I don’t think I’ve read an English-licensed yaoi yet title with a true threesome in it, unless this glass of Cabernet is just affecting my memory at the moment. There are certainly a lot of titles that tease at it but never deliver, often just for fanservice and never intending to. But I can’t recall another book – besides this one – that basically writes a threesome into the plot as the resolution, mentions it multiple times as something all three characters want and plan to do, and then when it’s about to actually happen, the curtain closes and there’s no final act. It’s not that the ending is bad, it’s that there isn’t an ending at all. I couldn’t believe this story was complete, such was the abruptness of this. It’s so absurd, that I feel the need to warn people beforehand. The gleeful, malicious cackle of Lady Blue Balls echoes strongly with this one.
Thankfully, there’s a lot I liked in this sexy school comedy that somewhat made up for it, in the sense that you were promised a slice of cake but given a few stale Oreos instead but you just really want something sweet so whatever.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a ‘serious’ story by Kanzaki. Even her titles that aren’t straight-up comedies such as His Arrogance and Heavenly Body have non-serious premises. Looking at her entire body of work, some themes emerge – role swapping/dynamics, teasing threesomes, sexual manipulation, and unusual ukes that defy stereotypes – all of which are present here. Though serious non-con is rare in her work, her characters almost never have sex for romantic reasons; it’s used as a tool or a game. That will certainly bother some readers, but the situations it happens in are almost always either too silly or too ridiculous for it to offend. At worst it’s a highly-censored plot device that doesn’t pan out, and at best it’s kinky.
In Double Trouble we have a boy named Kou, who goes to a college away from home named Seiran Academy to escape his feelings for his younger half-brother, Naruki. Blissfully unaware, Naruki follows him a year later, wanting to be near him and secretly liking him ‘more than a brother’ as well. Only in yaoi!
Kou is struggling with trying not to jump his bones when his roommate Yoshino – who has his own ulterior motives of getting freaky with Kou, of course – steps in and ‘helps’ by putting Naruki under hypnosis that changes him from his natural uke personality into a super aggressive seme when he gets aroused or falls asleep.
This leads to many situations in which Kou – who keeps insisting he’s not a bottom, despite the frequency with which dick enters his ass during this story – tries to put the moves on the sweet, shy, ‘uke Naruki’ and confess his love to him, only to find the latter’s split personality suddenly switch to ‘seme Naruki’ which gives Kou little choice but to bend over and take it like a champ. Hilarity ensues, etc.
The story had some genuinely funny parts with a good translation, and I thought these ingredients made a pretty tasty stew when combined. Until the last part that is – this story had one of the most unsatisfying endings in recent memory. I thought for sure that after the short side story in the back, there would be one final chapter with the long-awaited threesome scene that baits the reader practically the entire book. Surely Kanzaki is not cruel enough to spend a hundred pages setting that up and then just end the story right when they’re all about to do it? Yet that’s exactly what she does. Shit pisses me off. Do endings mean nothing anymore? People want a goddamn genie at the end if they’re gonna rub the damn lamp for two hours.
Kanzaki’s ease in being able to switch Naruki’s character from uke to seme so often and so fluidly and still make it look like him was kinda impressive. I think art-wise she’s an underrated mangaka, perhaps due in part to the fact that she never had a real blockbuster English-licensed title – her stories are sub-par porn plots at worst and simply comedic at best. She’s someone who could probably stand to collaborate with a writer, actually. Anyway, the art is probably the strength of this title. She draws confidently and the anatomy/proportions are fine – save for the Dorito chins – and her characters are very cute.
There is a second story at the end which apparently also takes place at Seiran, though you wouldn’t know it because the characters are all new. We move over to the arts & entertainment department now, to take a peek at what kind of debauchery is going on over there. Here we find the ‘homo-making machine’ of Seiran, beautiful blonde Satoru and his friend and crush, Riku.
Another plot win here: Satoru can’t sleep properly because he keeps having wet dreams about Riku, so he passes out from exhaustion in gym class and his classmates joke about running a train on him with Riku being the first to volunteer. But Riku cares about Satoru too and really just wanted to protect him. And then they fuck.
Weird confession: I have a thing for wet dreams, and whenever a story features them as a plot device it has my full attention. And for being so short, this story packs a nice little punch – it’s no substitute for The Threesome That Never Was, but at least the book ends with a bang. (Get it? Get it?!?)
Despite the notable absence of aformentioned threesome, this was a genuinely enjoyable book that grew on me with its humorous role reversal situations. If you’re in the mood for something both fun and funny, Kanzaki titles never disappoint. Just save yourself some disappointment by not getting too wrapped up in the threesome thing – you may get led to the promised land, but you aren’t allowed in.
TL;DR: The main story is a cute comedy that plays on yaoi role tropes, and will delight many fujos with its self-aware humor. Annoyingly, it conveniently leaves out the threesome that gets set up through practically the whole book, which is cheap bait. Still, it’s both a fun and funny read with hot sex scenes, and Kanzaki’s consistently decent art makes it nice to look at.