Boys Next Door Reviews

Rating: ♦♦♦

Because of the plagiarism scandal, I have a love/hate relationship with Youka Nitta. On one hand, I love her stories. I enjoy her character designs, and when she’s writing BL, it can be utterly filthy, and it’s wonderful.
On the other hand, she’s traced some of her best images from fashion photography.

So, while I did enjoy this release, in the back of my mind I’m wondering how much of it was her talent, and how much was taken from outside sources.

Now, this is not a BL release. This kind of sucks, because I could have really used some of her smut styling right about now. Still, I’m going to take it for what it is, a gorgeously drawn murder mystery with pretty boys and an ambiguous relationship.

This really does beg to be slashed, and slashed well.

There’s Kaname, a man who can hear things most other’s can not. His hearing is so sensitive, that he can hear the screams of the dead. His friend, Hide, used to work with Kaname for the police, but now both have left the force and are trying their hands at other careers.

Hide, is trying his hand at being a private detective, which brings him in contact with a lot of murder victims, which brings him into closer contact with Kaname.

Kaname likes to keep Hide around, because unlike most of the population who’s voices sound distorted, Hide’s sounds clear and true to him.

See what I mean about the slashy-bits?

It’s pretty. It’s a fun read, and I’m going to enjoy the rest of the series if it continues in this vein.
I just can’t get the nagging thoughts of this not fully being the work of Youka Nitta out of my head, and that’s spoiling the fun for me.

Rating: ♦♦♦

This book has been sitting in my To-Be-Read pile since it came out. I kept getting distracted by other releases, and passing this one over in favor of artists I was familiar with.
Now that I’ve broken down and read it, I have mixed feelings. I liked it. It was nicely graphic. The only thing that bothered me a bit was the forcing of our lovely uke-boy into happy butt-sex land.
Now, we all know that in the world of BL, forcing your lover into intimacy = TRUE LOVE - so this is something that I’m used to.

It just makes me pause for a minute, when I’m reading a story like this. In any other genre I would be ready to throw the book against the wall, but in BL, I just accept it as happy-fun-time.
Weird how this genre messes with your brain like that.

So, there’s Yanagi, who picks up a pretty young man at a bar. Yanagi, looking for nothing more than a night of fun, invites the young man back to a hotel room.
There, he discovers that our drunken uke-boy is a virgin, and spends the rest of the night playing with his new toy.

All well and good, right? Well the next morning, our young ex-virgin isn’t too pleased to wake up next to Yanagi.
He cusses Yanagi out, and rushes out of the room.

Now, Yanagi is a bit perturbed at this. He had a great night, and wasn’t expecting a boatload of drama, so he sets out to find his mystery man.

The mystery man, Arata, is the twin brother of a bartender that Yanagi knows, and is horrified at his behavior.

Now that Yanagi knows who he is, he’s going to leverage Arata’s request for secrecy to have him at his beck and call. But, when things start to get intense, both Yanagi and Arata have to question their motives.

I’m not sure if I’m going to pick up the rest of this series, but I have to admit to being curious as to where they’re going with this. Well, aside from the happy ever after and declarations of true love. That’s standard.
I’m curious to see just how much angst there’s going to be while they’re getting there.

Rating: ♦♦♦

I just like assassins. I don’t really care what shape or form they’re in, I just like them.
So, a story revolving around a runaway from a secret government lab, and the assassin who takes him in, makes me a very happy Cyn.
Oh, and did I mention that this young runaway has ESP? All the things that make me happy in one release.

Keigo is mainly known as a private detective, but moonlights as an assassin for hire. As he’s returning home one night, he finds a smelly, disheveled waif on his doorstep. He takes the boy in, offers him a bath and crash space for the night. Surprisingly, the boy then asks him if he can stay there indefinitely.
Keigo is a bit flummoxed by this, but after the waif points him in the right direction on a case, he agrees. Emiya, our little waif, just has something about him that charms the crap out of him.
It’s a good thing that he’s charming, too, as he’s useless around the house.
It turns out that Emiya is a refugee from a government lab. He has the ability to ascertain information about a person, just by touching an object.

Now, obviously, the secret government project wants their little lab-rat back. The problem is that as the relationship between Keigo and Emiya has blossomed, Emiya has lost his powers. True love has wiped him clean, and restored him to being a regular human.

My main complaints with this one, is that things got wrapped up too neatly. I know that Happy Ever Afters are the norm in this genre, but when you’ve got assassins and secret government agencies, I expect there to be ongoing conflict. One feeble kidnapping attempt just doesn’t ring true for me.

