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Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

BL Bookrack

BL Bookrack: Yoshinaga Special

July 21, 2010 by MJ and Michelle Smith 7 Comments

Welcome to the first edition of BL Bookrack, a new, monthly feature co-written with Soliloquy in Blue‘s Michelle Smith. Once a month, in place of our weekly Off the Shelf column, we’ll be presenting reviews of a handful of boys’ love titles, both old and new. It is our particular pleasure to launch this feature with a focus on the works of Fumi Yoshinaga as part of Manga Bookshelf’s week-long tribute to one of our favorite mangaka.

In this month’s column, Michelle starts us off with a look at Don’t Say Any More, Darling, deeming it enjoyable, if not quite the best of Yoshinaga’s work. I follow up with two favorites, Ichigenme… The First Class is Civil Law and The Moon and the Sandals. Michelle then wraps things up with a thoughtful take on Solfege.

We hope you’ll enjoy this special Yoshinaga edition of BL Bookrack. We’ll return next week with another Off the Shelf!


Don’t Say Any More, Darling | By Fumi Yoshinaga | Published by Juné (DMP) | Rated M (Mature 18+) | Buy this book –

Don’t Say Any More, Darling is a collection of five stories by Fumi Yoshinaga—two of them not actually BL—that show glimmers of her future greatness but which are, at least in several cases, pretty durn weird.

The title story is the most straightforward boys’ love offering in the group. Kouhei and Tadashi have been friends since their school days, but the former has gone on to be a successful doctor while the latter is an impoverished lyricist who would probably starve if Kouhei didn’t stop by every once in a while. Kouhei’s parents are after him to meet a prospective bride—there’s a very amusing scene where they harangue him for being a “parasite single”—but when he meets his date, she only reminds him of Tadashi! Like most cheerful BL stories, this one ends with the boys in bed, but Yoshinaga gives this outcome a little twist by depicting Kouhei as comically traumatized by the experience.

“My Eternal Sweetheart” is the first of the weirder stories in the collection. Initially, it appears to be the story of an ailing teenager named Arthur whose immune deficiency syndrome prevents him from going outside and whose brother has built him a maternal android for a caretaker. It takes a turn when Arthur requests a male “sexaroid” to relieve his boredom, and a few other surprising twists follow. While I admire the plot of this story, it does contain an underaged sexaroid and quasi-incest, so things get a little creepy.

The two non-BL stories in the collection both have to do with making and then losing a connection with another person. In “Fairyland,” a bullied boy named Kaoru seems to have successfully wished all of humanity away. This gets rid of his tormentors, but also his family. When Kaoru meets another rare survivor, Ryohei, it seems he’s finally found someone who can understand and forgive his actions. In “One May Day,” a widower finds new love with a restaurant proprietor, only to quickly tire of her subservience and constant apologizing. This one is particularly short and odd.

My very favorite story in the collection is the last one, “The Pianist.” As a younger, haughtier man, Takayuki Date had some moderate success as a pianist and songwriter, but was never able to make it big. At the time, he never lacked for men, but now that he is older he’s having a hard time finding handsome younger guys willing to sleep with him. One day, he’s approached by a friendly college student and must figure out whether the young man is actually interested in him. The whole vibe of this story is wonderful—I really love how Yoshinaga handles the revelation that Date is not really the “debauched fallen genius” he pretends to be but rather simply lacked the talent necessary to achieve lasting success—and feels the most like Yoshinaga’s later works to me.

While Don’t Say Any More, Darling is not the best Yoshinaga manga available, it’s still intriguing and definitely worth a read.

– Review by Michelle Smith.


Ichigenme… The First Class is Civil Law, Vols. 1-2 | By Fumi Yoshinaga | Published by 801 Media (DMP) | Rated 18+ (Mature Content) | Buy volumes one & two –

Kensuke Tamiya is a serious law student who finds himself in a zemi (a small, professor-led seminar) filled entirely with lazy rich kids who have come up through the university’s affiliated schools. It is there he meets Taka-aki Tohdou, the playboy son of a politician who kisses Tamiya at their zemi‘s drunken welcome party.

Later, when Tohdou makes a serious attempt to pursue him, Tamiya protests adamantly that he’s not gay, while secretly suppressing the truth he’s known for years. As Tamiya slowly comes to terms with his sexuality, his classmates struggle with school, scandal, and the often ugly workings of the social hierarchy set up for them by their elders.

Though advertised as a “campus love story,” Ichigenme is really so much more. It is, at once, a thoughtful take on a young man’s struggle with his sexuality, an idiosyncratic romance, a jaded commentary on sexual double-standards applied to female students in Japan, and a fairly scathing look at the Japanese affiliate school system.

One of the most gratifying elements of Yoshinaga’s yaoi works is the fact that she is not afraid to write about characters who identify as gay. With Ichigenme…, she takes that one step further by actually exploring what that means for her protagonist, who, even after admitting that he could never have sex with a woman, is reluctant to accept the truth of it. Tamiya’s anxieties follow him even into the bedroom, where, though he learns to discuss what he’s doing with surprising frankness, he is unable to be open about his feelings.

With Tamiya, Yoshinaga turns two yaoi tropes on their heads–the shy, reluctant uke and the genre’s resistance to the word “gay”– transforming them from myopic clichés into realistic neuroses that actually add dimension to the character. As a result, Tamiya and Tohdou’s relationship is wonderfully awkward and slow to develop, with its sexual and romantic progression never quite in the same place.

This is particularly significant to the series’ second volume, which might otherwise be just a series of increasingly explicit sex scenes. Thankfully, the complexity of both these men and their relationship drives the story all the way through to the end. Though a second couple is introduced halfway through the second volume, presumably to add fresh romantic momentum, this diversion is hardly necessary.

