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Nodame Cantabile, Volume 1

April 25, 2009 by MJ 19 Comments

First, just a quick link to a review of mine over at Manga Recon’s Otaku Bookshelf column, for the second and third volumes of DMP’s The Guilty, a series of yaoi novels I had extremely mixed feelings about. And now, a quick review of something a bit more my style!

Nodame Cantabile, Vol. 1
By Tomoko Ninomiya
Published by Del Rey Manga

nodame
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Filed Under: MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: manga, nodame cantabile

The Guilty, Vols. 2-3

April 25, 2009 by MJ Leave a Comment

By Katsura Izumi, Illustrated by Hinako Takanaga
Published by Digital Manga Publishing

Toya Sakurai is a young editor of mystery novels for a struggling publisher who has just scored a huge success for his company with a new book from best-selling author, Kai Hodoka. What no one else knows is that while working on the project, Hodoka also became Toya’s lover through a bizarre series of pool games in which Toya paid for his losses with his body. Now that the book has been finished, Toya isn’t sure where he stands with Hodoka and is desperate to find out, but his timidity and Hodoka’s incommunicative nature keep getting in the way. Meanwhile, Toya begins work with a new, young author, Amano, whose straightforward manner and obvious feelings for Toya only make things more confusing. As these volumes continue, Toya struggles against his own insecurities to try to understand Hodoka’s feelings, while also battling a rumor about their involvement which forces the question of whether or not they should reveal their relationship publicly.

This series has so much potential to be fun, solid romance, but it is unfortunately dragged down repeatedly by the rather appalling treatment of Toya’s sexuality and his physical relationship with Hodoka. Most of their frequent sexual encounters read like assault, with Toya begging for relief from Hodoka’s sadistic treatment of him. Though it is clear that Toya truly desires Hodoka and even initiates their encounters from time to time, these scenes are irrevocably tainted by Toya’s constant feelings of shame and humiliation, which Hodoka encourages and obviously enjoys. Late in the third book, Hodoka actually rapes Toya outright, purportedly to give Toya a much-needed reason to break up with him. The fact that this ultimately is explained away as an act of kindness is fairly shocking by itself, but what’s most disturbing is that this scene is not appreciably different from most of their other sexual encounters, aside from Toya’s use of the word “rape.”

The most distressing element of all this, however, is the author’s emotional and physical portrayal of Toya. Having discovered his own sexuality after years of simply feeling no real attraction to anyone at all, it is understandable that he would be confused by his own emotions and desires, and perhaps even believe that he should be ashamed of them. What’s appalling is that this point of view seems to be shared by the author, who not only spends a great deal of time describing in detail how Toya’s manhood is degraded by his desire, but actually treats him as though he is equipped with female genitalia and experiences the physical responses that go with it. It is difficult to decide whether this is more demeaning towards Toya or to the series’ female readers, but either way it is deeply unfortunate.

Regrettably, these problems dominate what would otherwise be a nicely engaging romance series. Toya is an immensely relatable character, struggling to balance career success with romance for the first time in his life. As he juggles his shaky affair with Hodoka along with young Amano’s feelings for him, he realizes too late that his fear of conflict and desire to be kind to everyone may actually result in a great deal of hurt for others–an important but painful lesson too often ignored by most people. Hodoka, too, is quite a poignant character, obviously deeply damaged by his past, and though early on it is difficult to understand why Toya would stay with him when sweet, open Amano is right there waiting in the wings, over time it becomes clear how much good Toya and Hodoka might do for each other, if only they stayed out of the bedroom. Near the end of the second volume, Hodoka begs Toya to teach him how he wants to be loved, and for one shining moment it seems possible that he might learn real tenderness and help Toya to shed his shame over his own body, but by the end of the third volume this hope remains sadly unfulfilled.

Ultimately, The Guilty offers some nice characterization and real emotional depth. Unfortunately it is not enough to balance out the uncomfortably humiliating sex scenes or homophobic self-loathing of the series’ protagonist.

Review copies provided by the publisher. Review originally published at PopCultureShock.

Filed Under: BL BOOKRACK Tagged With: the guilty

Why Twitter?

