Boys Next Door Reviews

Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

First off, let me say that I absolutely adored this release. Secondly, let me say that there was only one story that even touched upon being BL. Don’t let that stop you from picking up this release, I just want to warn you before you ran out and got this one expecting hot monkey sex.

The one story that was slightly BL revolved around a vampire and his human love. The human lover keeps complaining that the vampire always tastes of other people’s blood and keeps trying to get him to quit feeding. Going so far as to asking him to remove his fangs. Fair warning, the ending is going to tug at your heartstrings. Hell, all of the stories in this collection are going to tug at them. Even I, being a jaded bitch of the highest degree, found myself tearing up more than once at the endings that were more honest than happy.

You know, I don’t always like a happy ending. I like endings that make me think or have the happiness tinged with a bit of melancholy. Those are the stories that stick out in my mind. Fluffy stories are all well and good, but, in the end, they’re utterly forgettable. Top all of that off with the art in this one being completely gorgeous and I am one happy little fangirl.

I’m still not sure why this one was released as a BL title, though. One story and one kiss in an anthology does not a BL release make. I shouldn’t complain. I wouldn’t have found the beauty that is this release if they didn’t send it to me as a BL title. It’s definitely a nice change from the schoolboy angst and salarymen that I’ve been slogging through.

All in all, I’m thrilled with this release. It’s going straight to the keeper shelf. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Just go right to the keeper shelf so I can make sure it’s there the next time I want some quality stories.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

I’ve been a fan of this author’s work for a very long time. She’s never been hosted on BND, but she’s been a fan and a supporter since we began. I just hope she doesn’t want to kill us for giving her a review.

Regency takes everything I like about romance novels set in that time period and filters it through a male/male lens. This keeps all of the sweetness and trappings of the time period that I love, but adds in the eroticism of men lusting after each other. What more could I ask for in a book?

We start off with a story about a foppish prince who wages a daily battle with his secretary. The two of them loathe each other, but both are two stubborn to admit defeat. The prince refuses to give in and fire his secretary and the secretary refuses to quit.

Our secretary, being fed up with humiliation, decides to teach the prince a lesson and a festival, featuring multiple nights of masquerade balls, proves the perfect opportunity. Only things don’t work out as planned and the masks the heroes wear at the masquerade are nothing like the masks they wear every day to cloak their true personalities from the outside world. So, you can see where this is going.

Then, there’s the story of the duelist who as achieved everything he set out to do, except for taking care of matters of his heart. The young duelist keeps receiving anonymous letters. Letters that make him think as well as arouse and titillate. The question is, who is sending these letters? There’s really no one in his social circle who can write so well and harbor amorous feelings.

Every story is a treat and absolute delight to read. The only complaint I could have would be that in the world that Derr has created, there is no censure on male/male relationships. Now, we all know what a crime homosexuality was in this time period, so not having that censure threw me for a bit. Believe me, it was something I got over quickly. I’m not going to let something like historical accuracy get in the way of my enjoyment of a book that is written so well. This is the perfect book to curl up with on a yucky day, when you just need to lose yourself in pure romance.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

I shouldn’t like this series as much as I do. It can be confusing at times, but add in gorgeously drawn sex scenes, characters that almost feel true to life, a dollop of violence and I am one happy girl.

So, Teru and Miki have sex that is good enough to scramble both of their brains, but they still can’t admit their feelings for each other. This leaves us with the boys turning to each other for comfort when they have no idea why they find comfort in each other’s company. After all, they’re just a ’stray dog’ and its master, right? Add in secrets from Miki’s past, Teru trying to make sense of everything, and you’ve got a steaming pile of hormones just waiting to implode.

Then, there’s the fact that I am far too fond of this artist’s style. Her characters are always amazingly expressive and her clean lines are perfect for capturing the beauty of her characters. She even manages to capture the slumped, half-finished quality of high school boys that I adore. Asami Tojo was one of the only other artists that’s been able to nail that slumpy look down.

Even with a release that I downright loathed, Poison Cherry Drive, I still liked the art. It was just that the story was nigh to incomprehensible. I’m not sure which was released first in Japan, Poison Cherry Drive or Dog Style. I’m hoping that it was Dog Style because it just shows you that even if one of your early releases sucks, you have no place to go but up.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

This is one of those delightfully insane series that never crosses the line into being too silly or slapstick, but at the same time, realizes that the situations are completly impossible and runs with it. I don’t know why, but that combination has always managed to suck me in and make me happy.

Tokumaru and Hasune have started dating, this is all well and good, but their schedules don’t leave them much time to do more than grope each other in the Tea Ceremony clubroom. Add in Hasune not being sure if he wants to devote his life to tea, and Tokumaru being distracted by the arrival of his old sempai and baseball and you have the opportunity for some good angst.

