Boys Next Door Reviews

Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

Oh, Makoto Tateno, how I adore thee. Your art is beautiful, your releases have graphic sex scenes and you suck me in with your convoluted plot twists. I’m always sad to see one of your series end, but I take comfort in the fact that you’re a fairly prolific artist, so I’ll always have something new to look forward to.

So, we’ve come to the last volume of Hero Heel. In this volume, we’ve got the series that the boys are acting in coming to a close. They’re getting ready to film the two-part series finale, but our main actors don’t seem to want to let it go. As you may remember, our two leads are really good at transforming their feelings for each other into meaningless sex and fake relationships with others while trying to keep the other one from knowing their true feelings.

Okay, lust like this has always been one of my buttons. I love the angst that’s involved with two characters wanting each other, but taking out their frustrations and wants on surrogate bodies. Don’t ask me why, but it just does it for me.

During the filming of the finale, Sawada is injured on set and does his best to hide the extent of his injury. Minami, being highly attuned to Sawada, because of course, Sawada is the one that he wants to be screwing, goes to make sure that Sawada is really okay. This prompts the guys to really examine their feelings and evaluate what it is that they’re hiding from.

There’s a happy ending and things all work out in the way that BL novels usually do. However, it’s a fun ride getting there and a ride that Tateno can take me on any day!

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

I know all about the Youka Nitta scandal. I think she pulled a dumb-ass move and am glad that she’s taking a break for a while. This doesn’t mean that I hope that she’ll never work again or that I’m going to shun her work. Even though her faces look very similar, I still like the style. I like her characters and I like how she writes.

I’m going to be really cranky if she doesn’t finish Embracing Love because I want to know what happens, dammit! Let’s not get into the fact that the company that had the licence for Embracing Love managed to fuck everything up royally and that no one has stepped in to buy up the licences. No, I’m not bitter about that one; not at all.

That being said, White Brand is not one of my favorite Nitta releases. It’s good and it’s going directly to the keeper shelf, but it’s not one that I’m drooling over. It doesn’t have some of the over-emotional storytelling that I’ve come to love nor the extremely graphic sex that has become one of Nitta’s hallmarks.

No, this is a collection of shorts about characters trying to find a place where they fit in and to find love at the same time. It’s sweet. In fact, sweet may be just about the perfect word to sum up this release–it’s not usually a word I associate with Nitta.

My favorite story revolved around the American who went to Japan to learn the art of lacquering. He apprentices with a Japanese master and proceeds to work his way up through the ranks even though all of the other apprentices think that he’s never going to make it solely because he’s an American and can’t truly understand the Japanese aesthetic.

However, the master’s son appreciates his American guest and wants to see him succeed. Well, okay, he wants to do more than see him succeed–he wants to get fucked five ways to Sunday, but as this is a fairly non-graphic release, so we’re concentrating on his PG-rated wants.

Now, of course our young man gets what he wants and our American finds success. So, we have a happy ending, but there are all of these angsty little bits that make me want to care about the characters and their happiness. This is why this one is staying on my keeper shelf.

Say what you want about Nitta. I’m going to keep following her work, hoping that she’s learned her lesson and will make a return to manga soon.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

I love Duo Brand. The art is gorgeous and the stories, while not always being graphic, are always full of great emotions and interesting plot twists. It may be a generic love story that she’s telling, but she always makes it seem fresh and interesting. This is something that I greatly appreciate because after reviewing manga for this long, the banal stories just seem to blend together and make me cranky. It’s so nice to have something that sparkles and makes me excited about writing reviews.

This release opens up with the story of a priest and his assistant charged with exorcising demons. The priest has a sword that helps him in his exorcisms, but they still leave him feeling weak and drained. His assistant, and his lover, wants him to take more care and to make sure he protects himself.

Don’t worry too much about the priest; see, there’s something that they don’t know yet and this is the thread that ties all of the stories together. Inside the sword is a spirit that isn’t going to let any harm come to the priest. In fact, there’s a whole brotherhood of spirits, living in swords, fighting and loving amongst themselves in the downtime they have between doing the jobs that they were forged to do.

The rest of the stories follow in the same vein, showcasing Duo Brand’s stoic semes and gorgeously vulnerable ukes. While I’m not always fond of the stereotypes being so well defined, there’s something about her characters that makes me accept it–even look forward to it.

Now, I vaguely remember reading scanlations of this a long time ago and thinking what a cute idea it was. June has kept the sweetness that I remember from the scanlations and has improved upon it. It’s actually pretty amazing how far June has come from their first releases with their fairly painful translations. While I still think they release too many school-boy romance titles, I’m pretty pleased with them as a publisher. I’m hoping that we get more Duo Brand stuff released here and soon. We need more quality stuff like this!

Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

Again, that faint squealing sound you hear in the distance? That’s the sound of me letting out a fangirl shriek for getting a copy of this in English. What can I say? Toko Kawai just does it for me. Sweet angsty stories, gorgeous art and bits of humor sprinkled in to keep me grinning, even while the characters are suffering.

Now, this isn’t one of her really angsty series, but it does have its moments and they strike me hard. If you’re not a Kawai fan already, you should be. She’s not as graphic as some of the other artists I sing the praises of, but the sheer quality of her work makes up for any lacking in smut.