As always, Yoshinaga’s gift for dialogue creates a uniquely intimate feel, bringing life and complexity even to the story’s minor characters, especially Miho Terada, a smart, studious female classmate whose place at the university is called into question after her boyfriend sends a nude photo of her to a magazine. Despite the fact that this is essentially a romance manga, one of its most affecting scenes takes place between Terada and Tamiya, in which he reveals his naiveté regarding her circumstances.

“You’re the victim here, Terada-san … it’s the guy who’s in the wrong,” Tamiya protests, to which she responds, “You’re the only one who would say that, Tamiya-chan. My father said that it was more shameful than being raped. And hearing that felt worse than being raped.”

Though Ichigenme… was released under DMP’s more explicit 801 Media imprint (and rightfully so), its sex scenes are so artful and so essential to the characters’ emotional journey, I’d consider it suitable for any adult reader, male or female, fan or non-fan.

If any of this sounds like over-praise, I promise you it’s not. Ichigenme… is a true favorite, and I recommend it with pleasure.

-Review by MJ


The Moon and the Sandals, Vols. 1-2 | By Fumi Yoshinaga | Published by Juné (DMP) | Rated M (Mature 18+) | Buy volumes one & two –

Kobayashi has a massive crush on his history teacher, Mr. Ida, but just as he’s about to confess, he discovers that Mr. Ida is embroiled in a stormy love affair of his own. As Ida pursues a future with his long-time lover, Hashizume, Kobayashi is left to find new love on his own.

When Kobayashi’s good friend and English studies savior, Rikuko, is injured in a traffic accident, she convinces her older brother, Toyo, to replace her as Kobayashi’s English tutor.

Toyo is arrogant and demanding, but working with Kobayashi seems to soften him, and in no time at all, Kobayashi has transferred his crush on Mr. Ida to his new English tutor. But can Toyo return his feelings? And what about Rikuko, who harbors the same feelings for Kobayashi?

Though this was her debut manga, Yoshinaga was already playing around with standard yaoi fantasies (in this case, the teacher/student relationship), working them ’round until they become genuinely true-to-life. As a result, Kobayashi’s crush on his teacher, Mr. Ida, reads as a poignant tale of unrequited first love rather than romantic fantasy.

This relationship rings true throughout the series, especially in a scene late in the first volume, when Kobayashi seeks out his teacher, the only gay adult he knows, to ask for information on gay sex. Ida’s discomfort with the question leaves Kobayashi pretty much to fend for himself, but it’s the reaction from Ida’s lover that makes the whole thing worthwhile.

“You’re clearly the one in the wrong here,” Hashizume says. “Homosexuals are a social minority. There aren’t many with whom we can discuss our problems, either … If he can’t ask you, who else can he ask?”

Another area where Yoshinaga really shines here is in her treatment of Kobayashi’s friend, Rikuko. One of several general complaints that can be made about yaoi as a whole is a lack of female characters in a genre written largely by women, for women. Though it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect female characters in the lead in a genre specifically portraying romance between males, it’s rather depressing to note just how often women and girls are dismissed entirely as people of worth in yaoi manga, occasionally to the point of outright misogyny. Fortunately, Yoshinaga frequently writes women into her yaoi, and she writes them well.

Not only is Rikuko a rich, nuanced character with real hopes and dreams (including a promising future as a doctor, as shown in volume two), but her confession to (and rejection by) Kobayashi is written with a level of subtlety and understanding that speaks honestly to generations of high school girls (past and present) who have had the misfortune to fall in love with their gay best friends.

Click each to enlarge, right-to-left.

Images © Fumi Yoshinaga. English translation © Digital Manga Publishing.

The series’ second volume, a series of vignettes designed primarily to accommodate sex scenes, lacks the cohesion and depth of the first. Yet even these scenes are emotionally driven and rooted firmly in the rich character development established during the first volume. Though the first volume can be enjoyed entirely on its own, readers who seek out the second volume will find some real gems scattered within, such as a scene late in the volume regarding Toyo’s plans to come out to his parents.

Simply put, The Moon and the Sandals is utterly charming, recommended for any fan of smart, romantic manga.

– Review by MJ


Solfege | By Fumi Yoshinaga | Published by Juné (DMP) | Rated YA (16+) | Buy this book –

The important thing to remember about Solfege is that it’s not actually a love story. Instead, it’s the portrait of an unsympathetic music teacher named Kugayama who is a wretched human being but is still capable of bringing something positive into the world by fostering a life-long love of music in his students.

The story begins with Kugayama imparting the basics of music unto Tanaka, a youth who looks like a delinquent but loves singing and dreams of attending a music high school. Kugayama doesn’t have very high hopes for Tanaka’s chances, but is surprised when his student ends up exceeding his expectations. When Tanaka’s mother collapses and ends up spending over a year in the hospital, Kugayama allows the boy to stay with him and pays for Tanaka to study voice with another teacher named Gotoh.

Once Tanaka’s mother recovers, he moves back home, but she promptly begins bringing men home and he turns up at Kugayama’s house again just when his former teacher is drunk and feeling horny. Kugayama proceeds to use his position as the most-admired person in Tanaka’s life to seduce his impressionable young student, and this is where I really started to hate the guy. I wished for Yoshinaga to accurately portray how traumatized a physically mature but emotionally vulnerable kid like Tanaka would be by this experience. Instead, he’s completely okay with the arrangement and the two continue to sleep together. I was disappointed.

I should’ve had faith in Yoshinaga, though, because once Gotoh finds out what’s going on, he takes immediate steps to remove Tanaka from Kugayama’s clutches. While Tanaka heads abroad to study music in Italy—and eventually becomes a success—Kugayama starts up a relationship with a Tanaka lookalike named Jun and, again, gets what’s coming to him for being such a screwed-up jerk. Scandal ensues, and it’s up to a grown-up Tanaka to meet with Kugayama again—as equals this time—and remind him of what it is that he does best.

I did not find Solfege to be in the least little bit romantic—and I’m honestly not sure how anyone could—but I did find it a complex and fascinating character study as well as a refreshing alternative to student-teacher romances that carry no repercussions for persons in a position of authority.

