Boys Be… 7

I think I put off reading this series so long because I was expecting more of the same sort of awkward relationship play just repeated over and over again. But once again, I always seem to forget how much I actually like this series when I’m reading a volume. I have no good reason to dread it.

There was one absolutely unbelievable story where a boy and a girl “innocently” felt each other up again and again while cooking. It built itself up so goddamn well, it was easily one of my favorite all-time Boys Be stories. Also notable were the pair of masochist, not only because they were a couple and not even in danger of breaking up, but because the boy just likes being abused by the girl. A few more established couples this volume, which I like a bit more even though one of the stories was really lame. One was lame, but two that I can think of were AWESOME. The last story in the volume, involving sex to some degree, was also good. As was the dog story. A good volume all around, really.

Boys Be… 6

I really, really liked this volume. The one thing about Boys Be… that always sort of impresses me is that they continually have varied, interesting stories that remain unique enough from one another and from the 40-odd other stories that it keeps me reading. Granted, the character designs are almost identical, and there’s only a few basic character types in the series, but the plots are just so adorable they keep me coming back.

“Our Unique Turn-Ons” reappeared for a third time, and although I loved it the first time and thought it was cute that they revisited the theme at the beach, it’s beginning to wear a bit thin as the same thing over and over again, particularly the boy who’s turned on by inanimate objects… you can see that joke coming a mile away. A lot of the stories are still cute despite common themes though… the thickheaded guy who can’t see the girl he runs with likes him, the boy who gets stuck in the closet, there’s a handful of really cute stories.

It’s gotten to the point where I’m no longer looking forward so much to the next volume, but I can say I’ll be happy to read it when it comes out.

Boys Be… 5

This time, there’s a theme! Summer! I just didn’t like these ones as well though… the girls were cute, and the stories were nice as always, but it just didn’t strike me as some of the others have. Maybe the summer tittie/getting the girl/cultivating romance stuff was just a bit too much for me… I dunno.

Not to say this still wasn’t great. I love this series to pieces. It beats the hell out of Doll, you know?

Best story: easily the one where the boy and girl scavenge for kabuto, half because I recognize the Pokemon name, and half because those are some giant motherfucking bugs. Ugh.

Worst Story: the last one. The one with the girl who would pull the boy’s pants down and tease him, but didn’t want to be teased herself. Please, spare me.

Boys Be… 4

This one’s sort of like volume two in that the stories are slightly less exciting, but they’re still pretty funny, touching, true, or whatever.

My favorite this time around was probably the guy who watched a series of guys get dumped and accepted on their love propositions while at work, mainly because I liked watching the manly and/or slightly sad reactions of the boys. Plus the pacing was such that it was absolutely agonizing to see what the girl would say. Good work!

No, I take that back… the best one was the story after that, where the boy runs the boobie gauntlet to get to the girl who has the same camera as him. He gets such eyefuls of tits, ass, propositions, and every female temptation known to man, all because he wants to talk to the nice girl he ran into. Aww. It was hilarious. HILARIOUS.

Easily the worst was the one right after that, where the boy spent a lot of time alone in his room (which is normally inhabited by what looks like half his class) with a cute girl. It was pointless and unexciting, and goddamn hard to get through. Though I did admire it for throwing variety into the book. Not every story has a happy or satisfying end.

It was nice that it ended on the story that it did, with a nice story about two high school students who develop a crush on each other, but live at opposite ends of the island. It has a nice, satisfying ending to close the book off.

Ah, Boys Be, even when not the best you’re still delicious.

Boys Be… 3

What an absolutely astounding series. I love it. The last volume was a bit boring, but the stories in this volume were amazing. The best by far was the chapter featuring the boys oogling the different girls. But really, many were good. You had the skirt flipping son of a bitch landing three hot dates with three different girls, you have the doubting thomas who isn’t sure about horoscopes until he steps in dogshit and gets shat upon by a passing bird, you have that bizarre and silly high blood pressure/low blood pressure story… God, and a few more besides! This volume has everything.

Honestly, I was forcing myself to read this and the next one so I could buy five with a clean conscience, but I really don’t think that was necessary, because this was so good I WANT to read four and buy five now. God, I love this… looking forward to the next volume, and the very similar series A Perfect Day for Love Letters.

Boys Be… 1

I really wasn’t sure what to expect when going into this volume. All I have to say initially is that I’m glad Tokyopop changed the name from the preliminary “Guys Guide to Girls” that they had been planning, as I could not have brought myself to bring such a title to the checkout at Borders.

Initially, all I knew of Boys Be… was that it was a collection of short stories that was popular in some obscure circles. The kind of thing you hear about, but noone ever really has had experience with. I was kind of expecting a shoujo series, actually, but given the amount of fanservice and the choice of main character for these stories, I was surprised to find a shounen series (one that seems to have run in Weekly Shounen, maybe?), and a rather pleasant one at that. I was also a bit sad when I opened the cover and found this to be the second series in the Boys Be… line (Boys Be… Second Season), but given that they’re all unrelated short stories, that doesn’t really matter that much.

The volume has 8 chapters that make up 6 stories (one story is three chapters long). I used to express preference towards short stories, but bad manga has taught me that even short stories can be ruined if the story is rushed and they depend on you knowing or caring more about the characters than you do. The romantic short story in particular falls victim to this since it’s not uncommon for the authors to rely on the characters and the emotions they convey more than they should for the format. Boys Be… does not disappoint, though. All the stories have a perfect balance of characters and plot, the characters are fleshed out just enough in each story, and the plots manage to be adorable and quite different from one another.

What I also liked about the series is that it was told mostly from a guy’s point of view rather the girls, which is the route ALWAYS taken in these series. The guy’s point of view is actually quite interesting, since you don’t get the stereotypical cold-hearted, inconsiderate boy. Also notable is the fact that the boys in these stories are average boys. These are not the most popular or the most attractive boys in school who has a gaggle of girls seeking his affection, but rather the wallflower who harbors a crush towards some girl or other, who may or may not be popular.

Some of the stories are a bit hard to swallow. It would be a bit of a spoiler to elaborate on this any further, but the first story had the girl forcing the main male character to make a rather unreasonable and stereotypical decision. That was at the end, but I liked the rest of the story so so much that I was willing to forgive that major plot point and like the story anyway. The rest just get better. One has the awkward situation of a girl who’s super-sensitive about her height, another features best friends fighting over a girl, yet another has a really freaking bizarre yet loveable story about cosplaying. The worst in the volume was probably one where a girl winds up at a guy’s house drunk after a party, but the fact that one was just amusing rather than somewhat touching like the rest doesn’t make it necessarily bad. All the scenarios are 100% believable and played out really well. At this point, I honestly can’t see myself getting tired of the series if each subsequent volume features an equally different array of stories.

I can’t remember the last time I was so satisfied with a volume of short stories. Even taking into consideration authors I follow religiously, this is probably one of the best, if not the best, short story collection I’ve ever read. Well, I also liked Short Program 2, which I think had some slightly longer short stories. One in particular from that volume is probably my favorite short manga story (the one about the rugby player, I think), but Boys Be… might be better if only by virtue that it lasts longer than Short Program does.

The genre really probably won’t appeal much to guys, but girls who like realistic high school romance without magic or popularity contests really ought to give this a try. It’s quite different and refreshing, and I’ll definitely be waiting eagerly for the next volume to come out. It really did take me by surprise. I also honestly hope Tokyopop picks up the original Boys Be… and the third series, Boys Be L Co-Op.