When we last left Nishioka and Matsukawa, things seemed to be going well. They had started to admit their feelings and were well on their way to falling into bed on a regular basis. However, because this is the wonderful land of boy smut, things don’t always work out the way we want it to for our intrepid heroes.

Work pressures and rivalries throw obstacles in their way, making the path to a happy-ever-after seem further and further away. Of course, we’ve got a happy ending in there. This is the wonderful world of yaoi, but Kawai really makes them work for it.

I can’t rave enough about this artist and this series. She always goes directly to my keeper shelf.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

I’m a huge fan of kyūdō or the art of Japanese archery. Ever since I read Rin, I’ve thought that it was beautiful and an interesting plot device. That, combined with Takanaga’s storytelling and art, turns what is a basic and formulatic plot into something that’s really special.

Haru is a young teacher who’s subbing at a prestigious high school. That’s all well and good, but his problems arise when he’s asked to help coach the archery team. Haru used to be an accomplished archer, but quit suddenly for no apparent reason.

The reason for his abandonment of archery was because of his unrequited love for his best friend and fellow archer, Reiichiro. Seeing Reiichiro rattled Haru out of the necessary concentration needed for his sport, so to get away from his feelings, he walked out of Reiichiro’s life and archery.

It should come as no surprise that the star archer at the new school is Reiichiro’s younger brother, Tsukasa. It should also come as no surprise that Tsukasa has the hots for Haru. See where this is going? Now, the whole student/teacher thing is getting to be a bit old, but when done well, I still enjoy it. This release is a prime example of how to do it.

There’s no big surprises here, no deep revelations or plot twists, just a nice story that holds your interest and is drawn well. And, that really makes me happy.

Rating: ♦♦

I wanted to like this one because even though I’m really not fond of this artists style. I didn’t hate her other release, Love Me Sinfully, that Drama Queen brought over. However, looking at her style again I just can’t get past the odd proportions and angles. Top that off with a pretty crappy-ass plot and I’m not at all happy with this release. There’s nothing that really made me angry–it wasn’t bad enough for me to really want to start ranting–just kind of boring.

It could have been saved if the art was better, but this artist really doesn’t have the chops to compete with some of the other manga-ka that are being published over here. This week I’m reviewing books by Toko Kawai and Hinako Takanaga and Mio Tonnohji just can’t compare.

First, we have Himeshiro, who’s a bit of a slut. He’s known for never saying no to anyone–male or female. When Touru asks him out, Himeshiro immediately says yes, but dating isn’t the only thing on his mind. He’s got a battery of tests to put Touru through to see if his intentions are pure.

Now, Touru isn’t the most aggressive of people. The blurb on the back of the release calls him shy and timid. I’m hard pressed to find another way of describing him. Well, a virgin, blushing school-girl with a penis would be another way of describing him, but shy and timid works.

Timid little Touru goes along and passes every test that Himeshiro throws at him. Proving that his love is pure and that the best thing for Himeshiro would be to date him exclusively, pop his cherry and sail straight off into happy-ever-after land.

Yeah, there’s nothing really new and different here. Just a plot we’ve seen before and some really awkward facial expressions. 801 has some amazing stuff in their catalogue. This doesn’t live up to the quality I expect from them.

Rating: ♦♦♦

I’m torn between thinking that this release is too madcap, too silly to be tolerated and that it’s absolutely fucking brilliant. It’s rare that a release makes me laugh out loud, but this one did.

At the heart, it’s a really silly story. Masahiro is a law student who is madly in love with fellow student, Takane. Takane is a serial dater. He’s got all kinds of sex friends.

At first, Masahiro only wanted one night with Takane, but after he’s had him, he finds that he wants him all to himself. Now, he’s just got to convince Takane that sleeping with Masahiro and only Masahiro will keep him satisfied, but that the sex and their feelings is enough to keep Takane from getting bored. When one of Takane’s sex-friends proves more troublesome to shake than the others, it’s a full-out war for Takane’s affections with Masahiro leading the charge.

This really shouldn’t be as good as it is, but the things that these characters say and the lengths they will go to to achieve their goals make this one into a winner. Seriously, I thought I was going to hate this release. I’m so happy when I’m proved wrong.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

I really like Miyamoto even when she takes me places that I don’t expect or don’t really want to go. After reading all of these saccharine titles that have been coming out, it’s nice to have something that has an ending that isn’t happy ever after.

There’s Shiunomiya, who’s gorgeous, but lacking in the morals that most people have. He’s an art student in college which is where he meets student photographer, Matsuoka. After agreeing to pose nude for the photographer, Matsuoka ups the ante by asking Shiunomiya to sleep with him for some extra cash. Finding that he doesn’t hate male sex, Shiunomiya comes back for more and soon finds him prostituting himself for extra cash.

We’ve seen this before, right? Wrong. Yes, there’s sex and, yes, Matsuoka pulls Shiunomiya out, but the feelings don’t come through until it’s too late. Leaving Shiunomiya feeling for the first time with no outlet. So, with nothing to anchor him, Shiunomiya floats adrift.

It’s melancholy, beautiful and sweet–the perfect antidote to some of the crap that’s been coming out. It’s not one that I’m going to go back and read right away, it left me feeling too raw for that, but it is one that I will go back to when I’m in the mood for a good cry.

I’m really impressed by the releases that Deux is bringing over. I’ve been pretty much happy with everything that they’ve released so far. I’m not sure how long they can keep up this winning streak, but I’m going to keep following them.