– Review by Michelle Smith



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

Blood Honey

June 29, 2010 by MJ 1 Comment

By Sakyou Yozukura
BLU, 178 pp.
Rating: M (Mature)

Yuki Akabane is a vampire, but descended so far down the line, the only family trait he retains is a thirst for blood. His job as a nurse at a blood donor clinic keeps him hooked up with occasional meals, but his intake gets jacked up immensely by an obsessive donor named Osamu Mayazumi. Mayazumi is a teacher with a bad temper that seems to be quelled by donating blood, and thanks to a fear of needles, the only nurse he’ll trust is Akabane.

Frequent visits to the clinic shift to nightly dinners at Akabane’s home, and before they know it, the two are harboring feelings for each other more serious than those of donor and nurse.

Despite the fairly creepy premise, this series’ most consistent trait is that it is quite simply a lot of fun. Yozakura’s sense of humor fits her characters perfectly, particularly in the second half of the book, where she introduces Akabane’s precocious nephew, Kiri. The book is undoubtedly tongue-in-cheek, but it thankfully lacks the overblown ridiculousness of some humorous yaoi. As a bonus, there are some genuinely touching moments as well.

Yozukura’s artwork is quite expressive and frankly adorable, though her characters fall visually into the typical seme and uke roles, almost to the extreme. Thanks to that, both Akabane and his nephew look about fifteen, one of the book’s few major downsides.

Though it’s certainly not profound, Blood Honey is a fun, sexy, take on the current vampire trend.

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

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

9th Sleep

June 14, 2010 by MJ 2 Comments

9th Sleep
By Makoto Tateno
Digital Manga Publishing, 200 pp.
Rating: 16+

Luke is the child of a “Maria possession,” meaning that his mother was still a virgin when he was born. What he soon finds out is that he is also a god-prince fallen to Earth, as well as the reincarnation of the “King’s Soul,” which he received upon the death of his father. Unwilling to wed the bride chosen for him, Luke carried that soul with him when he committed suicide sixteen years previous and placed it in the womb of the earth-woman he loved.

Now that sixteen years have passed, he must fight his “brother” Malchus for possession of their father’s soul and kingdom.

If that summary seems convoluted, that’s no mistake. The premise of this manga is extraordinarily opaque, despite the fact that the mangaka attempts to explain it repeatedly, mainly by playing out the original scenario two more times over the course of the volume. In each incarnation, Luke avoids his final standoff with Malchus by killing himself, thus impregnating another unsuspecting young woman on the earth below.

While boys’ love plotlines are rarely required to be coherent (or even to exist at all) in order to attract a major portion of their fanbase, in this case there is also no boys’ love to speak of, leaving very little for fans of the genre to latch on to. Though the mangaka does offer up very pretty drawings of her two warring brothers, even standard fan service is in short supply.

Despite some attractive artwork, a confusing, vapid plot and lack of boys’ love action leave this one-shot manga without a clear audience.

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

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

Let Dai, Vols. 1-15

May 30, 2010 by MJ 7 Comments

Let Dai, Vols. 1-15 | By Sooyeon Won | Published by NETCOMICS | Rated 16+ – Jaehee Yoo is a smart, responsible high school sophomore whose life is changed forever by a single chance meeting. One afternoon in Seoul, Jaehee spots a group of young gang members mugging a girl. He attempts to intervene, and is soon introduced to the leader of the gang, Dai Lee, a cruel, seemingly conscienceless boy to whom he is inexplicably drawn. After several increasingly violent encounters, Jaehee finds himself being initiated into the gang and falling into an obsessive romantic relationship with Dai. As others in his life are drawn into Dai’s world and the suffering that inevitably brings, Jaehee struggles between his obligations to friends and family and his bond with Dai, against which he feels increasingly powerless.

Let Dai is ridiculously melodramatic, unrelentingly violent, borderline misogynistic, deeply implausible, and an incredibly compelling read. The first chapter begins with the narration, “Love was like a banquet of pain,” setting the story’s melodramatic tone from the start, but this is not a bad thing, by any means. Sooyeon Won’s sense of drama and flowery language is one of the series’ greatest charms, capable of reverting even the most jaded adult woman back to her thirteen-year-old self. Won is Emily Brontë, E.M. Forester, and S.E. Hinton all rolled up into one tragically romantic girl-pleasing package. Outside the hazy, love-drunk filter of the series, Jaehee and Dai would almost certainly be unbelievable as real-life boys, but they are so lovingly and richly written, it hardly matters. Even in the final volume, as the story’s delinquent heroes are discussing F. Scott Fitzgerald and Pablo Neruda, reciting poetry, and declaring, “It’s just like the way I love you,” to each other while bicycling attractively over a forest path, it’s impossible to stop reading.

Much is made of Dai’s impact on Jaehee’s life and the lives of those around him, but the character who actually changes the most over the course of the series is Dai. At the beginning of the story, he is written as a classic sociopath. He has no regard for his safety or the safety of others, no remorse, no empathy, no tolerance for compassion, nor does he see any value in those qualities. He is unapologetically cruel, and feels no responsibility for his own actions or desires. It is desire, however, that ultimately forces him to grow. On several occasions, Dai declares that he will not forgive Jaehee for choosing to help or fulfill a commitment to someone else, yet eventually he must in order to come back to Jaehee, whom he appears to genuinely love.

Dai’s growth is slow and sometimes deceptive. For instance, at one point he arranges to have his former gang brutally beaten in front of a girl whom they gang-raped in a questionable attempt to make amends. Of course, this action’s true aim is to free Jaehee from guilt over the incident so that he can (according to Dai’s logic) be released from his obligation to the girl and commit himself more fully to Dai. Still, there are real changes in Dai as the story goes on, as he is forced to learn to respect Jaehee’s hopes and feelings and how those extend to people other than himself.

