wednesday (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wednesday_10_00) wrote2007-05-26 10:10 pm
wednesday_10_00) wrote2007-05-26 10:10 pm
Entry tags:
Backlogged manga/novel report, part 1
I wrote most of this so long ago I totally forgot what was in it, and after re-reading it, I have to say I don't think it will be of any help to certain people's BK1 orders. But, for your reading pleasure(?):
Manga:
Nana 17 - Yazawa Ai (heh...)
I'm starting to think this series isn't for me. First of all, the author seems set on wrecking all the relationships I like (at this rate, even Junko and Kyousuke seem in danger)...I'm not sure if this is part of a "friendship is more reliable/important than romance" message or what, but it's getting annoying. Also, Hachi's Narration of Doom, along with the clips from the future (present?) are just plain stupid. It makes the whole manga feel like a countdown to disaster. Knowing that some mega-angsty event is coming only takes away any impact it might have had. That being said, I still like the characters and humor, so I'll probably keep reading it.
Korekara Doushiyou? - Sakura Haiji (meh!)
There are two different stories here, one about high school friends who coincidentally meet at their new company, and one about lovers who broke up and meet again several years later. I like Sakura Haiji, and I can't quite place my finger on why these stories don't do anything for me, but I just didn't care about the characters as couples. They're fun characters and it made me laugh, but there was no "awww ♥" feeling.
Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki (bunko version, 5 vol.) - Kodaka Kazuma (sweh)
I avoided this one for years because I had seen the OAV and was unimpressed, plus I was convinced that I didn't really like Kodaka anyway because of Kizuna (ha ha...more on that later). But a friend had told me it was cute and funny, and the bunko versions seemed like a good opportunity to try it out. I was won over pretty quickly when I realized that the OAV is really more of a prologue than anything else. It really is cute and funny; I loved watching Atsushi grow up(though I would have been just as happy if he stayed a cute little uke) and Masayoshi work past his stupid issues. (Probably the one thing that bothered me about the series was Inagaki's unwanted advances...I think they were supposed to provide comic relief, but mostly I just found them annoying. Like, I wanted to kick him annoying.) Also, I think this manga holds some sort of record for most volumes of a BL manga without sex. Not having the original volumes I'm not sure how many it was, but I'm pretty sure it's more than any other series I can think of. (Unless you count things like Koori, which you shouldn't.) It really made me appreciate the value of more gradual relationship growth; I think BL today is so dominated by one shots that we don't see enough of this anymore.
(Side note: I never did quite understand the Shibata family tree. Was it their mother or father who was half Japanese? Also, I'm holding myself back from a long rant about how blond hair is RECESSIVE, etc, etc.)
Renai Hoteishiki - Kodaka Kazuma (heh)
[I actually only got this recently, but it seems relevant to add.] This is basically Kusakyo: The Next Generation. The main character is Inagaki Megumu (Kouji and Yuriko's son), who is in his second year in junior high. And the romantic interest is Tohru's nephew (in his first year of junior high), so the both of them go to the characters from Kusakyo for advice, which is kind fun. But to be honest, I probably would have given this a "meh," (because it's WAY too triangly and Megu is an idiot) but near the end, when Sakurai is assuring Manabe that just because he's gay, he's not going to do anything to make him uncomfortable, and Manabe's face gets all red, my brain went all explody (like, MANABE LOVE!!!!) so I'm bumping it up a grade. It's a shame that the chapter about Sakurai and Manabe (from Phoenix 3) isn't in this volume, but I will instead take that as a sign that there'll be a whole volume about them (please please I hope?).
Dear Green - Hitomi no Ou no wa 2 - Fujiyama Hyouta (meh)
I liked the original Dear Green manga, but this prequel about how the main characters got together feels...slow and dull. Also, when I got to the end, I was like, "Wait, it's not over yet?" I do like that it's Otoumi, who in the original story seemed like the more passive one in the relationship, is making all the moves...but other than that, I don't have much good to say about it.
