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Review #1:
Manga Title: Calling
Manga Artist: Ootsuki Miu
Manga Cover Picture:
http://joyofyaoi.files.wordpress.com...-miu-small.jpg
http://joyofyaoi.files.wordpress.com...uki-miumed.jpg
Review:
Mood: Today I’m craving a moderately-paced mature romance, preferably one with a good sense of humor. Please, let the drama feel natural, not contrived — maybe something about the challenges of being a grown up and building a life. But don’t forget a heaping serving of consensual, very explicit sex scenes. If there’s even a hint of non-con, it needs to be taken seriously. Oh, and for reading along, a good drama CD would be an excellent bonus.
Story: Kazuaki, a straight, low-ranking salaryman lives a boring, rather lonely life, one he seems sadly resigned to. By chance, he runs into Kira, an energetic, emotionally open porn actor who falls for him at first sight… to Kazuaki’s dismay. Between their both being men and Kira’s socially stigmatized career, his pursuit of Kazuaki is destined to be an uphill battle.
Mangaka: Ootsuki Miu tweaks yaoi conventions enough to come up with stories that feel original. Her art has a loose, sketch-like look, her characters are quirkily handsome, and her sex scenes are wonderfully graphic and hot. For me, Calling has this prolific mangaka’s most well-developed storyline and genuinely interesting characters.
My experience: I like that the connections between cautious Kazuaki and enthusiastic Kira develop gradually and that the challenges they face feel surprisingly realistic. Despite the unlikely setup (salaryman x porn star), this romance and these characters feel genuine, and when they struggle with what their careers mean to them, it resonates with me. I’m also quite happy about the variety of sex scenes. Yes, I always walk away from reading this love story with a full, warm, satisfied feeling.
Review #2:
Manga title: Seven Days
Manga artist: Rihito Takaharai (Written by Venio Tachibana)
Manga cover picture:
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l8lrwgdg4p1qd7pvh.jpg
Seven Days is a BL that spans 2 volumes, covering a full week. It has decent art, and I love the concept. I actually like a lot of things about it, though I had trouble “enjoying it” and I’ll cover why as we go.
Rumor has it that Seryou Touji will date anyone that asks him out first thing on Monday, and date them for a full week before breaking up with them. While waiting for a pizza he ordered one Monday morning, Touji’s sempai, Shino Yuzuru, asked Touji out on a whim. The story is simple: you go through their week together.
Here’s the part that bugged me: I found Yuzuru unlikable in general and it’s hard to enjoy a story when one of the characters you’re watching falling in love with each other is not likable. That could just be me because plenty of other characters say things I don’t particularly like and I don’t mind them. Yuzuru, I’m actually not fond of. However, I’ll acknowledge the parts I liked:
Both characters have a problem with the idea that people have expectations and judge people they don’t know by their outer appearance and their overall aura. While I don’t like Yuzuru I think he’s meant to act this certain way to prove the overall point. They both want someone to love them for being themselves, flaws and all. It’s a common message in general, but for this to work there has to be actual flaws and sometimes BL manga doesn’t always have those. Given, I do like the other character more, but so long as they have a good relationships, who am I to judge his choice? I won’t go into the characters because I think to match the theme of the story, I’m going to let them to be discovered by the readers. The readers get to learn a little bit about the characters, the same way the characters learn about each other.
I think it’s overall worth a read for sure. I don’t think it’s anything amazing(probably due to the one character), but certainly nothing bad. Worth a read at the least; and if people like both characters and the plot then it’s a win-win for them!
Review #3:
Manga title: Tsurukusa no Niwa
Manga artist :Katou Setsuko
picture:http://i59.tinypic.com/i3vy3n.jpg
http://i59.tinypic.com/i3vy3n.jpg
Tsurukusa no Niwa is a four story series gathered in a one volume manga in which the stories are set in a very normal background.
There are no Yakuza or supernatural themes and that is what makes this manga unique in its own style. True; the stories are very simple but surely not plain There is a bittersweet depth in all of them which makes the plot develop quite strongly. (as strong it can go for a short story or for a one-shot) .Art and concept are quite eye-catching for they make the reader wonder about their normal surroundings, what is going on in it and how people may be interacting to each other.
Art is very likable; Well-done, simple and neat especially when it comes to body curves and hair curls. Neither buff nor womanly. It gives vibes of a cool mixture of art and story; may be not having a very eye-catching art as in some titles or having a very strong plot in some others , but what can be seen here is a mix of both of a nice art and storyline; though simple but neat enough to be a good read.
Despite all the good points, the weakest point in the series is that a few stories in it have an open-ending. Readers who prefer solid endings may not enjoy these certain stories but on the other hand there are also a lot of fans who prefer open-endings. So, this title can be a good choose for people to lean on either side.
With all things mentioned above, Tsurukusa no Niwa is a very enjoyable read in which the reader can comfortably sit back and enjoy a normal and simple title but with different point of views in each story.
