Bad Teacher’s Equation 2 (omnibus ed.)
Posted: December 24, 2011 Filed under: Bad Teacher's Equation | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Kazuma Kodaka – June – 2011 – 10 volumes
this is an omnibus containing vols. 3-4
I kinda liked this, kinda didn’t last time. This time… is about the same. There’s a couple chapters in the front that feature a flashback to when Masami and Masayoshi were still in school (meeting Toru is a big part of this), and much like the flashback at the beginning of Kizuna, I loved this to pieces. Unlike the flashback at the beginning of Kizuna, it wasn’t because of the sex. This flashback wasn’t even really a romance. It was just more coming-of-age storytelling, which was what I liked about the first volume. It feels weird in a BL series like this, especially since this is still a comedy, but it’s unusual enough that I’m really getting into it.
Unfortunately, the comedy is still not mixing well with the other flavors. The comedy dates it, and the slapstick is a little annoying throughout… well, almost any other part of the story. I don’t think it’s necessarily out of place, especially with any parts that focus on Atsushi, but… they’re old jokes, and not funny. It makes reading parts of this a little difficult.
For instance, right after the flashback there’s a contest chapter that ends with all five main characters going to Norway to meet Masami and Masayoshi’s father. Norway’s an interesting setting, and I was looking forward to this, but five characters is a little much for anything other than comedy. The story wound up mainly being about Masami coming out to his father, which did not go well. But with all the meddling, it was hard to appreciate the drama that was going on. There was also a subplot about another man that tries to go after Toru, which was also an out-of-character stab at humor. There’s also lots of wacky hijinx about who gets to sleep in who’s bed, Inagaki drinking with the elder Shibata, et cetera. I sat on this volume for over a week, dreading having to finish this part. It’s just not what I wanted to read.
Immediately after this finishes, the story introduces Toru’s younger brother and ditches Inagaki, for the most part. Kyohei doesn’t know about his brother and Masami, and Toru is bad at hiding things. This chapter is genuinely cute, and watching Masami quietly get angry as Toru puts his foot in his mouth again and again is pretty funny. Toru does so badly that even Masaoyshi tries to help him out towards the end, which must mean that Masami was fairly angry.
Immediately after this, Kyohei leaves and the story turns to the theme of Masami and Toru’s first night together. This doesn’t go well at all (due to, surprise surprise, comedic interruption by Masayoshi and Atsushi), but the story does a surprisingly good job with character development for all four main characters. With scenes like the one between Masami and Toru, though, it begins to read more like a serious romance with a bad comedy monkey on its back.
One thing that did bother me was the development in the relationship between Masayoshi and Atsushi. I liked this relationship quite a bit, simply because the story made it more than obvious that Masayoshi would never return Atsushi’s feelings. The two get closer here, though, and Atsushi begins to get uncomfortably accurate with reading Masayoshi’s feelings. Masayoshi is still making it very clear that he isn’t interested in Atsushi… but the romance has definitely been turned up a little by the end of the volume. Atsushi’s feelings stopped being a joke, and with less Inagaki, there’s not a whole lot to interrupt the two of them. Bah. I like Masayoshi best as a student adviser, and his role in the story is a big part of why this is working as a coming of age/slice of life story.
The story also touches briefly on the fact that Masayoshi is totally in love with Masami. This is only discussed on a few pages, and dropped just as quickly. As squick-y as this is, again, it’s completely and obviously one-sided, and I like that about it. It’s handled more like Masayoshi is moving on with his life than it does a serious romance, which is why it works.
One other thing that bothers me… whenever Kodaka draws two characters full-body… she… uh, doesn’t draw them tall enough. This comes up in Kizuna, too. As manly-looking as her characters are, they all look like little boys when drawn full-figured. It’s really, really bizarre.
I’m going to keep reading this. I’m more than a little on the fence at this point, especially since I realize with six volumes to go, it’s likely that Masayoshi’s feelings will change. Plus, the humor is really not working for me. But I do like that the emphasis is shifted off romance, and it’s a quirky, if somewhat old-fashioned, story. I’ll see how I feel after one more volume.
