Site update July 30th 2010

Well todays upgrade of the blog system (wordpress) went smoother than expected, with no downtime or bugs showing, so I am absolutely stoked about that.

Weve also upgraded a new feature to make it a little more obvious which reviewer/author is talking by the use of a signature (see end of my post for an example )

Straight into Red- Yellow Omnibus vol 2- Makoto Tateno

When a routine drug snatch unexpectedly leads to the discovery of a murdered doctor, Taki and Goh find themselves embroiled in a sinister plot. With the only clue a napkin with a cryptic message scrawled upon it, it becomes obvious that something is definitely going on beyond a routine dispute. When postcards bearing nothing but the image of a lizard begin to be delivered to to the café at the same time he runs into the man who raised him, it jolts Taki into a panic. The café owner’s reactions to the postcards are different, with anger and a quiet burning resolve pushing him to move events forward. What do all these things have to do with each other? Taki is afraid he knows, and with the lives of Goh and their friends on the line, he decides he must take action. Rushing on past the yellow light, he heads straight into the red. Can Goh and their friends unravel the mystery and save Taki? And what other secrets is Taki hiding from Goh? After a surprising passionate encounter, what’s with Taki taking off? Has Goh won his heart or not? And if so, why did he disappear like that?

This volume of Yellow moves us forward into a suspense filled thriller of a story arc, which not only provides the readers with plenty of action but also brings revelations about the characters’ back stories. . Nor does it lack for angst. We get the straight Taki facing confusing emotions that he begins to understand all too well, Goh who knows his own heart but agonises over pushing Taki too far, an obsessive transsexual with feelings of love that more than border on mania, a long grieving husband and father, and a policeman with an emotional conflict over how justice is best served for all of his friends’ sakes. The multi-layered complexities add a substantial plot that makes this an even more tantalising volume than its predecessor. With passions of all kinds running high, questions from the first volume are not only answered but actually form the key underpinnings to the plot. Tateno’s art is beautiful to behold as ever, and her action scenes bustle with impact, her love scenes sizzle, and always, Goh and Taki’s bodies are sculpted with care that will surely feed many a yaoi fan’s fantasies.

Rated at 18+ due to mature themes and explicit sexual content, this volume is currently available as a paperback. It is not yet available for online reading via the publisher’s Emanga portal, nor as an edition for the Kindle. I’d like to thank Digital Manga Publishing for providing me with this review copy.

Rating: 

A Dawn Held By Night- Blue Sheep Reverie vol 1 by Makoto Tateno

In Blue Sheep Reverie, once more we are transported into Tateno’s sensei’s urban landscape, this time with a view from the underside. In this science fiction fantasy, we come along with Kai to to the semi-ruined city that no one knows the original name of, but whose current name means sunrise or dawn. Dawn, ruled over by by the man whose name means night, Lahti. Steel Lahti, head of the Sarte clan, rival leaders of the city they share with the Mynahs. Lahti, who wears a ring that looks identical to the missing ring from Kai’s dead lover’s hand. Did this man kill the gentle Maria? Why would he travel to Kai’s homeland just to kill a gentle physician? Kai doesn’t know, but he has vowed to find out and exact revenge. To do so, he must get close to Lahti, and he doesn’t care what that takes. But when once he does, will the truth behind Maria’s demise be quite what he expected, and can he still go through with his plan for revenge?

Tateno takes us from the comfortable everyday world and flings us forward into a not so far seeming future. A future where the world is partly in ruins, with decaying, damaged once prideful city structures sitting side by side with top of the range electronic equipment and plain, everyday cars. It is obvious that society has had a breakdown at some point, with the governmental infrastructure resting on city states and factions reminiscent of Renaissance Italy. What technology that survives is based upon actual need: cars to get between cities and outposts, or across town, construction equipment, security software and devices, communications, and so on. It is a recognisable world that is easy to identify with, but one that is in decay. Sartre and Mynah struggle for dominance in “Dawn”, one for reasons of pride and power, the other to maintain a peaceful balance for the residents and to try to gain footing so that perhaps they can move forward from this twilight age.

