…in which two teachers hook up in an empty kindergarten classroom. Do you think that’s a themed room option at love hotels?
Continue reading “EVERLASTING LOVE (Ryoko Chiba)”EVERLASTING LOVE (Ryoko Chiba)
THE DAY I BECAME A BUTTERFLY (Sumomo Yumeka)
One of the first BL I ever read was Same Cell Organism, also by this mangaka, and I was struck by her unique stories and soft artstyle. Having a lot more BL under my belt now, I was curious if I would still like her work. I can happily say that even after becoming considerably more jaded about BL, Yumeka is like a soft, fresh breeze in a world of lightsaber dicks, oversized hands, dorito chins, and rape tropes.
Continue reading “THE DAY I BECAME A BUTTERFLY (Sumomo Yumeka)”CUTE BEAST (Amayo Tsuge)
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…
Continue reading “CUTE BEAST (Amayo Tsuge)”LOVE ROUND!! (Hinako Takanaga)
Hinako Takanaga is one of the most well-known BL mangaka in North America, thanks to the huge success of the Tyrant Falls in Love in the 2010s, as well as the more recent Finder series – whether you got into BL then or more recently, she’s probably one of the first artists whose work gets in your radar since it’s so widely recommended. She had a strong debut in 1996 with the four-part series Challengers, which the long-defunct publisher DramaQueen released here. Her super talent for great characters and stories gave her a rather fast rise within the fandom, of which she is still a fixture today. Sadly The Tyrant Falls in Love, probably her best work, is stuck with DMP here in North America, the ultimate tax writeoff zombie of BL pubs that keeps coming back to life no matter how dead it is.
KIREPAPA (Ryo Takagi) + OVA
When I first got into the world of bishounen buttsecks comics, I was looking around on online for recommendations and distinctly remember Kirepapa being on several people’s lists and referred to as some kind of scandalous age gap romance. It was already older by that time, having been done around 2003, but it got an OVA in 2008 and thus Deux Press licensed the manga. Whether it’s actually the manga or just the OVA they remember, the crowd who came of age with Junjo Romantica seemed to remember it fondly. I would have been the right age to be included in this group, but I didn’t really get into yaoi until later than most people. Before that I only watched anime or played video games and mostly imagined Fire Emblem characters hot anime guys naked but not with each other. The angel of yaoi hadn’t come to me and pointed me down the path of light yet. Wow, it’s so bright! Look at all the trees and clouds shaped like dicks! And all the unrealistically beautiful 2D men having hardcore sex! Waaaaaiiit a minute…are you really an angel?
SPRING FEVER (Yugi Yamada)
I thought ‘Close the Last Door’ was the last Yugi Yamada in my collection yet to be read, but this one snuck under the radar. This makes what, at least six or seven individual titles she had localized in English? Those ain’t rookie numbers. I do think her work we have is a bit of a mixed bag (worth mentioning that we don’t have any of her newer stuff, which is more polished), but I thought Spring Fever was one of the better ones in that group. This comes with the ‘Yamada caveat’ though – she’s got a weird art style that doesn’t vibe with everyone, me included – but I can look past that for great stories.
Continue reading “SPRING FEVER (Yugi Yamada)”TAKE ME TO HEAVEN (Nase Yamato)
In which the book’s one and only sex scene takes place with the ghosts of the uke’s ancestors all watching. Phantovoyeurism?
Continue reading “TAKE ME TO HEAVEN (Nase Yamato)”LIVING FOR TOMORROW (Taishi Zaou)
In which Taishi Zaou, who often finds drawing sex scenes to be a hassle, has found a new way to take a shortcut – just have one guy dry hump the other and cum in his pants! Genius!
Continue reading “LIVING FOR TOMORROW (Taishi Zaou)”ELECTRIC HANDS (Taishi Zaou)
Do you like 12 year olds topping their high school stepbrothers? No? Well too bad, says Taishi Zaou, you thought you were just getting a story about a guy with sexy hands but then ZAP, surprise shota semes. Thankfully everyone having sex is here is past puberty, if that makes you feel better.
Continue reading “ELECTRIC HANDS (Taishi Zaou)”MYSTERIOUS LOVE (Taishi Zaou)
Masafumi Tamura has had premonition dreams all his life that can predict illnesses, accidents, and deaths, but the strongest and most distatateful of these dreams that plagued him during middle school is one in which another boy lovingly fucks his asshole for hours on end. His first day of high school, the exact boy from his dream appears in one of his classes, setting Tamura off into an anxious spiral about his sexuality.
Continue reading “MYSTERIOUS LOVE (Taishi Zaou)”