Meet up-and-coming indie manga artist, Nekoyashiki Mamoru! He might have garnered a small, dedicated fanbase devoted to his gay comics and even scored a coveted seller's booth at the bi-annual Comic Kingdom event, but this paltry fame isn't enough! It's certainly not on the level of Kazama Issei, an actual idol and Mamoru's childhood friend. When a chance encounter throws them back into each other's orbit, things get complicated as the ever-cheerful Issei brings back messy childhood memories and inspires feelings of inferiority in Mamoru. Their paths crash together in this story about professional challenges, personal feelings, and...moobs?

All Eyes on Nekoyashiki-kun! Notice Me, Not My Characters has a story and art by Kazuki Minamoto. English translation is done by Tiva Emerson and lettering by Nicole Roderick. Published by J-Novel Club (April 28, 2026). Rated 15+

Rebecca Silverman
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There's prickly, and then there's Nekoyashiki. An indie bara artist selling his work at Comic Kingdom (a barely disguised Comic Market), he claims that he's happiest just doing his own thing. He doesn't want to interact with his readers, he just wants to put out work for them to read and enjoy. He doesn't want commercial success, he just wants to create what he wants to create. He responds to nearly every social overture with all the grace and aplomb of an enraged feline. To say he's difficult might be an understatement.

And yet, it's not hard to like him or to at least understand where he's coming from. Part of his issue is, of course, his ego: he liked the attention he got as a little kid who could draw well, and he resented it when suddenly his classmates were more impressed by his friend Issei's athleticism. But another piece of it is the fact that he's a gay man who likes drawing BL about muscular men. He knows that's not mainstream. His homophobic classmates at his manga college tell him that pretty much every day. Retreating behind a wall of prickles in the only way he can cope, and that frankly makes all too much sense.

So when he's reunited with Issei, now an idol based on an offhand comment Nekoyashiki made in middle school, he's completely lost. Issei thought they were besties (and honestly, I think they probably were) until Nekoyashiki spurned their friendship at the end of ninth grade, and he's never stopped liking his prickly pal. In fact, he's been following Nekoyashiki's work as the doujinka Muscle Department Store, and when he finds out, Nekoyashiki isn't sure what to do with this. He thought he'd destroyed their friendship years ago. What to do with this unexpected second chance?

Because that's really what this feels like it's about: second chances. Although it's never explicitly stated, I would say that Nekoyashiki always had a crush on Issei, and Issei's puppy dog demeanor is likely indicating that it was mutual. Yes, he really is that perky and bouncy, but it gets dialed up to eleven whenever he sees his old friend. This volume is setting them up to discover that there's more to their friendship than at least Nekoyashiki thought. The start is a bit rough, but as it goes on, this volume starts to feel comfortable in its own skin, and its blend of idols, indie manga, and BL comes together in a way that's very enjoyable to read. I'm definitely curious to see where it goes, and I recommend giving it a chance.

Erica Friedman
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Nekoyashiki is a doujinshi artist with a dream. He wants to be incredibly popular at the doujinshi shows he attends. Unfortunately for him, his personality is, well, dire. He's aloof, off-putting, ungracious and worst of all, rude to his fans. Despite that (or maybe because of it…) his “beefy BL” doujinshi sell very pretty well at shows.

Unbeknownst to him, Nekoyashiki—who draws under the very on-point name of Honeniku—has a fan. Not just a fan, the fan is his own idol and an old classmate. Again, Nekoyashiki's personality gets in the way of anything positive happening, even though it should be simply. Issei's dream to be an idol that Nekoyashiki admires. Nekoyashiki wants to be an artist that many people admire. And the only thing stopping both those dreams is Nekoyashiki's miserable personality.

This was the cutest story I have read in a long while with the most annoying protagonist ever. Seriously, Naekoyashiki is the protagonist, and the antagonist, and probably a full two-thirds of the conflict as well. Of course we want Noekoyashiki and Issei to get together (and have the man-boob sex of their dreams), and of course that will happen in some future volume, but here, we are left of a cliff of longing, while a rope hangs in plain sight and our protagonist unwilling or unable to see it. They will be cute together. For now, we'll have to settle in while Nekoyashiki gets that stick out of his ass, before he'll be able to (insert some analogous phrase that uses ass to finish the joke.)