Physical Attraction by Tatsumi Kaiya: B

physicalattractionPhysical Attraction is a collection of BL stories about adult men—either college students or professionals—and is bookended by two tales about the same couple. In “Physical Attraction,” Kurata and Narusawa have been having a sexual relationship for some time, but when Kurata belatedly realizes that he loves Narusawa, he wonders whether it’s too late to try to steer things in that direction. It’s actually quite a cute story, and though it wraps up a little too easily, it’s nice to glimpse the guys again in “Loving Attraction” and see how being together in a loving way has positively influenced them.

Other good stories include “Anti-Dramatic,” in which one member of a cohabiting couple feels neglected when his significant other gets a job, and “Let Me Knock on the Same Door,” in which a talented graphic designer rejects a golden opportunity in order to work on a project with the down-on-his-luck game software developer he loves. The latter also ends too quickly and easily, but the premise is intriguing enough that that’s forgivable.

The other two stories, “February Rain” and “Cooled Passion,” are not going to be to everyone’s taste since in both, the point-of-view character abruptly forces himself on his companion. In “Cooled Passion” this is especially unfortunate, as the act is quite malicious and the tale had been so promising up to that point.

In the end, though there are elements in some stories that I’m not keen on, the overall collection is enjoyable and unique enough that I can still recommend it.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

La Satanica by Momoko Tenzen: B+

lasatanicaWhen Shoji Mashita spots his classmate Motoki Matsushima lovingly caressing his (Mashita’s) desk, he abruptly realizes that Matsuhima has feelings for him. He narrates that he’s okay with this, since he respects Matsushima as a friend, but he can’t resist tormenting him since his reactions are so violent. Eventually, Mashita realizes that he has feelings for Matsushima, too, and they share a pretty intense encounter in the boys’ bathroom until Matsushima suggests they adjourn to his home and Mashita suddenly gets cold feet.

Matsushima tries to figure out what he’s done wrong, and Mashita finally confesses that he’s afraid of the next step. From this point on, the boys become fairly obsessed with doing it. I prefer stories more about love than lust, myself, but the depiction of their awkwardness is well done and one really must appreciate that they take a whole chapter to really, really make sure that it’s what both of them want. “Are you only doing this for my sake? Are you positive about this?” “If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be.” That alone earns La Satanica major points in my book.

I’ve been impressed by Tenzen’s powers of characterization in her short stories, so it’s no surprise that they’re on even better display in this full-length story. Both characters are very endearing, to the point where it’s almost embarrassing to see them in bed together, and Tenzen’s expressive art makes the heartfelt confessions of their feelings and insecurities that much more sympathetic. The result is a BL manga that manages to be sweet and sexy simultaneously, which is no small feat.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Live for Love by Itsuki Sato and Jun Mayama: B+

liveforloveFrom the back cover:
Yasuie runs the Kiryuuin Detective Agency in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Nichome neighborhood. With no clients and no money, it’s a constant struggle just to live and pay the rent. For the past seven years, Yasuie’s assistant and partner Yoshiyuki has been willing to suffer through all the good and bad times with him—even considering Yasuie’s playful advances, which approach sexual harassment—but life has a way of changing things.

Faced with his family’s ultimatum, Yoshiyuki must choose between a penniless future with Yasuie and a more traditional lifestyle. Can Yasuie convince Yoshiyuki to stay with him? Even if Yasuie does confess the true reason he brought Yoshiyuki into the detective business, will it be enough to change his partner’s mind?

Review:
Yoshiyuki Nomura had nowhere to belong. Abandoned by his birth parents in a coin locker at a train station, he had no family until he was taken in by the Nomuras at age twelve. He strove to do well in school and earn their approval, but the arrival of a natural-born son made him feel displaced. He went to an excellent college as expected, got a good job as expected, but none of it felt right and none of it lasted. On the same day, he lost his job and his girlfriend but also met his unlikely savior in the form a foolish and impulsive private detective named Yasuie Kiryuuin, who saw the dejected Yoshiyuki sitting on a park bench and couldn’t just leave him there. Instead, he offers Yoshiyuki a job.