The Eroicaverse: Happy Holidays
Posted: December 24, 2011 Filed under: Eroicaverse 5 Comments »
This is my week for an Eroica post, but unfortunately the further adventures of The Man in Purple will have to wait, as I have no scanner nor access to my volumes of El Halcon. Instead, please enjoy some seasonal scarf yanking. Well, mostly scarves.
Bakuman 8
Posted: December 21, 2011 Filed under: Bakuman 1 Comment »Tsugumi Ohba / Takeshi Obata – Viz – 2011 – 16+ volumes
I couldn’t resist reading the next volume of this right away. I’m enjoying the momentum building towards Muto Ashirogi’s new series… well, towards several new series, by the end of this volume. I couldn’t put it down.
And that’s even considering this volume was mostly a character story volume! Shujin lands in hot water when Kaya finds out that he’s been meeting with Ms. Ko, and to make matters worse, she spots a letter from Shujin’s old high school crush that he overlooked himself. This part’s lengthy, and I actually loved the way the deadbeat characters just let all this stuff happen to them. I also liked the way that they actually did try to explain themselves, except couldn’t explain farther than the fact that they were innocent of any wrongdoing, and asked to be trusted. Of course that didn’t fly, but I thought that it was an interesting spin on how these fights go.
As was the outcome! I don’t really care either way about the event itself, honestly, but I love that it’s another sign that the characters are aging in this series. It’s super-interesting.
Aside from that, I’m liking all the editorial tweaking that’s going on. Obviously Shujin and Saiko are still disagreeing with Miura, but it is interesting how vested they are in the project at this point. The compromises were an unexpected twist in the story, and… I liked all the conflict resolution and problem solving at work here. All of it was utterly fascinating.
Again, I’m not sure if that’s because all of this is genuinely compelling storytelling or because I am a giant manga geek. It could be that it puts the average reader into a coma, especially since they get very technical and are talking about gag manga, something that the English language audience seems to abhor.
On the other hand, I don’t know anything about gag manga, since I very rarely get to read them. I was super excited to learn more about it here.
Also unexpected was the reveal that Jump characters can’t kill humans. I… suspected as much, but man, that spoils a lot of my fun in a handful of other series. But that’s another rule that Death Note broke, isn’t it? And One Piece, come to think of it. But just the one time. And Oda’s sold, like, 260,000,000 volumes of manga. He should be allowed to do whatever he pleases.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Book of Human Insects
Posted: December 20, 2011 Filed under: Book of Human Insects 1 Comment »Osamu Tezuka – Vertical – 2011 – 1 volume
Don’t be surprised: this book is very strange. It almost defies description, in fact. I know that might be a shock, that Osamu Tezuka could write a strange one-shot, but buckle up. This one’s a weird one.
I’m joking a little bit. This is actually a little more grounded in reality and traditional/sensical narrative than Ode to Kirihito, Apollo’s Song, or Swallowing the Earth. I’d say it’s a little less shocking than even Ayako or MW. But it’s still a very interesting read, and once again, a noir-ish psychological thriller. I love this stuff, and I love that Vertical has made an annual tradition of releasing Tezuka volumes like this.
The story starts with a young woman named Toshiko winning a major literary award. Her book was so good, in fact, that there’s a huge media blitz surrounding both her and the award. She attracts the attention of a paparazzi photographer, who follows her out to a remote house and watches her strip naked and roll around with a wax figure by herself. Later, he meets a man connected with Toshiko who warns the paparazzi away, and relates a story about how Toshiko used to be a member of his theater troupe. She started knowing absolutely nothing, but worked her way up the ranks by first learning, then mimicking exactly the most talented members of the troupe (writing, acting, directing, et cetera), eventually forcing them all out, sometimes by claiming they had assaulted her.
This only makes the paparazzi more interested. Later, we find out that Toshiko may have copied her best-selling book from her former roommate, and also ruined the life of an old boyfriend, an up-and-coming designer, by mimicking all his designs and winning awards with them before he could submit his own. Toshiko is basically a very skilled copycat, and she seems to take delight in moving from life to life, siphoning the talents away from others (usually men), and apparently ruining their lives by taking everything they have as her own.
