Boys Next Door Reviews

Rating: ♦♦♦

Take everything you know about proper police procedure and throw it out the window. Of course, this being BL, this should not surprise anyone. But, there are times when I’m reading this genre that I have to step aside and remind myself that the laws of reality as I know them do not apply.

When we last left Shiiba, he was riding the high of enjoying sex with his ‘S,’ or informant. Now, don’t think that this was fully consensual sex. Shiiba’s S, Munechika, is blackmailing him into submission. Shiiba submits to Munechika’s sexual desires and Munechika informs on gun runners who are bringing weapons into Japan.

So, in this novel we have more of the same. Shiiba has another case to crack, Munechika is still doing his best to get under Shiiba’s skin and into his bed. Shiiba is resisting all the way, thinking that letting Munechika feel for him, and returning the feelings could only be bad for him and the investigation.

A misunderstanding leads Munechika to show Shiiba what emotionless sex is really like and kind of beats Shiiba into submission while doing so. I know that rape is a common plot device in BL and that in the world of BL, this is akin to Munechika declaring his unwavering devotion to Shiiba. At the same time, the feminist inside of me is screaming at Shiiba to fight back! To fuck the whole S system and tell Munechika just where he can shove it. See, it wasn’t the rape that bothered me, it was Shiiba getting smacked around before and during. It’s a small thing and something I can get over, but it still bothered me.

Even with that, I still find that the story is an enjoyable read and I’m looking forward to seeing where they go with the story in the final volume. I just have to grab any notion of reality that I might have and shove it down into a tiny box before I start reading.

Rating: ♦♦

All of a sudden, I feel like it’s the late ’80s and I’m browsing through some trashy romance novel. The ones in which some young, unsuspecting twit gets kidnapped by a sheik or sold to a sheik and the twit is turned into the jewel of the harem.

So, here we have the male version of this. A young, austere salary-man who has never forgotten his first love from college. His love, a young prince by the name of Aswil al-Murshid, left our young hero suddenly, but promised to someday to return. Now, our hero, Tomoyuki, has gotten on with his life, never thinking that Aswil will keep his promise. It should not come as a surprise to anyone that Aswil does keep his promise, but in his own way. He kidnaps Tomoyuki and brings him to his desert palace.

Thankfully, Tomoyuki isn’t fully your stereotypical uke, who will let Aswil get away with all of this nonsense without a fight. Half the fun of reading this release is seeing just how creative Tomoyuki can be in trying to escape Aswil’s clutches. Still, for being slightly amusing, it still reads like a really bad romance novel, complete with a wedding. It’s an easy read and a nice bit of fluff, but nothing that’s really special. In all honesty, I can’t stress the comparisons to a badly done romance novel enough.

I like romance novels, don’t get me wrong, but the harem/desert prince formula has never piqued my interest. Let’s not even get into the fact that when I’m reading my BL, I like for the characters to be male and to have male concerns. The only real issue that Tomoyuki faces is having to deal with Aswil’s fiance and being disguised as a girl to be snuck into the palace.

I think that those of you out there who enjoy the harem fantasy will like this one, but it will leave all but the most devoted of BL fans cold.

Rating: ♦♦♦

You know, there are some things that would just work better as a manga. Comic depictions of violence is one of them. This book is filled with things of that nature. Things that when you’re reading them are silly, but when you look at them in a manga, they register as being part of the story. Maybe it’s just me, but I find the idea of some giant yakuza guy kicking his subordinate in the side for saying something stupid to be much more silly when it’s drawn. Maybe years of watching Tom and Jerry have desensitized me to comedic violence when it’s drawn out.

We have our bumbling yakuza, Tatsurou. Well, okay, not really bumbling. He’s pretty good at what he does, which is collecting money for loan sharks, but he’s still not quite where he wants to be. Oh, he’s got the look, the suits and the voice that can make people quake in their shoes, but he still doesnt carry much respect.