If Dai’s journey is about learning to accept the needs of others, Jaehee’s is about learning to accept himself. Strangely, though the entire series is filled with narration in which Jaehee talks about how tragic and painful Dai’s influence on his life will be, for the most part Jaehee appears happier in his life with Dai than he was before. Yes, he’s hurt people and experienced loss, and he’s certainly felt a great deal of pain over how their relationship is received by others, but he admits more than once that he doesn’t like the parts of himself that are selfless and reliable, and is genuinely thrilled with the freedom he feels when he is with Dai. It may seem odd to support a character’s quest to become more selfish, but in this case, there is a sense that if the right balance can be found, Dai can teach Jaehee to live more for himself and for the moment, and Jaehee can teach Dai to feel responsibility for others. It is this, more than anything, that makes it possible for the reader to continue to root for the relationship even as other characters are being hurt in the process.

While the story’s initial approach to its primary relationship is filled with dire warnings of pain and suffering that hover dangerously close to homophobia, Jaehee’s appeal for his mother’s acceptance of his sexuality later on in the series is very nicely written. The author unfortunately clings to Jaehee and Dai’s obsessiveness as a bit of a crutch, allowing them to repeatedly express their devotion to each other without quite admitting what that means. Both characters claim that the gender of the other “doesn’t matter,” and their on-screen sexual relationship is surprisingly chaste. Still, Jaehee’s plea for understanding and the arguments made against it by Jaehee’s mother will be sadly familiar to many gay teenagers (and adults) who have come out to their parents, and the eventual resolution between them feels very genuine.

Despite the all-consuming quality of Jaehee’s relationship with Dai, Won manages to maintain a good-sized cast of fully realized supporting characters as well. Standouts here are Eunhyung Song, Jaehee’s almost-girlfriend whose traumatic encounter with Dai’s gang breaks her in ways from which she will never recover, and Naru Hagi, a carefree, narcissistic classmate of Jaehee’s who lends an unexpected warmth to the series. Both of these characters are just as richly developed as the two leads (perhaps even more so in the case of Eunhyung) and their personal stories are incredibly compelling.

If there is one truly regrettable thing about Let Dai it is the story’s treatment of women. It can be unfair to assume that a character’s attitudes reflect the author’s, but Dai’s hatred of women is so pronounced it is difficult to ignore. Dai is first introduced beating up a high school girl, and things go downhill from there. Certainly his character is complex and deeply troubled, and the author does not mean to suggest that his actions are okay, but it does appear that she means them to be romantic, or at least attractive on some level, which is difficult to swallow. Misogyny in stories written for women is incredibly disturbing and far too common in boys’ love, and as fantastic a read as this story is, it comes uncomfortably close to crossing that line.

NETCOMICS’ online distribution of Let Dai is a pretty good deal for those who aren’t keen on re-reads (about five dollars total to view all fifteen volumes) though the quality of the scans could stand improvement. Much of the text is difficult to read at the lower of the two available screen settings, and some is virtually unreadable in either setting, particularly the frequent sections that feature gray text (lightly outlined in white) on gray or textured backgrounds. In another comic this might be an insignificant problem, but the large blocks of narration that continue throughout Let Dai make the quality of the text paramount.

Sooyeon Won’s art is beautiful, and her characters burst, lifelike, from the page. Even the darkest, most violent moments are aesthetically pleasing. The visual storytelling is very clear and easy to follow, only hindered by the quality of the onscreen reproduction of the text.

Complete in fifteen volumes, Let Dai stands out in a market flooded with one-shots and short series that can never achieve the same impact as an epic tale well told. Regardless of any complaints that can be made, this story is riveting from start to finish, visually appealing, and intricately crafted to please its target audience.

Digital access provided by the publisher. Review originally published at PopCultureShock.

Filed Under: BL BOOKRACK, Manhwa Bookshelf, MANHWA REVIEWS Tagged With: boys' love, let dai, netcomics

Totally Captivated, Vol. 6

May 30, 2010 by MJ 4 Comments

Totally Captivated | By Hajin Yoo | Published by NETCOMICS | Rated 16+ – Ewon Jung is a 23-year-old scholarship student in Seoul, whose curiosity over whether or not it is possible to have great sex without love (“It was possible.”) leads him to cheat on his boyfriend, Jiho. Devastated and yearning for revenge, Jiho persuades his new boyfriend, a small-time loan shark named Mookyul Eun, to force Ewon into service at his office where he is expected to run errands, clean, and balance the books, all without payment. Unfortunately for Jiho, Mookyul soon develops an interest in Ewon, and it isn’t long before Jiho ends up shunted aside once again. Mookyul is controlling and occasionally violent, and Ewon is far from a pushover, but they eventually reach a mutually beneficial arrangement and begin living together. Things do not continue peacefully for long, however, as Ewon becomes aware that he is falling harder for Mookyul than he intended and experiences his first real taste of jealousy. Though the story’s premise initially seems contrived, its real function is to provide a stylish, humorous background to what is essentially a very moving story about two deeply damaged men learning how to love.

In volume five, Ewon finally broke off his tumultuous relationship with Mookyul, unwilling to continue as his lover while Mookyul was still providing sexual favors to his company’s CEO—a man who had long ago rescued a young Mookyul and raised him as his own child. Unable to withstand the separation from Ewon, Mookyul confronted his father figure, breaking all ties with him and his company, and as volume six begins, he sets out to find Ewon and win him back. Ewon consents, but their reunion is short-lived, as Mookyul’s former business rival sets up a plot to ruin him now that he is no longer in the CEO’s favor. Mob madness ensues, Ewon is kidnapped, Mookyul is injured, Mookyul disappears, Ewon runs away, all leading up to the real drama of the volume, in which Ewon begs Mookyul to leave him so that he may be free of the constant terror of losing him. This is the real crux of the story, and ultimately provides the emotional payoff for the series.

