Romantic Illusions, by Reiichi Hiiro. (BL romance comic, 2008)

[lb_lee]

"What I do remember is... 'No one will ever love you!' My mother's words... those words made me believe no one would love me. So I created two new personalities who would love me, 'Kaname' and 'Ryo.'"

Blurb: A very VERY boys love manga about the sexual and romantic misadventures of a small system of three that start as boyfriends, then get their own corporeal boyfriends over time.

Why is it worth your time? I cannot say this book is good. It is the literary equivalent of squirting cheese whiz directly into your mouth from the can. Read this ONLY if you are here for all the goofy BL tropes and are aching for unrealistic cheesy absurdity. I enjoyed it far disproportionately to its quality.

Plural Tags: in-system relationships, MPD/DID, switching, plural community (i.e., there's more than one plural in this book), abuse low-focus

Content Warnings: Explicit sex. Other warnings contain spoilers and are in the comments below.

Accessibility Notes: Available in English paperback, though only secondhand. Apparently the Japanese version is available both in paper and in ebook form, under its original title, 脳内恋愛のススメ (Nōnai Renai no Susume).

Comments

Content Warnings

[lb_lee]

Tons of dubious consent (including drugging, kidnapping), past emotional abuse (thankfully not dwelled on), one headmate ends up dating his therapist, and another headmate ends up bringing a high school boy home for banging. Also, the other multiple in the book was incestuously abused, which is depicted as titillating, and his headmate disappears due to the power of love. Whether you see this as a low-abuse or high-abuse book depends on how you prefer to read the dubcon scenes.

[acorn_squash]

I cannot say this book is good. It is the literary equivalent of squirting cheese whiz directly into your mouth from the can.

I laughed at this.

[lb_lee]

Rogan: Look, sometimes you want an elegant gourmet meal, and sometimes, you just want cheese whiz straight from the can. The heart wants what it wants.