Separated by status and species, two men will find love in a desperate attempt to escape the oppressive hierarchy of their society. A touching romance that proves love knows no bounds!

The Luta—beastlike humans with animal genes and characteristics—have suddenly appeared. In proportion to that, the number of human beings have decreased. Ordinary humans are kept as pets, used to satisfy their masters’ every whim. Elnetis, though a Luta himself, finds the system abhorrent.

When a party goes awry and a human named Jin escapes from his tiger beastman keeper, Elnetis makes a fateful decision: to help the runaway—and flee with him into the unknown.

This is a cross-species Boys’ Love where a young man who was once a slave experiences warmth and love.

I was pleasantly surprised by this manga, and realized I may have a thing for beast-men stories based on my review of my catalog of BL after reading. It’s something I didn’t realize about myself until I read this manga, to which I awarded 5 stars.

Anyway, I found parts of this manga had Ai no Kusabi and Crimson Spell vibes that made the manga warm and familiar to me, although overall I thought the story was unique and the character designs gorgeous.

Jin is a sex slave to a particularly sadistic white tiger who drugs him regularly. Elnetis is essentially a merman who can take human form, and runs into the tiger and Jin at a party.

Jin lashes out at the tiger and takes Elnetis hostage in order to escape his master’s clutches, but Elnetis ends up knocking Jin out, and takes him to a safe island where the Luta (beast-men) and humans live together in peace. The seas surrounding the island are what Elnetis calls home, though he visits the island frequently.

Jin goes through terrible withdrawal symptoms of the drug, and repeatedly is in a trance when he comes on to Elnetis. Elnetis takes him to the doctor and the doctor says to treat Jin, he needs to be “taken care of” until everything is out of his system and he has full awareness of himself. Elnetis takes up the task of relieving Jin nightly, and Jin doesn’t remember anything–only that he is finally well-rested.

Eventually Jin learns to trust Elnetis and starts to see that not all beast-men are bad. He even starts to enjoy himself on the island. But one night, he awakens during a session with Elnetis, and is horrified, believing Elnetis is no different than his tiger master in that all he wants is sex.

There is a confrontation here and an apology that I found to be suitable, but based on other reader responses, they considered it not good enough or too fast, which is a fair critique. But based on how Elnetis and Jin are when they have learned to trust each other and develop feelings for each other, I was rooting for Jin to overcome enough trauma to be with Elnetis as his partner. So I was glad things were cleared up quickly.

I thought this story about learning to love and trust despite terrible circumstances was wonderful, and though there are dubious moments and sexual assault and other heavy themes, overall this worked for me. Do not tread lightly while you read this manga, but at the same time, I hope you find the love story as pleasurable as I did.

I look forward to seeing more works from this creator.