If Tiger Mask had a BL, it would have been like this.

A young man comes to his new home and meets his roommate who wears a tiger mask all day long (and even in his bath!)

WTF, Khursten? Who is Tiger Mask!?!

Oh crud. I think I’ve just disgraced Tiger Mask somehow. OTL.

Tiger Mask is one of the older shounen heroes in manga. He’s a wrestler by profession and in this story, Akaru meets his tiger mask’d roomie who explains that he’s wearing a mask because he’s a professional wrestler.

Akaru, curious as he was, had to accept his roomate’s reason. However as days passed, his curiousity for his roomate, Hyuuga, grew bigger. He realized that no matter what his roomie did, from eating to even taking a bath, he never took out his mask. Well, there were a couple of masks in the laundry, but he still wore them faithfully.

Day by day, Akaru discovers more about Hyuuga and eventually he gets swept by Hyuuga’s tiger mask charms.

… Okay. So… he fell in love with weirdo.

It’s a hilarious premise and really it doesn’t get much crazier than falling in love with a guy who wears a tiger mask all the time. I thought this title will go on with further crack but what I got instead was an adorable story of a fetish. Well, the tiger mask charm eventually became a bit of a fetish for Akaru.

He liked Hyuuga’s personality and he loves his mannerisms in the same way that we have cats who make cute faces. The manga takes you into Akaru’s happy moments where he squees over Hyuuga calling him the cutest tiger around.

What breaks me about this manga is it ‘tries’ to address the issue. It seems Hyuuga refuses to take off the mask, but Aruku wants to make out with him. So they come to terms with nuzzling like you would a cat. IT’S CRAZY. TAKE OFF THE MASK, DAMMIT. But they don’t and when Aruku got frustrated, he just went at it even when Hyuuga’s still wearing the mask. HOW THE HELL DO THESE PEOPLE IGNORE THE TIGER MASK!?!

The entire time you can’t help but be mesmerized with the mystery of the mask. Hyuuga gives a hint to it but he still refuses to take the mask off. And somehow just like Akaru, your heart just warms up to the mask that before you know it… you’re kind of okay that you’ll never see Hyuuga’s face because you’ve fallen in love with the mask. I MEAN WITH HYUUGA!

Ugh… My head hurts

It’s insane. And since the author has made me grow a sudden fetish for tiger furries (in a good way!), I actually kinda liked Koketsu dining. I can try to be smart about this and say “it’s all about falling in love beyond the mask…” but no. It could be like that but it ain’t like it.

Nor does it actually have sex to keep me glued! I’d almost say it’s a sell out but it has enough cuteness to make me adore it. In fact, the smartest thing I can say about it is how the story actually managed to convince me that even with the tiger mask on, this BL is all right. It’s rooted in a strange reality that is… strangely believable. So you want to believe that your boyfriend is all right wearing that Tiger Mask even when you have sex, fine. Yeah. You’re both happy. Adorably happy. It doesn’t help that Hyuuga flicks his tail when he’s amused. DID I MENTION HE HAS A TAIL? Yes, he has a tail. And it’s cute. Hyuuga’s cute and adorable. And that’s all that matters for this one.

Series Information

Koketsu Dining by Haruhira Moto

Serialized in Canna, Publised by Canna Comics

Get the Japanese edition via: Amazon, Honto, Ebookjapan