prequel, but even then, I'm still stuck on how the characters' constant daily grinds tilt this romance from relatable to overwhelming.