Novels:
Kodomo no Hitomi - Konohara Narise, Machiko Madoka (meh)
(See also:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
insaneneko's review/summary) I...I...Where does this woman come up with her ideas? Seriously. I wasn't sure whether I liked this or just felt creeped out. The idea of Hitoshi suffering head trauma and regressing to a six year old so that Misaki wouldn't hold a grudge about his previous actions is certainly intriguing, and was kind of cute at first. But when they start bringing sex into the equation, I just couldn't get past the fact that, mentally, Hitoshi was only SIX. So it was like...a shouta seme? ("Oniichan, let's make babies!" x.x) That weirdness aside...I would have liked a sequel from Hitoshi's POV. I really wanted to get inside his head and have some questions answered, like: Did he always love Misaki as more than a brother, or was it only after they started living together? What was he thinking after he got hit by the bike and got his memories back? Was he going to try to pretend to act like a kid?
I actually liked the sequel that was included (about Joutarou and his teacher) a lot better than the main story...right up until the end. It was really sweet and believable, and I wanted SO much for things to work out for them...or at least not end like it did. The beginning of the story sets things up so that you know Doumoto runs away from Joutarou, so I was kind of bracing myself for a bitter-sweet kind of ending. And then, just before the end, there's this little "seven years later" heading, and I was filled with hope that things would work out after all. But no...instead we see that Doumoto never felt as strongly about anyone as he did Joutarou (!! T_T) and that Joutarou did start boxing after all (A sure sign that he doesn't give up easily and probably would have stuck with Doumoto, if you ask me), and then Doumoto thinks he can finally forget and move on because...Joutarou doesn't look the same anymore...!? They don't even talk, WTF? I DEMAND A HAPPI ENDO.
So basically...I would like this book a million times better if there was a sequel. *sulk*
(Side note: I think it's interesting that I find the shouta-ish parts of the first story kind of creepy, andinsaneneko didn't like the shoutaness of the second story, which didn't bother me at all because there was no sex.)
Koibito wa Fukigen na Ehon Sakka - Tono Haruhi, Asato Eiri (heh...)
Why is Asato Eiri drawing this instead of finishing Private Prince? I got this thinking it was a crabby uke story, but it turned out that the grumpy picture book author was the seme. Ahh... But then it turned out that he was not so much grumpy as quiet and bad at expressing himself, so that was okay. Yoshimasa starts out being hired as Nobuyuki's housekeeper, and it was cute how he was kind of a neat freak. I liked that the characters weren't cardboard cutouts; I kept expecting them to fit certain BL cliches and they never did. Bonding over Nobuyuki's books might have been cute, except that the author never described the books at all, so that felt kind of...empty to me. Also, Nobuyuki's relationship with his stepbrother (they're lovers because the brother is totally in love and Nobuyuki didn't feel like turning him down) was kind of gross. There was really no story to speak of, and while I liked the characters okay, they weren't quite enough to carry the book by themselves.
Manga:
Nana 17 - Yazawa Ai (heh...)
I'm starting to think this series isn't for me. First of all, the author seems set on wrecking all the relationships I like (at this rate, even Junko and Kyousuke seem in danger)...I'm not sure if this is part of a "friendship is more reliable/important than romance" message or what, but it's getting annoying. Also, Hachi's Narration of Doom, along with the clips from the future (present?) are just plain stupid. It makes the whole manga feel like a countdown to disaster. Knowing that some mega-angsty event is coming only takes away any impact it might have had. That being said, I still like the characters and humor, so I'll probably keep reading it.
Korekara Doushiyou? - Sakura Haiji (meh!)
There are two different stories here, one about high school friends who coincidentally meet at their new company, and one about lovers who broke up and meet again several years later. I like Sakura Haiji, and I can't quite place my finger on why these stories don't do anything for me, but I just didn't care about the characters as couples. They're fun characters and it made me laugh, but there was no "awww ♥" feeling.
Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki (bunko version, 5 vol.) - Kodaka Kazuma (sweh)
I avoided this one for years because I had seen the OAV and was unimpressed, plus I was convinced that I didn't really like Kodaka anyway because of Kizuna (ha ha...more on that later). But a friend had told me it was cute and funny, and the bunko versions seemed like a good opportunity to try it out. I was won over pretty quickly when I realized that the OAV is really more of a prologue than anything else. It really is cute and funny; I loved watching Atsushi grow up
(Side note: I never did quite understand the Shibata family tree. Was it their mother or father who was half Japanese? Also, I'm holding myself back from a long rant about how blond hair is RECESSIVE, etc, etc.)
