SUBLIME MANGA/Daria – @SuBLimeManga
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
MANGAKA: Ranmaru Zariya
TRANSLATION: Christine Dashiell
LETTERS: Mara Coman
EDITOR: Jennifer LeBlanc
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0253-4; paperback (July 2019); Rated “M” for “Mature”
184pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S. (6.99 digital), $17.99 CAN, £8.99 UK
Coyote is a yaoi manga from manga creator, Ranmaru Zariya. Yaoi manga is a subset of boys' love (or BL) manga, which depicts amorous situations between male romantic leads. Yaoi manga usually features explicit depictions of sex between those male leads. Coyote follows a werewolf and the pianist who fall in love although their families are murderous rivals.
Coyote introduces a young man named “Coyote.” In order to conceal that he is a werewolf, Coyote avoids getting too involved with humans, but he frequents a bar where a young man, who calls himself “Marleen,” is a pianist. Marleen is interested in Coyote and just won’t take “No!” for an answer, but when Coyote goes into “heat,” he succumbs to the pianist. Marleen, however, is really 28-year-old Josh Galland, the only heir of the Galland mafia family. Although estranged from his family, Josh is being drawn into the Galland's long war against werewolves.
Coyote, Vol. 2 (Chapters 5 to 8) opens with Coyote in Marleen's bed. When Coyote leaves, Marleen has him tracked to find out where the werewolves live in the city. Coyote has a female werewolf associate named “Mimi,” and Marleen has an associate named Allen Brown, and each one has some news to report. When Coyote discovers that Marleen is really Josh Galland, things fall apart.
Also, werewolf leader, Kiefer, has decreed that Coyote lead a killing raid against the Gallant family. So what will Coyote and Marleen do? Will they choose love or family?
[This volume includes the additional story, “Sweet Days 7, Scene 5: A Week at Marleen's Place.”]
As I wrote in my review of the first volume of the Coyote manga, I am a fan of werewolf fiction, although I don't often find much of it that I like. That is why I treasure Stephen King's illustrated novella, “Cycle of the Werewolf,” and its film adaptation, Silver Bullet. I am also a fan of the films, An American Werewolf in London and The Howling, and of the probably-forgotten novel, Tombley's Walk. I am happy to have discovered the Coyote yaoi manga, thanks in part to a review copy from my VIZ Media rep.
Coyote Graphic Novel Volume 2 dives deep into the conspiracy and into the Romeo and Juliet-like feud at the center of this series. Vol. 2 reads like urban fantasy more than it does as erotic fiction or yaoi manga. Yes, there is an intense sex scene that opens this volume, and six pages of it are in vivid color. Still, this volume is driven by conflict and dilemma and by character and plot. I found myself really drawn into that, to the point that I could not stop reading. If this were not a yaoi manga, it would still be a really good manga.
Ranmaru Zariya is a good storyteller, and the art in this series has a strong sense of realism, in addition to being some of the best that I have come across in yaoi manga. Christine Dashiell's translation makes the conspiracies and mafia elements as captivating as the sex, while Mara Coman's lettering captures the many layers of this narrative.
Also, the additional story in Vol. 2, “Sweet Days 7, Scene 5: A Week at Marleen's Place,” is your booty-call after-drama mint. If you need at least two hot sex scenes in your yaoi manga, this bonus at the back of the volume delivers.
10 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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