Tokumaru’s sempai returns with some big news - he’s a father to twins. He starts talking to Tokumaru about his future plans and this gets Tokumaru to thinking. His grades really aren’t good enough to get him into a good college, about the only thing he’s really good at is getting screwed by Hasune and playing sports. At the same time, Hasune’s family is pressuring him to take on the role of ‘master of tea’ while Hasune is using Tokumaru to run away from his problems.

It all works out and the boys are happy at the end. You know, I really shouldn’t like this series as much as I do. There isn’t too much in the way of plot, it’s kind of silly and it doesn’t break any new ground. Yet, I look forward to the next volume coming out and this series is on my ‘must pre-order as soon as possible’ list. I don’t know how such a silly series has wormed its way into my heart, but it’s welcome.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

I’m almost sad that this will be the next to the last volume of Love Mode. While I will be happy to own all of it, I’m really going to miss the anticipation of waiting for the next volume to come out, the joy of getting it out of the plastic wrap and then curling up in bed with the characters.

There are a lot of series out there that I enjoy and look forward to reading and reviewing, but none of them strike the same chord as Love Mode. For me, manga just does not get much better than this. No matter how much angst Yuki Shimizu throws at me, I know that there is going to be a blissfully happy ending for the characters.

This time around, we have the story of Jin and the violet-eyed prince. I really think that this was just an excuse for Shimizu to draw some faux Arabian-style outfits and throw in some cousin-sex, but I’m still going to enjoy it. So, there’s the violet-eyed prince, Shareef, who hires Jin to fuck him silly as way to make him too dirty to enter the priesthood. Also, as an introduction to male-male sex, as Shareef is in love with his cousin, Fai.

Fai is not happy with this turn of events and wants to keep Shareef pure, but eventually sees the light and ends up being madly in love with his cousin as well. This leaves poor Jin behind. That’s okay, though. We get his happy ending in another story.

After that, we have a return to our main couples. There’s a story about Izumi and Takamiya, where shadows from Takamiya’s past are causing Izumi to question Takamiya’s feelings for him. Then there’s more in the saga of Aoe and Naoya. First, Naoya gets tricked with a box of those dastardly special aphrodisiac chocolates. Then, their love is tested once again after Naoya’s grandfather passes away and Naoya is called to comfort the young heir.

You know, once the last volume comes out, I think it’s going to be high time I sit and re-read all of these and just enjoy what made me fall in love with this genre in the first place.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

I have loved this comic ever since someone on my friends list was pimping it out. Yes, the sweeping generalizations of high school cliques may be painted with a very broad brush, but there’s enough truth in it to have it strike home and have some of the interactions between the characters be painfully honest and awkward. Add to that mix some well done illustrations, and you’ve got something that’s really special.

Metis looks like your stereotypical emo kid. Just don’t ever call him that to his face. He’s been paired up with Josh, the quarterback for the football team, to write a paper for their English class. This is all well and good, aside from the fact that Josh punched Metis’ lights out after Metis happened to witness Josh getting dumped. So, Metis is going into this thinking that at any second he’s going to get his face rearranged.

Of course, it turns out that the punch, while intended, wasn’t for the reason that Metis thought it was, and he and Josh get along fairly well together. They drift apart, only to come back together over a shared love of Batman in a rooftop conversation, when Josh invites Metis to a party.

Metis, having somewhat of a brain in his head, brings along another friend for backup. After all, you can’t be the only emo kid at a jock party. A playful kiss between Metis and his friend, sends Josh into a violent fit, knocking said friend into a wall. Metis thinks it’s because Josh likes the friend, but, no; it’s because Josh likes Metis.

I’m showing my age here, but this release brought home everything I like in a John Hughes movie and put it into print form, with two boys. (For those of you who are not quite as ancient as I am, those include Pretty In Pink and The Breakfast Club. Go and watch them.) I read this and I just find myself grinning over how sweet, well done and funny this release is. This one should definitly be on your ‘must buy’ list!

Rating: ♦♦♦

It’s nice to see that Juné has finally gotten a clue and released a novel that has been translated well. For once, this was an easy read. I didn’t have the stilted language where it was painfully obvious that it was a translation. If it wasn’t for the stylistic BL characterization and themes, one might think that this was released by one of the publishing houses specializing in boy smut. But, hey, for the most part, I like the BL conventions. Which is a good thing seeing as they’re out in full force in this release.

Katsuya has always had a crush on his friends older brother, Shio. Even though Katsuya only spent one summer in Shio’s presence, the memory of him causes Katsuya to go off to Tokyo to apply at the company that Shio helped found. When the company was hiring Katsuya, they promised him that they would provide him with lodging. Truth be told, they promised more than they could deliver and Katsuya was reduced to living in a cheap hotel.

Once he complains to the president of the company, he is given a solution. He finds himself as the unwelcome roommate of none other than Shio, who wants absolutely nothing to do with him.

Katsuya manages to worm his way under Shio’s skin by virtue of his cooking and things progress nicely until a complication in the form of Shiro’s step-brother shows up. The step-brother feels that he has a prior claim to Shio’s affections and is not going to let some interloper take his place.

