As soon as I finished this book I yelled to my fiancee in the other room ‘babe, you wouldn’t believe the premise of this yaoi I just read,’ and when I told him, I heard a a hearty chortle in reply. It’s so ridiculous I just can’t believe it was a serious story and not a comedy: three high schoolers are all dating the same girl, and when they lose her they all start fucking each other instead. (Just to reiterate, this is NOT a comedy). And when I imagined where I’d come across the first honest-to-God threesome in a physical title, I certainly didn’t think it would be in an old June book drawn by the same artist who did ‘Rin!’ Well, here we are.
It started innocently enough, with our main character introduced as blonde-haired high school basketball player Orie Nakano with a girlfriend named Yuka. But one night Orie is having sex with his girlfriend when suddenly another dude comes in the room, starts doing Yuka in the ass while Orie is balls deep in her, then pushes Yuka out of the way to kiss Orie (really, this happens). Of course Orie is like ‘what the fuck? Who the fuck are you?’ The mysterious ass-raper’s name is Tatsumi Kuwabara, and he informs Orie that he isn’t the only one dating Yuka. In fact, Yuka has been busy and is dating three men, the third of which is Orie’s beloved basketball sempai upperclassman, Suguru. Orie is not only the only one who didn’t know this, he is also the only one who doesn’t know Yuka’s secret – she’s terminally ill and dying of leukemia.
This is supposed to explain her desire to do whatever she wants without consequences I guess, but I honestly just felt more sorry for these guys she was three-timing than I did for her, because it becomes clear that all three of them truly care for her. In fact, the story is unusual for a yaoi in that it’s much more about the ‘straight’ romance and the heartbreak and tragedy associated with it, with the gay elements often feeling like as much as an afterthought as the consent was. It is not even clear if any of the characters are even actually gay, or simply using gay sex as a coping mechanism. Most of the sex is either dub-con or non-con, and if Orie isn’t actively resisting he submits halfheartedly while sadly reminiscing about his time with Yuka. Honestly the story would have worked fine without the non-con, probably even better – it was unnecessary and just made the whole thing more uncomfortable.
There might be some readers out there who would get turned on by the whole thing despite the circumstances – or even because of them – but I am not among them. I was more amused than anything at how ridiculous the whole thing was, and was trying to keep from laughing in a lot of parts. Truly, the downfall of this book is that it takes itself 100% seriously, in a story that culminates in three dudes have group sex on their dead girlfriend’s bed. Taking out either the non-con or the tragic element would have been a vast improvement, perhaps Yuuka could have just moved to another country instead.
Yukine Honami’s signature soft, wispy art is easily recognizable here. I like Honami’s art but her style felt a little too ‘normal’ for a story like this. She mostly works with a writer but the other stories of hers I’ve read are a lot more typical than this one (Constellations in My Palm is my favorite of hers, another notable one was Rin!). This isn’t her first collab with Takaguchi, they also did the three-part Can’t Win With You! together, a story about the hijinks of a boys’ dorm, also reviewed here a while back. Although that series was far from the best thing I’ve ever read I did review it favorably – it was silly, lighthearted and fun with a decent amount of mostly-consensual sex – and I much preferred it to this one.
Takaguchi is both a writer and artist and did a guest illustration in the back, from which one might recognize her as the artist of “Shout Our Loud!,” a five-volume series on the BLU label. And if the story is anything like this one, well, you can bet I am moving it up my reading list. For science.
As for this story though, I really couldn’t buy all the serious drama with a plot like this. Even though there’s not a shred of anything that’s supposed to be funny here I ended up laughing throughout it regardless because of how earnestly the premise – three guys having a three-way FWB gay relationship in order to replace the girl they all miss – is presented. Honestly, it would have made a fun comedy if the tone did a complete 180, so it’s a bit of a shame. Honami’s soft art and wispy style is lovely to look at as usual but makes the characters feel a bit too insipid, and which doesn’t seem to fit Takaguchi’s, uh, “unique” story to me.
TL;DR: Thirsty for Love is a yaoi that weaves together group sex, non-con, and leukemia with 100% sincerity (really), which goes about as well as you’d expect. What happens when three guys are in love with – and dating – the same girl at once, and then they suddenly lose her? Going by the logic of this book, they all three start fucking each other of course. Whether or not any of them actually have feelings for each other or are even gay at all is both unclear and irrelevant. Honestly the whole thing would have worked better as either a dark comedy or a more serious love story between just two of the guys; at the very least it could have done without the mess of dub-con/non-con…yeesh.