Would You Like to be a Family? is a graphic novel compilation of 3 separate short stories all sharing a theme. That theme being romantic boys love relationships. The three stories are touching and emotional without being over the top sappy or contrived. The relationships feel authentic. This isn't high fantasy or dramatic BL fluff - these stories reflect on real issues and judgements that gay men in Japan face in their lives. The first story is definitely my favorite.

The art work in the book is very clean and the story is easy to follow. With some graphic novels, it is hard to tell which blocks to read to follow the flow of the story in the correct order, but there is no issue with that in Would You Like to be a Family? There are scenes that are sexual in nature, mostly in the second of the three stories. Not horribly graphic scenes, but some images were more graphic than I was expecting and more than I am accustomed to seeing in mainstream manga. These images were not out of place and did not take anything away from the story. Overall, it is a good set of stories and I enjoyed reading it.

This was a short but sweet story about two co-workers who go from just that to friends to lovers! It also features a single dad and his adorable son. I thought the story was cute! I just wish that it had been longer.

The other two short stories were just as sweet and definitely gave me that heart warming feeling that love brings on! Overall, it was still a good read, I just wanted more from all of the stories and the characters!

3/5⭐️

The manga "Would you like to be a Family?" by Koyama caught my eye because of the adorable cover and the description that suggests a wholesome love story.
Let me preface: this manga did not disappoint!

Neither the manga cover nor the blurb suggests it, but the manga comprises three storylines that explore the process of falling in love and finding love through different perspectives.

The first story carries the identical title as the manga and centers around Takemura, a quiet product designer, and Masaki, a single dad who is an energetic salesman. While not apparent at first glance, there is one thing that connects these two men. Both are lonely.
I immediately loved this short story since the dynamic between Takemura, Masaki, and Mori (Masaki's son) is adorable. Additionally, Koyama expresses Takemura's emotions adequately, adding to the excitement of the story's outcome. The epilogue of this story is a bonus at the very end of the manga only strengthened my fondness for this story.

The second story focuses on Kuma, a high school senior who falls in love with a college student. Both could not be more different, as Kuma is perceived as a bad boy, while Yagi is an "image of intellect." However, Kuma makes it his task to make Yagi his.
The second short story, "Kuma's Feelings," had me confused at first, as I thought this was a Flashback from Takemura! It took me a moment to realize that this was another story, as the characters also look similar. However, after adapting to the new storyline, I enjoyed it as well.

The third and last story in this manga is "The first love Psychology," focusing on two college students. The characters in this story resemble the other characters, but this story is enjoyable!

Ultimately, "Would you like to be a Family?" by Koyama is a good manga with multiple short stories. However, the title and the blurb are misleading.
Nonetheless, the character dynamics had me swooning! I fell in love with the characters from the first story, as the wholesome dynamics are adorable. I would have wished that this story had more space to develop and gain even more depth. All in all, this is a good read, and I am excited to see what Koyama will come up with in the future.

** Disclaimer **
I was lucky to receive an eARC of "Would you like to be a Family?" thanks to NetGalley and TOKYOPOP. Nonetheless, this review is based on my personal opinion and written with no intention to offend anyone!

Really enjoyed all three of these short stories, although I wished they were all longer as they were kinda lacking depth. I really liked how there were on page characters labelled as gay, which is really refreshing for BL manga. Typically labels in manga are super heteronormative. Overall I thought the illustrations were really pretty, the stories were cute and entertaining, and they make for a good, surface level, palette cleansing read.

A very sweet story, especially the main one, but all three are easy and enjoyable to read. For short stories in manga, these are really well done. They explore identity from various stages in life. The first one is between adult co-workers, while another is set in high school, and another in a college setting. I like the different settings and I do think it will appeal to more readers. Overall a great representation of LGBTQ+ relationships.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Super sweet manga with multiple stories. It was nice seeing someone labelled as gay directly on page. It wasn't always like this on Japanese BL manga, always a gay for you kind of situation with a million not good tropes. Here we have cute rep in different situations.

In the first story we have a single dad and an office romance. It was very cute.
In the second story we have a high school boy finding out his feelings towards a slightly older university student. Said high schooler seems mean and people are scared of him while in reality he is the sweetest cinnamon roll ever. So cute!
In the third story we have two university students, with one of them feeling like the world doesn't pay attention to the single person not feeling fine, and the other paying close attention to everything that surrounds him and paying particular attention to the lonely boy. It's such a sweet love story.

There's also a sweet epilogue with the little family of the first story at the end and I loved it a lot!

Very cute but lacking depth overall! I really enjoyed the first story but felt really unattached to the other two, so I really liked that we got a sort of epilogue for the first story!