It’s been seven years since then, and Yoshiyuki has been kept busy trying to keep Yasu’s business afloat, even though it consists more of fetching and grooming kitties than any real detective work. Yasu is incredibly affectionate towards Yoshiyuki, though always presents his feelings in a playful way that’s easy for Yoshiyuki to dismiss. Yoshiyuki is exasperated and often cranky, but is obviously content enough to have remained in the job for so long. Things seem destined to carry on this way indefinitely until Yoshiyuki receives a phone call from his foster parents out of the blue.

The Nomuras are kind people, and genuinely regret that Yoshiyuki was made to feel unwanted in their home. They want to make it up to him by inviting him back into their home, providing him with a good job, and setting him up with a marriage interview. Yoshiyuki is torn—the prospect of family life is tantalizing. Is this where he’d belong?—but Yasu makes the decision easy by forcing himself on Yoshiyuki when he gets wind of his possible departure. The nonconsensual scene is really awful because these are two characters we already genuinely care about, which makes it much more painful to read than if it had occurred in a series with fewer positive qualities. If there is a bright side, it’s that Yasu is not some sadistic seme who feels no remorse for his actions; he knows it was inexcusable and is consumed by regret.

Yoshiyuki moves back home with his family, but though they are solicitous, he can never fully relax around him. A nice subtle indicator of the distance between them is how his foster parents never fail to append his name with the honorific san; even after caring for him for so many years they’ve never felt close enough to address him on a first name basis. While Yasu flagellates himself at the office, Yoshiyuki helps his little brother with his homework and plays the dutiful son by attending the marriage interview, even though it doesn’t make him happy. “Will I have to accept this feeling of emptiness?,” he wonders at one point.

Although it happens too quickly, the ultimate reconciliation with Yasu is very satisfying, with Yoshiyuki realizing that he’s always being saved by Yasu’s foolishness and has, in reality, needed him all along just as much as Yasu needs him. I also appreciate that Yoshiyuki refuses to accept Yasu’s apology for what happened, making sure the latter knows just how physically battered and emotionally humiliated he was. Lastly, Yoshiyuki’s accidental admittance of his feelings (and his subsequent reaction) is possibly the best I’ve seen in BL manga yet.

While Live for Love certainly has its flaws, the interplay between the well-drawn characters is funny, sweet, and endearing and makes this story recommended despite the inclusion of one very regrettable scene.

Steal Moon 1-2 by Makoto Tateno: C

stealmoon2As in the related series Blue Sheep Reverie, Makoto Tateno has gone beyond the call of BL duty to craft a science fiction plot of some complexity. One hundred years in the past, a computer on the moon called “Isis” was created to protect the president then in office. Now it’s rumored to be spying on the populace and seasoned street fighter Nozomi is recruited to help put it out of commission.

This all sounds fairly tame, but the way in which Nozomi gets involved is pretty bizarre. Boasting about his fighting skills after his latest victory, he declares that if anyone could beat him, he’d “willingly become his servant.” This is the cue for a mysterious guy called Coyote to show up, beat Nozomi, and promptly sell him to an internet peep room site. Because this is BL, Nozomi falls in love with Coyote, even though the latter says things like, “I wish I could’ve kept you imprisoned forever.” How romantic.

The peep show gig doesn’t last long, and Nozomi is eventually drafted into helping take down “Isis.” By the end of the second volume, he has learned more about Coyote so their relationship makes a bit more sense, at least, and some of the power dynamic issues are rectified. Nothing in the world can excuse the creepiness of the two twelve-year-olds in the peep show place with Nozomi, though. They’re fond of crawling all over him and striking sexy poses to drive up their hit counts, but the apex of ick occurs when one kid declares, “I’m gonna grow up real fast so I can service you!”

Um, ew?

Plotwise, Steal Moon is ambitious and occasionally even intriguing, but other elements of the story might incite a strong desire for brain bleach.

Review copy for volume two provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Blue Sheep Reverie 1-2 by Makoto Tateno: B-

bluesheep2When Kai’s lover, Maria, is murdered, he sets out to find her killer. His one clue is that the ring Maria always wore—a man-made blue jewel resembling the eye of a sheep—is missing, and he thinks he’s found it on the hand of Lahti Bara, a bigwig in Sarte, one of the gangs ruling the gritty city of Akatsuki. To get close to Lahti and check out his ring, Kai makes a bid to be his bodyguard and later consents to be his lover. It turns out that Lahti isn’t Maria’s murderer, but Kai has already grown fascinated by the powerful and enigmatic leader and gets embroiled in a bunch of gang politics involving a rival gang, an elite group within Sarte called the Four Kings, a renegade Sarte member attempting to bring them down, and a power struggle over gang leadership.