When he’s called on to collect a debt from a business man who helped Tatsurou when he was younger, Tatsurou has a bit of a crisis of conscience. This leads his boss to up his demands for money, something that Tatsurou just can’t come up with. When he goes to drown his sorrows at a bar, he runs into an old high school acquaintance, Sagami. In a drunken stupor, Tatsurou tells all of his problems to Sagami, including his woes about being unable to collect the debt. Sagami decides to take matters into his own hands and burns up the promissory note for the business, leaving Tatsurou with no way to collect on the funds.

See, Sagami has a secret. He’s been in love with Tatsurou ever since they faced each other in kendo competitions when they were younger. Sagami now owns the company, Lovely, which specializes in giving high risk loans. Lovely will sometimes use the yakuza to help collect on the debt.

Now Sagami has something to hold over Tatsurou’s head. He’ll give him the money he needs to give to his boss, but he’s going to have to pay him back and, what better way to work off a debt than in bed?

This poses a problem for Tatsuro. He’s desperate to get the money, but he thinks he’s straight and has no interest in sleeping with Sagami. Now, we all know where this is going, right? Sagami is amazing in bed. He makes Tatsuro come harder than he ever has before. So, Tatsuro keeps coming back for more.

It’s cute once you get passed some of the glaring editorial errors. It’s just odd enough that I’m laughing at some of the conventions of the genre, but it’s not so out there that I’m wondering what kind of crack the author was smoking when she was writing this. I still say that this would have worked a lot better as a manga, but for a quick read, it’s kind of fun.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Could it be? Can we actually have a somewhat believable plot line in a BL novel? As hard as it is to believe, it’s true. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there are a few plot points in this book that are slightly unbelievable. On the whole though, it’s a plot that works and is not coming from left field, which is a nice change of pace.

Yuuki used to have a dream life. He and his lover, Tsukada, lived at the base of Mount Asahidake. Tsukada was a mountain climber and used to lead less experienced climbers up the mountain, while Yuuki ran a small cafe. Things were all going well for the couple until an avalanche took Tsukada’s life. Yuuki fell into a deep depression; just doing what he had to do to get by.

Fast forward a few years and we still have the cafe limping along, but we also have a drifter, Kamishiro, who’s looking for work. Now, Kamishiro is a bit more than your average, jobless drifter. He’s a master chef, who isn’t too impressed with the lackluster food that he’s served at Yuuki’s cafe.

He manages to convince Yuuki that he needs a real chef at the cafe and manages to get himself room and board as part of his employment. Kamishiro is also a mountain climber, so Yuuki has some reservations about letting him into his heart, but finds that it’s much easier to let someone in than to stay lonely forever. The drama comes in when Yuuki tries to reconcile his feelings and his fears about Kamishiro being lost on the mountain–just like his old lover was.

See, somewhat believable. Oh, there were the glaring grammar mistakes that really should have been picked up by the editors. And, it could have used a bit of tightening up, but on the whole, I really enjoyed this release. Crack-like plots are all well and good, but sometimes it’s nice to not have to suspend my disbelief just to get into a story.

Rating: ♦♦♦

It’s kind of sad when I like the secondary story more than the main story in a release. Don’t get me wrong, this release has a lot going for it. It’s cute, it’s well drawn and I can follow the plot fairly easily. It just didn’t grab me in the same way that the secondary story did.

First up we have Chihiro, who’s madly in love with his friend, Kensei. Kensei is oblivious to Chihiro lusting over him, so every time Chihiro makes a move, it goes right over Kensei’s head. Chihiro finally takes to climbing into Kensei’s bed, just to see if that will get a reaction. It looks like he may have to start pulling out the big guns to worm his way into Kensei’s heart.

See, it’s cute, but it’s something we’ve seen over and over again in the world of BL manga. Now, the story about the secondary characters was really a treat.

There’s the silversmith, Ari, who has caught the eye of a arrogant model named Yoh. Yoh saw some of Ari’s designs on a photoshoot and wants to commission more. Of course, being an arrogant prig, Yoh offends Ari at the first meeting and then has to spend the rest of the time trying to get back into Ari’s good graces. It’s like Sisyphus and his boulder. Once Yoh thinks he’s got it made, he’s back at square one.

