A new segment I like to call--Yaoi Review!

So, given all the money I spend on the slew of yaoi and shonen-ai titles coming out in the US these days, I have decided to incorporate a regular review section for new boy-love manga. For my first review I have to start by giving mad props to Digital Manga, the press from which all three of these graphic novels come to our English-speaking shores. DMP is a fairly new press, which I became aware of at Yaoi-Con 2004 when I bought Only the Ring Finger Knows. I really enjoyed that particular manga and decided to keep an eye on what DMP would be publishing in the future. Well, in no time flat they were announcing a whole batch of yaoi manga that they would be bringing to nerdy fangirls like myself. I highly recommend peeking at their website, which lists all their upcoming and newly acquired titles. These bitches will be getting a shitload of money out of me over the next year! http://www.yaoi-manga.com/

Ahem. So, onto the review. First up is Naduki Koujima's Our Kingdom vol. 1. Let me just say, hurrah! More volumes to come! I really enjoyed this manga and hoped that it would in fact be a series. It has a 16+ rating, but the sexual content is pretty mild. The premise of the story is that Akira (dark haired lad) is now an orphan, having lost his parents and then his maternal grandmother who took care of him for many years. He unexpectedly discovers that his fraternal grandmother is still alive and wants to meet him (he basically knew nothing about his father's family). Soon he is whisked away to a large mansion (where he frequently gets lost) to meet said grams. It turns out the family is mega-wealthy and he is set to be groomed as one of the potential candidates to take over the family business some day. Shy country bumpkin Akira is initially appalled by his rude grandma however (she's one of those rich snooty matriarch types) and threatens to leave. But he's convinced to stay by none other than his heretofore unknown cousin Rei (the blonde lad) who also lives in the mansion. It turns out Rei is his competition for succession of the family business, but Rei has no interest in that. Instead, he's much more interested in his shy cousin. Okay, he's more than interested. He's totally in lurve with him in no time flat (note: it's interesting that Rei is blonde, because he is clearly being set up as the seme--a role usually assigned to the darker haired one in the duo). Akira is the more oblivious character, not really understanding why his cousin is kissing him all the time. But that's all good, because Rei has time to win over his little cousin...or does he? Enter "evil" competition--Raoul! To add to the already unusual family dynamic, he happens to be Rei's nephew (although they are roughly the same age). Well, good old Raoul has a lot of pent up hatred for Rei (not entirely clear why) and decides to take it out on him by hurting what he loves...namely, Akira. This amounts to kidnapping and attempting to...er...molest the poor young lad. But remember, this is rated 16+ folks, so nothing major happens. It's a lot more innuendo and some partial nudity. Rei of course comes to the rescue just in time, saving Akira from the clutches of evil Raoul and then staking claim to his boy. Cue some kissing and suggestive heavy petting--but no sex, alas. I have a feeling that might come in volume 2 though. Instead, Akira finally realizes that he loves Rei and wants to be with him too. But he's the shy virginal type, so he's not ready for the hot and heavy just yet. We shall see how long that lasts! What I find most interesting about this manga is that the incestuous nature of Rei and Akira's amour is not really discussed or perceived as problematic in any way. I can't wait to see what happens in volume 2, because with the big old gothic Japanese mansion, scary old grandmas, evil nephews, and amorous cousins this narrative reads like V.C. Andrews yaoi style!