Kai is thrust into this power struggle when he comes from his homeland seeking to avenge his dead lover. Having seen Lahti during a news piece on the struggles going on in the city, he spies what appears to be his dead lover’s unique ring: a blue stone with a streak down its middle, resembling a blue sheep’s eye. It was missing from her murdered body when he found her, so he becomes convinced that Lahti must be the man who murdered his Maria. Unsuspectingly, he steps into a world of intrigue, where nothing is as it seems and everything he thought he knew cannot be trusted. It is up to Kai to discover what is real, and what is not, and come to terms with what his heart tells him, that which his mind would rather reject. Filled with suspense, action, intrigue, and elements of romance, Tateno delivers a fine piece of entertainment filled with her usual well executed backgrounds and beautifully rendered people.

Due to depictions of violence and graphic sexual situations, this s rated an 18+ by the American publisher, Digital Manga. Published under their June imprint, it is available in three formats: as a paperback, an online digital edition via their Emanga.com portal, or as a Kindle edition via Amazon.com. I would like to thank Digital Manga for providing me with this review copy for my Makoto Tateno Madness week.

Rating:

How to Control a Sidecar – Makoto Tateno

It is a return the cocktail bar the Maria Elena, and as usual, the bar staff are gorgeous, the drinks divine, and the personal lives, well..errr…interesting! It is perhaps just as well else Makoto Tateno would not have a tale to regale us with, and what a story we have indeed!

Kiyohito Kousaka is a genius bartender. Young and good looking, his creativity and innate talent for mixing drinks led him to win the cocktail design contest that brought him to the attention of Naoyuki’s then girlfriend. Genius bartender he might be, but in many other ways, he is a bit slow on the uptake. Not only is the bar owner gay and in a rather unusual relationship partnership choice wise, but he totally failed to note the significance of occurrences and things said before him during the whole Naoyuki and Okada saga that occurred previously in “How to Capture a Martini”, Indeed, the fact that Naoyuki and Okada were a couple totally escaped him until he went to the back one day and caught them stealing a kiss. A kiss he actually had to ask about as he was unsure he had seen what he thought he had. He then astounds them them with the confession that its fine, but he was not sure and that it was the first time he had seen a gay couple. He was even more astounded when they pointed out that 90% of their clientèle were gay, as it was predominantly a gay bar.

After this revelation, he has to concede that now that he actually LOOKS at the clientèle, it is pretty obvious that this is true. This doesn’t phase him in particular, until he takes note of two new regulars. Young and cute Fumi and older and more sophisticated business executive type Kanashiro always come in together, sit at the bar, and order two Sidecars. Not only do they always do this, but they come every single day, telling him they have come to see him in particular, and comment on his skills with the shaker in a flirting manner. If that wasn’t bad enough, they invite him back to theirs to mix private cocktails for them. Just what is their deal? They are together right?

Well, yes and no, as he discovers the hard way. They ARE together, but once again, it is not anything remotely conventional. When Kousaka breaks Fumi’s heart by changing the drink to better suit his tastes, he realises that the young man’s disappearance is on him. Unfortunately, he discovers the whole vanishment and his part in it the hard way, when a distraught and out of his mind Kanashiro takes it out on him in a sudden violent attack that leaves him bleeding and beaten after an assault that turns sexual in nature. Fumi runs off every now and again, and then they get back together. Only, not the way people think and this time thanks to Kousaka, this time he might not come back.

Seems they shared a boyfriend before, and he looked a lot like Kousaka. Fumi had his heart set on making him their very own sidecar passenger as a replacement, and the times Fumi previously took off is when he went in search of the boyfriend who simply took off on them. The boyfriend was the one actually pulling the strings, and it pretty obvious that the pair are left feeling alone, sticking with one another out of a feeling of solidarity rather than any desire to get together romantically. The whole current debacle was triggered by Kousaka’s appearance, as he apparently closely resembles the man who cruelly dumped the pair of them by simply moving away and not looking back while they pined.