Even with that complaint, it’s cute, and kinda fluffy - even with the assassin. I’m not sure I’m madly in love with this one, but it did make me smile. Most days, that’s really all I want my manga to do.

Rating: ♦♦♦

I have to give Net Comics a lot of credit for releasing stuff that’s a little left of center.
After being inundated with school boys, it’s nice to have something that breaks away from the pack, and shows relationships with a twist.

From transvestites, to street punks to drivers-ed instructors, this is not what I would normally expect to see in a BL release.

It’s also handled very deftly, with a touch of humor. The characters know that they can be ridiculous, and march straight up to the line of being over the top, without crossing over and becoming caricatures of themselves.

My only problem is that it’s an anthology. I would love to see what this author could do given a whole book in which to grow the characters with. There’s only so much character development you can get in 15 pages - and there in lies my problem with anthologies.

I love series that take volumes to tell a story. I want to get to know every aspect of a characters life. I don’t want to be introduced to a character, find out I really like them, and then have to be done with them and introduced to a new one, all in the span of 15 pages.

If there is a release of this artist’s work that is a full story, and not just an anthology, I will be lining up to buy it.

Pick this one up, if only to be introduced to a new artist that you’re not familiar with, just try to not fall in love with the characters. With an anthology, you’re just setting yourself up for heartbreak.

Rating: ♦♦♦

This is a prime example of how great art will make a release. The stories are cute, but even though they touch on subjects that some manga steer clear of (enemas anyone?), on their own, they’re really not that special.

Yet, when you throw in art that brings out the inherent cuteness in the stories, and it turns reading this release into something that’s pure please. Something that’s almost guaranteed to make you smile.

It’s an anthology release, and while I do get tired of those after a while, it is a great way to get introduced to an artist, and their style. This release has stories that are slightly graphic, and stories that are perfectly tame.

I’m always happily surprised when I end up liking a release more than I think I’m going to, and this one managed to surprise me in the best way.

Rating: ♦♦♦

We’re at that point in a series where I start to get bored. I know the characters, I know how they’re going to act in most situations, and I know that we’re going to have a happy ending.
While I still crack a grin at some of Misaki’s misadventures, it’s getting old.

Now, knowing how good this series is, I’m sure that it will pick back up in a few volumes.
But, right now, it’s just pages of drabble, interspersed with some flashes of smut.

There’s the normal Akihiko family drama, with Misaki feeling overwhelmed, and Usagi having to make things better. Then Usagi’s cousin moves in, and develops a crush on Usagi, leaving Misaki floundering, once again.

Jealousy, chocolate and teddy bears rule this volume, and while it’s cute, it’s an overdose of sweetness.

I may back off of this series for a while, or at least just stick to the anime, until I can appreciate its form of insanity again.

Rating: ♦♦♦

You know, I’m really tired of anthologies. Still, they are a good way to get introduced to an artist, and get a feel for their work.
This release, while being very charming and very well drawn, left me feeling a bit lacking.
The stories were very good, and I really liked the characters, but in a short format like this, I didn’t get enough of them. For most of the stories in this anthology, I would be happy to read an entire manga devoted to the characters and their problems.

I guess that’s really not something to complain about. But, it did leave me feeling unsatisfied at the end.

I think my favorite story revolved around the character that was the oldest of six children.
Now, this being Japan, this is a bit of an oddity, and he’s embarrassed by the fecundity of his parents.
He also doesn’t want to let his family know that he’s gay, in case they react badly.
A surprise visit from his lover has him questioning his decisions, and a slip of the tongue has him coming out to his siblings, who are more supportive than he could have ever imagined.

It’s sweet, and it’s slightly silly. The only thing that could improve the story would be the addition of some smut. Well, that and to expand on the characters.

One thing I really did enjoy about this release was the real lack of happy endings in the majority of the stories. These stories seem much more true to life, than a lot of the stereotypical BL stories that always end with true love and buttsex.
Much like the releases by Est Em, who is currently my favorite artist working, these stories show a subjective kind of happiness. Something that will get you through right now, but is not the shojou flowers and joy that I’m used to.

It is a nice change. I just wish there was more of this!

Rating: ♦♦♦

I really enjoy Hinako Takanaga’s art.
This is a very good thing, because her art saved this release. It’s a cute story. It’s fluffy and light, and something that pretty easy to forget, five minutes after you’ve read it.
It’s no where near as good, or as madcap as some of her other releases.
Maybe I’m just cranky because this release is void of almost all physical interaction between the two male leads.
I like my boys, I like them to be humping. One chaste kiss does not make me happy.

