Working Kentauros
Posted: April 23, 2012 Filed under: Working Kentauros | Tags: BL Leave a comment »est em – JManga – 2012 – 1 volume
YES. I’ve wanted so badly to read this ever since I first saw it. The combination of est em and centaurs is a magical one, and the happily intoxicated salaryman centaur on the cover lets you know that you’re in for a real treat. JManga released this digitally last Thursday, and you can do yourself a favor by reading it over there.
One thing I should clarify: technically, this is BL. I had somehow forgotten that est em writes BL comics until I was three chapters in, then I broke out in a cold sweat because OH MY GOD NO. But there is nothing even remotely romantic in this book. I couldn’t be happier with that, because there are just some things I don’t want to think about, and centaur sex is one of them. The chapters are more about the novelty of a society with centaur inhabitants, and how the centaurs relate to the regular humans around them, and what makes them different. There are deeper bonds between some of the centaur/human pairs, and of course all of these are m/m, but none of them really approach romance.
Most of the chapters are unrelated short stories about different centaurs, though some of the stories have more than one chapter, and occasionally one centaur will know another from an earlier story. The first story introduces everyday life with centaurs, and it does a really good job. There are some interesting details here, such as a centaur-only lane in heavy traffic for galloping, modified housing, certain centaur-specific customs, and the hilarious reactions and faux pas that regular people make when around centaurs. These in particular are the most charming detail, because est em really nails human nature when it comes to this sort of thing. There are all sorts of awkward conversations about whether or not it’s okay for centaurs to have cordovan briefcases, whether it’s cool for regular people to ride them, et cetera.
The first story was also my favorite, but it was also the longest (4 chapters), and had the most developed characters. We learn about centaur life in the big city, and about the dos and don’ts of life with a centaur through a pair of salaryman. The centaur is a rookie salesman who just moved to Tokyo, and his human senior partner is constantly helping him out. This story is fun because there’s a lot of rookie salaryman scolding (one of the rookie’s biggest flaws is that he’s always running late, for instance), but with a centaur twist (when he runs late, he has to run to work, and the horse part gets all sweaty, and his senior has to clean him up before meetings since he can’t reach). There’s also other day-to-day stuff, like a chapter about the rookie getting sick and the senior making a home visit since the rookie lives alone. This gives us a chance to see centaur living conditions, like a higher counter and what the beds look like. All of it is very strange, but I love it. Again, it’s such an unusual idea for a story, and all the mundane details make it that much more surreal.
This story ends with a chapter about how much longer the centaur lifespan is compared to a regular human. The centaur rookie reveals that a centaur’s full name is actually a string of names, each one given by a different human that the centaur was close to until the human died. Using an elder centaur that they meet, the rookie explains to the senior salesman how the long name can reveal age, and even where the centaur has gone in their life and what parts of history they likely experienced. This is an incredibly interesting detail. Also, that the centaur lives after the human that names them dies is a rather bittersweet element, and the character story ends with the rookie centaur hoping that the senior partner will one day give him a name since the two of them are close. It’s the sweetest moment in the book, but again, it doesn’t really go any deeper than that. But I also don’t think it needs to. Not because of a bestiality gross-out factor, but just that the relationship between the two is perfect how it is at the end of the story.
The other stories in the volume are much shorter, and just a bit cuter. One is about a centaur who dreams of being an udon chef, but instead he is forced to be an incompetent delivery boy since the kitchen where he works is too small for him. He meets another young entrepreneur that causes him to give serious thought to his career, and the end of the story has a rather elegant (and very cute) solution. Another story is about a centaur that wants to make shoes, despite the fact he can’t wear them. This story also involves another close human relationship, but again, more of a “life partner”-kind of relationship than a sexual one. This story more directly references the fact that the centaur do not age compared to humans, and it’s even sadder here. One story is about a centaur model that has his horse half edited out, and how dissatisfied he is that he can’t meet the human ideals of beauty. And the last is a short, simple story about a centaur that wants to be true to his nature, rather than live together with humans. This relates back to the centaur in the first story, but not in any major way.
Basically, I loved this book dearly. It’s an unusual idea, a bit absurd, absolutely unique, and incredibly well-written. That the centaur concept is pulled off with such a straight face all the way through, and again, that the most mundane of details is captured along with the absurd nature of the concept, is what makes this great. And, of course, est em writes fantastic characters and always manages to capture the most subtle and very best of their natures.