Eventually, Toshiko later begins playing dangerously close to an assassin, trying to best him, and there’s a storyline involving first her life with the assassin, then her married life with a businessman who knows her talents and bails her out of jail. The businessman thinks to beat Toshiko at her own game, and there’s a long story about the disturbing ways in which those two one-up each other. The men from Toshiko’s past, the designer and the one from the acting troupe, come and go throughout the course of the book, and the story ends with her being “freed” from her male pursuers (various men who want revenge, or her, or both).
The title of the book is a metaphor, and Toshiko makes several references to metamorphosis throughout, relating the insect life cycle to her movement through jobs. It’s clear Toshiko isn’t quite sure what she wants throughout, though she never lets the men know this. There is one man that she realizes later is the one she wants, but he’s smarter than most of the other ones she double-crosses, and he doesn’t want anything to do with her.
The interesting thing about this story is that Toshiko isn’t mentally unstable or a murderous psychopath. She does stoop to murder and blackmail, and she’s definitely underhanded and mean-spirited, but she’s far less evil than, say, the main character in MW. Her level of depravity is also fairly low for being the unbalanced subject of a Tezuka work. That she rolls around naked with a wax dummy of her mother is relatively normal in the context of these stories. I’m making fun of this, but in the story, the wax dummy of her mother is the one spot where Toshiko can feel safe, where she doesn’t have to act or scheme. The nudity, and her mother, is another metaphor for rebirth, since the mother and the house itself is womb-like. Or something.
This story is meant to engage the reader on a more moral and philosophical level, with a lot of the themes having to do with identity, sexuality, and sexism. There’s lots of ugliness, both from Toshiko and towards Toshiko, and somehow… though her crimes are horrendous, her punishments always seem to be perversely exaggerated. Why is it okay for her to “steal” the lives of others, but when the backlash comes and she winds up being captured by bad men, why do we then feel bad for her? It’s hard not to, even knowing the extent of her crimes and what she eventually does.
But I tend to enjoy these stories for their craziness, and the best buildup is when Toshiko is living with Kamaishi, the businessman who plays with her on her level. Enraged when he doesn’t fall in love with her, Kamaishi’s game begins when he claims that Toshiko will only see him again when she begs him to marry her. It only goes downhill from there. They do equally mean, spiteful, and depraved things to one another, and many others are also dragged into the fight. I don’t want to say too much, since spoiling any of their interaction would be a shame, but you see some downright filthy sportsmanship in this game. I was disappointed when Kamaishi’s story didn’t last through the end of the book. Honestly, I wanted a different outcome.
I did dislike the ending of the book, and I think I enjoyed Kamaishi’s section of story more because he was one of the few that was willing to stand up to Toshiko. It feels bad to say that, because Kamaishi is an awful person, and the things he does are no better than Toshiko… but the entire book is Toshiko doing as she pleased, and I really, really just wanted the other shoe to drop when he entered the picture.
But overall, I really enjoyed this one. The crime and job-hopping elements, along with the occasional murder, make this a more realistic noir story than what I’m used to reading from Tezuka. It’s quite a good one, and it has some interesting insights into its themes. I feel like I probably missed a lot of what it was trying to say simply because I disliked Toshiko so much, but it’s still a fine read without those elements. It’s probably towards the bottom of my personal list of these Tezuka one-shots we’ve seen in English, but I have yet to be disappointed by any of these, so that’s still saying quite a bit of good.
Year’s Best 2011
Posted: December 16, 2011 Filed under: Miscellaney 8 Comments »On one hand, I dislike the flurry of best of lists that appear for all mediums this time of year. On the other hand, it is nice to see a shorthand list of stuff I may have missed, and it’s a good way to spotlight things that should’ve gotten more attention. I’ve never done one of these here before, and I prefer to contribute to other sites (that’s also forthcoming), but there’s a first time for everything. Plus, my manga is packed away in preparation for its twice-annual move to Ohio, so other topics are a little difficult to cover at the moment. So here’s a Best Of List for the Friday Feature!
I read a lot, and I have a hard time making lists like this. Saying, for instance, Lychee Light Club is better than Sakura Hime is hard, because I like both, and there’s no way to compare those two series. They’re just different. So for more fun, my categories are arbitrary. And since I wound up with so many categories, I’m just going to link my reviews rather than explaining again why I like them.
