Boys Next Door Reviews

Rating: ♦♦♦

I love crack-like manga. Especially stories that really shouldn’t work because the premise is too far-fetched, yet it all pulls together. Throw in art that’s just short of gorgeous and you’ve got a winning release. Don’t expect this release to make any sort of sense, mind you. Just go along for the ride.

Moriya and Watase were both supposed to die at the edge of a busy freeway overpass. They were plucked from death by an alien being who has plans for the helpless duo. The plans will ultimately save the world, but require the boys to collect energy.

One, as a werewolf collecting semen. The other, as a vampire collecting blood. Don’t ask. It’s an excuse to draw gratuitous blowjob scenes. But, wait; there’s more. The boys end up re-living the same day the in past over and over again, trying to find a way to make a change in their present. The problem lies in making the changes. Will it destroy the fragile bond they’ve built together or will changing the past bring them to their final death with no hope of an alien intervention?

The art in this release reminded me a lot of Makoto Tateno of Yellow and Heero Heel fame–both in the art style and the insanity of the plot. It’s a fun, fluffy romp with some over-the-top drama. And, sometimes that’s all I want in a release.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Even though this release touches on themes that I usually associate with emo, cranky, teenaged bips, it’s still one of my all-time favorite releases. I fell in love with this release through scanlations years ago. It was one of the things that made me such a huge Toko Kawai fan. I never thought I would see it get released over here. Of course, by now I should know that every time I say that there’s no way in hell they’re going to bring over a release, it gets brought over.

Truly, anything that Kawai does makes me happy. It’s a guarantee of quality. I know that when I pick up one of her releases, that I’m in for a treat.

Chiaki and Eiji are both high school students who are carrying more than their fair share of pain. Chiaki is finding a release from his pain in self mutilation, while Eiji finds solace in withdrawing from the world around him. Their cure lies in each other, obviously.

It is a fairly dark release for all that it has a wonderfully happy ending. Molesting step-fathers, mothers trying to kill their own children and the fun of Chiaki cutting himself to ribbons. It’s sweet and sad in a way that only Kawai can do. I don’t think that any other artist would be able to take these themes, present them in a way that made you believe and still care for the characters.

Each time I say that I’m sick of high school romances, some company puts out a release that reminds me that they’re not all so bad. This one reminds me of just why I devote so much of my spare time to reading this genre. Run out and buy this one. Curl up with it on a day that you need a happy ending.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Oh, Yuki Shimizu. I thought I was going to be left bereft of your style of crack once we saw the last volume of Love Mode. I had forgotten that you had done other series and, this is pretty sad, because I know I have the scanlations for this somewhere on the mess that I call a computer.

I’m so very, very happy to have you back!

Ze is an odd series. People who are looking for a re-make of Love Mode will be quite disappointed. It does have a large cast of characters, but that’s where the similarities end. There’s Raizou, who is left destitute after the death of his grandmother. To support himself, he accepts a position as a housekeeper/cook at the Mitou estate.

Things aren’t exactly as they seem in the Mitou house. The residents aren’t fully human. They’re kami or healers. Meant to heal and protect their masters, kotodama. Without a master, the kami are left to be exploited and without a true purpose.

Raizou’s roommate, Kon, is without a master. Rauzou, once he gets a grasp on the situation, puts himself in place to become Kon’s master as a way of protecting him. Now, it’s just a matter of getting Kon to realize his sincerity.

It all sounds very odd and slightly far-fetched, but if there’s one thing that Shimizu is good at, it’s sucking you into a story and making you believe no matter what the situation is. I think with Shimizu, you either fall in love with the stories after your first read and are a devoted reader, or you find them too unbelievable and never become a fan. I’ve never met anyone who was on the fence when it comes to her work.

Place me firmly in the devoted fan category!

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

I shouldn’t be as fond of incredibly silly manga as I am. Really, I shouldn’t. Yet, when they’re done well and don’t cross the line into the realm of absurd, I find myself really enjoying them.

Takanaga has taken her trademark insanity and brought it to the world of boxing. I don’t know about all of you, but I never found boxing all that sexy. Still, when presented in a format like this, I can start to see the appeal.

There’s Kaoru, who’s embarrassed by his feminine-sounding name, and his girlish good looks. He’s also got a killer right hook, as his admirer Kubo finds out after complimenting Kaoru on how cute he is. See, for all that Kaoru looks like a 95-pound weakling, get him pissed and he gets this superhero-like fist-of-doom.

Poor Kubo, with his growing feelings for Kaoru and his tendency to insert his foot firmly into his mouth, he’s the recipient of almost all of Kaoru’s knock-outs. Through the haze of bruises and concussions, Kubo gets more and more into Kaoru and Kaoru starts to be come more and more comfortable with who he is. Proving that he’s more than just a pretty face, he’s just as much of a man as Kubo.

This one is a happy little gem. Light reading, nothing too taxing, but entertaining enough to keep you wanting to know what happens to the characters. I’m not looking for ground-breaking literature in my BL–I just want to be entertained. This release managed to do just that.

Rating: ♦♦♦

I’m just not that fond of this artist. Her perspective is off and her stories are not that engaging. In her defense, this volume wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. There were only a few panels that made me cringe.

We’re revisiting some characters that appeared in Meeting You. Morino is the new student at an all-male university prep-school. On his first day, he sees Kusama practicing with the volleyball team and is smitten. The object of his affection seems to look at him and it’s all over for Morino. I mean, full-out, manic lust.

Now, being a BL manga, this means that the boys are rooming together. Morino worries about how he’s going to keep Kusama from finding out about his fascination with him, but it turns out that it’s not really an issue. Kusama goes out every night and comes home early in the morning, all disheveled and reeking of sex.

This drives Morino crazy and he offers up his body as a substitute. Kusama accepts and happy, hot sex follows. The problem lies in the fact that Kusama can’t admit to the fact that he’s got feelings for Kusama. So, they keep repeating the pattern of Morino getting his feelings hurt, then Kusama comforting him with the power of his awesome dick. (In the land of BL, there’s very little that can’t be solved by the power of the awesome dick.) Eventually, the Kusama realizes that he’s got some real feelings under the layers of raging hormones and there’s a happy ending.

You know, it’s not a great release, it doesn’t make you think or want to stand up and cheer, but it is a marked improvement over some of the other releases we’ve seen from this artist. This was originally released in 2006. I hope that she’s taking some of the time between releases to stop working on drawing incredibly detailed penises and use it to work on the proportions for faces.