Again, it’s not really a BL book, nor is it a romance. It is simply a fine volume of manga, and I would recommend it to anybody, honestly. Admittedly, it’s probably a bit too slow and mundane for some, but if you like this type of story, please. By all means. Read the book at JManga. If we’re lucky, they’ll release the other centaur volume from est em, Equus.
Ze 5
Posted: April 19, 2012 Filed under: Ze | Tags: BL 1 Comment »Yuki Shimizu – 801 Media – 2010 – 12 volumes
Wow. So I was a little shocked when the last volume, which was hard to read because the featured couple had such an abusive relationship, could be followed by something like this. This volume focuses on Moriya and Ryuusei. This is the first half of their story, and… the two are considerate of one another. They take their time to get to know each other. Their relationship almost isn’t romantic. It’s… really good. It’s what I’ve wanted from this series all along.
Moriya is the kami-sama this volume, and after an initial set-up, the rest of the volume is a flashback to how the two met. Moriya’s old master dies, and when he does not want to cease to be, with no master to serve, Waki suggests there’s one other person in the family he could serve, but he is an illegitimate son that does not want to use his powers. Somewhat snobbish and proper Moriya shows up at Ryuusei’s house anyway, and declares he will be living with him from now on. This gets on Ryuusei’s nerves, especially since Moriya insists on wearing a suit and is completely useless, whereas Ryuusei is somewhat sloppy and works a variety of odd jobs to earn a living. There is no sexual relationship between the two, and Ryuusei doesn’t really want to use Moriya as a kami-sama, they simply… live together for awhile, and Moriya follows Ryuusei everywhere.
The two do experiment with kami-sama healing powers, though eventually Ryuusei insists that they no longer do even that. Ryuusei absolutely refuses to use kotodama, both in the flashback and in the present, for tragic reasons that are explained later in the volume. The trouble is, if Ryuusei won’t use Moriya for healing, and he doesn’t want to use kotodama, then Moriya has failed at convincing Ryuusei to let him be a kami-sama, so Waki will convert him back to a paper doll.
It’s… strange as a BL book, too. Ryuusei and Moriya exchange the occasional kiss, and while these kisses are, for lack of a better term, super-hot (seriously, probably some of the best kissing I’ve ever seen in a BL book), I was still in doubt as to whether the two were actually a couple. In the flashback, Ryuusei sleeps with a number of women while Moriya lives with him, which sometimes irks Moriya and sometimes doesn’t. At one point, a friend of Ryuusei mentions that he is bi, and suspects that Moriya is his new lover, but other than a few kisses for healing, nothing really transpires between the two. It’s possible that Ryuusei puts a stop to the healing to try and push Moriya away, but I’m not sure.
This book was only the second half of their story, so these nuances might become more clear once… well, their relationship is inevitably consummated in the next volume.
Apartments of Calle Feliz
Posted: April 16, 2012 Filed under: Apartments of Calle Feliz | Tags: BL Leave a comment »est em – JManga – 2012 – 1 volume
While I am a big fan of many BL artists at this point, est em is one of only a couple that has my finger hovering over the “buy” button as soon as I catch wind of anything in English. I adore everything I’ve read by her, and I’m a little surprised it never occurred to me to import her books. I think I will do that right now. But for the time being, JManga has heard my earnest thoughts and translated two of her books, Apartments of Calle Feliz, and Working Kentaros. I want to read the latter like nobody’s business, and will do so tomorrow when it’s posted. I’m also keeping my eye out for two of her other books from the Digital Manga Guild, Ultras and Kinein.
Anyway! Apartments of Calle Feliz went up last week on JManga, and you can check it out here. Basically, it’s a collection of short stories spotlighting the residents of the titular Calle Feliz. Shockingly, they are all gay men.
There is a framing device, in that newest resident Luca moves in and decides to write a novel about the residents of the building. Presumably, each story is a chapter in his novel. They are all really great, and very realistic love stories between adult men. That’s really what I love best about est em. She’s quite good at depicting the every day and making it extraordinary when it comes to relationships. Somehow, she even manages to capture the “everyday” of bullfighters and rock stars in other books. But she does it, and it is fantastic.
