Erica Sakurazawa: Angel Nest (rank 3)

Publisher: Tokyopop
Volumes 1/1 (Complete), OOP but not hard to find
Josei
Genre: Friendship, Romance (extra side stories)

Summary: One day Natsu comes home early only to discover her husband Ken is cheating on her with a former student of his, Emi. But she doesn’t care, their relationship had been loveless for quite some time. One night she sees an Angel and it starts hanging around the apartment. The next day Emi shows up, she broke up with Ken but he’s been stalking her. She asks if she can stay with Natsu “because this is the last place Ken will look”. Natsu agrees and they start to strike up an odd friendship.

The main story Angel Nest is only about half of the volume, the rest is three additional short stories:

God Only Knows: Haru and his gay friend Tobio are hanging out in a bar when they meet Sakiko, who doesn’t look like she belongs there. Later Haru goes outside to get some air and saves Sakiko from getting raped. Somehow they all decide to go to the beach and end up talking about life.

Tea Time: A slightly older woman who starts out her island vacation alone has a passionate fling with a younger guy while she knows her boyfriend is also cheating on her too. This one has a consensual sex scene.

A Gift from the Heavens: A guy steals a Mercedes that was left running for a joyride, but then discovers a woman in the backseat. They spark an instant mutual attraction.

Review: The main story-line, Angel Nest was actually pretty interesting. It was unexpected that they both dump Ken and become friends, but it works. And the older woman, Natsu, ends up becoming sort of a mother figure/mentor to Emi. It’s a sweet story.

The short stories on the other hand, didn’t interest me much at all. God Only Knows, didn’t really seem to have a point to the story. Tea Time has that whole “I’m cheating on you but it’s OK because you cheated on me too” thing again. And then Gift from the Heavens, the whole setup of getting involved with a complete stranger who happens to be in the car the main character stole, was too weird for me.

Recommended: I would recommend the main story as a story about an unusual friendship. But somehow for Josei, the only passionate romance type story is the extra story Tea Time.

Age Rating: Older Teen just for the short Tea Time

Other Works from this mangaka: (from most to least popular):

• Nothing But Loving You (Shoujo/Josei)
• Between the Sheets (Yuri/Josei)
• Angel (Josei)
• Rules of Love (Josei)
• Aromatic Bitters (Josei)