When I’m in the mood to read (loosely-used term here) something totally slutty, a Deux Press title is always my go-to. Their titles even sound trashy (Cigarette Kisses, Mister Mistress, FreshMen, Seduce Me After the Show, or, possibly my favorite title for any gay romance, Chocolate Surprise). The only real shame with this publisher is that they completed wasted a golden opportunity by not using the initials “DP” on their book spines. Why bother pumping out pulp fiction about male prostitution and gay Yakuza sex when sharing initials with ‘double penetration’ is too much? I’m just saying, relevant branding opportunity wasted.
I was in the middle of re-alphabetizing my library and had this one laying on top of a pile – I chose you, Pikachu. Gay prostitution it was…and was it ever! There’s a ton I liked about this title, and not just because it was refreshing to see actual sex scenes after spending about a week on Rin!…a June story this one is not. Raw and unglamorous may be apt descriptive words for this very *non* fuzzy-wuzzy BL book. A big reason I liked it is that it deals with real-world implications of being homosexual. Most yaoi titles seem to be set in a world where you could go outside and shout, ‘hey everyone, I’m gay!’ at the top of your lungs and then skip down Pier 49 arm in arm with your boyfriend, holding a rainbow-striped sun umbrella over him so that his assless chaps don’t give him awkward tan lines while adoring fujoshi fan themselves. Say Please subscribes to a more sobering reality.
Sakura is a teacher at a religious high school, where coming out would cost him his job, and he and his partner Ryoichi’s relationship is very much confined to the four walls of his box apartment. Like I imagine is the case with any relationship that originates via prostitution, it doesn’t get any less complicated and any more glamorous. They fuck, they fight, lather/rinse/repeat. The sex was raw and real, and completely unromantic – slutty at face value, but such was the strength of the story and the emotional undercurrents swirling beneath, that it was elevated beyond just pure smut.
The second and shorter story I really enjoyed as well, and not only because it has a sexy blonde American with glasses, which is also exactly what Arthur from Hetalia I’m a slut for Hetalia characters. And, oh yeah, I might have liked it because of scenes like this:
I really love Miyamoto’s art – yaoi really suits her drawing style. Her semes and ukes are equally dreamy and really come alive, and their sex is intense and hot as hell. Expressions are her strong suit – at one point there is a look that Ryoichi gives Sakura that really punched me in the gut, it was just so heartbreaking. This panel had no words and didn’t need them, and it was then that I realized just how strongly she can make a character express something through their face rather than words (just as well, because the dialogue as a whole – or maybe just the translation – is not particularly strong in this book. Actual conversation during an oral sex scene: ‘Do you like it?’ ‘Huh?’ ‘The rain?’ ‘Yeah.’ I mean, never mind that I think it’s probably kind of hard to talk with a dick in your mouth.)
Since the word ‘heartbreaking’ has surfaced: come to think of it, it’s actually perhaps a good description for several parts of this book, which I certainly didn’t expect by reading the summary on the back. Both of the stories were very realistic as well. Nothing about them was particularly remarkable or amazing, it was kind of like you were just dropping in on a random episode in these people’s lives, but I liked that. Whereas a lot of yaoi simply appeals to female fantasy and the characters and plots very much feel like fiction (always-famous seme, anyone?), both stories in ‘Say Please’ could definitely have actually happened. The trials of actual relationships, nevermind the added complexity of non-heterosexual ones in a world where this is not always accepted, are on full display here with no sugarcoating. The sex is full of emotion, good and bad, real and raw. If you prefer plots that deal with sobering reality rather than flights of fantasy, you’ll definitely want to check out ‘Say Please.’ I actually read it again for the review in order to gather my thoughts on it (also, I was afraid I was just rating it highly just because it was a great palate-cleanser after Rin), but that read-through ended up cementing my views on how surprisingly solid of a title it was.
TL;DR: The non-rosy realism of complicated and unglamorous relationships in this book makes for a refreshing read, and is underscored by some beautifully drawn bishies and some pretty hot dub-con kitchen sex (among other such delectable copulation scenes). Short, sweet, emotional, and equal parts slutty and gritty – an all-around solid title