Ruka Shiota is obsessed with his older brother so much so that every relationship he enters ends the same way. No matter how hard he tries he cannot help comparing his boyfriends to his brother only to be dumped with harsh words like I am sick of your selfishness or Why do not you just date your brother instead. Each time Ruka turns to his favorite host club where the No 1 host Kei listens patiently to his complaints. But one day the unthinkable happens Rukas beloved brother gets a boyfriend of his own. Devastated Ruka runs to Kei as usual only to hear him whisper I will be the one to make you happy.

Choose Me, You Spoiled Brat has story by and art by Kana. English translation is done by lapin, Inc. Published by Kadokawa (November 15, 2026). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Here's another one for the “very nearly quite good” list. Choose Me, You Spoiled Brat is a story whose title seems more connected to the seed of an idea its creator must have once had than the plot that grew from it. Ruka comes close to having a brother complex in that his older brother is basically his Platonic ideal of what a man should be, but he's not actually in love with his brother. He just wants to find a guy as nice as his brother, which seems fairly logical. Unfortunately for him, his past boyfriends have misinterpreted his constant mentioning of his brother as a romantic yearning…or at least, that's what we readers are meant to assume. But in practice, all we know is that he and his brother are both gay, his brother's dating a very nice man, and Ruka just broke up with a not-very-nice one. The fact that he loves his brother feels…unimportant. (Also, no one is a “spoiled brat.” Not sure where that part of the title is coming from.)

Luckily for him, host Keito agrees with that. Ruka first began going to a host club to see Kei (his host name) after a bad breakup; he kept going because it was really nice to have someone to talk to. Keito's a great listening, and when Ruka has another romantic setback, he offers to let him move into his apartment…and when Ruka gets kind of freaked out and says he doesn't want to cramp Kei's host style, Keito quits the club, gets a new job, and tells Ruka that he's in love with him. It's clearly meant to be romantic, but it feels so abrupt that it misses the mark, although the majority of these first four chapters are dedicated to making sure that readers see it that way.

Things do improve once Ruka and Keito are together. It's plain that Keito wasn't lying, and the final pages of chapter four hint that his feelings have been around for a long time, far beyond their “first” meeting at the host club. And with Keito's overwhelming need to demonstrate his love for Ruka in every possible way, the story opens up to Ruka teaching Keito that love has to be mutual and expressions of love go both ways. He has to help Keito to see that he wants to pamper Keito, too, and that he doesn't have to be so worried that Ruka will leave him. These are the best parts of the story, warm and honest, and by the end of chapter four, I did find myself more invested in their relationship than I expected to be. I'll probably read at least chapter five when it comes out.

Bolts
Rating:

There is this idea that the more kind a person appears, the harder they are to trust. Could you date somebody where it is literally their job to shower others with compliments and kind pleasantries? Does that make them easier to date? Or does that make it harder? Those questions are the heart of Choose Me, You Spoiled Brat, following a relationship between a young man and the former number one host at a bar. That's already a pretty strong theme itself, but there is also the added fact that the main character Ruka also has a severe brother complex where he is constantly comparing other men he dates to an ideal, older brother. This creates a solid romance with multiple layers of projection.

Ruka deals with understandable insecurities but also makes it hard with an impossible standard. I love how the chemistry between the two two establishes these different layers of trust and taking risks in a new romantic foundation. It shows the insecurities on both fronts and it's scary for the two of them to take that first step, despite the really strong chemistry and physical compatibility between the two. However, the story doesn't touch upon these themes in an overly depressing or self indulgent way. The tone is kept light and the conversations are snappy, but everything is kept generally fun yet realistic. Unlike a lot of other boys' love stories, this isn't one that seems to drench itself in tragedy as it realizes that sometimes simple insecurities and fears are enough to drive solid romantic development. In the end, it leads to a very refreshing fun time that I think you'll enjoy.