April 24, 2009 by MJ 20 Comments

This is a bit out of order in terms of the poll, but since my mother is one of the readers who most wanted to see this post, I’m going to let her trump all. :)

Lissa Pattillo recently blogged about manga publishers and bloggers/reviewers she’s found on Twitter, and as one of those I felt a bit inspired to talk about my own experience there, especially since the thing I hear most from non-users is, well, “Why?”

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Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: manga, twitter

St. Dragon Girl, Volume 2

April 23, 2009 by MJ 1 Comment

St. Dragon Girl, Vol. 2
By Natsumi Matsumoto
Published by Viz Media

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Filed Under: MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: manga, shojo

My Thoughts On Yaoi Manga, Part II

April 23, 2009 by MJ 23 Comments

So I’m starting with this topic because it received the most votes, but I’ll be talking about each topic on the poll within the next week or so, and posting some reviews as well, so hopefully I will please everyone!

It’s kind of stunning now to go back to my original thoughts on yaoi, not because the things I have problems with in the genre have changed, because they really haven’t (though I probably have some new things to add). What’s changed is that I have finally nailed down what exactly it is I’m looking for in a boys’ love story, and the simple truth is that it is exactly what I’m looking for in any story, no more, no less.

I’ve read arguments from time to time (made by people I respect a lot, mind you) about certain things only being “okay” in a BL story–things they would not accept in any other kind of story. And while I can see the point that these things are potentially unavoidable in the vast majority of the genre, I still don’t like them, and wouldn’t purposefully read something with those elements included unless there was a lot of what I do like in there to balance the scale. So in this entry, instead of talking about what I don’t like in yaoi/boys’love/whatever, I’m going to talk about what I do.

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Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: manga, navel-gazing, yaoi/boys' love

Lunchtime indecision

April 22, 2009 by MJ 18 Comments

My mind is quite scattered today. I spent my unusually long commute this morning (thanks, construction season) pondering Great Truths of Our Time, such as “Dunkin’ Donuts has better coffee than McDonald’s,” and “Those who ignore ‘yield’ signs are douchebags,” and since then I’ve encountered quite a bit of online conversation that has caused me to develop Deep Thoughts. First, some comments in Michelle’s blog got me thinking about my futile struggle with assigning grades in reviews, followed by an e-mail exchange that gave me a few new thoughts on yaoi (and wow, reading that old post, I’m struck with how much clearer a perspective I have on the subject now). Finally there came Lissa Pattillo’s post about Twitter which inspired some reflections on my own tweeting experience. In the end, however, here I am at lunchtime with no real direction to speak of. So I put it to you, dear readers (poll after the jump):

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Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: general ridiculousness, manga

Click 3 by Youngran Lee: B-

April 21, 2009 by Michelle Smith

From the back cover:
Joonha, the transgender headcase, and Taehyun, the hotshot rich kid, are actually becoming buddies—so much so that they even team up to take down a card shark at the casino Taehyun’s family runs. Is the friendship about to turn into something… more?

Meanwhile, figures from Joonha’s past keep popping up—and stirring up real trouble. His old friend Jinhoo, now a star piano player, is back in Seoul and not going anywhere. And former nice girl Heewon: is she really as nasty as she acts, or is it all a front? Could she be the reason why brainy Jihan suddenly isn’t wearing his glasses anymore?

Review:
I’m not sure what it is about Click that makes it so addictive. I think perhaps the emphasis on character relationships over anything else is partly responsible, because the plot itself is pretty much just day-to-day things, even though what passes for day-to-day in Taehyun’s life is his stepfather accusing him of being gay, plotting business takeovers, winning at high stakes poker games, et cetera.

Also, now that the mechanics of Joonha’s gender change are out of the way, the uncertainty of the other characters regarding her true gender is pretty interesting. Taehyun’s definitely attracted to her, but unable to really convince himself she’s a girl. Heewon, despite Joonha telling her outright that she’s a girl (though she made up a story about having been a girl all along) is in denial and insists to her friend that Joonha’s a guy. And Jinhoo is completely clueless, though the volume ends with a cliffhanger in which he seems poised to find out (or to at least spot Joonha in a girl’s uniform).

I also love the wordless reunion between Jinhoo and Joonha and the fact that when Joonha tells Taehyun she’s starting to like him, she doesn’t mean romantically (at least, I don’t think so), but rather means that she wants to be like him, a cool badass kind of guy. I can almost like Joonha now, but her nasty personality emerges once again when confronted with Jinhoo’s girlfriend. I also can’t stand Heewon, with her profanity, violence, and propensity for ordering people around like they’re her servants.