Renai Hoteishiki - Kodaka Kazuma (heh)
[I actually only got this recently, but it seems relevant to add.] This is basically Kusakyo: The Next Generation. The main character is Inagaki Megumu (Kouji and Yuriko's son), who is in his second year in junior high. And the romantic interest is Tohru's nephew (in his first year of junior high), so the both of them go to the characters from Kusakyo for advice, which is kind fun. But to be honest, I probably would have given this a "meh," (because it's WAY too triangly and Megu is an idiot) but near the end, when Sakurai is assuring Manabe that just because he's gay, he's not going to do anything to make him uncomfortable, and Manabe's face gets all red, my brain went all explody (like, MANABE LOVE!!!!) so I'm bumping it up a grade. It's a shame that the chapter about Sakurai and Manabe (from Phoenix 3) isn't in this volume, but I will instead take that as a sign that there'll be a whole volume about them (please please I hope?).
Dear Green - Hitomi no Ou no wa 2 - Fujiyama Hyouta (meh)
I liked the original Dear Green manga, but this prequel about how the main characters got together feels...slow and dull. Also, when I got to the end, I was like, "Wait, it's not over yet?" I do like that it's Otoumi, who in the original story seemed like the more passive one in the relationship, is making all the moves...but other than that, I don't have much good to say about it.
Novels:
Kodomo no Hitomi - Konohara Narise, Machiko Madoka (meh)
(See also:
insaneneko's review/summary) I...I...Where does this woman come up with her ideas? Seriously. I wasn't sure whether I liked this or just felt creeped out. The idea of Hitoshi suffering head trauma and regressing to a six year old so that Misaki wouldn't hold a grudge about his previous actions is certainly intriguing, and was kind of cute at first. But when they start bringing sex into the equation, I just couldn't get past the fact that, mentally, Hitoshi was only SIX. So it was like...a shouta seme? ("Oniichan, let's make babies!" x.x) That weirdness aside...I would have liked a sequel from Hitoshi's POV. I really wanted to get inside his head and have some questions answered, like: Did he always love Misaki as more than a brother, or was it only after they started living together? What was he thinking after he got hit by the bike and got his memories back? Was he going to try to pretend to act like a kid?I actually liked the sequel that was included (about Joutarou and his teacher) a lot better than the main story...right up until the end. It was really sweet and believable, and I wanted SO much for things to work out for them...or at least not end like it did. The beginning of the story sets things up so that you know Doumoto runs away from Joutarou, so I was kind of bracing myself for a bitter-sweet kind of ending. And then, just before the end, there's this little "seven years later" heading, and I was filled with hope that things would work out after all. But no...instead we see that Doumoto never felt as strongly about anyone as he did Joutarou (!! T_T) and that Joutarou did start boxing after all (A sure sign that he doesn't give up easily and probably would have stuck with Doumoto, if you ask me), and then Doumoto thinks he can finally forget and move on because...Joutarou doesn't look the same anymore...!? They don't even talk, WTF? I DEMAND A HAPPI ENDO.
So basically...I would like this book a million times better if there was a sequel. *sulk*
(Side note: I think it's interesting that I find the shouta-ish parts of the first story kind of creepy, and
insaneneko didn't like the shoutaness of the second story, which didn't bother me at all because there was no sex.)Koibito wa Fukigen na Ehon Sakka - Tono Haruhi, Asato Eiri (heh...)
no subject
no subject
I hate to say it, but (depending on your definition of "consummation") you're going to have a long wait on the Masa/Kai thing, problems with Be Beautiful or not.
no subject
I didn't really like Kodaka anyway because of Kizuna
Masa hater! No wonder your hearts won't display. They're tarnished by hating on Masa.
I think this manga holds some sort of record for most volumes of a BL manga without sex.
Are you counting the Tohru/Masami scene (the one where Masayoshi and Atsushi eavesdrop) as the first sexual encounter? That's volume 4.
I think BL today is so dominated by one shots that we don't see enough [gradual relationship growth] anymore.
But why is BL dominated by one-shots? Is it because the readers' expectations are set to immediate sexual gratification? When Biblos *RIP* first started publishing KKnH in 1993, there was no BL industry, and "June" stories were more likely to be sweet than spicy. They were also more likely to feature high school characters than adults, so in that sense, Kusakyo: The Next Generation is a reflection of past times.
