Yaoi manga reviews and fujoshi ramblings
This story exists in a reality where if you’re an attractive young man, every single rich old man wants to have sex with you. This is also a completely normally occurrence to close business deals. Uhh, alrighty then! Let’s dive into the world of Hollywo-*cough* Hot Limit!
Continue reading “HOT LIMIT (Kanbe/Shima)”
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)”
Continuing to read through Deux Press collection and today we have a title from Yuuya, who did a pretty wild title called Endless Rain from DMP. FreshMen wasn’t bad but it was much more restrained in terms of content, and someone hoping for a title like Rain might be disappointed. However, there’s still pretty men, decent art, and a ton of sex, so plenty to feast your eyes on in here.
Continue reading “FRESHMEN (Yuuya)”
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)”
If you love nothing more than the idea of hot salarymen smoking cigarettes plus smoking each other’s poles, Deux Press has a manga for you. Maybe the only manga for you, at least in English. Cigarette Kisses may *seem* like bad BL trash, but let me subvert your expectations: it’s good BL trash. Totally different thing! It’s not really that trashy though, it’s actually a serious drama, with gay sex. Let’s go with that.
Continue reading “CIGARETTE KISSES (Nase Yamato)”
You may have noticed I’ve been reviewing a lot of Yamada titles lately, in fact I think I’ve pretty much reviewed all her stuff we have in English at this point except for Close the Last Door. The second volume of that is sort of valuable so I’m saving it for last, because that means it might actually be good. Not that the rest of her stuff I’ve read is awful, it’s turned out to be a pretty mixed bag – generally she has good characters and thoughtful stories, but not super appealing art (It is worth mentioning again though that her more recent work is decidedly better-looking, although we don’t have any in English).
Continue reading “GLASS SKY (Yugi Yamada)”
I picked this one off my shelf because it was raining. I guess there’s no better time to read it?
I was fooled by the cover and title of this one. I thought there would be sweetness and romance, but instead there was…rape and murder. Close enough?
Continue reading “ENDLESS RAIN (Yuuya)”
After the death of their parents, Kohei became an overprotective brother to his younger sister Chieko. But when she got married against his will and brought her husband Shingo to live with them, Kohei had trouble letting his sister go and mostly avoided the newlyweds. Then tragedy struck – Chieko was suddenly killed in a traffic accident and now Kohei is stuck sharing both his personal tragedy and his living space with Shingo, the brother-in-law he hates.
This is a really, really good BL story idea, no? With such a great concept, what could possibly go wrong?
Continue reading “SWEET REGARD (Juji Fusa)”
It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a Naduki Koujima title, the last one was Naughty but Nice which was another of her early works like this one. Our Kingdom is one of her most well-known manga despite being sort of incomplete, and it embodies all the things you can usually find in her work – school settings, rapey semes, cute little big-eyed ukes, and uncomfortable power-imbalanced relationships between them. Oh yeah, and crotch grabbing and forceful handjobs. She really, really loves crotch grabbing and forceful handjobs…
Continue reading “OUR KINGDOM (Naduki Koujima)”
You would think by the title that this would be your average vampire yaoi, but you’d be wrong. It’s your…below-average 10-volume isekai trap yaoi featuring vampiric half-dragons (how many of those have you read?) that I originally dropped around volume 3 because it was so bad that I couldnt see myself getting through the whole thing. But after exiting the mudpit I decided to take a deep breath, rinse myself off, and promptly and regretfully get back in. Why in the name of red hot scaly dragon dick did I pick it back up? I’m still asking myself that question and I’m not sure actually…maybe I’m just a masochist, or I thought it would get better (spoiler: it does not get better). But really, it’s probably because it’s one of the things I’ve had in my collection for ages; it was one of my first manhwa. Those bright red spines have stared out at me for years…I had to do it justice by at least finishing it. A totally unnecessary sacrifice? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Not at all.
Continue reading “SWEET BLOOD (Seyoung Kim)”