It’s delightful how easily the premise of Hirotaka Kisaragi’s Innocent Bird (Blu) translates into buddy-comedy bluster:

A devil trying to do the right thing… An angel upholding God’s law the only way he knows how… Genesis… was just… the beginning!

Inventing variations on bombastic movie trailers throughout my reading of this book probably led me to like it more than I should. It’s not especially gripping, and readers hoping for sexy blasphemy will be sorely disappointed, but Kisaragi does chart some interesting, even moving territory along the way.

Shirasagi is a very bad devil. He’s gone so far as to abandon his demonic duties to become a priest in a low-rent neighborhood, ministering to the downtrodden and teaching children mathematics and Japanese out of a shuttered nightclub. Karasu, the angel, cares more about the spirit of God’s law than the letter. When sent to convince Shirasagi to resume his duties as Beelzebub’s favorite sex toy, Karasu lacks the bureaucrat’s enthusiasm for order and regulation.

The two are essentially soldiers in a war that has become so codified as to be void of passion or meaning. Angels and devils do what they do because that’s what they’ve always done, and individual moral choice has been divorced from the equation. Shirasagi and Karasu are outsiders simply because they take a nuanced, personal view of their by-the-numbers circumstances. Even putting aside their mutual attraction, they’re dangerous because they think for themselves.

That conceit interests me, and it helps overcome a lot of the mundane mechanics of the story. Nothing particularly startling or even unexpected happens in terms of plot, and Kisaragi is much better at illustrating emotion than event. In spite of those shortcomings, Kisaragi has convinced me to want a happy outcome for her protagonists and to be curious about what happens to them next. (A sharply observed back-up story about building a family of choice goes a long way to sell me on Kisaragi’s abilities.)

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it lately, but I really, really like Satosumi Takaguchi’s Shout Out Loud! (Blu). The first volume made a pleasant enough impression, but the subsequent two have really won me over.

It’s a workplace comedy about voice-over actors in boys’-love dramas, which gives Takaguchi lots of room to play. After a successful stint doing voice work in kids’ videos, Shino has made a career change, quickly becoming a go-to bottom in the industry and attracting the romantic interest and professional jealousy of his cast mates. He’s also learned that he’s the father of a 17-year-old son resulting from a brief, early marriage.

In other words, Shino has a lot going on in his life, and he’s a worrier. He wonders whether he’s a good enough parent to moody, hockey-loving Nakaya, and about the course of his career. He’s also baffled by the new range of romantic possibilities that have cropped up. His failed marriage left him something of a loner, and now he isn’t sure if he’s ready to start over, much less with a man. (Handsome acting partner Tenryu is providing plenty of inducement to get ready, though.)

Nakaya is struggling with his own confusion, finding himself unexpectedly attracted to a young hockey coach, Fuse. Is it curiosity or just intense admiration? Nakaya isn’t sure, and Fuse is keeping him at arm’s length until Nakaya figures it out. (And of course, it all gives Shino another reason to worry.)

Takaguchi doesn’t spare any effort in developing her cast, and she doesn’t shy away from their sexual identities. Some are gay, some are bisexual, and some are straight but very, very curious. But they aren’t defined exclusively by their sexuality; they work, squabble, gossip, visit with family, hang out, and basically just live their lives as best they can. It’s not all smoldering glances and tortured, inner monologues.

In other words, it’s very lifelike — sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always engagingly believable.