It has been hinted throughout the series that Ewon’s absent parents were likely still alive, and this is finally confirmed in volume six, along with the sickening story of how he was abandoned as a child in the middle of the woods, essentially left to die. It is interesting to note that while both Ewon and Mookyul have serious abandonment issues, they have learned to deal with them in completely different ways. While Mookyul grew up to become controlling and possessive, determined to cage anything that might run from him, Ewon learned to avoid any real human connection, carefully protecting himself from the possibility of ever being abandoned again.

One of the things that has always been refreshing about Totally Captivated is that it is not a coming-out story. Ewon never agonizes over or apologizes for his sexuality (something he’s been aware of since the sixth grade), and he is completely comfortable with himself and unusually self-aware for his age. He knows what he likes and who he is sexually, and is completely up front about that with his partners (as they generally are with him). The dramatic benefit of this is that instead of having to focus on the characters’ feelings about being gay, the story is free to explore much further. Though the series does not shy away from the characters’ sexuality, its real focus is on emotional intimacy, and it is this that drives the story forward, especially in the final volume.

This series also avoids the thinly-veiled homophobia that is paradoxically present in so much of the boys’ love genre. “I don’t want some stinking homophobe to buy me a drink,” Ewon says to a co-worker early on in the series, and this attitude is never compromised at any point. The story never avoids specifics about the characters’ sexuality, neither does it portray its primary relationship as “forbidden love” nor insinuate that it is fundamentally inferior to heterosexual love—themes that are unfortunately common in many popular boy’s love stories.

Thankfully, this volume is free of the one discomfiting boys’ love cliché that is too often present earlier on, namely Mookyul’s habit of bullying Ewon for sex that is more frequent or rough than he is comfortable with (made tolerable only by the fact that Ewon proves many times over that he is capable of extracting himself from any situation he truly does not want to be a part of). After some shaky moments in the middle of the series that came uncomfortably close to romanticizing Mookyul’s controlling (even sadistic) tendencies, volume five brought Ewon back into control (despite the fact that he still calls his lover “boss”), with the two men finally reaching equal ground in volume six. Considering the extensive damage both Ewon and Mookyul bring to the table, it’s not surprising that they would fall into unhealthy patterns with each other as their relationship develops, but rooting for them became difficult during those middle volumes while the relationship was clearly abusive. With this in mind, volume six is a balm for the reader, as both characters shed their most destructive habits and are finally able to provide the emotional security each other requires.

The character designs in this series have never been anything special, but with characterizations so strong, they almost don’t have to be. What is lacking in design is made up for in substance, and though more distinctive art would certainly enhance the story’s effect, the series is not gravely damaged without it. The visual storytelling is clear and easy to follow and if the designs are merely serviceable, they at least do not get in the way. All the characters are visually expressive when they need to be, and many are downright poignant, particularly Ewon’s ex, Jiho, and his long-time friend, Dohoon Moon, who puts aside his own feelings to protect Ewon when he most needs it.

In its early volumes, Totally Captivated was smart, sexy, and fabulously dramatic. Now at the end of its final volume, it has also grown into an unexpectedly satisfying love story, rivaling the best of its genre.

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

Filed Under: BL BOOKRACK, Manhwa Bookshelf, MANHWA REVIEWS Tagged With: boys' love, netcomics, totally captivated

Hinako Takanaga at Yaoi-Con 2010

May 20, 2010 by MJ 18 Comments

The big news in the yaoi corner today is last night’s announcement from DMP that Hinako Takanaga will be appearing as their special guest at this year’s Yaoi-Con.

I’ll admit I’m ambivalent on Takanaga. Though I enjoyed You Will Fall in Love (sequel You Will Drown in Love somewhat less so), my greatest criticism of it was the same as the first work of hers I read, Little Butterfly. I know everyone loves Little Butterfly, but my impression of it when I first read it (when I had not yet read a lot of yaoi) was that the main relationship was too rushed to be truly believable. Though Kate Dacey’s recent review has inspired me to put Little Butterfly back on my list for another try, I can’t help but wish that I could experience Takanaga over the course of a much longer series.

As you know, I have a few chronic complaints about yaoi in general, but the one that frustrates me most often is the fact that the genre (and I don’t know who to attribute this to… publishers? fans? both?) doesn’t take romance seriously enough. It is hard to write good romance, with the right balance of careful pacing and giddy excitement, and there are not all that many instances in which this can be accomplished in under five volumes.

People have done it. Fumi Yoshinaga manages better than most (Ichigenme… The First Class is Civil Law is one of my favorite short yaoi series) and Korean manhwa-ga Rakun (aka Yeri Na) even managed it in a single volume with U Don’t Know Me. But these successes are rare, at least in my experience reviewing yaoi manga over the past couple of years.

The point I’m slowly coming around to here, is that I’ll soon get my wish! Hinako Takanaga’s The Tyrant Falls in Love stands at five volumes (and counting?) and though there are things I’ve read about it that suggest it may not be quite my kind of story in other ways, I’m pretty interested in seeing what Takanaga does with something longer than three volumes. (Question to fans: do I need to read Challengers first?)

Check out my post at Examiner.com for the official word on Takanaga’s appearance at Yaoi-Con. Here’s the info from DMP on The Tyrant Falls in Love:

THE TYRANT FALLS IN LOVE, VOL. 1, Rated M+ (for ages 18+), MSRP: $12.95, Available: August 18, 2010, B6 Size, June’ Imprint

University study Tetsuhiro Morinaga has been in love with his homophobic, violent and tyrannical sempai Souichi Tatsumi for more than four years now. Even though he’s told Tatsumi how he feels and even managed to steal a kiss, expecting anything more seems like nothing more than the stuff of dreams… That is until the long-oppressed Morinaga gets his biggest chance ever. Might his unendingly unrequited love finally be returned?