Anyway, would today's BL readers let a series survive for several volumes on sweet kisses and indecision? Or has Harudaki changed the landscape?
(I always want to camel case Japanese word smooshes: KusaKyo and HaruDaki.)
no subject
No, no! See (I was going to save this for a later report, but what the heck, I'm the last BL fan to read Kizuna anyway, so who cares?) my hate was based entirely on the first volume. And by the time I got to the side story at the end, I was like, "Story about Kai!? Whatever!" and tossed the manga aside. (The incident with Kai and aphrodisiaced!Ran was what made me lose all hope for liking the series.) So I never really even saw Masa. It was much later, when you kept talking about how much you loved him that I decided to give the series a second chance. (That and the fact that when I gave Harudaki another chance I ended up loving it.) This is all highly amusing to me now because Kai turned out to be my favorite character (I'm convinced that it was alien mind control that made him think he was ever in love with Ran, because really, why else would he?) and Masa and Kai's relationship is clearly the best thing ever.
(Side note: I seem to notice a trend with my favorite characters being the boyfriends of your favorite characters. Hmmm.)
Also, do the hearts display if I do this: ♥♥?
Are you counting the Tohru/Masami scene (the one where Masayoshi and Atsushi eavesdrop) as the first sexual encounter?
No, because they get interrupted before anything really happens. I'm thinking of much later, um...after the thing with Tohru's old girlfriend, I think?
Is it because the readers' expectations are set to immediate sexual gratification?
Yes, I think so. There are times when I feel like characters jump into bed too soon, just because there's some sort of "one sex scene per chapter" expectation.
Anyway, would today's BL readers let a series survive for several volumes on sweet kisses and indecision?
Maybe not. I remember a few years ago, when
BloodRapunzel and Ishuca at Shoujocon, and there was this one girl who, when told what series we were from, said something like, "Oh, that one. I stopped reading that because it seemed like they were never going to get it on."Personally, I'm more likely to get bored when there's too much sex. Can't there be a happy medium?
I always want to camel case Japanese word smooshes: KusaKyo and HaruDaki.
That's probably more acturate, actually. I mean, there are no capitals in Japanese, so if you're going to add one, it makes sense to add two. I think...*checks* Yep, Viz does that with Hanakimi. Well, they also add a hyphen.
no subject
We have perfectly complimentary tastes, which is why my bookshelves crush on your bookshelves. I kind of like the Ranma-crush for its Enjouji annoyance value. The brothers' relationship is one of my favorite things about Kizuna. The street scene with them (in volume 5? I have to not talk manga at work) when Enjouji says that Kai looks homesick and should call Masa...awww.
Also, do the hearts display if I do this: ♥♥?
Here's what I see: | |. But all interactive spaces (like this composition field or Firefox's embedded search feature) display the hearts. I shall have to research this.
Rapunzel and Ishuca
なかよし！
"Oh, that one. I stopped reading that because it seemed like they were never going to get it on."
When it comes to Tosuisha's milder titles, I would have appreciated more overt romance in Jinjuu Houretsuden and Silver Diamond, but Koori is perfect. I wonder why seeing characters getting it on was so important to that person? (I mean, was she in it for the porn, or did she feel a CLAMP-effect where any unconsummated relationship seemed more like a tease than a romance?)
no subject
Move along. Nothing to see here.
no subject
My bookshelves are shy but I think they secretly reciprocate.
The brothers' relationship is one of my favorite things about Kizuna.
Yes! They're so adorable together. I also love how much power Kai has over yakuza. The scene in volume 10 where he goes to pick up Masa is hilarious.
Here's what I see: | |.
Hmm. I was experimenting to see if it made any difference whether I typed in the code or pasted from the character map, but obviously not. I wonder if it's just hearts, or does it include other codey things (like Léon > Léonie or I ♠ my cat)?
I would have appreciated more overt romance in Jinjuu Houretsuden and Silver Diamond
Yes.
but Koori is perfect.
Yes! (We need a Unibrain icon.) In fact, I don't think I could even handle a smutty Koori doujinshi (especially Blood/Ishuca). ._.
I wonder why seeing characters getting it on was so important to that person?
I think we were too stunned to question her further. (Also, we were in an elevator, which doesn't make for long conversations.) But I wish now that we had.