…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)”HANKY PANKY (Koreaki Kamuro)
This book is like a bad Chinese buffet, except with sex – there’s a whole lot of it, but none of it makes you go ‘yum!’, and you don’t really want seconds. Also you may have just eaten fried dog in that chef’s special.
Continue reading “HANKY PANKY (Koreaki Kamuro)”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)”A PLACE IN THE SUN (Lala Takemiya)
The most interesting thing about this manga is that one character’s love interest is a garbage man and you learn interesting tidbits about how dangerous of a job it is. I’m not sure what that says about the actual romances that that’s what I found most interesting, but hey, always wrap chopsticks in paper when you throw them away or else they could break and turn into little mini daggers and kill someone.
Continue reading “A PLACE IN THE SUN (Lala Takemiya)”GLASS SKY (Yugi Yamada)
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)”PICNIC (Yugi Yamada)
Yugi Yamada usually has decent stories, but they tend to be very slow slice-of-lifes. This, however, was a book of one-shots, so it forced her to speed things up. I think her story ideas and characters are her strong suit, so having more of that helped overcome the things she doesn’t do well, namely…drawing. It’s no secret I’m not a big fan of Yamada’s art, but this mainly applies to her earlier work like this – her art definitely gets more polished later on while still bearing her stylistic signature, although we don’t really have her most recent stuff in English.
Continue reading “PICNIC (Yugi Yamada)”THE FIRST STAGE OF LOVE (Kazuhiko Mishima)
Is your new year’s resolution to read more bad yaoi hanging around in your collection that you can get rid of, or is that just me? Honestly, making a half-hearted attempt at getting in shape like normal people would probably be easier than that. I have read yaoi at the gym before though, so perhaps I can combine the two – I used to bring a volume with a discreet cover to read while I was on the elliptical or bike. Nothing like burning through gay porn while burning calories! The Yaoi Bike 801, now with a detachable dildo on the seat, for only the classiest ladies obviously.
Continue reading “THE FIRST STAGE OF LOVE (Kazuhiko Mishima)”PART-TIME PETS (Reno Amagi)
The back of the books calls this ‘one of the hottest, silliest yaoi manga ever written!’ Well me set the record straight right now, this has about as much truth to it as Epstein having killed himself. Not that most people actually take the marketing lines on book covers with anything but a grain of salt, but I’m seriously doubtful that whoever wrote that actually read this because it should, without a doubt, have a little official-looking seal somewhere on the cover that says ‘Certified Crap.’ I mean, that would probably only appeal to people like me who think it’s fun to play on the garbage pile, but least it wouldn’t be false advertising.
Continue reading “PART-TIME PETS (Reno Amagi)”