Filed Under: BL BOOKRACK Tagged With: manga, press releases, yaoi/boys' love

Kiss Your Hair

March 15, 2010 by MJ Leave a Comment

By Duo Brand
DMP, 177 pp.
Rating: M (18+)

A long-haired gardener provides special services to his employer but finds himself falling for the butler instead. A teenage houseboy (drawn too young for this reviewer’s comfort) catches his master in a compromising position with the head servant. An artist falls in love with his model and feels unable to sufficiently express his beauty through painting. These stories and more make up the anthology Kiss Your Hair, the latest in English from BL mangaka team Duo Brand, authors of Shards of Affection.

Though this anthology holds together better than some, it is unable to avoid the most common trap plaguing its kind—an inability to choose between romance and pornography. As a result, it ultimately fails at both. Loosely held together by the theme of master and servant (stretched to include relationships like senpai/kohai and employer/employee), each of the volume’s stories features grand declarations of love, almost none of which are well-developed enough to ring true. One possible exception is the story “Escape,” featuring two old friends who find themselves thrown together again in desperate circumstances.

Released under DMP’s adult 801 Media imprint, this manga is never coy about getting its characters into bed, but just as too much sexual content leaves little room for developing romance, the reverse is also true. Though the stories rush blatantly toward consummation (a few even begin there), these scenes feel hurried as well, like flashes of memory from a hazy, drunken night.

Duo Brand’s art is sketchy but expressive, with attractive character designs distinctive enough to provide genuine variety over the course of so many unrelated stories.

Without a clear allegiance to love or lust, Kiss Your Hair ultimately falls short on both counts.

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

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

Physical Attraction

March 13, 2010 by MJ Leave a Comment

Physical Attraction
By Tatsumi Kaiya
Published by DMP/June
Rating: M (18+)


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Kurata has been sleeping with his college buddy, Narusawa, for the past two months, beginning just after Kurata’s breakup with a long-time girlfriend. Certain that the relationship is purely physical, Kurata becomes ill at ease when he realizes he’s developed feelings for Narusawa. Kurata’s uncertainty leads him to seek out his ex-girlfriend for advice, but what will he do when Narusawa spots him meeting up with his ex?

Before getting around to the meat of this review, it’s important to note that though DMP lists Physical Attraction as a one-shot, it is actually an anthology of (mainly) unrelated short manga–a significant discrepancy for those of us who have come to avoid most BL anthologies like the plague. That said, though the volume is afflicted by some of the unavoidable pitfalls of short-story romance, it is more appealing than most, thanks to Tatsumi Kaiya’s skillful exposition and attention to characterization.

Most pieces of the anthology follow the same kind of premise as the title story–students or coworkers (in one story even strangers) who confront unexpected feelings for each other. One tells the story of high school lovers turned college roommates, enjoying the freedom of living together for the first time. In all cases, character development and emotional content take precedence over sex scenes, which is a rare blessing in this type of anthology. This is not meant as a judgement on sex scenes by any means (though I’ve often argued that too few are well-written enough to be meaningful) but it only stands to reason that a short manga has the greatest chance of success when the majority of its pages are actually used to develop the story.

Some are more successful than others. The title story and its follow-up, “Loving Attraction,” are the strongest, with a nicely-developed romance and fun, idiosyncratic characters (including the supporting cast). On the other end of the spectrum, “Cooled Passion,” about a reporter and a politician who were once friends, is underdeveloped, unbelievable, and seems to suggest that justice is best achieved through rape. Even the volume’s weakest stories, however, benefit from the author’s ability to effectively introduce new characters and their circumstances with a minimal amount of exposition, making the most of the limitations of the format.

Kaiya’s artwork is generic–so much so that it’s difficult to tell characters apart from one story to the next. Fortunately, strong characterization makes this less of a problem than it might be otherwise.

Like most of its kind, Physical Attraction is no match for the high drama of serial romance or even a hearty one-shot. Ultimately forgettable, it is intended to be consumed and discarded. Unlike many, however, it is a collection of (mostly) warm and engaging stories, well-suited to a quick read on a lazy afternoon.

–Complimentary digital access provided by the publisher.

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

How To Seduce a Vampire

March 8, 2010 by MJ 1 Comment

How To Seduce a Vampire
By Nimosaku Shimada
Published by DMP
Rated YA (16+)

Watanabe is a young man living off a part-time job, who just happens to be descended from a legendary demon hunter. Mizuo is a good-looking, nocturnal hairdresser, who just happens to be a vampire. Throw the two together and you get… love? As hackneyed as this premise may sound, its execution is good-humored and surprisingly entertaining, thanks to an unlikely combination of outrageous cliché and good writing.

Mangaka Nimosaku Shimada takes nothing too seriously. From ridiculous boys’ love conventions (What can a vampire drink in lieu of blood? Semen, of course!) to the characters’ hobbies (one of Mizuo’s old vampire friends is an action figure otaku), everything in this story is plainly lighthearted and frequently played for laughs.

On the other hand, Shimada takes the time to develop each of the manga’s primary characters, giving each of them extensive backstory and genuine motivation, without falling into the cloying sentimentality that pervades most modern vampire tales. Shimada’s vampires are neither pathetically heroic or viciously monstrous, nor are they particularly romanticized despite their appearance in a romance manga. Unfortunately, some of the story’s most promising bits of plot seem woefully unfinished, as though the actual run of the manga failed to live up to the scope of the author’s ideas.

The story’s art is unremarkable but adequate, with the only major caveat being that it is wildly over-toned. Readability is never a problem, however.

For those weary of the glut of vampire romance stories cropping up everywhere these days, How To Seduce a Vampire provides a surprising oasis in an endless sea of affected teen angst.

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

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

Love Skit

January 6, 2010 by MJ 2 Comments

Love Skit
By Rie Honjoh
Published by 801 Media

love skit
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At eighteen years old, Aoto has had more than his share of tragedy. Orphaned in his youth, he’s dedicated himself to taking care of his older sister, Ryouko. Though relief eventually arrives in the form of Ryouko’s fiancé, Takashi, it brings along with it a new set of troubles, as Aoto quickly realizes he’s fallen in love with his new brother-in-law. Now, after his sister’s death, Aoto is left alone with Takashi, experiencing both grief and guilt over his own feelings. Then enters Masayuki, an old classmate of Takashi’s who is smitten with Aoto and determined not to let him pine after his dead sister’s husband for the rest of his life.

