Review: Totally Captivated -Vol. 5-

Author: Hajin Yoo
Pages: 184
Price: $9.99
Publisher: Netcomics
Summary from back cover: The new Director Kim confronts Mookyul on the young loan shark’s own turf, but Mookyul quickly cuts him down to size, leaving his bitter rival to vow revenge. Ewon continues his roller coaster love affair with the unpredictable and possessive Mookyul. Then, late one night he finds Mookyul’s foster father, Chairman Lee, waiting for him and the old man has a few choice words to say to Ewon. He even threatens Ewon’s life indirectly. Now, Mookyul faces a terrible choice. He must choose between his lover Ewon or his foster father Chairman Lee. But, whatever the choice, there’s going to be hell to pay.

Review: Volume five continues where the last plot thread left off, with Mookyul being greeted by a herd of unwanted guest in his office. But, you know what, Mookyul doesn’t care about those guys, I don’t care about them, and I’m quite positive you don’t either. What you want to know is probably what the above summary only touched on and that is the situation between Chairman Lee, Mookyul and Ewon. Are the Chairman and Mookyul really doing what Ewon thinks or does Ewon just have a dirty mind?

This volume brings the drama and then punches it in the face. And then spits on it. And then kicks dirt in its eyes. That’s how hardcore the drama is in this volume. I’m not saying it’s all drama all the time. The beginning chapters start off with Mookyul and Ewon going on a date and Mookyul uttering all his deliciously sweet, corny lines. But when it’s time to bring the drama, this volume brings it with a sledge hammer. It slowly creeps up on you and then…BAM! The culmination of this is a huge argument Ewon and Mookyul get in to. Reading these two go back and forth reminded me of one of those situations you might have had with a neighbor who is arguing with her boyfriend in her yard and you know you really shouldn’t listen, but you can’t help yourself and you peek your head out the window. But unlike your neighbors, who you end up calling the police on cause you really need to get back to sleep, you want to see Mookyul and Ewon’s argument through to the end. And, oh, what an ending.

The hardcopy of TC has been cleaned up, primped and pampered. Screentone has been added to many pictures, dialogue changed, Korean sound effects replaced with American ones, and some panels have been completely redrawn. You may think that redrawing or replacing images isn’t necessary, but what is provided on Netcomics is basically a first draft. And the final draft is always better than the first and you’ll completely agree with this once you find the panels that have been changed. Although I’m ecstatic about the changes made art wise, I wish they had left some of the dialogue alone. I understand there had to be some alterations made because when they first translate they’re doing a pretty rush job in order to keep the American fans up-to-date with the Korean online release. But when the majority of what is altered is the colorful language used by the characters then it begins to seem like they wanted to keep TC from having to be labeled as adult content. But I’m probably totally off target with my analysis.

My major problem with TC is with the print. The black tends to fade and has white specks. While reading through it (for the one millionth time) I was comparing it to the print quality to of Aishiatteru Futari and AF’s ink just pops off the page whereas TC is lucky if it can hop. Overall, I just think TC should get a lot better treatment. I’m quite positive this is Netcomics flagship title, so it would be nice to see it treated as such. That might be too much to ask for in our current economy. But, hey, I already shell out three extra dollars for all my other BL, so I wouldn’t mind paying more for better quality.

So, is it worth purchasing even after paying to read it online? Yes, yes, yes, a hundred times YES! Volume five of Totally Captivated is great fun and insufferably hard to put down making it an excellent addition to anyone’s BL collection.

Oh, Totally Captivated, you have yet to cease totally captivating me. You get a:

Reading this while listening to the Junjou Romantica OST’s is a total must.

Aishiatteru Futari Canceled?

ANN reported on some Tokyopop titles that have recently been listed on Diamond as "canceled by publisher". Aishiatteru Futari (Love Hurts) is on that list :(. This is a BL title written by Tanaka Suzuki that contains a few stories. My favorite isn't even BL, it's the final one dealing with a guy and his crush on his best friend and...aliens? Of course aliens! This is Tanaka Suzuki we're talking about! In my opinion I find the characters more likable, the flow more fluid, and the story more Tanaka Suzuki-ish, which completely makes the manga worth getting. I understand everyone is cutting back, and nothing against TP for tightening its belt, it's just too bad that AF is affected.

