is a one-shot Japanese manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 written and illustrated by Tamaki Kirishima. The manga was serialized in Nihonbungeisha's manga magazine, Nichibun Comics. Nihonbungeisha released the manga's tankōbon

Tankobon

, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...

volume on December 28, 2006. It is licensed in North America by Aurora Publishing

Aurora Publishing

Aurora Publishing, Inc. is the American subsidiary of Japanese publisher Ohzora Publishing, the leading josei manga publisher in Japan. Headquartered in Torrance, California, it licensed and published Japanese manga for the North American market...

, which released the manga through its yaoi

Yaoi

In careful Japanese enunciation, all three vowels are pronounced separately, for a three-mora word, . The English equivalent is . also known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by...

 imprint, Deux Press, on August 8, 2008. The manga is licensed in Taiwan by Ever Glory Publishing

Ever Glory Publishing

is a Taiwanese publisher of manga. It was founded in June 1991. In October 1992, the company obtained the Chinese license for Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion...

, which released the manga on October 5, 2007.

Reception

Comics Village

Comics Village

Comics Village is a UK based comics website launched in November 2007 and predominantly aimed at publicizing non-mainstream comics. Over time, it has extended its remit into other forms of pop culture, into providing a different take on the so-called mainstream than that provided by the...

's Lissa Pattillo comments on the manga's art, saying, she "liked the sketchy look it had and I liked the anatomy during some sex scenes where it’s shown that the characters actually have a little bit of realistic flesh on their frames. Shiba was pretty adorable, wide-eyed and scruffy. I don’t have as much positive to say about Taketora, who not only suffered from some uneven anatomy but from a facial design that I just didn’t find very visually appealing (big lips are too big)." Pop Culture Shock's Michelle Smith comments on the "few genuinely funny panels, like those in which Akatsuki (another dog-person who moves in with Taketora and Shiba) entertains himself by playing with a frog." Anime News Network

Anime News Network

Anime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...

's Casey Brienza criticises the book, saying, "nothing about this book manifests creative conviction—not the plot, not the characters, not even the furry

Furry fandom

Furry fandom is a fandom for fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. Examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, the ability to speak, walk on two legs, and wear clothes...

 fetish." Dru Pagliassotti, comparing romance novel

Romance novel

The romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...

s with Boys Love manga, mentions Ruff Love as an example of a kemonomimi "society", or setting.