Please vote for your fav manga of the month. You get 2000 points for voting.
All submissions will be archived at: http://aarinfantasy.com/forum/f285/t...y-contest.html
so that everyone can read all reviews.
Review #1:
Manga title: Winter Demon
Manga artist: Le Peruggine
Story by: Yamila Abraham
Manga cover picture:
https://heavyink.com/images/covers/DEC07/MDEC074011.JPG
Review: Hakuin is a monk who was once sacrificed to the snow demon Fuyu. Rather than devour his soul, Fuyu violated him and released him - the only sacrifice he'd ever released. Now, three fire demons have come to terrorize Hakuin's village, and the only chance they have to be saved is to curry the favor of the snow demon. Unfortunately, Fuyu wants only one thing - for Hakuin to be his willing slave. Hakuin has no choice but to agree, but that doesn't mean he's given in.
When I started this story, I didn't have particularly high hopes, but the manga surprised me. There's a story of evolution in the relationship between Hakuin and Fuyu, with one learning to trust again, and the other learning to be more human, following their traumatic first meeting. The manga is only four volumes long. There are at least three separate couples featured in the series, and each one is equally entertaining, and different from the other relationships. All relationships are between demons and humans. Outside of the main pairing of Fuyu the snow demon and Hakuin the monk, there is also the tale of love between Figaru the incubus and his woodsman lover, and a shorter story line devoted to the Spring Demon Ryuuto and the gentle Dr. Takuma.
I found the story to be highly enjoyable. It has its up and downs, its sweet parts and it's sad parts. One of my favorite things about this story is that Fuyu is not always the seme. There are at least two occasions where he is taken by another, which makes it different than a lot of available yaoi and BL out there.
The artwork involved is very beautiful. The artist is not one that I am familiar with, but I nonetheless found it to be quite stunning and unique.
I definitely recommend this if you haven't read it already. And if you have...well, it's definitely worth another read.
Review #2:
Manga Title: Not Equal
Manga Artist: Ike Reibun
Manga cover picture:
http://joyofyaoi.files.wordpress.com...ot-equal-2.jpg
Review:
Mood: Today I want a twisted, impossible romance. Impossible from many angles. In fact, I want to see a mangaka take on one of the most unsuccessful cliche plot conventions in yaoi (not rape, mind you) and pull a complete rabbit out of the hat — convince me she’s taken it seriously and has found a way to make it work. It’s okay if she bends (or flat out breaks) our universe’s rules to pull it off. I’m in an unexplained-phenomena kind of mood. As to sex, moderately graphic and consensual, please. Oh, and hand it over with a side of drama CD’s, to go.
Story: A 17 year-old who grew up without his father is suddenly overwhelmed with the need to see him, the need to feel loved by the man who has always seemed to ignore his existence. However, his pilgrimage to the family home leads to some completely unexpected and inexplicable events.
Mangaka: Ike Reibun marches to her own drummer, her stories ranging from very realistic modern day to the historical to the fantastical to the outrageous science fiction futuristic. Her art is not beautiful, not by a long shot, but it is effective and carries an impressive amount of detail. She leans toward the dark side of things yet maintains a strong orientation toward the romantic.
My experience: I like stories that warp reality, so I was a sucker for this story’s premise. To my surprise, these characters — all of them, major and minor — also won my affections, even the ones who act like jerks. I admit that I usually find stories that feature this plot convention to be annoyingly artificial and sensationalist, so I was surprised to be lured in by how Ike-sensei approached the problem.