While this week’s column is not entirely devoted to boys’ love titles, they’re definitely the majority. Chloe starts us off with a look at volumes six and seven of another supernatural shop tale, Antique Gift Shop from Yen Press; Melinda notes steady improvement in Hitohira (Aurora Publishing), the story of a shy girl who joins a theater club, but is less impressed with Love/Knot (DMP); Connie is really not impressed with Love Code (DMP); And, ending on a positive note, Michelle finds both volume four of Silver Diamond (Tokyopop) and You Will Drown in Love (BLU Manga) to be worthy of praise.
By Eun Lee
Published by Yen Press
Rating: 13+
Like numerous others before it, The Antique Gift Shop uses the loose, vignette-y format of supernatural stories in the guise of a business to both good and decidedly more mediocre ends. Together, the two volumes represent a markedly uneven array of stories, some of which seem uncomfortably overlong for a usually snappy subgenre. Central to the whole collection is Bun-Nyuh herself, the eclectic, spastic central protagonist who might be a god, could be a shaman, and is certainly completely oblivious to the extent of her powers. A tangential cast of side characters allows Lee to expand upon the story’s supernatural elements and incorporate new faces, but also keeps the stories from achieving the kind of familiar wholeness necessary to draw readers back again for future adventures. If there’s no attachment, what’s to keep readers (and their purchasing dollars) from drifting away?
That said, this is the supernatural-business subgenre of mystery/horror, and that means it’s inherent that there’s little to connect the stories or provide overarching framework other than constancy of characters. Fans of the formula will find much to like, but others should be careful to note that the books are best enjoyed in isolated installments, and indeed can be read in the same manner with little confusion or questioning. Lee’s art, while impressive at creating well-paneled atmosphere, nonetheless suffers from a dearth of backgrounds and an overuse of toning in place of them. Volume six does, however, feature a nice bit of artistic differentiation, as Lee busts out a soft-pastel-esque set of linework to weave through an interlocking, folksy narrative. It’s not groundbreaking, but in a market full of look-alikes, it’s a passable bit of innovation—a generalization that can perhaps be applied to all of the contents of The Antique Gift Shop.
Volumes six and seven of The Antique Gift Shop are available now.
–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson
By Idumi Kirihara
Aurora Publishing, 174 pp.
Rating: T (13+)
Timid Theater Research Group member Mugi takes the stage in her first leading role in the performance that will determine whether the club must be forced to disband. After a rocky start, she finally comes into her own as an actress even while club president Nono loses her voice onstage. Unfortunately, the club’s best efforts are not enough, and it is the official theater club that wins the fight for its existence. After the Theater Research Group’s members part ways, spunky freshman Chitose (an official theater club member still harboring a crush on senior Research Group member Takashi) suggests to Mugi that they have a Christmas party with the senior members of both their clubs to bring them all together again. The party is a success, but there is heartbreak in store for both girls, as Chitose is rejected by Takashi and Mugi finds out that her best friend, Kayo, is leaving to study overseas.
This volume is short on focus but this actually matches the emotional states of the characters quite well, ensuring that the reader feels keenly the shaky ground everyone is treading on for most of the volume. With all the primary characters at loose ends, it’s hard to see where things will go at this point, but fortunately the story is strong enough now to carry that kind of uncertainty and still compel readers to care what happens next. Though Nono’s voice has become a serious problem, her story takes a back seat in this volume, giving more attention to Mugi’s personal relationships (both with Kayo and love interest Kai) and the void left in her life after the dissolution of the club.
Despite the scattered feel of this volume, Hitohira continues to become more appealing as it goes along, providing more insight into its engaging group of characters as they struggle to discover their individual paths.
Volume three of Hitohira is available now.
–Reviewed by Melinda Beasi
By Sakurako Hanafubuki
Digital Manga Publishing, 180 pp.
Rating: M
Kyo Ayukawa is in a good spot right now. The drama he just finished is very popular, his debut CD is coming out, and his relationship with famous actor Koji Mizuhara couldn’t be healthier or more passionate. But Ayu begins to have problems when a jealous lover begins trying to split the couple apart and is determined to let Ayu know all about Mizuhara’s less-than-glamorous past. And it’s not just the lover that’s trying to get the two apart, but Ayu’s agency as well. Will Ayu have to choose between being a star and being with Mizuhara?
To give you an idea of what’s going on: Some of the top people at the talent agency have a grudge against Mizuhara, and their method of revenge is to make Mizuhara a top star while setting him up and forcing him to break up with new talent at their agency. I guess they got lucky with Ayu, because Mizuhara loves him, so now they get to break his heart. The question then becomes Why would anyone do this? My problem is that every character seems to have convoluted and overly-dramatic solutions for dealing with all of their ill-defined grudges and various problems. Ayu himself makes some baffling decisions with no apparent motivation. In addition to all the character problems, the story is also pretty poorly told, and there are serious pacing issues where scenes cut abruptly and move on to something unrelated.
But this is actually volume two in the Junior Escort series, so maybe character development in the first volume clarified some of these issues. And as much as the end of the book confused me, it might be just establishing the story that would continue into the third volume (it ends on sort of a cliffhanger). The fact remains that this volume just doesn’t stand up at all on its own, and given the fact that the book is designed to look like a one-shot volume, I have a suspicion that it’s supposed to.