The only requirements are that the series had to have at least one volume out this year, and that I loved it for whatever reason. There’s a lot of latitude after that. And keep in mind I like some pretty terrible series. Also, I couldn’t think of a funny title, but Wandering Son is a pretty fantastic book, too.
Bakuman 7
Posted: December 15, 2011 Filed under: Bakuman 1 Comment »Tsugumi Ohba / Takeshi Obata – Viz – 2011 – 15+ volumes
Again, part of me hates critiquing this series. I’m a little unsure how much is being done intentionally. I mean, I could talk about the weak characters, but one of the plot points is that Shujin writes bad female characters. Can it get any more meta than that? I don’t think so. Worse yet, the cover for volume 15 reminds me a little of Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga. I don’t even know what to make of that comparison.
This volume’s all about new beginnings, and to that effect, they clash with their editor, Miura, and constantly compare him to their old editor. It’s a lengthy disagreement, and well-written since it’s easy to see both sides of the argument. Miura wants Muto Ashirogi to do a comedy manga, since it’s easier to win over reader popularity at a steady rate with that genre, and Shujin is good at writing jokes. But Saiko doesn’t think comedy is their forte, and he and Shujin push hard for a super-dark series. Miura has the extra pressure of being a rookie editor with no successful series under his belt, so he’s trying to rush a comedy series out of Muto Ashirogi. But Muto Ashirogi knows that if they fail a second time, it won’t be as easy to get another series going at Jump, and they want to do one-shots and serious stuff to test the waters before starting a new series. There’s no good way to resolve this disagreement. They reach a pretty decent compromise by the end of the volume via both sides trying to outsmart the other, and I like the way the conflict resolved itself.
I also liked a lot of the character stuff that was happening, admittedly. With Saiko and Miho not so much in this volume, Shujin took center stage. With very little comment, the group graduates from high school and applies and goes to the same college, majoring in the same subject so that they can take the same classes. College is a fallback plan, so they expend very little effort to get in or show up for anything. I like that this was going on in the background, and was a major life choice that the group had to make.
The story also takes a look at Shujin’s relationships. I didn’t think I cared about this, but as background details to the main story, it was interesting stuff. He’s still very casual with his relationship with Kaya. At one point, he mentions that the relationship doesn’t mean very much to him, and Saiko advises him not to break up with her because having her around made the two of them look less gay.
And that’s why Bakuman will never have a real romance in it.
Later, Shujin starts discussing character perspective very regularly with Ms. Ko, since Ms. Ko needs advice on how to write a romance from a male perspective, and Shujin needs advice on how to write girls. They really hit it off, and by the end of the volume, Shujin and Ms. Ko have a pretty healthy working relationship that Shujin elects to hide from Kaya.
Basically, for a manga geek like me, reading this is still pretty gratifying. Once again, the insight into the editorial process here is fascinating, and I loved seeing how the different editors reacted to Muto Ashirogi’s stories, the decision-making process with Miura, and all the other little things that go into making Muto Ashirogi’s manga. I’m still not tired of this, and there’s still lots of ground to cover there. Plus, it’s really hard not to like little touches, such as Nizuma being their biggest fan, stuff like that. It’ll be some time before I’m bored reading Bakuman, and I hope they cover a lot more ground. I’m looking forward to the new beginning next volume. Or maybe it’ll be the volume after that?
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
Betrayal Knows My Name 2
Posted: December 15, 2011 Filed under: Betrayal Knows My Name Leave a comment »Hotaru Odagiri – Yen Press – 2011 – 9+ volumes
this is an omnibus containing vols. 3-4
Guess what happens in this volume? Come on! Give up?
Betrayal! Oh, there’s such a big betrayal!
I was waiting for this. I began to be suspicious when the character just kept showing up uninvited everywhere. There’s no reason for that type of character to appear after the story has begun, so I knew he was hanging around for a reason. There was no surprise, but I was awarded with the major sadness that accompanies the switch.