Kousaka is quite flummoxed, needless to say, and has never even considered having a relationship with a man before. Not that there is anything wrong with it, and he is not dating anyone right now, but the whole gender issue aside, he is not someone to be shared about like a bowl of snacks! Needing help in his weakened state, he takes himself to Naoyuki’s. Okada, Naoyuki and the boss are not happy about this turn of events, but pride won’t allow Kousaka to press charges or have the man banned from the bar. He simply refuses to serve him, and things stand like that for some time. With Kanashiro bitterly regretting with genuine grief his rash, unplanned assault, Kousaka’s wounded pride, and Fumi’s desperate need to replace his lost lover, things don’t stand still for long. The victim, the assailant, and the innocent wounded party come together to try to work things to an amicable conclusion for sanity’s sake and a feeling of closure.

To everyone’s disbelief, Kousaka decides to have social contact with the pair, leaving the door open for dating one of them, and as the three of them begin to learn about the other, bridges get somewhat mended while the two men vie for Kousaka’s affections The sidecar seat still remains empty, but will it remain that way? And just who is going to be the driver, and who the passenger?

This manga is one the surface a pretty light hearted piece of work, but the rape aspect and Kousaka’s apparent brush off of the event may bother some readers. However, it is not so much as a brush off, as his refusing to let someone feel empowered because of it, and refusing to be a victim. He does go to a doctor, has the evidence collected, and is prepared to press charges if another foot is put the wrong way forward. Why so seemingly generous though? It is not just male pride at being pushed down by another man, but his own unwitting interference that set the chain of events in motion that no doubt partly motivates him. Fumi was quite emotionally fragile and and his unthinking action by way of a deliberate one one-upmanship against the flirty pair caused the young man to break down emotionally.

In this unpredictable state, he vanished, and a desperate Kanashiro cannot find him. Kanashiro is standing in the back, soaked to the skin and and obviously in an unfit mental state. He quite simply was not in his right mind, and his reaction is like a wild animal when the cause of their distress appears before his eyes. Kousaka is well aware of this, as he is the fact that when it was over, Kanashiro came to his senses and was aghast, and tried to take care of the wounded and unconscious Kousaka, fully prepared for the consequences. It is not an excuse, but the two men face the aftermath of the tragic events together, and forge ahead determined to not be victims, neither of each other nor of cruel former partners who used and left, and decide to heal each other and Fumi.

This volume is the sequel to How to Capture a Martini.

The whole point of the story is actually about emotional loss. Kousaka’s is emotional damage from his assault and the knowledge that he greatly wounded two people almost irreparably. Kanashiro’s is the loss of his lover, his lover’s lover and his current emotional support and friend (Fumi), and the knowledge that while lost in a maelstrom of emotion he did something unthinkable to someone he actually cares about a great deal (Kousaka). Fumi’s loss is his illusion of having found a replica of his lost lover and the knowledge that his lover did not return his love as deeply as he gave it, and that he is not getting him back.

It is a deep pit indeed, and only by crawling out of it and limping to this crossroads can the three men move forward in their lives. Kousaka to connect to the world about him and the people in it that he had not really noticed before, and for Fumi and Kousaka to let go of the past and find a new love that is theirs alone and not shared with one another. It forges a deeper bond between the three men, one that is literally forged with suffering, and it is no doubt one that will last a lifetime. It makes this not so much as a rom com as a serious comedy drama with thought provoking themes. It takes a look at the raw emotions that loving someone can bring out, down to the most animalistic levels, brings it back to the world of the rational, and settles to a comfortable place somewhere between the two.

As for the sidecar, all I have to share is this:
2/4 brandy
¼ white curacao
¼ lemon juice
Blend with a mixer.