This is a sweet BL manga that follows three simple, happy stories. The titular Would You Like To Be A Family is my personal favorite, following Take, a wallflower designer who becomes tangled with a coworker in a different department after running into him and his son at the supermarket. Kuma's Feeling follows a naive, experienced high senior who has his gay awakening after seeing his friend's older brother's ex run out crying. The premise and their behavior were a bit weird, but at least Kuma was an adult.... The last, The First Love Psychology, is a cute college romance between an extroverted, helpful first year and an introverted psychology major too obsessed with surveys and data to see what's right in front of him.

Would You Like To Be A Family? was an odd collection. I would have liked to see more development with the first story, or at least have the next two stories be more related to the family/child aspect. I probably would have loved this as a teen, but as an adult I found this lacking a lot of depth. This gets an extra half star for having one of my favorite tropes, but beyond that, this was very, very simple. If you're looking for some cute first love stories with no angst, this will be a nice, quick read for you.

❧ 3 ★

This single volume story was short, sweet, and enjoyable. I liked the characters and how their relationship built up over time, especially Takemura and Natsui's, as they're shown again years down the line after having been together for a while. This volume has three separate stories in it, which confused me at first, I thought the shift to the second story was a flashback to the friends Natsui mentioned, but otherwise they were well-written. It's nice to see more LGBTQ relationships being presented well in manga, and this volume handles the relationships fantastically.

Would You Like To Be A Family? is an enjoyable and easy read. The main character is a socially withdrawn man who accidentally runs into his coworker and young son while out shopping. Slowly they grow closer. This is the main story in this manga, though it contains one or two one shots at the end.
Overall, this was an average but heartwarming story. It is also largely safe for work.

I really enjoyed the main story. It was incredibly cute! Such a beautiful family!
I would have liked it more if the volume had focused entirely on them instead of moving to other two short stories. They weren't bad, but too short and not developed enough for me to fully enjoy.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

A lovely collection of budding romance stories. Although most of the stories are quite short and end after the characters' admission of their feelings for each other, the characters strive to be larger than two-dimensional.
I do wish the stories didn't rely on the "I like this guy but I'm definitely ~not gay~" trope as much, and had the characters embrace their identity. However, I don't read much manga and this could be a cultural disconnect.

To start off I would like to thank the publishers for an E-ARC of “Would You Like To Be A Family” this has not affected my review. Normally I like these kinds of books but I came in expecting fluff only but turns out not the case. I’m not going to go in to details but there was only two scenes. The different stories in the middle of the storyline kind of confused me. Overall pretty average, didn’t necessarily love it but I wouldn’t say I hated it.

“Would You Like To Be a Family?” is a collection of three one-shot BL stories. The first story is about coworkers Takemura and Natsui – opposite in personality but very similar in some ways. While Take likes to keep to himself due to a high school trauma, Natsui is loud, cheerful, and well-liked by his colleagues. Natsui is a single father too. After an invitation for dinner, their relationship blossoms into something neither of them expected.

I did enjoy it. It was sweet, short, and generally feel good. I loved that Natsui is sensitive to Take’s feelings and doesn’t make him feel out of place. I loved the single dad aspect of the story. It brings something different to the table.

The other two stories are way shorter than the first, which are both set in school — an angsty story about Kuma and Yagi and Harada and Kodama. These two short stories tackle the concept of navigating young love and exploring their identity. Both are fun and quick read though not as impactful as the main story.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed reading these stories. I love me some happy endings, so this collection is a total win for me.

This story is comprised of 2 "main" stories, with 2 chapters each, an additional short story, and a bonus to the main title story.

Would you like to be a family? 1 & 2
Is about a workaholic that was shunned as a teenager for being gay. From then on his distanced himself from others. Choosing to live farther away from work and declining after work outings. That is until a coworker (and single father) takes interest in him. From there things sort of naturally grow as they deal with both being lonely in their personal/romantic lives.

Kuma's Feelings 1 & 2
This story is about a senior in high school that encounters an older boy crying and his appearance of being upset about a romantic relationship with another male, sparks curiosity in him about what he actually wants for himself... romance-wise.
Stricken by this change in him, he decides to pursue the person that made him notice it.

The First Love Psychology
This story is about a reserved college student that things people all come down to simple human nature and psychology. Numbers, data, situations. Until someone helps him out in the world and they start to cross paths more and more. Turns out this other guy has had his eye on him for awhile and wants to be friends... and maybe more.

Bonus: What Came After
Child from title story is older and showing life now.


This manga is adorable, but confusing at times. The idea of relationship being build verse sexual tension and desire seems a bit lost in the overall themes. The two main stories both having small sexual scenes pretty rapidly into the stories while all characters seem unsure, and thus unprepared, for the emotions that follow.
Which seemed a bit rushed in my opinion of building the story and characters. But to each their own.
That said, I think the title story (with a bonus chapter) was my favorite, along with the last short story.