If you liked that gothic tidbit, let me now turn to Chigusa Kawai's La Esperanca. I liked the artwork in this manga the best of all three. There are definite shades of Angel Sanctuary at work in some panels and quite frankly the seme is hot. This is the first yaoi manga that I've come across in the US recently that employs the "European boarding school for boys" plot. This was of course very popular with early shonen-ai in the 1970s, but I was a little surprised to see it in a more contemporary manga. The story takes place in a religious boarding school, complete with priests and nuns and the requisite holy chapel with stained glass windows. Enter our uke, a meek and mild blondie named "Georges" (so French, n'est-ce pas?). Georges is all that is pure and good--namely he's a virtous boy who all the nuns love and who the teachers adore. He is perfect in every way. Or is he? Enter our seme, the way hot "Robert." He's a complete and total bad boy. He's also evidently a bit older than the other boys. Immediately speculative rumors begin to circulate about him--namely, he got into some trouble and hasn't been to school in a while (hence the age gap). Robert is remaining mum on the subject, however. But he does project a great deal of hostility about his current circumstances. Not only does he not follow dress code (gasp!) but he ditches class and gets into fights. Not only that, but he causes sweet little Georges a great deal of confusion. Because of the religious setting of the narrative, Robert figures as something of a fallen or dark angel trying to corrupt Georges. He causes Georges to question himself and his character throughout the story. Eventually, however, they become friends and Georges realizes that he has learned a lot from Robert that is helping him to find true happiness in his life (Georges has some major guilt over the sins of his father that haunt him). Georges considers their relationship a friendship, but it's clear that Robert has some...er...unholy urges when it comes to the fair-haired lad. Jealousy rears its ugly head when a new silver haired boy enters the school and Georges is assigned to be his "official" friend by the principal. Our new boy is Frederick (Freddy) the son of royalty! And after some initial angst, takes a liking to Georges as well and doesn't want to share him with Robert. Georges, of course, remains relatively oblivious to the jealous tension between Freddy and Robert and tries to make everyone "get along." But more serious trouble is brewing in the background. A mysterious student seems to know Robert and they get into a bit of a brawl over some past event which is not fully disclosed. We do learn, however, that a young woman died. And Robert feels pretty guilty about whatever happened. It looks like the mystery dude will continue to make trouble in volume 2... This was a good first volume in the series, setting up background and leaving plenty of interesting plot twists that the reader wants to see resolved. There's also quite a bit of drama--of the injured hero sort. Robert tends to get himself beaten and battered quite a bit, and then has to resist jumping Georges whenever he comes to check on his injured friend. Robert and mystery dude are the most interesting characters so far. Georges is a bit too annoyingly saccharine for my taste, but he might improve as the story continues.

Last, but not least, we come to Tomo Maeda's Beyond My Touch. This is a really cute stand-alone text. Rated 16+, I have to say I think it warranted a 13+ rating instead. There's no sexual content, but whatever. This rating system seems rather arbitrary in my opinion. The premise of this story is classic shoujo. Namely, dead classmate comes back to haunt other classmate whom they secretly loved. In this case, however, it's a boy in love with a boy. Plucky, happy-go-lucky Mamoru dies with regret in his heart. He never told, quiet and reserved Mizuno how he felt. When Mizuno goes to his fellow classmate's funeral, he discovers that Mamoru isn't quite gone yet. His ghost is still here and set on sticking close to Mizuno. What he really wants is to kiss Mizuno and then he can rest peacefully. Mizuno refuses and so begins their stand off. The ghost moves into Mizuno's lonely house (mom is dead, dad works and travels a lot) and slowly works his way into Mizuno's repressed heart. It's only once Mamoru seems to be fading away that Mizuno can finally acknowledge his real feelings and kiss the cutie ghost. They then discover that Mamoru can seemingly stay now that Mizuno has confessed his feelings and the two plan to stay together HEA. Quite a cute and romantic story. I could see this going over well with the tween audience. The artwork wasn't super exciting, but the narrative kept me interested. There was one big unresolved issues however. Namely, how did Mamoru die? It's never explained. That kind of irked me. But I like to know details I suppose. There were two little separate stories at the end that were cute as well. I'll have to keep an eye out for any other work by Maeda-san because I'll probably buy it.

Okay, that's it for the manga review for now! I'll be back later this month when BeBeautiful brings out Embracing Love vol. 2!!!! I'm soooo excited, as this is one of my fave new series. And Kizuna vol. 5 as well! Yay!