My favorite story in this collection, hands down, was the one that focused on Salvador, an artist, and Dino, a fashion designer. With no comment whatsoever, the story begins with Salvador paying the rent stark naked. On the next page, Salvador and Dino sit down to a breakfast, Salvador is again completely naked. This fact is not commented on, and the two have normal conversations as if nothing is strange. But the nudity creeps in subtly. At one point, Dino asks if Salvador has any laundry to toss in with his, and Salvador says he’ll grab a few things. Dino’s narration reveals that this will be towels and sheets. We find out that Salvador is a shut-in, and nothing that Dino does can convince him to leave the house. There are heartbreaking scenes, like Dino showing off his new clothing designs, and Salvador declining to take them, and the final breakdown, when Dino finally confronts Salvador. I also found Salvador’s reason for doing it quite reasonable, but I also went to a conceptual art college and I have friends that would do this.
One of the stories is called “Noe and the Twins.” As this is not a smutty book, this was actually a delightful and touching story about a man who fell in love with both brothers, not able to choose a favorite among them, so all three live together. I loved it to pieces. Noe’s face when not making a decision is absolutely priceless.
Not all of them are about couples, or romance. One story is about a puppet maker named Pepe and a young boy that grows close to him. The boy is mute, and Pepe convinces him to talk through the puppets and dolls in his apartment. The boy’s predicament reminds him of another from his past. I promise there is nothing between Pepe and the boy.
The framing device begins and ends the novel, with the relationship between Luca, the writer, and Javi, the landlord. Javi picks Luca up like a stray off the street, and Luca is primarily writing for Javi, who says he likes happy endings. There is no romantic relationship between the two until the very end, which I liked. Javi is revealed throughout the book little by little, and there are tears at the end when he shares his past with Luca.
It’s difficult for me to convey why I liked this book so much. It simply does everything well. There’s not too much of anything, so it’s a perfect balance of sweet, humorous, melodramatic, romantic, and… well, simple. And I really liked that about it. Even with the more subtle flavor here, it still managed to sweep me off my feet. If you have a taste for a more mature flavor of BL, this is a definite must read.
Open the Door to Your Heart
Posted: April 12, 2012 Filed under: Open the Door to Your Heart | Tags: BL 2 Comments »Yugi Yamada – DMP / June – 2010 – 1 volume
At some point, after I had read Close the Last Door about five times, I realized I could have more of what I liked with characters I recognized if I went ahead and picked up this volume. So I did. Even though it crosses over into territory I am not at all comfortable with. Having said that, this was still a great book.
We saw a few chapters featuring Shoichi and Shunji in Close the Last Door, and this is their story. Technically, they’re not brothers, which is a thin line to walk in this kind of story. I always hate when this comes up, and I try to avoid it. But I like Yugi Yamada quite a lot, and I adore every page of Close the Last Door, so I really wanted to give this a try. Plus, I was hoping for Atsushi and Kenzou chapters. Atsushi only makes one brief appearance, and Kenzou is in and out periodically, but there’s nothing like the Shoichi and Shunji chapters in Close the Last Door.
One thing to its credit, the story is all about Shoichi pushing Shunji away. Again and again and again. He pushed Shunji away when Shunji was 18, and he was gone for ten years. He pushed Shunji away again when he re-appeared. And even when he can almost accept his feelings for Shunji, he still pushes him away until he realizes how lonely he is. All of this is most heartbreaking, and while there’s nothing ambiguous about the two of them together, I did like that almost all of the interaction between them read like Shoichi was not interested and was completely shutting Shunji down. One line I really liked, from just before Shunji left the first time, was along the lines of “I want a brother. If you can’t be that, I don’t need you.” Very cold, but to the point. Shoichi isn’t actually Shunji or Kenzou’s brother, but he obviously wants to be, and he knows how terrible it could go for both of them if he’s not.
There’s some stories about Shoichi’s job as a tax officer, too. While he’s pushing away and trying to find a happy medium with Shunji that doesn’t involve painful separation or the two of them having a physical relationship, he’s trying to figure out a way for one of Shunji’s friends to keep her shop, and in another story, a way for an old man to keep the house he inherited from his domestic partner.