While I very heartily applaud any BL series for having as much plot as this one does, I must regretfully admit that I found most of the gang-related action dull and repetitive. Nearly every time something bad happens, the aforementioned renegade is the culprit but never seems to get caught. Kai isn’t a very strong character, either, but I do think his relationship with Lahti is an interesting one. It definitely isn’t love, as Lahti occasionally keeps Kai on door guard duty while he’s bedding other men, but Kai realizes that it’s not love and kindness he craves, but rather the strength to be worthy to stand at Lahti’s side, to be necessary to him.

So, is this good? Well, almost. It’s one of those cases where I like it despite its faults. I actually struggled a lot with whether to give it a B, since Tateno-sensei bothered to create such an intricate plot, but I just couldn’t do it.

Review copy for volume two provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Ciao Ciao Bambino by Momoko Tenzen: B

ciaociaobambinoI think I must be a Momoko Tenzen fan, because this is the second time I’ve been impressed by her ability to create compelling characters in a short story format (the first being Unsophisticated and Rude). Not only that, she’s able to write stories about romance between middle schoolers and teachers that aren’t completely icky (only mildly icky).

There are five stories in this volume, though the first four focus on the same set of characters: Kaname, a lecturer at a cram school; Yuuta, Kaname’s student, seven years his junior; and Kei and Mako, friends of Yuuta’s who have feelings for each other. What I liked about these stories is that Kaname and Yuuta take several years to get to a point where love is openly discussed, and although Yuuta is still too young (in my opinion) when they finally sleep together, his character is developed enough that it’s clear he’s not being taken advantage of by an adult in position of authority.

The fifth story, “Brand New Wednesday,” is about a tall kid named Kana—and seriously, both he and Yuuta must attend one of the junior highs from Prince of Tennis, because they’re far bigger than any ninth graders I’ve known—who is in love with his home tutor. I found the tutor’s perspective especially poignant here, as he realizes how fragile a love like this can be when the younger person has so much changing left to do in their life.

I admit to feeling a little guilty that I liked these stories as much as I did, given their subject matter, but Tenzen’s approach is not salacious whatsoever. If you can get past the squick factor, these stories do offer some truly touching moments.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Unsophisticated and Rude by Momoko Tenzen: B+

unsophisticatedUnsophisticated and Rude is a collection of five boys’ love tales from Momoko Tenzen. Unlike most compilations in this format, all of the stories are enjoyable and demonstrate an impressive ability to establish unique and compelling characters within a limited number of pages.

The first two stories—“Unsophisticated and Rude” and “Pretender”—are the best, offering additional dramatic complications beyond what’s generally expected with stories of this type. In the title story, Hiroto is surprised when his childhood friend, Satoshi, confesses that he has feelings for a male upperclassman. Hiroto pledges his support, but secretly possesses feelings for the same guy. While he cares for Satoshi and wants things to work out for his friend, he can’t help being jealous and, in the end, makes the difficult choice to seize love while he can. In “Pretender,” Katase has attempted to forestall his friend Manaka’s love confession by going out with a girl, to no avail. He’s very conscious of the stigma surrounding homosexuality, and resists engaging in a relationship, worrying that Manaka “isn’t really like me.”

My one real complaint is that, because of the inherent constraints of a short story, some things are not shown that I’d like to see. Particularly in the title story, readers are left wondering how Hiroto’s decision to choose love over his best friend will affect his life. Then again, perhaps it’s better to leave the undoubtedly painful implosion of their friendship to one’s imagination.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

A Strange and Mystifying Story 2 by Tsuta Suzuki: C+

strangemystifying2Akio’s family is cursed with illness, but they also have a protective guardian beast who will appear if summoned and grant a wish. Akio summons the beast—an amorous, wolfish sort whom he names Setsu—and wishes to be cured. After Setsu accomplishes this with his own brand of sexual healing, Akio finds he doesn’t want Setsu to disappear, so wishes for him to stick around. Now Akio is feeling a bit insecure, since he isn’t sure how Setsu feels about that request. Apparently, he can’t just come out and ask.

