Creator: Eiki Eiki (cartoonist); Douglas W. Dlin (translation)
Publishing Information: Juné Manga/DMP; B&W, paperback, 232pp, $12.95 U.S.
Ordering Numbers: ISBN 13: 978-1-56970-766-1; ISBN 10: 1-56970-766-9
Drama/Romance; Rated “YA” for “Teens 16+”
World’s End is the sequel to the yaoi manga, Dear Myself. Both books are the creation of mangaka Eiki Eiki (Train Train). Dear Myself focused on Hirofumi Mizui, a freelance writer, and his possessive boyfriend, Daigo Furubayashi, a businessman and college freshman.
If I understand the story correctly (and I may not because I’ve never read Dear Myself), there is a third character in this scenario, a character known as “Alien Hirofumi.” At one point in the story, Hirofumi loses his memory, and he essentially becomes someone different from the real Hirofumi – thus the term “alien.” It is “Alien Hirofumi” who falls in love with Daigo. This Hirofumi writes “Dear Myself” letters so that when he regains his memories and goes back to being the “real” Hirofumi, he’ll have written memories of his time with Daigo.
As World’s End, a continuation and conclusion of Dear Myself, opens, Hirofumi and Daigo have been living together for a year. However, Daigo has become frighteningly possessive of Hirofumi and starts imposing restrictions on when and where Hirofumi can go. Determined to be independent, Hirofumi insists that Daigo not accompany him to a high school reunion. There, Hirofumi meets an old female acquaintance, Nanae Maeda, who may have romantic feelings for Hirofumi. Meanwhile, his psychological scars lead Daigo to taking drastic action for fear of losing Hirofumi.
This volume also includes the short story, “The Last Spring,” a side story to Dear Myself, featuring the amnesiac Alien Hirofumi. Here, Hirofumi worries that regaining his memory will mean losing the part of him that loves Daigo, so he makes a promise involving cherry blossoms. The only new story in World’s End is the short story, “The Next Spring,” a follow-up to “The Last Spring.”
Eiki Eiki is one of my favorite Boys’ Love (BL) creators. I love her drawing style and the sensibilities of her graphical storytelling, even when I’m not impressed by the core story and characters. This is straight melodrama, but what makes it work is character motivation. The fact is that the characters are selfish and self-centered, even in romantic relationships. They are so focused on their own good feelings and fear of pain, and that gives this drama some edge, as well as potent conflict, both internal and external. A love story that involves stalking, deception, and false imprisonment is a spicier read than a straight love story.
This book also includes stories featuring two more young couples. In “Kiss on a Honeymoon,” Fumiya Yoshino and Ayane Kumagai are a gay couple who married before they graduated from high school. However, school obligations kept the duo from honeymooning. Now, they’re trying to make the class graduation trip to Hawaii double as a honeymoon, but classmate, Takagishi, is a full-on cock block. What to do?
In “Papa’s 18,” former street punk Chiharu Daisawa is now a 20-year-old college student, and he wants his mother, Kayoko Daisawa, to be happy. He approves of her engagement to get married until he discovers that her fiancée is an 18-year-old kid just out of high school. This kid has even taken the family name and goes by the name, Noboru Daisawa. What’s worse to Chiharu is that his new “dad” is a sleepwalker who likes to get in bed with his new “son.”
“Kiss on a Honeymoon” is just a trifle, a cute BL story that really plays out like a high school shojo manga romance. “Papa’s 18” is funny simply because its not-so-farfetched scenario plays out with raunchy, mini-set pieces. There are so many possibilities here for outrageous and scandalous comedy that “Papa’s 18” should be a full-length graphic novel.
At 232 pages, World’s End is packed with entertaining boys’ love manga. None of it is great. Some of it is quite good, and even the average stuff can be entertaining.
A-
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