15th Jun 2008
Yakuza In Love 2
Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
What is it about tattooed gangsters that makes me happy? Seriously. I spend half of my time when I’m reading this series staring at the utter prettiness of their ink.
This time around, we get a little more info on Aoi’s back story, and the relationship between him and Sakiya grows even stronger. There’s a lot of longing and lustful looks, but no real consummation of the relationship.
Now, here’s where it starts getting really good. The other half of the book revolves around Junki, otherwise known as slutty Mr. Blondie, his back story and why he behaves the way he does.
Junki’s brother was part of a gang and used to bring his fellow gang member Chihiro around the house. Junki was never too impressed with the fact that his brother was in a gang and that Chihiro was one of the gang members, but everyone got along pretty well. Now, Junki’s brother never wanted him to join the gang, he wanted something better for him. But, after his brother’s death at the hands of rival gangsters, Junki rebelled and joined a gang to find his revenge.
At this point, Junki’s feelings towards Chihiro grew stronger and Junki wanted to attempt a relationship, but Chihiro always turned him away. It seems that he never saw Junki as anything more as a friend. This leads Junki to look for gratification elsewhere…
I do so enjoy unrequited love, there’s so much potential for angst. I shouldn’t enjoy the misery of these characters so much, but I do. Oh, I still want them to find a happy ending at some point, but I’m really enjoying reading about them making themselves miserable in the mean time.
[...] he sees potential for improvement, at Read About Comics. The Boys Next Door blog posts reviews of vol. 2 of Yakuza in Love and vol. 1 of Tea For Two. At The Yaoi Review, Sakura Kiss throws in her two cents on vol. 2 of [...]
Great, now I’m going to have pick up this series—even though her artwork makes me want to chew my feet. It’s weird, I’ve always dug her dialogue–but I hate her artwork. I enjoyed PBB better as a text file. :(
But all this talk of guns and Yakuza…
Tina, you really should check it out. I think you would like this one.
I love this series. OK, I love everything by Shiuko Kano. Even though she occaisionally gives her characters really long necks and funky ears, her plots and the emotions she gives her characters have so much depth for me. I have taken this second book and read it quite a few times like a junkie for the emotions it brings out. I think you nailed this review and look forward to more of your recommendations.
[...] public links >> yakuza Yakuza In Love 2 Saved by OIC on Tue 28-10-2008 The World Around US Saved by Spanishqueen20 on Mon 27-10-2008 GC [...]