***I would like to thank Digital Manga Publishing for providing me with this review copy.***

Rating:

Stinger is the sequel to Sidecar, but is as of yet unlicensed.

Makoto Tateno Week Kicks Off

Tateno sensei

Looking at my review shelf, I see I have a LOT of Tateno yet to cover on it, and to share some of the greatness that is Makoto Tateno, I decided to do Makoto Madness Week. I have already reviewed Happy Boys 1 and 2, How to Capture a Martini, Yellow Omnibus 1 and Angelic Runes. This week, I shall take a look at Blue Sheep Reverie 1 and 2, Steal Moon, Hate to Love You, Ka Shin Fu, Yellow Omnibus 2, Yellow Episode 2 vol 1, Hero Heel vol 1, How to Control a Sidecar, and Yokan: Premonition vol 1.

Toyama City, birthplace of Makoto Tateno

But just who is Makoto Tateno? I decided to find out. Well, it is pretty obvious she is a mangaka, But what about the rest? A quick look on the web doesn’t seem to reveal much unless you look beyond the surface of the information. Tateno sensei was born on 23^rd of March in Toyama City. Toyama city is the capitol of Toyama Prefecture, which is located along the Sea of Japan on the island of Honshu. It is not an overly large city, but it is not a small one either as these things go, having a population that is quoted at 420,804 or 338.85 persons per square kilometre.

Toyama has been of strategic regional importance since ancient times as this feudal fortification demonstrates.

This is in itself interesting, given the settings she typically uses in her manga. Knowing these acts, and viewing pictures of the area she was born and raised in, explains much about the realistic feel of the locations encountered in her stories. They have a distinctly urban feel, but usually lack the urban upward and outward sprawl of say Tokyo or Osaka. This is unsurprising, as the very best writers write from what they know, weaving fact with illusion to tell a well crafted story.

Mickey and Kazyua was her first series.

In 1986, Tateno made her début with Japanese publisher Hakusensha with her shoujo one shot offering “ Yurarete Tamago Boys” followed by the series Mickey and Kazuya, which was serialised in the publisher’s Hana to Yume magazine. She continued working in the shoujo field under contract until striking out freelance on her own, with a strong desire to write BL. A look at the publication dates for her BL titles show that 2001 was her break out year in this genre, with Koyoi wa Kimi to Chi no Kiss o being picked up by publisher Shinshokan for their Dear+ magazine and now licensed to Doki Doki as the upcoming title A Bloody Kiss Tonight, scheduled for an early November street date. Also writing under the pen name of Shinjuku Tango for her doujinshi titles, she has remained a highly popular and prolific writer with over 90 titles and 30+ series under her belt.

Japanese cover for Bloody Kiss Tonight, her 2001 BL break out title now due out in early November 2010 under Digital Manga's Doki Doki imprint.

Most of here in the West are perhaps more familiar with her BL works, which have been licensed here in the West, though with Happy Boys,  Angelic Runes, King of Cards,  and Red Angel, we are beginning to see some of her shoujo works trickle out though they are not yet as popular with Western manga fans. While the genres may differ, the one thing they all have in common is not only Tateno’s lovely signature art, but her wit. Tateno’s dry wit is a subtle presence in all her works, lightening up heavier pieces without resorting to buffoonery or chibi panels. If the character is foolish in his decisions, she allows us to see this as part of his character and general actions, without pratfall type jokes to make it obvious. It is said that one is always heavily influenced by those whose works e most admire, so just who does she credit for this? In an interview with Graphic Novel Reporter, she cited tow major influences: Go Nagai, specifically with Cutie Honey which featured the first female protagonist in a shonen manga, and the legendary Osamu Tezuka, whose works are still finding their way into new licenses in the West ( MW, Black Jack, Swallowing the Earth). Fans of Tateno’s would do well to check these out, or else miss out on some truly fantastic classic manga that resonates with today.

Osamu Tezuka is named as one of her major manga influences. Read him and find out why.