I think of a B- as meaning, “I enjoy this despite its flaws,” which fits Click pretty well.

Filed Under: REVIEWS Tagged With: netcomics, Youngran Lee

Hot Gimmick (VIZBIG), Volume 1

April 20, 2009 by MJ 20 Comments

Hot Gimmick (VIZBIG), Vol. 1
By Miki Aihara
Published by Viz Media
hotgimmick
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Filed Under: MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: hot gimmick, manga

Love/Knot

April 20, 2009 by MJ Leave a Comment

By Hiroko Ishimaru
Digital Manga Publishing, 200 pp.
Rating: M (18+)

Keigo Someha is a private detective who retrieves a boy he finds collapsed in the street and brings him home. To his shock, the boy (Emiya) asks to stay with him forever, which Keigo refuses until it turns out that Emiya has extrasensory abilities that can help Keigo in his work. Unfortunately, Emiya can also see Keigo’s hidden secrets, including the fact that he moonlights as an assassin. When Keigo discovers that Emiya has escaped from a secret government facility he tries to protect him, but with a tracking device implanted in Emiya’s neck the government is capable of finding him anywhere. Soon Keigo and Emiya realize they have fallen in love and Keigo becomes even more determined to wrest Emiya from the powerful grip of the government.

This manga has numerous elements that could make up an interesting story but they are all so underdeveloped that there is honestly no real chance. All the most intriguing bits–Keigo’s side job as an assassin, Emiya’s life-long isolation from the real world, the government project Emiya is being used for–are addressed only on the most surface level. Keigo mentions how surprised he is to fall in love after so many years as a killer, but he displays no evidence of any psychological damage or any real attachment to the job, so when he finally declares he is going to give it all up for Emiya’s sake, it’s about as dramatic as if he’d declared he was giving up sweets. Emiya’s innocence ends up being used only as running gag and a rather creepy device for explaining his ignorance in bed. The government project is barely explained and its main scientist’s sick fixation on Emiya is too shallow to be believed. The story’s art is serviceable and blandly attractive, but fades quickly from memory.

On the upside, Keigo and Emiya’s relationship is warm and consensual, even if develops much too quickly to be real, and there are a few nice scenes played out between them. Unfortunately this isn’t nearly enough to make up for the lack of depth throughout. Perhaps in a longer series, these characters could have been more fully realized, but as it is, Love/Knot fails to provide any real insight into the human heart.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at PopCultureShock.

Filed Under: BL BOOKRACK Tagged With: yaoi/boys' love

Hitohira, Vol. 3

April 20, 2009 by MJ Leave a Comment

By Idumi Kirihara
Aurora Publishing, 174 pp.
Rating: T (13+)

Timid Theater Research Group member Mugi takes the stage in her first leading role in the performance that will determine whether the club must be forced to disband. After a rocky start, she finally comes into her own as an actress even while club president Nono loses her voice onstage. Unfortunately, the club’s best efforts are not enough, and it is the official theater club that wins the fight for its existence. After the Theater Research Group’s members part ways, spunky freshman Chitose (an official theater club member still harboring a crush on senior Research Group member Takashi) suggests to Mugi that they have a Christmas party with the senior members of both their clubs to bring them all together again. The party is a success, but there is heartbreak in store for both girls, as Chitose is rejected by Takashi and Mugi finds out that her best friend, Kayo, is leaving to study overseas.

This volume is short on focus but this actually matches the emotional states of the characters quite well, ensuring that the reader feels keenly the shaky ground everyone is treading on for most of the volume. With all the primary characters at loose ends, it’s hard to see where things will go at this point, but fortunately the story is strong enough now to carry that kind of uncertainty and still compel readers to care what happens next. Though Nono’s voice has become a serious problem, her story takes a back seat in this volume, giving more attention to Mugi’s personal relationships (both with Kayo and love interest Kai) and the void left in her life after the dissolution of the club.

Despite the scattered feel of this volume, Hitohira continues to become more appealing as it goes along, providing more insight into its engaging group of characters as they struggle to discover their individual paths.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at PopCultureShock.

Filed Under: MANGA REVIEWS Tagged With: hitohira

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