I also like that a major part of the story seems to be that the characters have to sit around and obsess over each other in “forbidden” relationships. It’s not really romance. They all stop just a hair short of being romantic relationships. But seriously. Why else would there be an entire volume of Hotsuma and Shuusei getting through a “difficult time” together and coming to so many “conclusions” about their partnership? I mean, the story didn’t come right out and say it, and I assume that’s because Asuka isn’t a BL magazine, but it’s really hard for me to believe those two aren’t supposed to be a couple after this volume. There’s plenty of “hints” between Tsukumo and Tooko, the brother/sister pair, as well, but that’s less glaringly obvious than the Hotsuma and Shuusei relationship.
Anyway. Volume one is all about the disappearances and “Sleeping Beauty” cases that the crew has been investigating in relation to possible opast attacks. Meanwhile, Yuki tries to get closer to Shuusei and Hotsuma. Hotsuma is especially difficult to get close to, since he’s hot-headed and is carrying resentment towards Yuki from their past lives. Hotsuma is also having trouble in his partnership with Shuusei, and we learn through several flashbacks that during Hotsuma’s difficult childhood, Shuusei was the one that helped him through the difficult times. After working things out with Yuki, Shuusei disappears, and Hotsuma and Yuki wind up wandering into the middle of an opast trap in order to save him and the victims of the disappearances. It is here that Yuki and the rest of the Zweilt finally meet Reiga, the one that betrayed the Giou clan to side with the opasts.
Oh, Reiga. You are now my favorite character. It definitely doesn’t hurt that he got one of the coolest fights yet, between himself and Takashiro.
The second volume in the omnibus mostly just deals with the fallout from the major betrayal, plus some more of Hotsuma and Shuusei sitting around and talking with each other about themselves. You know. Their real feelings for one another. At this point, these scenes just made me laugh. I knew that the fangirls were being baited. I’m just not sure why. There’s also lots of scenes where the characters talk about how much they like Yuki. Several characters admit they love him. But it’s clearly not the same as the love they share with their partners. Unless, of course, we’re talking about Luka. He was sadly under-utilized in this volume, but he’s also one of my favorites, so I’ll probably complain about that every time. I just can’t help myself when it comes to dark, brooding demons.
Towards the end, Yuki finally gets to visit Takashiro’s mansion, and he meets yet another zweilt pair. This pair is the best yet. One is a bespectacled rookie that drives despite having a terrible sense of direction, and the other is a very temperamental shogi pro. Yuki misunderstands their relationship as master/servant at first. Everything that the shogi pro does is hilarious. While the beginning of this omnibus had me thinking there might be a few too many characters floating around at the moment, these are the only two new one’s we’ve seen since volume one, and they’re a welcome addition.
As convoluted as the plot and characters sound (I know I’m not doing a good job of summarizing), it’s hard to deny that this is exactly the type of series I like to read. It’s still hard for me to shake the X vibes I picked up after reading the first omnibus, but that’s not really a bad thing. UraBoku is a whole lot different in just about every way (plot, characters, relationships, et cetera, though it’s hard not to think of Fuma when Reiga first appears), and reading it while thinking of X reminds me that this type of series requires patience. The characters and relationships are interesting, and the fights are fun to read, mostly because Odagiri really knows how to draw. Her art is pretty, and she puts a lot of work into detail and composition, especially during the fight scenes. It’s hard to deny that that is a big part of why I like this series so much. She’s also good at character and clothing designs, so there’s something to look at even when the characters aren’t fighting.
While I think that this series is probably a little too complex for casual readers, that the characters are a smidge on the shallow side, and a little talky to boot, it’s hard to deny that it can be a serious guilty pleasure for the right crowd. Again, it’s a shame it comes out so infrequently, since the details of the complex plot slip away from me in the big gaps, but the omnibus treatment is great since reading the story in big chunks is the way to go for something this complex. I love the action, I love the characters, and I love the pretty art. What can I say?