As for the current debacle with scanlator sites, believe it or not, Graphic Novel Reporter asked her this at the 2009 Yaoi Con, which pre-dated the coming of Mangageddon:

How do you feel about fan translations of your stories being distributed via the Internet without the books having been officially licensed in America?
Buy books. Buy, buy, buy. [Smiles]
So there you have it. Makoto Tateno, her influences, some reviews past and forthcoming of her works, and her request to please buy, and not read or do scanlations. Just get yourself to a book retailer already, there is some good stuff to be read, again and again.

Having Fun at the Animal Academy- Animal Academy: Hakobune Hakusho Volume 1

Neko Fukuta ended up attending the only high school whose entrance test she passed. In fact, she barely got into this one anyway. Then she got there and they did not want to let her in after all. She was finally allowed to take one more test to decide whether to let her in or send her away. It was a very strange test, but she passes and finds out it is really a school for animals learning to act like humans. She gets to stay as long as she doesn’t let them know she is a real human. Can she do it and fit in?

It was a really good story. The drawings were done very well. I liked the detail shown and the characters were all very cute, especially in animal form. It was very funny. The expressions of Miko, who is a cat, reminded me of my own cat Mookie Moo. Lots of silly mistakes get made that even a toddler would know better than and these made me laugh.

This is a manga book. If you are new to manga you should know manga is back to front from a normal book. It is very easy to read though and after only one chapter you will find you don’t make any mistakes when reading it. The school is in Japan so you also will learn new words like sempai, which is someone ahead of you in school. It is very easy to understand and I really like it that they left these things in and did not turn the book around. It says it is for ages 10+ but I was 8 when I got this and I had no trouble reading it or understanding the story. If you are a boy or a girl who likes funny stories, this is a great manga to read.

I would like to thank the Tokyopop man who attended the 2010 February MCM Expo convention in Telford for recommending this manga for me to read. You can read a sample at the Tokyopop website before buying. I bought my copy at the MCM Expo but you can also find it at Amazon, where I had my Mummy buy me the sequels.

Rating:

Emi-chan is an 8 year old manga and anime otaku who loves all things Japanese.  She is Kimi-chan’s daughter and this is her first ever review.

Psychological Bio Warfare of the Demonic Kind Yashakiden Vol.2: The Demon Princess – Hideyuki Kikuchi

Chemotherapy essentially is a medicinal method whereby toxins are put into the body to hopefully kill off a greater danger (i.e., a cancer). In this case, Tokyo is the body, and it is the Shinjuku area that has a plague- a demonic plague. Following on from a tremendous earthquake, Shinjuku has crossed a line that most mortals fear: parts of it straddle another dimension, where demons and time itself seem to slip, sliding into our reality. Now known as Demon Shinjuku, it becomes a tourist attraction for seekers of the macabre and a haven for the supernatural beings who already inhabited our world. One entire housing block is home to vampires, who reside side by side with humans and the other inhabitants with ease, following a set of rules set out.

But rules are all too often broken, usually by creatures who creep across from the metaphysical chasm. Other times, the supernatural also fall prey to illness. Times like these, there are really only two people to call upon: the otherworldly Dr Mephisto and senbei (rice cracker) baker come private eye, Aki Setsura. These two are the chemo to thwart the cancers that invade their city, but at what price? It doesn’t matter, for when a ghostly koto plays its haunting melody, bringing forth a river carrying an ancient ship, everyone takes notice. This is no run of the mill demon encounter; this is something that forebodes something even worse. It is bad indeed, as an ancient sorceress and vampire 4000 years in the making has come to claim her throne, with the dust of the current Demon Shinjuku vampire leader and the bodies of all who oppose her beneath her feet. With people in key positions being added to her following of the undead, it is obvious something must be done, but is the treatment going to be effective, or have Setsura and Mephisto met their match?  Uncertain of their victory, the two team up with the leader of their peacefully resident vampires and a mysterious witch.