But mostly, it’s about a painful relationship and the way the two of them go about it. They relent in the end, of course, because this is a BL book. But I do like that it spent more time than not with Shoichi trying not to make that happen.
One thing I should mention, I love Yugi Yamada best because she is very funny. She has a light touch with all her couples, and they are frequently best when they are bickering back and forth. Unfortunately, Open the Door to Your Heart doesn’t really take advantage of that strength. It’s a very melodramatic book, and while there are brief moments of humor (which are still very funny), it’s very dark compared to most of her other work. That it’s still so good is an indicator of just what a fine writer Yamada is.
I still wasn’t comfortable with the book, and can’t wholeheartedly recommend it because of that, but again, it’s quite good. The romance is believable, even more so because the two are made to suffer so much. And both Shoichi (a very cold, distant man) and Shunji (more free-spirited and lighthearted) are easy to like. And, truth be told, I read every single one of Yugi Yamada’s books over the past month or so, and this is probably the best after Close the Last Door. I like all of her books a lot, and this one was better than almost all of them, which should tell you something about it. It’s really very good. I just wish that one detail was different. Sigh.
100 Blossoms to Love
Posted: April 9, 2012 Filed under: 100 Blossoms to Love | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Gido Amagakure – JManga – 2012 – 1 volume
Another digital volume of BL, this time from JManga. They’ve posted a few new ones over the past month or so, and while the selection isn’t nearly as good as eManga, or maybe even SuBLime, there’s still some interesting stuff posted over there. This one had Yazuka in it, so I was all about that.
Kotaro is set to inherit his Grandfather’s yakuza gang, and since he was young, he’s wanted nothing more than to be one of the honorable members of the gang. He’s well-liked because of his silly and outgoing nature, plus he grew up with all the men that work for his grandfather. Kotaro is also obsessed with the idea of manliness. He watches yakuza movies over and over again, and strives to do his best every day to be a man among men. And that’s how he became completely obsessed with florist Toraji after witnessing him stop a robbery in a particularly manly way.
Kotaro makes for a silly fixture in Toraji’s flower shop, and he doesn’t know how to go about making friends with the older man. When he starts to grow close, he realizes a friendship may be harder than he thought, since Kotaro seems to have a genuine hatred for yakuza. Things are complicated further when Kotaro realizes… well, he may actually be in love with the super-manly Toraji.
I loved this book! It was mostly a cute, hand-hold-y romance (with one physical scene at the end), and it was very, very funny. It’s hard not to root for Kotaro, who is a wonderful combination of really outgoing and slightly socially awkward. He doesn’t quite realize when he’s doing something strange, and it only makes him more endearing to those around him. And when he realizes he’s fallen in love with Toraji, he tries as hard as he can to go from big brother (in yakuza gangs, “big brother” is a term of respect, and Kotaro has always wanted a manly big brother to look up to) to… something else, though he seems unsure as to what. There’s a little bit of drama, as there usually is in this type of book, but almost all of it gets turned around and turned into a funny situation by the end of the chapter.
With the prevalence of bishounen character types in BL books, I especially liked the way Kotaro idolized manly qualities. Neither Kotaro nor Toraji was burly man of the year, exactly, but I appreciated the story was about that. Plus, as someone who sits and obsesses over Judge Dredd comics and Clint Eastwood movies, I could totally sympathize with Kotaro’s tastes.
I liked the art a lot, too. It has a very contemporary feel to it, very slick and nice-looking character designs and fashions. Again, neither of the characters are terribly manly, but I did appreciate the fact that her character designs look a bit different than the usual bland styles you find in BL.
If you like your BL funny and sweet, you have to check this out. I don’t think I could have been more happy with it. It even overrode my dislike of couples with huge age gaps! Kotaro is a recent high school graduate, and it’s never stated how old Toraji is, but he makes it sound like he’s much older. Doesn’t matter, though, because I want Kotaro to get his way. He doesn’t even want his way in a dirty way. He just wants Toraji to be his yakuza big brother. He wants to love him. And he shoves full speed ahead to get him. It’s great.