Love Code is available now.
–Reviewed by Connie C.
By Hiroko Ishimaru
Digital Manga Publishing, 200 pp.
Rating: M (18+)
Keigo Someha is a private detective who retrieves a boy he finds collapsed in the street and brings him home. To his shock, the boy (Emiya) asks to stay with him forever, which Keigo refuses until it turns out that Emiya has extrasensory abilities that can help Keigo in his work. Unfortunately, Emiya can also see Keigo’s hidden secrets, including the fact that he moonlights as an assassin. When Keigo discovers that Emiya has escaped from a secret government facility he tries to protect him, but with a tracking device implanted in Emiya’s neck the government is capable of finding him anywhere. Soon Keigo and Emiya realize they have fallen in love and Keigo becomes even more determined to wrest Emiya from the powerful grip of the government.
This manga has numerous elements that could make up an interesting story but they are all so underdeveloped that there is honestly no real chance. All the most intriguing bits–Keigo’s side job as an assassin, Emiya’s life-long isolation from the real world, the government project Emiya is being used for–are addressed only on the most surface level. Keigo mentions how surprised he is to fall in love after so many years as a killer, but he displays no evidence of any psychological damage or any real attachment to the job, so when he finally declares he is going to give it all up for Emiya’s sake, it’s about as dramatic as if he’d declared he was giving up sweets. Emiya’s innocence ends up being used only as running gag and a rather creepy device for explaining his ignorance in bed. The government project is barely explained and its main scientist’s sick fixation on Emiya is too shallow to be believed. The story’s art is serviceable and blandly attractive, but fades quickly from memory.
On the upside, Keigo and Emiya’s relationship is warm and consensual, even if develops much too quickly to be real, and there are a few nice scenes played out between them. Unfortunately this isn’t nearly enough to make up for the lack of depth throughout. Perhaps in a longer series, these characters could have been more fully realized, but as it is, Love/Knot fails to provide any real insight into the human heart.
Love/Knot is available now.
–Reviewed by Melinda Beasi
By Shiho Sugiura
TOKYOPOP, 176 pp.
Rating: Teen
When some mysterious visitors from another world suddenly appeared in his garden, Rakan learned that he possesses the valuable skills of a sanome—someone with the ability to make plants grow—and that he originally came from the other world himself. After spending several volumes getting to know his houseguests, Rakan has decided to return with them to their blighted and desolate point of origin. There, he’s mistaken for the prince, his older brother, by bandits who aim to capture him.
The plot of Silver Diamond moves at a leisurely pace—most of this volume involves the group of bandits and their hopelessness—but is still a pleasure to read because the characters are so great. They’re warm and funny and easy to root for. When Rakan steps up at the end of the volume and declares his intention to make the world green again, one is actually proud of him. He seems to be on the verge of collecting a motley group of followers, and the parallels with my favorite manga, Basara, in which a kind-hearted revolutionary leader strives to make a withered world bloom again, are not lost on me.
One other nice tidbit is that the translation retains the Japanese name order of the characters, which means that when Rakan’s protectors finally start addressing each other by their first names, the moment retains its proper significance. Though the packaging—now both floppier and thinner—may bear signs of cost-cutting measures, the material within is as good as ever.
Volume four of Silver Diamond is available now.
–Reviewed by Michelle Smith
By Hinako Takanaga
BLU Manga, 208 pp.
Rating: Mature
Part companion volume to You Will Fall in Love and part sequel, You Will Drown in Love gives Reiichiro’s perspective of events as he reconnects with his long-lost best friend, Haru, and learns of Haru’s relationship with his younger brother, Tsukasa. After Haru rejects his confession of love, Reiichiro talks it over with his employee, Jinnai, who’s been giving him advice on a variety of topics ever since Reiichiro came on board as the manager of the fabric store where they both work. When Jinnai tells Reiichiro he loves him, both men must overcome some of their own bad habits if they’re going to be able to make a relationship work.
You Will Drown in Love is the kind of sequel that enriches rather than cheapens the original. Although Jinnai does not appear at all in You Will Fall in Love, by dovetailing the two storylines together, his friendship with Reiichiro is allowed to grow while the events of the first book play out and develop into love when Reiichiro’s involvement in the tale of Haru and Tsukasa comes to a close. As a result, he didn’t feel like an afterthought, but rather as someone whose opinions informed Reiichiro’s actions in the earlier work.
Like the first story, this is one of the more romantic boys’ love stories I’ve read, free from outside obstacles to the relationship or angst that makes no sense. The problems Reiichiro and Jinnai face arise because of their natures—Reiichiro is both naïve and sensitive while Jinnai uses humor as a defense—and are far more difficult to conquer than a mere lusty rival. My one real complaint is that Reiichiro’s naïveté is overdone to the point of unbelievability—what grown man would utter a sentence like, “Guys don’t normally kiss each other, right?” I do, however, adore his final line of the volume, which I will not spoil.
With its emphasis on communication and trust, this boys’ love romance is a cut above the rest.
You Will Drown in Love is available now.
–Reviewed by Michelle Smith
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