But if you're looking for more Tanaka Suzuki, as I always am, Libre will be releasing the second volume of Aitsu no Daihonmei on February 10th.

This story was first released as a one shot in b-Boy Phoenix volume 2, which focused, basically, on unattractive characters (Saika Kunieda's story in this volume is hysterical). I guess people really liked Suzuki's story because we're now two volumes in.

You can check out the rest of Libre's February releases here.

EDIT: Aishatteru Futari will be delayed, not canceled. Yay!

Yaoi in the Classroom

I have yet to have an English class where we didn't discuss whether one of the male characters in a book we're reading is gay. And every single time a student brings it up the professor is ecstatic. We then go through the story and find the parts that brings the characters sexuality into question. So, if anyone ever gets on your case for your crazy, yaoi obsession, just tell 'em you're preparing for college ;).

Gold Star Review: Future Lovers

Author: Saika Kunieda
Pages: 200
Price: $12.95
Publisher: Deux
Summary from back cover: A romantic lover awaits you... in the future. Kento Kumagaya wishes for the simple things in life: to have a happy family with the ideal housewife, loving kids, and kind grandparents all living together, happily ever after. Fate, however, has other plans. Enter Akira Kazuki, a smart, beautiful and unrestrained gay man who shatters Kento's dream with a single night of wild and passionate homosexual sex. This is a romantic, sweet and funny story between two different people (in more ways than one) who unexpectedly find the same future together.

Review: Whenever I want to get someone whose life has been yaoiless to sample a little BL I always offer up this manga. The story is brilliant, the characters rememberable, and the art style unique. What more can one want from a manga?

Future Lovers starts by introducing us to Kento Kumagaya who has dreams of a wife, kids, and a house bursting with love. In order to achieve this picturesque life he first needs to acquire a wife. Too bad for him the story opens with his girlfriend throwing her drink at him and then storming out of the bar. An innocent bystander,Akira Kazuki, gets caught in the crossfire and ends up getting drenched. He casually clues in a clueless Kento as to why his date was so upset. When a girl asks you what you like about her replying "you're stable and you seem fertile, so we can have a lot of kids" isn't probably the best response. So, yeah, ouch, serious case of foot in the mouth. And we all know the best cure for that is a hearty heapin' helpin' of alcohol, which Akira readily provides.

Wait. Lets stop. Time to review our BL math. What does Alcohol + Two Guys equal? Sex! And Saika Kunieda must have peeked inside my brain because she knows exactly what I like in a BL sex scene. I've stated before how I love for my uke's to enjoy sex, and boy does this uke love it. Kento, shockingly, enjoys himself too, but by the next day he is determined to wipe his mind clean of his first homosexual experience and dedicate himself completely to patching things up with Yukie. Yukie will complete his dream of a perfect family. That gay guy from last night, psh, forget about it. But it would seem things like hot sex can't be forgotten so easily when the guy you slept with has been hired to teach at the same school you work at. Akira is just as surprised to learn he will have to work with a man who wants to keep their late night meeting a secret. But, hey, he's cool with that, probably not the first or the last time he'll have to pretend "nothing happened". But when that "nothing" happens a second time with Akira, Kento's dream slowly begins to morph into something he doesn't recognize.

If this plot sounds familiar, it's because it probably is. But the cast of characters in Future Lovers takes this tired old plot and revitalizes it. One of the ways Kunieda is able to do this so successfully is by using her secondary characters to reveal things about Kento and Akira. For example, Kento lives with his two grandparents. Their presence not only brings more life to the story, but it helps drive home how important family is to him. Also, in a lot of BL, side characters have a tendency to fade into the background, but in both chapters these characters have major roles in the story. I promise, you'll come to care for them almost as much as you do Kento and Akira.