Artist Spotlight: Toko Kawai
Posted: April 6, 2012 Filed under: Artist Spotlight | Tags: BL 6 Comments »My recent very thorough foray into English-language BL has netted me several new artist to keep an eye on. Previously, I was a huge fan of est em, Fumi Yoshinaga, and Hinako Takanaga. Now, I also keep an eye out for anything by Satoru Ishihara, Keiko Kinoshita, You Higashino, and a few others. But my great loves now are Yugi Yamada and Toko Kawai. Truth be told, I think I might like Yugi Yamada a smidge more, because her stories frequently feature very funny bickering couples, and I never get tired of that. But Yugi Yamada has done about 30 titles and Toko Kawai has done eight, all of which have been translated into English. That’s a rare thing, as I’ve mentioned before, and she’s so good it’s worth taking a look at it all.
One of the reasons I like BL romance so much is that the genre is inherently biased, taste-wise. Most titles are only one or two volumes, and if you don’t like, say, younger couples, most books aren’t going to try hard to win you over. And you know what? That’s okay, because there’s something else for you out there. Even more interesting than reader bias is when the preferences of the artist creep into their body of work. Sometimes it can be a TMI kind of experience, like when I tried to read a bunch of Hinako Takanaga one-shots and found out that her ukes generally creep me out. Reading the afterword of many BL books, you find that the authors often profess a weakness for the type of story or characters they’ve just written about, and they can fall into a pattern where they write the same type of story over and over again. There’s nothing wrong with this, and I like that the authors seem to be allowed to go with what they know, so to speak. Also, it’s more than a little funny to me.
Toko Kawai is interesting because her books are all slightly different, taste-wise. This doesn’t sound like much, but it’s almost mind-blowing in the BL genre, based on my own reading experiences. Cut is a story about two abused teens who help each other out of their respective situations. Loveholic is about old friends in a photographer-salesman environment that hesitate to grow closer. In the Walnut features an established adult couple that more-or-less works at an art gallery and a story that is more mystery-of-the-week than it is romance. Each one is a little different. While none are exactly groundbreaking (though In the Walnut is very unique), in a genre where it seems like you can read hundreds of volumes of the same thing, even by artists you really like, a little variety is something special.
The real treat for me, however, is that she takes those different situations and uses them to her advantage as different environments where she can really develop her characters. I love character-centric BL books the best. All the sex in the world isn’t terribly romantic unless I can believe the two are in a relationship. And the more believable, the better. Some of her books are better than others character-wise, but one thing I do like is that many of them take established couples and investigate how a relationship grows after the consummation. That can be good or bad depending on the writer, but it’s unusual enough that it’s worth looking at here.
Scent of Apple Blossoms 1
Posted: April 3, 2012 Filed under: Scent of Apple Blossoms | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Toko Kawai – SuBLime – 2012 – 3+ volumes
So, I love Toko Kawai. Pretty much unconditionally. When they announced the titles that SuBLime would be publishing, this was the only one I wanted. I’m hoping hard for a paperback release eventually (which seems unlikely, it looks like print editions are released simultaneously with digital if SuBLime is planning it), but to read this in English in any form makes me happy. Toko Kawai is always worth it.
The story this time focuses on Haruna, a young salaryman/salesman that is sent to win over a brewery whose sake his company would like to carry. The problem is that the owner and master brewer absolutely does not want to sell to them, but the company really wants him to. They send salesmen over every day, and he tells them to get off his lawn and throws things at them. It’s not a pleasant assignment, and Haruna dreads it. But the first time he arrives, he meets the brewer’s grandson Nakagawa, a cold and distant man who Haruna develops a crush on immediately.
But the story develops a little differently than the usual BL pattern. Haruna admits his crush to Nakagawa very early on, and is shot down, but not in a cruel way. Nakagawa is naturally grumpy and silent, and at first Haruna feels awkward going over to the brewery for his job after the confession. But the story is about Haruna slowly growing closer and closer to the master brewer and his granddaughter, and Nakagawa as a result. The two are friends before they are lovers, and Haruna isn’t as hung up and forceful as most characters in a BL book. The two open up to each other gradually, while Haruna learns more and more about the family brewery, and I loved that about this book.
Strangely, the main storyline stops pretty far short of the ending. I have no idea how that will continue (perhaps the thread about Nakagawa’s sister brewing apple-scented sake will be picked up in the next volume), but short stories that focus more on Nakagawa and Haruna fill up the rest of the volume. These are more relationship-focused than the rest of the series, and, strangely, develop their relationship to something more serious without the backdrop of the daily goings-on of the brewery. It sure does feel like a continuation of the plot, so I wasn’t quite sure of the difference myself. I am happy that the rest of the book wasn’t unrelated short stories. Though, admittedly, I love Toko Kawai’s BL shorts, too.