For all that, this one is well written, but they lost me when they introduced the step-brother. I was going along just fine, reveling in the descriptions of some of the food Katsuya was making and enjoying how Shio was defrosting under the warmth of Shio’s sunny disposition. Then the step-brother came in and threw a wrench into the works.

It just didn’t fit. It seemed to be added just to give some incest titillation and Katsuya an excuse to angst. Also, we never even found out why Shio was such a cold, unfeeling prick at the start of the story. If the author had to hit a certain word count to get this book published, I would have much rather had Shio’s back story than the step-brother.

Oh, well. I’m just happy that this release was translated so well. It’s nice to finish off one of these novels and not have a splitting headache!

Rating: ♦♦♦

Okay, I like stories about demons. Sue me. I like anything that revolves around supernatural creatures. Throw in boys that might possibly sprout wings at some point in the future and I am one happy girl. So what if the story is somewhat lackluster? So what if it’s a story that has been told before? It’s got an incubus and pretty art. I’m happy.

So, we have high school student, Fujimaru, whom, like almost every other high-school-aged boy in the world, is horny as hell. Unlike every other horny teenaged boy in the world, though, Fujimaru has an incubus who has decided that Fujimaru is his chosen meal. This means getting Fujimaru off in every way imaginable. Yes, there’s an appearance by a tentacle monster. I surprised myself with how much I liked it.

Now, it seems that Fujimaru’s grandfather took in the young incubus and let him dwell in his dreams. After Grandfather’s passing, the incubus, Rei, hung around, waiting to see if he could find another meal. Fujimaru’s wet dreams fit the bill.

When Fujimaru comes into the picture, life is good for Rei. However, Fujimaru has a few objections to being used as demons meal, especially a male demon! A male demon with a large cock that Fujimaru is seriously scared of ripping him in two.

All right, it’s been done before, and I’m usually cranky about that, but given that this is one of my favorite kinks. The fact that it’s done well and with a lighthearted sense of glee about the subject matter, I’m going to let the things that make me cranky pass and enjoy this one for the crack-like substance that it is!

Rating: ♦♦

I have seen this before. I’ve seen all of these stories before and I’ve seen them done better. The only story that held my interest was the one that revolved around the veterinary student who has an apartment full of cats and takes in a human stray. The only thing that made the story enjoyable for me was the inclusion of the cats.

Now, I guess I’m being a bit hard but, I had higher hopes for the Juné line. I know, I know, I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but they have released a lot of quality stuff in the past. Sometimes they introduce me to stuff that I would never have picked up on my own, so I always look forward to the new release and end up feeling disappointed when a release does not live up to my standards.

What really made me cranky about this release was the low quality of the artwork. I’m fond of lush detail in art, so seeing these simplistic sketches just made me even more cranky. It’s not that the drawings are not well done, it’s obvious that the artist can draw, but it’s no where near the quality that I expect.

Maybe I’m spoiled by re-reading some of my favorite releases that Juné has done, works by people like Toko Kawai, Fumi Yoshinaga, and Mika Sadahiro. When compared to those authors, this release looks distinctly amature. I didn’t hate this one enough to warn you all to avoid it like the plague, but it’s definitely going into my giveaway box.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

I just like Shiuko Kano. Even when she gets confusing, or just plain weird, I still enjoy her work. Just plain weird is a good description of this series, which is getting a bit hard to follow. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still good, it’s just not an easy, flowing read.

So, Tetsuo has finally clued in to the fact that his best friend of fifteen years has the hots for him. Tetsuo also realizes that Michiro gets him hard. For someone who has spent the last few years impotent, this is a momentous occasion! Of course, Tetsuo has to ruin all of the happy-boy-sex fun by being a dick and rejecting Michiro in the coldest way possible. I don’t know about you, but turing to someone else and going on about how anyone’s cock can get you off is pretty damn cold.

Throw in temper tantrums from Tetsuo’s long-suffering son, confusion over the son’s best friend/love interest, some pangs of regret after alienating his best friend, and Tetsuo’s not in the best place mentally. I would have more sympathy for him if he wasn’t such an unbelievable bastard.

Even after all of this, I’m still enjoying the series, and looking forward to seeing what Kano will come up with next. One of the things that I really enjoy about her work, and what helps to separate her from the rest of the pack, is the fact that her male characters almost always act like guys. There are almost no stereotypical uke-boys in her books and this makes me very happy. Maybe my reading of non-Japanese boysmut has jaded me, but the ultra-femmy, weepy uke just doesn’t do it for me.

Heck, I don’t think they’ve ever done it for me. I cut my teeth on Kizuna, where even though Ran-chan was fairly girly, you knew he was the one who wore the pants in that relationship, and had Enjoji wrapped around his little finger. I get so very tired of femmy-boys who act more like a girl than I do. Kano is one of the artists I turn to for some relief from the femmy-boy syndrome.