The tables seem to be turned, until they discover that even the ancient vampire ally is no match for this demonic vampire princess. Attacking Aki himself and leaving him in the shocking state of impending vampirism , the battle seems far from won. But when the koto music plays and portals into the other worldly realm the sorceress and  her minions reside in are discovered, things begin to look up. But just what will they find there? And just what motivations does everyone have for their part in the battle, and is Mephisto showing signs of being mesmerised to the demonic vampire sorceress’ will? the actions of the enemy show they are not just physically attacking, but employing psychological tactics as well. Is Shinjuku ever going to rest in its uneasy peace ever again?

Hideyuki Kikuchi returns us to his alternative vision of Tokyo set during our era, and what a visit it is too. Setsura Aki and Mephisto are just as intriguingly self motivated as they were in the first volume, with a deeply rooted but self protectively cautious camaraderie that defies the usual description for friendship. Their innate sense of justice is obvious, both by the words they parry at the enemies they face and with each other as they talk, bicker, and plan out their strategies. Their primary motivations may differ, and indeed, may be rather selfish upon closer inspection, if we knew precisely WHAT those were, but that is all part of the fun. Just as in his perhaps better known work, Vampire Hunter D, the inner thoughts and motivations are not readily apparent in the protagonists, but revealed layer by layer over the course of events and from the looks of it, over several novels. Like D, this is action packed with very little sedentary scenery along the way.

Kikuchi’s usual pell-mell style is somewhat retrained here though, with hidden inner plot layers making an appearance to stop the action and cause the characters to have a need to regroup and think. Indeed, while it is extremely graphic in nature with extreme violence and sexual imagery fully rendered in prose, this time Kikuchi himself seems to have regrouped and so it is all there only as it needs to be for plot purposes and not for shock value. While it is not a manga, it does contain scattered full page black and white illustrations by the original artist Jun Saemi. The stark imagery once again fits in beautifully with Kikuchi’s forthright, pulp fiction style. We also see the return of Eugene Woodbury, the translator of the first Yashakiden novel, and once more he renders the prose s that it is as if Kikuchi had written it in English to begin with.

Please note that once more, Play.com has refused to stock this title due to its content, but it is readily available from Amazon and the Book Depository as well as from manga specialists such as Forbidden Planet and the publisher’s own Akadot Retail.  Overall, another worthwhile, heart thumping read from Japan’s master of pulp horror, and certain to thrill fans of demons, vampires. With its extremely beautiful male protagonists and sexually deviant female antagonists, there is as much here for the ladies as there is the lads.

***I would like to thank DMP for kindly providing me with a review copy***

Rating: 

And One Goes Down

Today online otakudom has been buzzing with the news: top Google ranked online manga piracy reading site One manga, with its sister site, 1000manga, are biting the dust. The official post reads:

“It pains me to announce that this is the last week of manga reading on One Manga (!!). Manga publishers have recently changed their stance on manga scanlations and made it clear that they no longer approve of it. We have decided to abide by their wishes, and remove all manga content (regardless of licensing status) from the site. The removal of content will happen gradually (so you can at least finish some of the outstanding reading you have), but we expect all content to be gone by early next week (RIP OM July ’10). So what next? We’re not really sure at this point, but we have some ideas we would like to try out. Until then, the One Manga forums will remain active and we encourage all of you to continue using them. OMF has developed into a great community and it would be a shame to see that disappear. Regardless of whether you stay with us or not, on behalf of the One Manga team, I would like to thank you all for your unwavering support over the years. Through the ups and downs you have stuck with us, and that is what kept us going. As a certain Porky was fond of saying… That’s all folks! Time for me to go lay down and let this all sink in. - Zabi

And for some of you who were wondering, yes, 1000Manga will have its manga removed as well.

Also like to slip in my own thanks to all of you people here too for all the overwhelming support you have given us. We honestly never thought we’d get this far when the site opened up. But hopefully we’ll be able to figure something out for the site’s future so this may not goodbye just yet.