It’s got a light touch, develops the relationship slowly and carefully, Haruna is very charismatic and easy to like, and has something else resembling a plot going on alongside the romance. It’s a wonderful book, and my favorite of all the SuBLime titles I’ve read so far (which is, sadly, all but two of them). I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants a little more than the usual quick BL read.
Kiss Blue 2
Posted: April 3, 2012 Filed under: Kiss Blue | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Keiko Kinoshita – DMP / June – 2010 – 2 volumes
As I mentioned last time, I liked this series so much that I read both volumes consecutively, over at eManga.com. The volumes are fairly cheap over there (I seem to remember that they were 350 points, or $3.50 apiece, but it doesn’t show up once you’ve bought them), so if you like slow-paced BL stories that take a long time to explore the characters, you have no excuse not to check it out.
I do like slow and very character-driven BL like this. I’m a huge fan of super-romantic stories, and the more time a good author spends on the characters, the more I’m going to get drawn into the romantic elements of the story. Keiko Kinoshita basically nails it with Noda and Tomosaka here. I mentioned this last time, but one of the somewhat unusual things about this story is that the fact one best friend has a crush on the other comes up fairly early, and the reveal isn’t the end of the story. Rather, the two experiment, trying to see how romance works between them. It doesn’t, so a good chunk of this book is spent with the pair trying to get things back to how they were and failing. Their intimacy now lies between them. It wasn’t even a failed experiment, really, but that’s also one of the problems. And the failure isn’t in the usual sense of, “Well, I really liked it but said I hated it.” Noda doesn’t mind experimenting, but Tomosaka (the one with the crush) does mind if Noda doesn’t feel the same way.
It’s an interesting problem, and Kinoshita takes her time having the two boys work it out. The resolution in this volume is satisfying, and I couldn’t have been more happy with the story. Again, it’s not something I’d shout from the rooftops and declare that everyone needs to go out and read, but I loved this pair of volumes, and it’s definitely worth taking a look at.
It’s also made me into a definite Keiko Kinoshita fan. A conditional one, however, and I’m currently cherry-picking her titles available in English since I’ve been reading stories set in high schools less and less lately. She’s got a lot of those available.
Anyway, the Kiss Blue story ends, and there’s a short story about the gay manager at the cafe where Tomosaka works. It’s one of those stories without a resolution or happy end that you rarely see in BL books. I love stories like this, and it’s a shame that they don’t appear that often (I think the artists aren’t allowed to write them, actually). Even this story was great, and I hated the manager.
Abandoned Cat’s House
Posted: April 3, 2012 Filed under: An Abandoned Cat's House | Tags: BL Leave a comment »Nawo Inoue – DMP / Digital Manga Guild – 2012 – 1 volume
Hey, another Digital Manga Guild title on eManga.com! Has it been awhile since I read a DMG title?
So… I really debated over whether or not I wanted to cover this here. This is not a thought that has crossed my mind before, because I write up absolutely everything I read, with no exceptions. But this one. I just… I don’t have anything nice to say. The other problem is that I feel terrible when I don’t like a DMG title. I know the groups try hard to promote the titles, and I love talking about the ones I like. There are some I don’t like, though, and I’m honest when that happens. But it makes me feel bad all the same.
Because of that, and because it still makes me angry to pay $7 for book I don’t own in a format I don’t like, I only buy them if the description sounds 100% my flavor. To be fair, most of the DMG licenses are fairly middle-of-the-road, so if the book isn’t exactly to the taste of the reader, odds are it’s not going to make a good impression. So I have to be good at parsing the book descriptions and finding key words that will fail my personal taste test. The description for An Abandoned Cat’s House contained red flags like “took in an abandoned child.” But it was a story about a vampire and his companion, and I’ve read plenty of good romance stories about that kind of couple (I’m addicted to paranormal romance fiction), so I was curious.
It’s borderline shota, and I was so upset. Perhaps it could be argued that it’s not really (there’s no sexual relationship at that point in the story), but it was so close that it didn’t matter to me.
