Boys Next Door Reviews

Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

My introduction to Earthian came with the release of the OAVs on DVD. I picked it up right after I got my hot little hands on the Fake OAV. I loved the art style, but the problem with most OAVs is that they make absolutely no sense unless you’ve read the manga that inspired them. So, you can imagine how happy I am that the Earthian manga got a North American release.

For those of us who aren’t familiar with Earthian, it revolves around Chihaya and Kagetsuya, two angels who have been sent to Earth to weigh the good and bad parts of humanity. Kind of like Santa with his naughty and nice list.

Chihaya sees the best in everyone and everything and always wants to help out, while Kagetsuya is the pessimist of the group who finds fault in everything on Earth and with a lot of things that Chihaya does.

Now Kagetsuya and Chihaya have been friends since they were in school. Kagetsuya is your everyday, run of the mill angel with pure white wings, but Chihaya has black wings. Just like the fallen angel Lord Seraphim. Does this mean that Chihaya is doomed to fall as well? Chihaya doesn’t think so, and neither does Kagetsuya really, but everyone else in the host of angels thinks that it’s just a matter of time until Chihaya falls.

Throw in a plague that is affecting the legion of angels and a possible cure to be found with Lord Seraphim and you get an interesting mix of warring factions and the fate of Earth held in the balance.

Much love to BLU for the opalescent covers and the full color inserts, not only in the front of the book, but also in the middle. This series is just sumptuous and it’s great to see it getting the treatment it deserves!

Rating: ♦♦♦

Will you all kill me if I admit to being slightly bored with Earthian? Yes, the art is gorgeous and I absolutely love the concept. Hello, boys with wings = Cyn having heart palpitations.

I just wish there was a better delivery. The plot seems to drag on and concentrates on side characters when I want to get on with it and find out what’s going to happen to Chihaya and Kagetsuya. I know it’s a classic and part of what got me into the whole BL genre, but it’s very slow going getting through the manga at times.

So, this time around we’ve got the angels still working on trying to solve the mystery of the Black cancer and Lord Seraphim’s death triggers the hunt to increase in intensity. During the hunt for the cure, Chihaya and Kagetsuya’s partnership is terminated because they’re growing too close to each other. Boy angels must not have such thoughts about other boy angels, don’t you know.

The only problem? Chihaya doesn’t work as well with his new partner as he did with Kagetsuya, Kagetsuya’s mating season is coming up and he’s struggling with his feelings for Chihaya.

I didn’t realize angels had mating seasons. Interesting concept. I’m not sure if it’s creepy-interesting or hot-interesting yet. See, it all sounds really interesting when it’s laid out in a condensed format like this, but when it’s taking over 200 pages to tell the story the entire thing just drags.

It’s still gorgeous and I’m still going to be drooling over the very thought of angel boys boinking, but I’m not sure if this is going to be one of my all-time favorite series.