This comes after mounting legal pressure from manga publishers and fans who wished to see an end to the rampant piracy facilitated by aggregator sites such as this, which generate profit by means of ad revenue, yet pay nothing to the creators of their stolen content.

Amusingly, one of the busiest forums talking about the demise happens to be OneManga’s rival, MangaFox, which is still carrying on business as usual, and indeed, has been happily uploading even more stolen manga, including those they previously locked, all day long. AnimeA is also slow to react, still taking the stance, “We don’t have licensed manga, oh wait, we are taking it down still,” but no further titles seem to have come for a couple of weeks at least. With Mangatoshokan having previously announcing its withdrawal due to the mounting pressure, it seems like the manga coalition’s efforts are deadly serious. This begs the question whether or not MangaFox and AnimeA are going to buckle, or wait for a knock on the door.

UPDATE:  MangaFox suddenly took down the Viz titles they had placed back up. No statement has been made regarding this decision, but it is safe to assume it is related to the legal issues and OneManga’s demise.

Bittersweet Dessert- Antique Bakery 4

Tachibana’s life just got even more complicated as a current wave of child abductions makes his childhood trauma rear its ugly head above the realm of his dreams. The children are all found murdered after having eaten high quality cakes, a facet that resonates with his own abduction experience, so much so that the now retired police detective who was in charge of his case is consulted. When the cake from the children’s stomachs is analysed, Tachibana and the guys find their shop the centre of police activity. Who is taking the children, and why feed them cake? Is it a new perpetrator with unwitting similarities, or is is the demon from Tachibana’s past making a reappearance? Tachibana is close to coming unravelled, with nightmare ridden sleep and visions of stolen and murdered children confronting his vision daily via the news.

If that is not enough of an ill wind, Kanda finds he is being sent to evening classes to learn French. He is quite put out about the academics he is being pushed into, but not for reasons one would expect. That is, until Ono gives him just the impetus he needs when the truth comes to his attention. Once Kanda goes, he finds his teacher is rather interesting. So interesting in fact, that he decides to go to France with her for a holiday, to experience her family’s small bakery. Is the little bird spreading his wings, or will he return to roost back at Antique? One thing is certain, and that is that change is afoot and life is moving ever forward for the four friends and co-workers.

Yoshinaga’s final instalment of the Antique bakery series is a psychologically driven piece, with inner turmoil and emotions playing a large part of the story arcs within. The humour is still there in part, with light deft touches here and there, but appropriately, the overall tone is more sombre. I quite liked how Yoshinaga sensei tied past plot threads in previous volumes into the current events without missing a beat. She also managed the feat of taking such a potentially disturbing plot line and not turn into gloating, in your face spectacle that demeans such events. And while the volume ends with our friends looking forward to the future with slightly troubled, yet hopeful, expressions, it does not leave us hanging, as a closure of sorts is reached so that they are literally able to move mentally and emotionally forward and not just drift along with life’s tides. It is a sentiment that one encounters again in Flower of Life, and also in Ichigenme, being a seeming trademark of Yoshinaga sensei’s. I was sad to leave the bakery behind, but hey, with hard copies available to sit on my bookshelf and the animé and live action versions available to watch, it is not like it is goodbye forever. Now if I can just find Yoshinaga’s Antique djs…

Rating: 

I would like to thank Digital Manga for providing this review copy, and to point readers to more interesting reviews of Yoshinaga’s books that  I have yet to read. Be sure to check out Manga Bookshelf’s coverage of  Garden of Dreams and All My Darling Daughters as well as Experiments in Reading’s look at Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 1 .

Additional Reading suggestions: If you like the gentle comedy and the setting found in Antique Bakery, you may also like Happy Boys and Café Kichijoji de, also from Digital Manga Publishing.