Phil, the human, is adopted as a child by Edo, the vampire. Phil stays at home while Edo goes out to feed, and Phil is always asking Edo about where he goes and who he’s with. Edo rebels against Phil’s clinginess by constantly visiting a friend Phil dislikes. This strange antagonistic/clingy relationship didn’t make sense to me, because I couldn’t figure out why Edo would feel smothered by a child, or why a child would be giving off all the BL jealousy signals. Perhaps it was supposed to be read as Phil being lonely and missing his only friend/older brother/guardian, but it didn’t strike me that way, especially when he confessed his love for Edo.
Edo basically blows Phil off, and then realizes he’s… drawn to him. In no uncertain terms. Edo throws Phil out after this realization, against the advice of his friend (“you’ve found a companion to share time with!”). This is followed by the usual BL point of drama that brings Phil and Edo back together, except in this book it’s a perverted old man that bought Phil off the street. All of this is just as uncomfortable and squirm-y as it sounds, and I hated myself for reading it.
Edo does make a vampire out of child-Phil, which is thankfully not a sexual thing (though it is emotionally intense). Somehow, Phil ages after this, and the story jumps ahead to when Phil is much older. Then he makes moves on Edo, after assuring the reader again and again that a lot of time has passed and he’s bigger than Edo now and probably technically “older” somehow. In this story, the dialogue between the two makes it sound like there was no sexual attraction at all in the first part, and that Edo didn’t “get” it and “didn’t know” his own feelings, though he said as much earlier. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but honestly, I was so disgusted by that first part that I’m not going to re-read it to try and put a different spin on it. Perhaps that’s unfair, but I just can’t.
The characters weren’t that sympathetic, either. Edo comes off as a cold jerk, and there’s never really a reason given as to why Phil falls for him, he just does. There’s not reasons given for a lot of things, like why Phil doesn’t like Edo’s friend in the first part (because the friend gives Edo blood, and Phil isn’t allowed to?), why Phil ages after he becomes a vampire (or why Edo doesn’t), things like that. Even without the creepiness factor, the story and characters are not good. But the art is nice. I did like that about it.
Glass Sky
Posted: March 28, 2012 Filed under: Glass Sky | Tags: BL 3 Comments »Yugi Yamada – DMP/June – 2007 – 1 volume
As I do, I bought a whole bunch of Yugi Yamada books after loving Close the Last Door to pieces. For some reason, I started with this book. I’m not the biggest fan of super-short BL stories, not even from my favorite authors, but the plot summary on the back made it sound good, so… you know. That’s all the reason I need.
There were ten short stories in this book. Unusually, they covered a wide range of ages, from high school romances to salarymen. There were also many different types, from reluctant couples starting a new relationship together, established happy couples, and even one with an openly bisexual playboy that was trying to figure out why he couldn’t get it up anymore. Lots of actual gay men here, rather than “I only can because it’s you!”, which made me happy. These also range from comedic to dramatic, and are sometimes both. This is probably what I like best about Yugi Yamada, actually. Her comedy is actually funny, and she’s good at mixing the two, a skill that many people do not possess.
Most of the chapters are very short, and two stories had two parts each. One was about two salarymen with a history. This was an interesting pair of stories that used a two-man play as an allegory for their relationship, with a cute follow-up story to the very serious main event. The second pair was the namesake of the anthology. This pair was probably the best stories… but they were hard to read. A student is bullied for being gay, and when another student stands up for him, he gets the bullying just as badly. Except the second beats the bullies back to get them to stop, then attacks the gay student for making him a target. The gay student accuses him of being in the closet, and, worse still, getting turned on while beating him up. This goes… ugly places, but the second continues to be nice to the gay student, correcting his bullying whenever he can. There’s not a very good resolution to this story, and the follow-up is set at the 10th reunion of that graduating class. It’s a little more melancholy than you’d expect, but somehow happy at the same time. Bittersweet, if you will, which is something else not many people can get right.
It’s a good anthology, and again, I’m pretty picky about my BL short stories and tend to stay away from anthologies like this. Yugi Yamada knows how to write a charming story, and I liked most of these despite their short natures. I wished desperately that a few of them had been expanded into long books, and others were perfect as short stories. I have yet to read the Yugi Yamada book that I like better than Close the Last Door, but this was still a pretty great book.
