The Libre version of Menkui was released today in Japan with a pretty new cover, so I thought this would be a good time to reminisce about the first Boys Love manga I ever purchased.
Menkui tells the story of Kotori, your average joe who has a thing for beautiful people (who doesn't >_<).
Kotori ends up catching the eye of one of the hottest guys at his school,
Akaiwa, and the two become an item. Doesn't sound too interesting so far, right? I mean, here you have your typical high school romance set up, be it BL,
shoujo, or
shounen. So what sets
Menkui apart from the norm?
If you are familiar with any of
Tanaka Suzuki's work you will notice she likes sci-
fi. Because of this love of the abnormal she has been able to put a twist on the conventional storyline. For example, in volume 2 of
Menkui,
Kotori is swept into a mirror world to keep a beautiful stranger company. And in volume 3
Kotori enters a different dimension where everyone is the opposite of their
original personalities. This was something very different from the dead on romance stories I had been reading, so I was intrigued.
Tanaka also has a great sense of flow which makes her stories an easy read (and easy for non-
Japanese readers to follow). This skill is very helpful for the
subtleties she makes use of throughout. One of the things I loved about
Kotori and
Akaiwa is they have this thing where they'll look into each others eyes and some how, without words, they reach an understanding. I know, I know, it sounds corny, but this is something
Tanaka makes use of in many of the chapters, so it becomes a part of who these characters are. In the first volume when
Akaiwa and
Kotori are having an argument they do not make eye contact at all. When
Kotori is looking at
Akaiwa,
Akaiwa is looking away. When
Akaiwa is looking at
Kotori,
Kotori is looking towards the ground. Then at the end of the chapter
Kotori and
Akaiwa meet up, both of them have their eyes focused downward and then, they both look at each other. The scene prior seemed to illustrate how they had closed themselves off to each other, and now with this simple eye contact they had opened back up.
Awwww, so sweet. But hey, I'm a English major I love
analyzing things like this!
For all you who read BL for
teh SEX, I am sorry to inform you, there is none to be found here. In fact, all of Ms. Suzuki's works are devoid of it. Yes, there's a kiss here, a feel-up there, but there's no "
Omigod, right there, I think I'm
gon-gonna
COOOOME". Yeah, none of that stuff people. Don't worry,
Akaiwa feels your pain.
Wanna buy the new release? Of course there's always
Amazon Japan or if you are
Japanese impaired you can always go to
Jpqueen and check and see if they have it in stock.
The Libre version of Menkui was released today in Japan with a pretty new cover, so I thought this would be a good time to reminisce about the first Boys Love manga I ever purchased.
Menkui tells the story of Kotori, your average joe who has a thing for beautiful people (who doesn't >_<). Kotori ends up catching the eye of one of the hottest guys at his school, Akaiwa, and the two become an item. Doesn't sound too interesting so far, right? I mean, here you have your typical high school romance set up, be it BL, shoujo, or shounen. So what sets Menkui apart from the norm?
If you are familiar with any of Tanaka Suzuki's work you will notice she likes sci-fi. Because of this love of the abnormal she has been able to put a twist on the conventional storyline. For example, in volume 2 of Menkui, Kotori is swept into a mirror world to keep a beautiful stranger company. And in volume 3 Kotori enters a different dimension where everyone is the opposite of their original personalities. This was something very different from the dead on romance stories I had been reading, so I was intrigued.
Tanaka also has a great sense of flow which makes her stories an easy read (and easy for non-Japanese readers to follow). This skill is very helpful for the subtleties she makes use of throughout. One of the things I loved about Kotori and Akaiwa is they have this thing where they'll look into each others eyes and some how, without words, they reach an understanding. I know, I know, it sounds corny, but this is something Tanaka makes use of in many of the chapters, so it becomes a part of who these characters are. In the first volume when Akaiwa and Kotori are having an argument they do not make eye contact at all. When Kotori is looking at Akaiwa, Akaiwa is looking away. When Akaiwa is looking at Kotori, Kotori is looking towards the ground. Then at the end of the chapter Kotori and Akaiwa meet up, both of them have their eyes focused downward and then, they both look at each other. The scene prior seemed to illustrate how they had closed themselves off to each other, and now with this simple eye contact they had opened back up. Awwww, so sweet. But hey, I'm a English major I love analyzing things like this!
For all you who read BL for teh SEX, I am sorry to inform you, there is none to be found here. In fact, all of Ms. Suzuki's works are devoid of it. Yes, there's a kiss here, a feel-up there, but there's no "Omigod, right there, I think I'm gon-gonna COOOOME". Yeah, none of that stuff people. Don't worry, Akaiwa feels your pain.
Wanna buy the new release? Of course there's always Amazon Japan or if you are Japanese impaired you can always go to Jpqueen and check and see if they have it in stock.
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