I’d anticipated this release quite enthusiastically, based on the emotionally affecting trailer offered up on YouTube by 801 Media, and at the outset it indeed seemed to have all the elements required to make up a rather touching (if conventional) boys’ love story. Unfortunately there are also several moves taken from the Creepy Yaoi Playbook, preventing the story’s early promise from quite following through.

Though fourteen years his senior, Masayuki chases Aoto like a sex-obsessed teen, grabbing at him incessantly at the least appropriate times and forcing himself on Aoto the moment he receives the slightest reciprocation of his feelings. Finally able to release his apparently uncontrollable urges, Masayuki forges on, regardless of Aoto’s obvious physical and emotional discomfort, whispering sweet nothings like, “Don’t worry. It’ll be over soon. Come on,” while Aoto winces in pain.

… be still my heart?

The manga’s reliance on questionably consensual sex is honestly a real shame, as it is otherwise quite thoughtful, exploring the internal struggles of its three main characters with unexpected insight. Though its “gender doesn’t matter” theme stubbornly refuses to grant the characters a shred of gay identity, even this could pass as a minor quibble if the sexual politics were not so blatantly askew. Rie Honjoh’s art is expressive and even whimsical, giving the romantic scenes a sense of playfulness that is distinctly refreshing in a story of this kind. Though the volume’s primary tale is interrupted halfway through to make way for a short side story involving one of its supporting characters, it still manages to feel substantial, especially in terms of character development.

For those who can stomach the bedroom dynamics, Love Skit certainly has its charms. For less fervent fans of the genre, it is probably best left on the shelf.

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

Ludwig II, Vols. 1-2

January 2, 2010 by MJ 5 Comments

ludwig2Ludwig II, Vols. 1-2
By You Higuri
Published by Digital Manga Publishing
Rating: 18+ (Mature)

Repulsed by affairs of the state and obsessed with the beauty of the arts, young King Ludwig II of Bavaria would much rather attend the opera than discuss his country’s vulnerability to power-hungry Prussia. As his ministers struggle to turn his focus to politics, Ludwig seeks the company of kindred spirits, particularly attractive young men whom he also desires as sexual partners.

With his greatest love apparently unrequited (that for notoriously decadent composer Richard Wagner, who uses Ludwig’s patronage to conceal his affair with a married woman) and his effusive relationship with Prince Paul of Thurn and Taxis nearing its end, Ludwig becomes infatuated with his new stable boy, an attractive young blond named Richard Hornig, whom he soon appoints as his personal manservant. Despite numerous obstacles, including a criminal plot hatched by Hornig’s brother and Ludwig’s brief engagement to his devoted cousin, Sophie, their mutual love grows, threatened only by political enemies and Ludwig’s increasingly frequent hallucinations.

As a matter of historical fact, King Ludwig II’s tragic and unexplained death can hardly be treated as a spoiler, a point wisely taken by mangaka You Higuri, who uses the event to open the series while also introducing Ludwig’s cousin Elizabeth (Empress of Austria), with whom he shared an exceptionally close relationship. Elizabeth, whose restless spirit earned her the name “The Wandering Queen,” begins as narrator and is portrayed throughout the story as the only person capable of truly understanding her cousin, doomed (as he is) to a fretful life as penance for the sin of dreaming. Higuri also makes good use of Ludwig’s well-known obsession with Wagner and his controversial legacy as “The Mad King,” by giving him recurring visions of a beautiful male “Valkyrie” (mythical Norse maidens who act as angels of death, portrayed extensively in Wagner’s opera Die Walküre) who draws him slowly into darkness and away from Hornig.

Though early on, Higuri tosses in a half-hearted reference to Ludwig’s lifelong struggle with religion and sexuality (as documented in his diaries), Ludwig’s imaginary Valkyrie is given most of the dirty work when it comes to tearing him away from his One True Love, Hornig, as well as the task of explaining his death. That Higuri’s story is highly fictionalized is not only obvious but intentional, yet it is its historical foundation that gives it much of its resonance, so much so that it’s tempting to wish she had gone just a bit further.

Higuri has set up a very attractive tragedy—its beautiful lovers doomed by circumstance, position, and mental instability. This premise, as stated, is perfectly primed for romantic fantasy and certainly a staple of the genre. What’s a bit sad is that the demands of boys’ love must take precedence over the opportunity to illustrate Ludwig’s true tragedy—one better told by historians and biographers. Much more heartbreaking than a tale of star-crossed lovers is that of a sensitive and artistically inclined young man, shackled by position and ruined by wealth, tortured by the impossibility of reconciling his deeply ingrained religious beliefs with the reality of his own sexuality, and doomed to lose lover after lover to disenchantment or, worse, matrimony.

Not only does Higuri romanticize Ludwig’s famously mysterious end, she also carefully leaves out his pain over Hornig’s real-life marriage, which took place years before. Though the true tale, of course, fails to provide the stuff of romantic fantasy, it reveals far more poignant truths about life as a gay monarch in the nineteenth century.

Even the New York Times, in their 1886 obituary, described Ludwig as a man born “too soon or too late”—a reclusive lover of the arts burdened with the weight of deep feeling, and ill-suited to an environment of politics and war. That Ludwig’s loneliness is palpable, even in the coldest historical accounts, is painfully revealing and unfortunately far removed from the world of boys’ love manga, as is his eventual decline into obesity. Given Ludwig’s aesthetic tastes, it is likely that Higuri’s ending for him—young, beautiful, and adored even in his final moments—would better satisfy his sensibilities than the one he came to himself.