Education in Life and Law- Yoshinaga Fumi’s Ichigenme- the First Class is Civil Law, vol 1

Tamiya is a hard working university student on a typical student’s income of practically nothing. Attending civil law class, he is dismayed to discover that his zemi, or seminar group, is well known to be a fluff course filled with the wealthy sons and daughters of influential persons. They goof off in class, come in ill prepared, and always try to borrow his homework. If that is not enough, during the welcoming party for new students, the professor and returning students make the newbies strip off all their clothes as part of a class initiation. Tamiya is not an extrovert by any means, and is horrified. Surprisingly, when his turn comes, popular classmate Tohdou comes to his rescue, shouting that a kiss will do instead and steals a sudden deep kiss from Tamiya’s lips. As shocking as that turn of events was, Tamiya is grateful to not have been forced to strip, and thus he and Tohdou forge a close friendship. It is not without its up and downs however, as Tohdou tries to drag Tamiya along into the groups frivolous and expensive trip excursions, parties, and what not, Tohdou facing ostracism by his other supposed friends after a political scandal involving his father, and then there is the other thing. The thing where Tohdou confides in Tamiya that he is gay and would like to take Tamiya as his lover. Confusion deepens within Tamiya as he struggles to deal with the social gap between him and his classmates, with their gossiping antics and shifting attitudes, his friendship with Tohdou, dealing with school work and exams, and a sudden late night kiss from a drunken male professor. The first class may be civil law, but Tamiya is getting a great deal more of an education in life.

Yoshinaga Fumi once more shares a slice of life story that transcends the genre. Taking a frank look at the trivial pettiness that comes with dealing with popularity and the masses, the emotions of the very real people involved, and the everyday occurrences in a college student’s life, she weaves a story of friendship, love, and life in general. As ever, her attention to the seemingly trivial breathe life and realism into the situations, her expressive drawings punctuating the emotions and moods with perfection. I was quite struck with how, once again, Yoshinaga used dialogue to convey much of what is occurring. Quite often in BL, dialogue is short, with little thought boxes helping explain things. There is a minimal amount of this, as Yoshinaga uses side character and background dialogue, facial expression, gestures, and situational settings to get things across.

She also breaks the mould when it comes to plot and character style. Where Antique Bakery and Flower of Life had gentle elements of comedy, this is serious drama. Tohdou may be a flamboyant rich boy who loves partying, the class may be made up mainly of irresponsible young people, the professor an amiable drinking buddy, and Tamiya an uptight and practically neurotic nerd sort, but rather than being played for laughs, they are all cross sections of people one may meet in the course of attending a third or fourth rate university funded by rich alumni who send their useless offspring there to gain a degree. Tohdou’s very flamboyance masks the insecurities he hides within himself. Like Ono from Antique Bakery, he has hidden depths that rise to flash at the surface, revealing the true inner Tohdou as opposed to the public face he puts on as the playboy son of a member of the diet. It is these inner flashes that seem to give Tamiya the most trouble, as he finds himself drawn to them.

Tamiya is uptight, rigid, and tries to stick to rules and society’s expectations. These chafe him, as he encounters and befriends Tohdou, at first rejecting the often socially stigmatising reality of homosexuality, but after developing a one sided crush on a professor who drunkenly kisses him one night, he has to come to grips with something within himself that does not fit the ideal he had set before himself. Falling into Tohdou’s arms for one night whilst seeking comfort, the volume follows a deeply complex set of emotions as both Tohdou and Tamiya come to grips with their very real, deep emotions, and Tamiya comes to accept his own sexual orientation. It is not a typical tale of seduction whereby once the seme has the uke in his clutches, it is all hot sex, lovey dovey, happy ever after, but a tale of emotional growth, self awareness, and romance of the purest sort. Truly standing apart from other school romance stories of any sort, Yoshinaga once more proves she is a master not only of the slice of life genre, but BL itself.

Rated 18+ due to sexual explicitness and mature situations, this is published under Digital Manga’s 801 media imprint as a paperback (at this time, no online reading service via Emanga.com or ebook version exists). I’d like to thank DMP for providing me with this review copy.

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