In this volume, we learn more about Setsu’s past. Once upon a time, he was a human named Shinra who encountered a magical creature called Bansho and merged with him (this is a bit of a pun, since shinrabanshou is a Japanese idiom meaning “all things in nature”). Initially, he had some control over Bansho, but relinquished this to save one of Akio’s ancestors, of whom he was very fond. Setsu is far more likable in these chapters than he ever is in the main story, where he can be very crude. The juxtaposition of his interesting backstory with a flashback chapter of some icky* more-or-less nonconsensual sex is particularly jarring.

Akio’s reluctance to simply ask Setsu questions is frustrating, as well, and one wonders on what basis he can possibly claim to love a creature he hardly knows. Still, I can’t help kind of liking this series, since it at least tries to have a plot and features an art style that doesn’t look like every other BL title in existence.

* Believe me, you’re glad I spared you the details.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

A Strange and Mystifying Story 1 by Tsuta Suzuki: B-

strangemystifying1From the back cover:
Akio’s family is tragically cursed. His bloodline has fallen prey to a mysterious, fatal disease. When Akio’s own health starts failing, he desperately summons the spirit of a strange, protective beast… or is he a ravenous wolf-man?

In order to survive, Akio must trust his very life to a monster who enjoys nothing more than feasting on poisoned blood… with a cold glass of sake, of course.

Review:
If you strip away its supernatural trappings, A Strange and Mystifying Story is actually pretty straightforward. Akio is extremely ill and, in desperation, summons the family’s guardian beast thing to help him become well. The beast, a wolfish fellow whom Akio names Setsu, begins to work on healing Akio, but the pheromones he exudes get Akio all riled up in the process so Setsu decides to sleep with him (over Akio’s objections) during each session. Akio claims to hate this and Setsu, too, but after he realizes all that Setsu is enduring in order to heal him, his attitude softens and he ends up telling Setsu not to go when his contractually obligated task—making Akio healthy again—has been completed.

I had a few problems with this story—a big one being that, when Akio confides in his boss about Setsu’s having sex with him and his dislike of same, the boss says “Oh, I’m sure he would stop if you really wanted him to” and advises him just to enjoy it—but overall, it’s actually kind of amusing. One big point in its favor is the supporting cast: Akio’s coworkers all meet Setsu and know about the healing he performs, so it’s not some huge angsty secret that Akio must hide. Furthermore, his middle-aged boss, questionable advice aside, is totally adorable.

I also really like Suzuki’s art; at times it reminds me of est em, particularly the character design of Akio’s friend, Tet-chan, who looks like he could’ve stepped right out of one of the stories in Seduce Me After the Show. It was actually the art and not the plot that attracted me to this title—I’m generally not one for non-human romance—because I appreciated that Akio doesn’t look like your typical wilting flower of an uke.

A few short stories round out the volume. They’re decent, but one’s a student-teacher relationship (is this supposed to be more palatable when it’s the student who’s the aggressor?) and the other involves a pretty big age difference, too, so neither is a particular fave. I did like the final short at the very end with Akio’s boss and Tet-chan, though. Is romance blooming there?

Il Gatto Sul G. 3 by Tooko Miyagi: B+

Ever since taking in the wounded boy he found on his doorstep, nice guy Atsushi Ikeda has been emotionally involved with Riya Narukawa, a high school student and genius violinist who suffers from multiple personality disorder brought on by childhood abuse. One personality, called White, is in love with a cruel upperclassman while the other, dubbed Black, is attached to Atsushi. In this final volume, Riya’s mental distress escalates and it looks like one of his personalities will vanish forever.

Il Gatto Sul G. is a rarity among boys’ love manga—it has a substantive plot, with twists and everything! It’s got other positive qualities, as well. Unlike some BL, Riya’s mental illness is never used as a springboard for hilarity; he actually spends most of his time miserable and confused. And although the White personality’s relationship with Kousaka, an abusive guy who nearly breaks one of Riya’s fingers in an effort to keep him from seeing Atsushi, is disturbing, it’s made clear that Kousaka’s behavior is neither acceptable nor sexy. Lastly, the art is attractive, having evolved quite a lot from the first volume, with a markedly good grasp of body language.

My complaints are actually few. Some parts of the second half of the volume, featuring many panels of a weeping Riya, grow repetitive. They do, however, lead up to one particularly nice surprise which, in turn, leads to an unexpected and rather awesome ending.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.