There’s Itaru, who’s running away from his problems, and Kouki who keeps coming to his rescue.
Kouki finds Itaru after he’s passed out drunk in a garbage strewn alleyway. In the process of coming to Itaru’s rescue, Itaru manages to destroy Kouki’s video camera.
This being manga-land, Kouki takes the drunken sot to his apartment to sober up. He then informs Itaru that he now has to give Kouki money to replace the camera.
Now, Itaru, being unemployed, and on the run from his problems, has no way of repaying Kouki.

Itaru, trying to find a way to repay his debt, starts following Kouki around like a little lost puppy dog. We then find out that Kouki works for a struggling local TV station.
Throw in a transvestite news reporter, and things get interesting.

It’s cute, but there’s no real substance. I didn’t get sucked into the mental state where I believe in the characters and all of their impossible situations. I found myself just flipping through to the end, and enjoying the art.

I’m all for bringing over all of the manga that we can, but I don’t think we should bring over everything a popular artist has done, unless the quality of the release is as high as the works that made them popular in the first place.

I guess it could have been worse, they could have been school boys.

Rating: ♦♦♦

I keep forgetting that Doki Doki is DMP’s tame line. Logically, I know that it’s supposed to be for readers that are just looking for pretty boys, with no other interaction, but when I encounter a release by Makoto Tateno, that knowledge flies out the window.
I guess I’ve been so spoiled by her other works, that I have a hard time associating her with anything else.
From my understanding, Happy Boys is based on a TV show in Japan, revolving around gorgeous men who run a tea house, and treat all their guests like royalty. Kind of like a host club, without the sex.
Now, this being Makoto Tateno, the boys are pretty beyond compare.
There are many slashable situations, and I’m sure that the fans of the show already have their favored pairings, hell, if this gets big in the US, I’m sure that the fangirls will be slashing this one all over the place. Right now, the only thing I can say about it is that it’s gorgeous, and it’s reasonably entertaining.

There isn’t too much of a plot. It’s just a vehicle for pretty boys to interact with each other. There’s the stand-offish one, the funny one, the one with a mysterious background…
We all know where this is going.

It’s cute, it’s definitely eye candy, but there’s no real substance to back it up.
In a way, it reminds me a little bit of Weiss Kreuz, where the character designs were amazing, but the series was kind of silly. What made that series such a guilty pleasure was the fandom, and the stories that the fans created around the characters.
I can see the fandom getting a hold of this Happy Boys and making it into something that’s more than the sum of its parts.

Rating: ♦♦♦

I really enjoyed this one. Aesthetically, it’s just what I’m looking for in a release - slightly sketchy, with extremely emotive facial expressions.
We start off with Akira, the manager of a successful restaurant and bar. Things are going fairly well, or at least as well as a chaotic kitchen can ever run, until Akira gets a confession of love Torihara, one of his young employees.
This is all well and good, but Torihara is six years younger than Akira, and Akira has never considered a same sex relationship before. Now, this being the wonderful world of BL, these little complications won’t stand in the way of getting the two pretty boys in bed together. It’s just a matter of applying the right amount of angst and seduction to get these two to see that they really need to be together.

This release is really about its gorgeous art, and some wonderfully comedic perving and angsting behind kitchen doors. This is a real treat for manga lovers.

Rating: ♦♦♦

It’s hard to get cranky with a release when it’s just over-the-top fun. Oh, there are things that drove me crazy about it, especially Kitty Media’s continued elimination of the honorifics, but I’m going to push that aside and concentrate on what I did like. This is not a release for those of you who want a serious, complicated story. This is fluff with a dollop of censored penis with a touch of uke-boy saying that they don’t want it, when in reality they’re gagging for it.

There’s nothing new in this–it’s something we’ve all seen over and over again. Yet, when it’s done with such light-hearted fun, I have a hard time remembering that stories like this annoy me.

The first set of stories revolve around Motonari Tsuda, a surgeon, who teaches physician Tomoki Shirashi the joys of male on male sex. Of course, Tomoki swears up and down that he hates Tsuda’s attention and doesn’t want any of this. However, circumstances lead to Tsuda leaving Tomoki. Tomoki just falls apart only to have Tsuda rush in, re-introduce him to the wonders of his penis and things are back to being happy and lovey-dovey.

It’s just kind of silly, but it’s a well drawn kind of silly and for some reason makes me really happy to read.