**Thank you to TOKYOPOP and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

Three really cute BL short stories about the meaning of family and friendship, but mostly about love, cute, wholesome love. For real, it was really cute and I liked most of the main characters, specially in the first and the last story. The middle one was a bit of a disappointment, but it still was adorable in it's own way.
Yeah, they're short, there's not really much development, and they feel like just a slice of the story. But that's how short stories work sometimes, little glimpses into people's lives that make you feel something for a moment. And it worked for me, since I enjoyed it so much.
This is proof that BL mangas can be cute, unproblematic and entertaining if you can ignore all your prejudices against the genre.

First of all shout out to my main girl, TOKYOPOP. WELCOME BACK FROM THE DEAD. You’ve been missed! Also, thanks for the arc.

Would you like to be a family? Is a collection of three one-shot stories. The titular first story is about two gay office workers who connect and start having dinners together. Take is a rather antisocial guy who has been hurt in the past by his first crush and homophobic friends/classmates. As a result he is rather distrustful of people and avoid social interactions as best as he can so he doesn’t get hurt again. Natsui is a ball of sunshine who seems to have noticed him at work and tries his best to get Take to hang out with him. Natsui also has a son whom he adopted and really cherishes him. As the two adults bond and fall for each other the three of them become a small family.

I thought that the characters were really nice and the story was adorable. I loved that both men were working adults on equal footing. I liked how domestic Natsui was and how much he cared for his son. I felt for him when he talked about how and why he ended up adopting Mori and when he admitted that he was a bit lonely. Take made me laugh with how oblivious he was of Natsui’s feelings for him. But it made sense given how much he was afraid of getting his hopes up and being hurt again. The bonus story was so sweet, ahh!

The other two stories were a bit shorter and due to this felt a bit rushed at times. In the second story we meet Kuma, a short-tempered guy that others often mistake for a delinquent but who is otherwise harmless. I liked the part that he kept feeding stray cats with his friends and ended up loving milk as a result. He met and fell for a friend’s acquaintance who is an older guy in college. I wasn’t a fan of the age difference and the communication felt off between the two but at least the story was aware of these issues. It was an okay read.

The last story is about two college kids who have a meet cute at a train station. Realizing they go to the same school they start talking, but it turns out Harada already had his eyes on Kodama before so he tells him he likes him and asks him to be friends. Kodama agrees to it and as the psych major he is, ends up over analyzing every one of their interactions. I found this premise really funny. Is this how psych majors really are? The story uses his school research papers to prove him wrong about how he thinks about love and people and I really loved that twist. Probably this story was my favorite from the book in terms of the romantic resolution. The running joke of Harada mistaking psychics with psychologists and the fact that he had the audacity to show up with a Freud book was really funny.

I liked this volume, it was entertaining. If you just want to read some light boy’s love one-shots with nice art I would definitely recommend this book.

Things that could have been improved on were the dialogues. I felt the stories would have been smoother if more focus was put on communication between the couples. There were a lot of internal monologues and self-doubt that could have been avoided this way. For the first story the build up was better as they had more time to get to know each other but especially for the short stories, things felt a bit too insta-lovey. While the attractions were mutual the kisses often felt sudden with little build up to it. And there were also some bed scenes that really caught me off guard.

Going into this, I had no idea that it was composed of three short stories, so I was very confused when the first story ended. I definitely feel like all three stories could have been on their own, though they all followed a similar path in terms of relationships and characters. I would have loved to see more development, and think that the first story really could have shined more if the whole volume was focused on it.

I really enjoyed this manga it focused less on their sexual relationship and more on them become a family. The story did feel a little rushed in the end but still very enjoyable to read. The story is very wholesome and has a meaningful outlook. I woul recommend this to anyone looking for a good found-family troupe manga.

There are three stories in this collection: Would you like to be a family?, Kuma's Love, and The First Love Psychology.

You know how it goes, a tsundere meets a person they think is way too cheerful. And then, the tsundere's icicle of a heart slowly melts. It's such a typical plot idea, yet it gets us every time.

Would you like to be a family? is as absurd as mangas get--two workmates fall in love and start raising a kid of one of them. Why? Don't ask, it's cute. There are also elements that are painfully realistic--like the trauma of being bullied in school for being gay (and we know that in Japanese schools any reason is good enough to constitute bullying).

The manga has just the right amount of cuteness and mystery (and by mystery I mean the main character, Take, being confused about his love interest, but not voicing his questions like a true tsundere he is) to keep a reader engaged. So if you like cute gay romance that jumps straights into the "by the way, we have to raise a kid together" phase, then his is definitely a good choice for you.

Kuma's Love is slightly different, but yet so similar. It's also a romance between your typical dark-haired tsundere and a light-haired, light-hearted guy, but this time, they are teenagers. Kuma is a guy who's okay with people around him being gay, and when he discovers he might be too, he doesn't beat around the bush. He simply asks the guy he likes for his number and the story follows from there. In this one, the issue of bullying is completely ommited, so it's definitely a less triggering read. And it ends up steamier than expected.


The First Love Psychology is about university students who meet by chance and then discover they have a lot in common. There is a lot of overanalyzing involved. It's completely SFW, no steam here.