The back of this book actually says, ‘Cute Beast is sure to please the most jaded of yaoi fans.’
Ohhh boy, I can’t wait to put *that* statement to the test. Feels like a challenge! I’d put on some brass knuckles except that would make it hard to type…
This is a one-shot compilation featuring mostly high school pairings. It begins with the title story, which didn’t give me a lot of hope because this was probably the worst one in the book. It stars a tall shaggy guy with glasses named Onizuka who despite his odd manners and appearance is always trying to get close to his crush Kisaki. The back says it’s supposed to be a ‘Beauty and the Beast’ story but I didn’t get that vibe from it at all, mainly because Onizuka is an attractive guy who just needs to shave and maybe wear contacts, he is far from a hulking drooling fanged monster.
There is a short side-story in the very back as well with these two as they attempt and fail to consummate their relationship, which I guess was supposed to be funny but this is an M-rated book without much action at all so I found it more annoying than anything.
The next story, ‘Prince’s Commitment,’ is another high school pairing, featuring a handsome serial dater named Miki who cant seem to keep a girlfriend until he gets asked out by a cute femboy named Sakura. The story is pretty dumb and formulaic but there is a completely random mutual handjob scene that comes out of nowhere so I guess that’s…something. I like mutual HJ scenes so I approve, but it definitely felt forced.
Next we have “Ramune, First Love, and Summer Break,” which I thought was the only good story in the bunch because it has some actual substance. Aki and Nao are cousins who grew up together, with Aki now in high school and Nao in college. They reunite one summer when Nao stays at Aki’s house over the break while his parents are overseas for work. Nao married very young, which hurt Aki who always secretly crushed on him, but Nao’s wife died a year later in an accident and he’s now single. Aki feels like a bad person because he’s happy that Nao is single again, and Nao also feels like a bad person for betraying his dead wife as his feelings for Aki grow. It has uncharacteristic depth for a Tsuge story, and can confidently say it’s the best of hers I’ve read so far. It worked great as a short story but it could easily (and should) have had a 2nd part.
But alas, all good things must come to an end. The next one is called “Alice Reunite” which is about a college student named Sumo accidentally stepping on a drunk guy in a public park and then falling in love with him on a bench (really, that’s the premise) and who then turns out to be a classmate at his university named Takagi. Takagi asks him out, but Sumo is straight and pretty hesitant. Despite the characters’ unconventional meeting it just ends up being another lame and formulaic BL story. At least Tsuge draws cute guys.
Well, if nothing else, this last one is a real treat, for all the wrong reasons. As you’ve seen so far, Tsuge usually does innocent fluffy sort of romance stories, but for this one she just takes her conventional formula outside, pours gasoline on it, and tosses a match. It’s apparently an earlier story that was published elsewhere previously, so I’m not sure if she used to do more stories like this or just wanted to try something way different or what. It’s about a high schooler named Misato who crushes on one of his teachers, Naoki, who promptly takes advantage of his feelings and rapes him in his office. Oh yeah, and it’s the book’s only real sex scene.
But wait, it gets worse! Turns out Naoki is a super nasty lecher and hooks up with students in his office all the time, likely not with consent a consideration if Misato’s encounter with him is anything to judge by. One of these students confronts Misato and says he had feelings for Naoki too and he also got played, and that they should both sue him, etc. Wow, rape never has consequences in yaoi, maybe this will be a refreshing change. But no, of course not, it gets even worse! Yaoi Logic kicks in and the story ends in the dumbest way possible; Naoki decides he’s serious about Misato, and the latter forgives him and they start dating. Ugh, wtf? This dude literally raped you and then hooked up with other students, and now you want him back?
It can’t be understated just how completely tonally opposite this story was from everything else I’ve ever read from this mangaka. Sometimes I feel like BL books shoehorn a story in like this in order to justify an M rating, at least that’s my theory, but usually those “token M stories” at least feel somewhat cohesive to the rest of the book. Not so with this one. You shouldn’t have, guys. No really, you shouldn’t have…
Putting that unfortunate episode aside, if there’s one compliment I can give Tsuge it’s that she draws attractive characters, especially cute ukes, although they sort of all look the same after a while. Similar to how I felt another of her works, Love Machine, her stories are usually pretty dumb they’re kind of romantic and wholesome and that has some kind of basic appeal I guess. As a manga though it’s just so bland and basic, and if it is memorable at all it’s for the out-of-left-field teacher rape story which is decidedly not a great reason. Probably only the most diehard shota-looking-uke fans would ever have a reason to seek this out nowdays.
TL;DR: Cute but very formulaic one-shot compilation with one good story, three mediocre stories, and a terrible and completely out of place teacher x student rape story I guess to create some balance in the force (naturally, that’s the only one with a real sex scene). She has an attractive art style and in particular enjoys drawing shota-esque ukes, but in every other way it ranges from bad to average.