Rating: ♦♦♦

I really, really wanted to like this book more than I did. I mean, what’s there not to like about pretty boy vampires, screwing madly? Believe me, the book had quite a bit of that - I guess I was just expecting more from it, knowing how pleased I was with SL Publishings first release, Cethe.
Cake was just a little too over the top for me. Things were resolved too neatly. The main character was too pretty.
I think part of this stems from the book being written in first person narrative. I always feel that writing in the first person lends itself to edging into Mary-Sue territory, even if the author has no intention of going there.
Cake revolves around a legally blind, fat, nasty, computer programmer who is kidnapped by a vampire and turned into the perfect submissive, after he is caught preforming some industrial sabotage. After the vampire, Marcus, whittles our programmer into the perfect submissive (looks and all) he is given the choice of becoming a vampire, or staying a human and staying a sex toy.
Programmer-boy chooses to be a vamp, but instead of becoming Marcus’ equal. We find that he’s the last of the lost Blue Bloodline of a Royal House of vampires.
See what I mean about taking it a step too far.
That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy this book, and won’t be buying the next one when it comes out in print - it’s just not going to be on my list of all time favorite books.
Snake has an amazing imagination, and while her books are an enjoying read, they could benefit from paring down of all the ideas that she’s trying to cram into one novel.”

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

I haven’t been reviewing much manga lately because there hasn’t been much that has caught my interest. Oh, Kizuna has been coming out, and I’ve been loving it, but we already have reviews for it. Same with the Finder series.
I just don’t want to force myself to read a manga, then come here and spew out a few paragraphs about how much it bored me to tears - which only makes you all bored while reading it.

Thankfully, I found this release, which helped to remind me that this genre does have a few gems.

I was having an e-mail conversation with a friend of mine a week or so ago after we had traded some US released gay comics. Comics written for gay men, by gay men. He was telling me how much he enjoyed them, and asked me if I had any other recommendations. I had to tell him that aside from some great GLOBL by writers like Tina Anderson, my only other recommendations were for translated Japanese BL. His main complaint with the genre was the oft complained about ‘chicks-with-dicks’ phenomenon. And, I have to kind of agree with him. It’s part of what got me so burnt out on the genre. I like men. I like men together. If I want to read about a guy and a girl together, I’ll go and hit some of my extensive het smut collection.

Thankfully, this release has two fully male characters. While the characters are not afraid to show emotion, they are MEN. Now, I don’t equate tears with the girlification of men in my manga, I equate shojou flowers and simpering looks with the girlification of men in my manga.

Feh. Enough ranting. Okay, back to reviewing. There’s Yakuza gangster, Kazuma, who is rescued by a young tea ceremony master, Yukihiro. Despite the two men coming from completely different backgrounds, they find they are much more alike than they would have ever thought, and find a kind of peace with each other.

It’s gorgeously drawn, pulls at the few remaining heartstrings I have, and made me smile. What else could one ask for in a manga?

Rating: ♦♦♦

I always kind of scoffed at the “How To” art books that get released. I have an art degree, I know how to draw. The only thing that improves your ability to draw is practice. You have to draw day in and day out, and draw everything you see. Then, eventually, you will start to get better at it. Yes, some people have an innate ability, but even people who profess that they can’t draw really can, once they practice and learn the connection between what your eyes see and how your hand moves.

What I really liked about this release is that it did stress the importance of practice. It had a week long list of exercises for getting used to using a pen, and a list of goals you were supposed to have achieved at the end of each exercise. Using pen and ink requires a completely different set of skills than sketching with a pencil or a marker.

The other nice thing this release covered was the use of tones. I’m lazy. If I’m going to use tones on something, I’m going to throw it in PhotoShop, and do it digitally - but this release gave instructions for using them from a pre-printed sheet. Also part of their weekly exercises was using cross-hatching to create your own gradient shading, instead of using tones. It’s nice to know all the different options that are available to artists.

I also appreciated the interviews with manga artists on how they use different materials to achieve different effects.
While I don’t see myself running out to by a lot of the “How-To’ books, this release has made me look at them in a bit more favorable light.

Rating: ♦♦♦

I knew I was familiar with this artist, I just wasn’t sure where I knew her from. Because I’m too lazy to get up and search through my bookshelves when I’m reading a release, I didn’t realize that this was the artist behind Tea for Two until I sat down to write the review.

While this release has all of the charm of Tea for Two, it is a little lacking in the smut department. Don’t get me wrong, it’s disgustingly cute, but after reading Under Grand Hotel, Kizuna and Finder this week, being presented with a release with all sex being done with a fade to black, I’m just a bit jaded.

Yuzu has always looked up to Icchan, starting back in elementary school when Icchan stuck up for Yuzu. Now that they’re in high school, the problem is that Yuzu still wants to look up to Icchan, and be his princess, but that’s kind of hard to do when you’re much taller than the object of your affections.

It’s cute. It’s fluffy. It’s really well done with some great comedic twists - just don’t go into this one expecting porn.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦

It’s here. I’m holding it in my hot little hands. The conclusion of Sadahiro Mika’s prison sexploitation epic. Through dangers untold and rapes un-numberd, Sword and Sen have fought their way through the penal system, beyond the watch of the warden. All so they can kiss in the sun.
You know, if it wasn’t for the brutal violence, the murders and the drug trafficking, this would be epitome of a fantasy romance.

But, you know, I think I like it all the better for being so utterly violent and filthy. Let’s hope to see more of her work coming over here in the future. I know that I would love to see some of her other releases. I can’t be the only one who has most of her work in the original Japanese just waiting for a translation!