Tenjo Tenge 4
Posted: December 15, 2011 Filed under: Tenjho Tenge 1 Comment »Oh! great – Viz – 2011 – 22 volumes
this is an omnibus containing vols. 7-8
Oh, Shin Natsume. This omnibus contains Shin’s self-destruction, as well as the event that led to Mitsuomi becoming who he is today. And in a more fun turn of events, we also get to see part of one of the school tournaments, the ones that decide the new Student Council. The outcome should be fairly obvious, given the fact that Mitsuomi is the current president, but… the fact that him being president meant that things in the past had to go down as they did wasn’t something I had connected. Also, this early tournament isn’t nearly as fun as the one that comes up at the end of the series (mostly because Sugano’s fight in volume 17 is so fantastic), but it’s still pretty great to see the Juken Club handing defeats out to so many tough customers. And it’s fun to see Mitsuomi and Maya enjoying themselves, too.
If you’re tired of the flashback, don’t worry, because it ends at the beginning of volume eight. It was hard for me to get my bearings in the present again, simply because I had grown so attached to the characters in the flashback story. But a for-real duel between Aya and Maya brings things back in order pretty quickly, and the special training for the next big Student Council brawl starts after that. Nagi’s training in particular is something to look forward to, because his “full potential” hasn’t actually come up yet. That’s a story for the next volume, though.
There are two scenes in particular that are just… the best. One is a scene from the flashback where Mitsuomi shows up at the Natsume residence to beg Maya to let him help her keep Shin under control. As she considers taking Misuomi’s help, Shin appears behind Mitsuomi with a sword. Mitsuomi can’t see him. And Maya knows that she can’t get anyone else’s help without Shin killing them for taking her away from him. Oh! great lays the scene out perfectly. It’s very powerful. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.
The second scene is the whole, lengthy swordfight between the Natsume sisters. It takes turns being sad, happy, looking like a serious fight and just exercise, and even who is winning when. And again, Oh! great has a talent for laying out action scenes and emotional moments to give them the biggest impact… not to mention that both combatants this time are beautiful women, which is something he clearly loves to illustrate. But this, too is a very moving scene. It won out over Shin’s last fight as my favorite in this book, and Shin’s last fight was also pretty great.
Trying to explain this, it is difficult to get across that it’s more than just a fighting manga. Yes, they brawl a lot, and most of what they do here is preparation for or fights in the school tournament. But the flashback fights in particular are packed with character history, and it’s hard not to appreciate both fights between Shin and Mitsuomi as exactly what they are – a friend trying to stop another friend from turning into a violent monster. And Mitsuomi loses the last fight, in more ways than one (again, not a spoiler, since we know the status of both Shin and Mitsuomi in the present).
One thing that still doesn’t quite make sense to me… Mitsuomi’s power is just puzzling. Why did a punch from Shin make him the perfect warrior in short bursts? That’s slightly outside the realms of believability for this series. Then again, we see two of the fights with Fu Chien here, and he only gets more ridiculous every time he comes back for more, so what can I say?
It’s really, really worth checking out, though. If you enjoy fighting manga, this puts a lot of story behind all its brawls, and it’s hard not to like all the characters by this point in the series. Oh! great has a knack for being able to pack a lot of emotion into his story and really wrings all he can from the turning points in the plot. Plus, he’s a really, really great artist. I reviewed this content twice because I really, really think it’s worth picking up. Don’t miss the second chance, it’s got an especially nice package this time around!
The Man Who Doesn’t Take Off His Clothes 2
Posted: December 15, 2011 Filed under: Man Who Doesn't Take Off His Clothes | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Narise Konohara – June – 2007 – 2 volumes
this is a novel
As I said in the volume 1 review, one of the things I like about Konohara’s writing is that she doesn’t use non-con as a means of getting a difficult, stuck-up partner together with someone who has a crush on them. After the end of volume one, Kaitani is completely obsessed with Fujiwara, but there’s nothing to be done about it. Fujiwara is straight, and they have a poor working relationship. Kaitani does what he can, and he begins to form a friendship with Fujiwara, but he breaks down one night and admits his feelings, begging Fujiwara for a night together to prove he can be the best lover he’s ever had. There might be blackmail involved (I honestly can’t remember), but not even Fujiwara seems that threatened by the photos Kaitani has anymore, and even those methods are infinitely better than serial rape at getting what you want.