Aside from the main story, Memory of the Future (love that title), there is a one-shot included in this volume entitled, Winter Rabbit. I started out excited about this story because unlike MotF, I've never read it. But after reading it, I was a little disappointed it didn't have same charm as MotF. Winter Rabbit has twice the angst and no humor. This is kind of a let down because I find comedy to be Kunieda's strong point. Needless to say I still enjoyed the little short about an older brother who falls in love with his younger adopted brother. This story could have focused on the sex, because, yeah, it is the issue. But instead, the focus is on the relationship between the two brothers and the abandonment issues the younger one never gets over and the patching up of both.

I have to comment on Kunieda's art. This is the first volume so as the characters develop emotionally so does the art go through changes. Kento and Akira won't really take shape artistically until the second volume. But what you get in the first volume is a sampling of what's to come (which is more awesomeness). Kunieda doesn't limit herself by just drawing one specific type of character. Our world is filled with many different people of many different shapes and sizes, this isn't always the world BL characters live in. But it is in MotF and it's really refreshing to see a BL that isn't filled with pretty faces. I think one of the reasons why I like Kento is because he isn't that pretty seme. He looks like a regular 9 to 5 guy, the average Joe anyone can relate to (plus he's kinda borderline bara and I loves me some bara). The paneling and layout flows really well. The transitions are so smooth it's almost as if I was looking at a storyboard. And really, comics should very much work like that. The pictures should be able to carry the story just as well as the words, and MotF succeeds at both.

Of course, because of my new very yellow banner I think it's quite obvious I really like Future Lovers. This review was hard to write because I really just wanted to fangirl the whole entire time. I hope you do pick up this manga and share it with everyone you know. And be sure to snatch up the second volume when it comes out in April. Deux will also be including the new story Kunieda did for the Libre re-release in the second volume. So get excited!

And if you haven't guessed yet, I gave this manga a:

A look back on BL webcomics of yore.

One facet of BL I believe tends to get overlooked are webcomics and the role they played in introducing people to the genre, especially in the US. Although some individuals may still get their first taste of boy/boy lovin' from webcomics, my focus is on a time period before Gundam Wing, high-speed internet, and the formation of scanlation groups such as Obsession and Nakama made it readily available to all. I'm writing about the mid-to-late 90's. Although during this time it was possible to find yaoi, BL was almost non-existent anyplace outside of Japan. Yes, there were always little groups of people who swapped scans, and we had aestheticism that did reviews and provided translations and bunches of other services, but BL wasn't as accepted as it is today, so to create a BL webcomic took a lot of courage.

My first BL webcmic was a high school romance called, "Tei and Riki".

There are four chapters in the comic and to this day it remains incomplete. The story takes place in a Japanese all boy school and follows Riki and how his attraction to Tei turns both their lives upside down. The first three chapters are comedic as Riki forms a hairbrain scheme to get closer to Tei and in retaliation Tei creates one of his own to get Riki away from him.

Of course, as is required by romance law, nothing goes as planned for either of them. The two end up going their separate ways but because they operate within the same group of friends it isn't long before they have to make contact again. This happens at a ski resort where we learn Tei has issues and Riki isn't able to get over his crush. This fourth chapter entitled "Journey", diverges from the comedy path and takes on a serious tone. I remember being turned off by this chapter when I was younger and to this day it doesn't seem to blend well with the previous chapters. Tei's "issue" seems to come out of nowhere and the way Riki reacts to Tei's problem, I felt, was over dramatic.

Reading it now, I feel as if the creator didn't really have a clear direction of where her comic was going. Also, I believe she was being led by two different audiences. I remember around the time she started drawing the fourth chapter, the comic began being archived on a site for homosexual readers. And here lies the problem. BL, is for a straight female audience. But I believe when Eve, through her work, began to meet more people who were homosexual she wanted to stop making light of something that is a very serious issue for some people. I'm not saying it's impossible to make a story with both audiences in mind, but I don't think Eve knew how to do this.

Despite the unevenness of the writing, the artwork improves greatly by this point. The characters are better proportioned, her screentoning improves, and her backgrounds become more greatly detailed.

Isn't this page just beautiful? Really, compare it with the one I posted above it and I'm just floored by how much she improved. Anyway, if you want to read Tei and Riki yourself you can still find the website here. It's a fun read and you might enjoy watching the progression of the art as I did. I'm really curious what happened to Eve, though? I wonder if she kept drawing? Maybe I could find her on DA? If you have any info, pass it my way. I would love to see how much she's improved by now.