Really, this was a fairly lackluster manga. It does have its moments and the relationship between Yoh and Ari is really a gem, but for the most part, we’ve been here before. I know when writing for a genre, you can end up seeing the same themes over and over again and, believe me, sometimes that’s a good thing. I know there are certain conventions that will make me jump up and buy a release just on the basis of that one plot line. But, there also comes a time when I’m just tired of it and I want something new.

This is one of the times that I’m tired of it. I want something that I haven’t already seen eight times before.

Rating: ♦♦♦

I really want to like this release. It’s gorgeously drawn and has a nice dose of silliness. Still, even though I embrace some of the insane plot lines that come out of Japan, there was something about this one that kept making me slightly cranky. I shouldn’t be cranky about this one. It’s cute! Yet, I found myself paging through, trying to quickly get to the next sex scene so I could enjoy that without some of the banality of the plot.

So, let’s get to the plot, or at least what is resembling one in this release: Mutsuki is the president and CEO of a cosmetics company that he inherited from his father. Now, Mutsuki is not charged with making the cosmetics company the best in the world or with making money hand over fist. No, Mutsuki is charged with becoming the evilest boss ever. If Mutsuki is not able to become the evilest boss ever, he will lose his position with the company and it will all be turned over to his uncle.

Since Mutsuki is an all-around good person, and only wants what is best for his employees and his servants, he is doing his best to become an evil person. He’s trying to start small by jaywalking and some minor vandalism, like graffiti, but he’s having a hard time even with these petty bits of law breaking.

Enter in, Makoto. When Mutsuki fails to play a prank on Makoto, he comes into Mutsuki’s life and a whole new world of evil possibilities open up. Casual sex is pretty evil, so is sleeping with a male, and how about forcing yourself on a male. Yup, all pretty evil. Mutsuki may just have this thing in the bag!

It really is cute, but it doesn’t have the heartwarming lunacy that series like Junjo Romantica or Love Pistols have. I think I have a hard time wrapping my head around someone who is as inherently good as Mutsuki. I consider myself a law abiding citizen with a fairly developed moral code of ethics, but I still can bring myself to jaywalk or commit minor acts of disobedience. All in all though, it really is well drawn and it has earned a spot on my keeper shelf, just by the sheer quality of the art.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

I like books that leave me feeling satisfied. Especially books that I can walk away from happy, knowing things are going to be right in the the book’s universe. London delivers on all of the above in this release, the sequel to The Gold Warrior. I love how deftly she handles the main character’s angst and confusion with the stoicism befitting a warrior, albeit a disgraced and fallen warrior.

Since Maen is now working for the new Queen, both in bed and as a servant, he has little time to think about his lost love, Dax, but missing Dax colors his every move. Queen Seleste knows this and it infuriates her, as she wants all of Maen completely devoted to her.

When tales of Dax’s death reach Maen, he’s crushed. One of the things that has kept him going in his new role, stripped of any glory he may have had, was the knowledge that Dax was out there, alive, somewhere.

During this time, Maen befriends a young scribe, Kiel. Kiel is smart, blindingly so, and has more than book knowledge up his sleeve. What Kiel uncovers has the makings to unravel their society as they know it.

Don’t feel too bad for Maen; things will manage to work out for him. He’s our hero, don’t forget, and he’s more clever than anyone gives him credit for. Well, except for Dax and Kiel.

I always enjoy London’s writing. She’s able to spin a story that sucks you in and makes you feel along with the characters. I’m still afraid that there is a contingent of fans who are going to avoid these books because there are some descriptions of the straight sex in them. Now, I know we’re all here for the boysmut, but sometimes het sex is needed to develop the plot. Get over it. Reading it won’t kill you, I promise.

You know, we’ve had a few of the authors archived over here at BND go pro, and I’m always happy when that happens, but never more so when it comes to London. I’ve loved her work for years and I could not be more please to know she’s getting the recognition that she deserves!