On the down side, both this and Don’t Worry Mama share a common problem of the seme losing all personality once the couple gets together. After The Man Who Doesn’t Take Off His Clothes spends so much time establishing Kaitani and Fujiwara as characters, and carries a fairly decent story for a volume and a half, once the pair is together, it seems like the only thing they’re interested in is sex. In particular, that’s all that Kaitani wants, and he stops being considerate or appreciative. He’s still a lot sweeter than the seme in Don’t Worry Mama (who’s also a character in this story, incidentally), but it’s a shame he seems to stop trying after he lands Fujiwara.
The requisite conflict that ends the 2-volume series comes when Kaitani and Fujiwara have a fight about whether Kaitani sees Fujiwara as a replacement for a woman. Both their private and working relationships deteriorate during this conflict, and it’s a little sad that it’s not something that the two seem capable of resolving. Additionally, Kaitani pushes Fujiwara hard for a work-related issue, and this puts additional strain on their relationship. But don’t worry, they get back together when the fact that Fujiwara had half his scrotum eaten by a dog becomes public knowledge. The end.
I really liked these two novels. Like I said, the lack of non-con goes a long way with me, especially in this type of couple, where one is reluctant. Plus, I liked that it was two volumes, and that a lot of work was put into Fujiwara and Kaitani’s work relationship as well as their private life. And, as always, the romantic plot elements are just as good as any of what I’ve read from the June novels.
These two are particularly good, and I’d probably rank them among the best of what I’ve read in these BL novels. But keep in mind that I’m extremely easy to please.
Finder 4: Prisoner in the Viewfinder
Posted: December 15, 2011 Filed under: Finder Series | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Ayano Yamane – June – 2011 – 7+ volumes
“I had to show Fei Long’s story out of necessity, but I could just as easily have filled 30 pages with Akihito’s masturbation sessions – that’s how pent-up he is (Enough already!) It’s gonna be huge when he blows! Please hurry!”
I wish so goddamn much that this had been included in this volume. THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS.
I get a kick out of Ayano Yamane’s author talks. BL artists tend to be surprisingly coy about what they’re drawing, so it is both bracing and hilarious to see one own up to it. I love that, in a series this full of sex, Yamane is still holding herself back, and also clearly enjoying herself while drawing it. It makes me happy to see an artist enjoying her work so much.
On the minus side, I was a little disappointed by this volume. This is the middle part of a long story where Akihito gets kidnapped by Fei Long, and there’s almost no Asami at all in this volume. With no Asami to have sex with, non-con rears its ugly head as Fei Long makes Akihito his sex slave. Unfortunately, Akihito is also the worst sufferer of Stockholm Syndrome in BL, since he never protests this attention (he puts up with it after Fei Long threatens to sell him as a real sex slave, where he would die a bad death addicted to opium). Worse, he seemingly becomes attached to Fei Long as the volume goes on, and realizes just how lonely and tortured Fei Long really is. He begins to offer advice, and even sticks up for him in certain situations by the end of the volume. It really does read like the two are friends and/or lovers, though Akihito is still a rather badly kept captive that keeps trying to escape to Japan.
Not to say that Akihito hasn’t had past Stockholm Syndrome tendencies. After all, that’s what’s going on between he and Asami. I don’t know.
Fei Long needs to be developed more before Asami can swoop in for the rescue. That happens next volume, but in the meantime, it’s strange in this type of series, which is all about the “action,” not to have plenty between the main couple for an entire volume.
And yet, despite that, and the horrible, horrible guilt I have now that I’ve watched Akihito and Fei Long for an entire volume, I can’t help but adore these books. I’m not sure why. I guess it’s just damn fine romance, and I tend to like these ones with the action mixed in, too. Plus, as I said, Ayano Yamane seems to be extremely self-aware, which I think does help. I just wish there wasn’t non-con on, like, every page.
I think I was completely won over by the last page of the bonus chapter when Akihito gets himself drunk and comes on to Asami. When he wakes up from his drunken stupor in the middle of sex with Asami, he begins to get upset, but Asami simply tells him “Now that you’re awake, pump that ass!”
See what I mean about being self-aware? Yamane obviously knows what to put in the bonus story to win me back over. It’s not even the sex. I live for cheesy lines like that.