Hajime no Ippo: Now With More Yaoi

The new season of Hajime no Ippo began airing this month on NTV. Because of classes and work I didn't get a chance to watch it until this past Wednesday. For any of you who are lost, Hajime no Ippo is a sports anime focused on boxing. Although I would love to claim it as the best sports anime ever, the only other sports based anime I've seen is The Prince of Tennis and saying it's better than The Prince of Tennis isn't saying much because everything is better than The Prince of Tennis (*hears horrified gasps from fangirls*). But, really and truly, it's awesome and I'd recommend it to anyone.

For those of you who have been following Hajime no Ippo, you know of Ippo's gigantic fanboy crush on Miyata. For a while I ignored the yaoiness of the situation, until I started reading the manga and it was as if the creator was just begging people to slash these two. Below is one of my favorite Ippo fanboy moments. He gets angry when Sendo goes upside Miyata's head.
Dude, Ippo didn't even react that way when bully's talked trash about his mom! But oh, touch his idol and IT IS ON! So, yeah, funny, ha-ha, and cute cause, gosh, he really likes this guy. Still, I don't slash.

Then I watch New Challenger and Ippo looks like this just because Kimura says he's going to spar with Miyata:
And then when the guys question him about his devotion to Miyata he looks like this and states:
Okay, first, that image, lol. I know I'm not the only one with a dirty mind here! You know that looks like something naughty is about to happen. Second, forget fanboy, Ippo, you are a complete and total fangirl. The blush! The fingers! The lip! You have all the physical symptoms of a fangirl. You're even hated by others for your freaky love:
But oh, the the fangirling doesn't stop there. While Kimura's out kicking Miyata's butt, Ippo begins to walk home but stops for a moment to reminisce about...his boxing career? No, because his boxing career is not even half as important as Miyata:
And I could go on and on, but all this Miyata lovin' got me wondering as to why there doesn't seem to be a female following for such a yaoilicious show. The only thing I can figure is females are turned off by the art style (and I will admit I'm not a fan myself) or they really do prefer pretty boy types to beefy, muscular guys (I know they do). But give Ippo a chance. You'll enjoy it, I promise. And here, a showering Miyata to entice you:
Wheee, this was a fun, meaningless entry XD. But, hey, it's Friday! Anyway, If you're interested in anything Ippo related here's the link to its wiki page. This will take you to its page on One Manga if you want to read the 840+ chapter series. But if you're interested in the anime I'd recommend purchasing the dvd's. Right Stuf is currently selling the individual volumes for 5 dollars a pop, which is a steal when you compare it to the collections they're also selling for 72 dollars each.

Btw, check out the opening for the new season. I absolutely adore it. What do you think?

Review: Junjo Romantica - Vol. 8 -

Author: Shungiku Nakamura
Pages: 192
Price: 12.99
Publisher: Blu
Summary from back cover: When Usami can't write a teenage love story, it's up to Misaki to teach him the proper way to go on a "normal" date. As usual, things end up less than normal when family issues arise with the introduction of...Usami's father! It's time for Misaki to bite the bullet and say what he feels in his heart for Usami... And when Hiro finds Nowaki sleeping naked with a haughty hunk, will this spell the end of their relationship?

Review: We're eight volume's in, and it's very heartening to see a BL manga continue on for so long. But was Nakamura able to succeed in keeping the story new and intriguing? Maybe not so new, as she recycles some old plots, but definitely intriguing.

Towards the end of volume seven we were left with a obviously disgruntled Akihiko. We the readers know what's bothering him but for some reason Misaki has yet to figure it out. Volume eight takes Misaki further down his path of confusion and utter obliviousness when Akihiko suggest that Misaki should live on his own. Our spastic uke does what he does second best and totally ignores his lover while stressing to himself why he would say such a thing. This far into the series not asking questions is part of who Misaki is, and so we're stuck with having to see him come up with a million and one reasons why Akihiko says and does the things he does instead of going straight to the horses mouth. This plot device might work a couple of times, but by now, it's gotten old, as we see it repeated not just within the Romantica storyline but also in Egoist and Terrorist. Is it too much to ask to have a straightforward character who actually wants to work through their problems instead of angsting about it?