One aspect of Ludwig’s personality that Higuri captures quite well is his devotion to his own fantasies—bestowing lavish gifts on those who pleased him and pouring his personal fortune into the construction of a series of elaborate castles—something that caused strife amongst his ministers but inspired considerable loyalty in the Bavarian people. It is Ludwig’s increasing retreat into fantasy that Higuri uses to justify his romantic and beautiful demise, something Ludwig himself would no doubt have appreciated.

Historical inaccuracies aside, Higuri’s tale is undeniably engaging and honestly romantic, despite her tendency to sentimentalize some disturbingly imbalanced bedroom dynamics which, granted, may not be far removed from class-based sexual politics of the day. The series’ detailed artwork and lush, period setting provide a feast for the eyes as well, with special attention given to the emotional tone of each scene. Ludwig’s inner world is especially well established, both visually and otherwise, and Higuri’s ability to portray him equally well in ecstasy as in despair gives him the range necessary to rise above the melodrama as a genuinely poignant character.

With just enough fact behind the fiction, Ludwig II manages to be more than a stylish costume piece, and if it inspires yearning for a deeper look at history, this can hardly be a bad thing. Succinct yet satisfying in two double-sized volumes, this series provides enough substance to please even casual fans of the genre.

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

Filed Under: BL BOOKRACK Tagged With: ludwig II, manga, yaoi/boys' love

Roureville, Vols. 1-3

December 22, 2009 by MJ 12 Comments

Roureville, Vols. 1-3
By E. Hae
Published by NETCOMICS

roureville
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Evan Pryce is a an acclaimed reporter for the New York Times, whose most recent story has earned him a spot on a terrorist hit list. When coworkers at the Times make it clear they want him out of the vicinity until things cool down, he is shipped off to the middle of nowhere to investigate a tabloid-esque ghost story tip, very much against his will. Having spent ten days searching vainly for an off-the-map town called Roureville, Evan is about to throw in the towel when luck appears suddenly in the form of a flustered priest who unintentionally leads him straight into the town. Though the ghost story appears to be unfounded, Roureville is fishy from the start and after Evan manages to score a place to stay with a quiet young local named Jayce, the townspeople make it very clear that they wish for him to leave, enough even to resort to attempted murder. As the series continues, Evan becomes closer both to his reticent host and to the town’s carefully protected secret, ultimately discovering that he shares more in common with them than he ever would have suspected.

…

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

The Way To Heaven

November 22, 2009 by MJ 7 Comments

The Way To Heaven
By Yamimaru Enjin
Published by DMP

waytoheaven
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Moriya is a former boxer whose eyes were so damaged in his first pro fight that it ended his career. Watase is a former yakuza whose partner was so moved by watching a boxing match (coincidentally, the very match that permanently injured Moriya) that he insisted on leaving the world of crime, taking Watase with him. Together, they are strangers who find themselves plucked from Earth at the instant of their deaths by an alien woman with the power to manipulate time. The alien wishes to use Moriya and Watase as subjects in an experiment she’s developed to determine if “recycling” methods used on her planet could be put to use in order to solve Earth’s energy crisis. “The human body is filled with energy,” says the alien scientist–energy that only need be extracted. For this purpose, she transforms Watase into a vampire whose mission is to collect vials of blood, and Moriya into a werewolf who must collect vials of semen (don’t ask me). For each vial collected, the two of them will earn 0.1 seconds “before impact.” In other words, they will gain back a tenth of a second of their lives before they both were hit by an oncoming truck.

…

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

Tale of the Waning Moon, Volume 1

September 19, 2009 by MJ 6 Comments

Tale of the Waning Moon, Vol. 1
By Hyouta Fujiyama
Published by Yen Press

taleofthewaningmoon
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After his faithless girlfriend leaves him for a rich man from the next town over, poor Ryuka heads to the tavern to booze it up, followed by a drunken trek to a spot known as the “Wishing Hill,” where he makes a wish for “someone… anyone” to help him forget the girl–someone to love him and to be loved in return. What he wishes for soon after is to have chosen his words more carefully, for though help appears in the form of Ixto, spirit of the last quarter moon, the only options Ixto offers him as potential lovers are other men, something Ryuka is definitely not interested in. His proposals rejected, Ixto takes on the responsibility himself, making (questionably consensual) love to Ryuka all night long.

Thanks to Ixto’s magical powers, Ryuka awakens the next morning to find his body annoyingly drawn to the memory of Ixto, sending him on a spellbound, RPG-style journey to who knows where. To protect him, Ixto provides a guide of sorts–a scantily clad “moon cat” (complete with ears, tail, and go-go shorts) named Coon, who is said to be “honest and obedient.” Coon, unfortunately, is also an easily swayed nymphomaniac who steers Ryuka into trouble more often than not. As the volume continues, Ryuka and Coon are joined by more travel companions, mainly a traveling nobleman and his unusually (*cough*) beloved horse, and Ryuka is forced to recognize the fact that he has begun to develop real feelings for Ixto.

…

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Filed Under: BL BOOKRACK Tagged With: manga, tale of the waning moon, yaoi/boys' love

Ze, Volumes 1-2

August 16, 2009 by MJ 7 Comments

ze2Ze, Volumes 1-2
By Yuki Shimizu
Published by 801 Media
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Left on his own after the death of his grandmother, Raizou Shichikawa, a student at the local culinary school, is brought to work as a live-in cook and housekeeper for the Mitou family–a wealthy household with a very strange secret. Initially shocked by the inhabitants’ overt sexual behavior towards one another, Raizou quickly discovers that the household is made up of two types of people: “kotodama-sama,” who are born with the ability to use kotodama (the power of words), mainly to deliver curses for hire, and “kami-sama” who are actually not people at all, but instead human-like dolls made of paper who exist to absorb the injuries sustained by their masters each time they perform a curse. The injuries may be transferred from kotodama-sama to kami-sama either by using kotodama or through contact with the “mucus membranes.” In other words, the injuries are transferred primarily by sexual contact. Additionally, the kotodama/kami pairings must all be homosexual.

…

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

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