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?
NOODLE SHOP AFFAIR (CJ Michalski)
Well, there’s no sex, but there’s…ramen. And yakuza. rakuza? yamen?
Kakeru is the son of a local ramen shop owner, who is forced to take over the restaurant after the Osakaki yakuza took both his parents from him. Ukyo, the heir to the Tatsumori yakuza family, falls in love with Kakeru at first sight and desperately wants to make him his. Only one problem – Kakeru hates yakuza for ruining his family. Ukyo then decides to go undercover and help Kakeru with the restaurant to try to steal his heart and show him that not all yakuza are bad guys.
Continue reading “NOODLE SHOP AFFAIR (CJ Michalski)”FRESHMEN (Yuuya)
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)”TOMCATS (Mashiro Minamino)
For people that only read the shiny-new-fully-loaded-red-convertible-“BL4LYFE”-vanity-plate version of BL, the sort of yaoi that SuBLime and Kuma and Seven Seas put out, they may not realize just how bad some of these older and obscure 70s-wood-bodied-station-wagon-with-bullet-holes sort of BL titles that Kitty and Deux put out can be. That’s what this blog is for guys, I read the crap so you don’t have to! I have bullet proof armor when it comes to bad BL, at least I thought I did. This one though….dear Rod Hardsteel from Deux Press, I eagerly await my medal of honor in the mail for all my fallen brain cells lost in combat while reading this.
Continue reading “TOMCATS (Mashiro Minamino)”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)”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)”CIGARETTE KISSES (Nase Yamato)
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)”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)”THE DEVIL INSIDE (Rico Fukiyama)
A much better and more descriptive title for this book would be “The Cure for Insomnia.” Badum-tisch. Unless you really love bad and boring shounen-ai in which case, come on in ye olde blog post, I’ve got something for you. Or if you were the seme of this book you’d say “I got sumthin’ fer ya.” Yeah, they really made him talk like that the whole book.
Continue reading “THE DEVIL INSIDE (Rico Fukiyama)”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)”