While wallowing in his angst, Misaki runs into a odd old man at the train station. This seems utterly familiar...Oh, wait because it happened before when Misaki met Akihiko's brother. I'm not quite sure what Nakamura is going for by reusing this scene, but it doesn't work. It was difficult reading through this part because of how similar it is to the other train incident. It felt like you were sitting in on a lesson of something you had just learned. You keep checking your watch as you eagerly wait for it to end. And boy was I glad when it was over.

Just when I've given up on this volume I reach the second chapter and I'm reminded why I like Romantica. Chapter two opens with Aikawa doing what Misaki does best, completely spazzing out. Akihiko only has a few more chapters to wright in his new novel but he wants to make his normal everyday characters have ritzy high class dates that normal everyday people only dream about. He needs to be shown what the rest of Japan does for a typical date and Aikawa asks Misaki to take on this task.

I really enjoyed the interaction between Misaki and Akihiko in this chapter. They chat casually with each other, and actually have a discussion that really goes somewhere without having Misaki totally freak out. If anything, for once, I just really enjoyed Misaki. There was less angst, more questions, and just Misaki being really super adorable (aquarium scene ftw). Throw in my favorite Usa-sibling and a super sweet moment on a ferris wheel and you've got yourself a winning chapter.

Next we're treated to an Egoist story (my personal fave couple). It was refreshing to read a whole chapter about these two instead of the tiny morsels served up in the previous volumes. The chapter opens with Hiroki walking in on Nowaki sleeping on the floor with his colleague from the hospital, Tsumori. Nowaki, upon awakening, sees how bothered Hiroki is and tries to reassure him that things aren't what they seem. Of course, Hiroki's still bothered, even more so when Tsumori throws himself on Nowaki, and later informs him that his lover was thinking about moving out. What, wait? Move out? But why? And here is the plot line we follow for the rest of the chapter, Hiroki going back and forth in his head trying to figure out why Nowaki would want to move out instead of *gaspity* just asking him! One of the things I've always loved about these two is how Hiroki's image of an "adult" is mirrored in Nowaki. Nowaki's always calm, straightforward, and knows how to read a situation and does what he can to control it. And his "adult" behavior shines through again in this volume. I find the final scene between the two very touching and although it's no library scene (omigod library scene, so awesome), the insight Nowaki gives Hiroki into his thoughts and feelings can only make you love him more. This chapter would be a lot better if we had more interaction between these two and less of Hiroki moping, it really makes the story drag on. And feeling like you have to plod through a story is never a good thing when you're suppose to be entertained.

This volume may not be one of the best in the series, but it does tie up some loose ends for Akihiko and Misaki, making it a must for all you Romantica fans. And the Egoist story is a nice little bonus for us Egoist lovers. But the first chapter really felt more like filler since nothing was really resolved and the repeat train incident was more boring than interesting and the egoist story could be a bit tedious to read at parts. But overall it was a good read which deserves a good solid:

English Kakairu anthology

Art by Pandabaka

Comichub and her friends had put together a Kakairu doujinshi for a convention in Taiwan but because they are awesome they want to make it available to their English audience. Go here to find more information. I've already placed my order and I can't wait 'till February :).

Changes at Yaoi Gallery

A little while ago, Yaoi Gallery banned all furry art, which angered a lot of people. Some artist left, others stayed and ranted, while a small minority rejoiced. Well, for all you furry fans, you can stop grumbling about how Y! has been so unfair to you and your love of tails, paws, and fur, for yaoi gallery has changed their terms of service once again and has retracted their previous no furry rule. Yes, furries are now allowed. And as much as I'm not a fan of the furry, I never agreed with the rule. So, celebrate my fellow artist. And if you left Y! because of the ban, come on home.

There have been other changes to the terms of service so head over to yaoi gallery to check'em out.

The best shirt EVAR

Edit: The image is from Tea for Two Vol. 2 by Yaya Sakuragi.