#IReadsYou Yaoi Review: CAMERA CAMERA CAMERA 1

CAMERA CAMERA CAMERA 1

DMP BOOKS/June Manga

MANGAKA: Kazura Matsumoto

TRANSLATION: Sachiko Sato

LETTERS: Samantha Yamanaka

ISBN: 978-1-56970-757-9; paperback w/dust jacket (December 11, 2007)

200pp, B&W, $12.95 U.S.

Drama/Romance; Rated “YA” for “Young Adults 16+”

Camera Camera Camera is a boys' love/yaoi manga series from mangaka, Kazura Matsumoto.  It was originally serialized from February 2002 to February 2003 in Dear+, the boys' love manga magazine published by Shinsokan, the Japanese publishing company.  Boys' love (or BL) manga is a manga genre that depicts amorous situations between male romantic leads and is typically created for a female audience.  Yaoi manga is a BL subset that features explicit depictions of sex between male characters.  The Camera Camera Camera series is specifically yaoi manga.

Camera Camera Camera 1 introduces Akira Togawa.  He is an average high school student, with the only exceptional thing in his life being that he’s in love with his older stepbrother, Satoru.  If only that were the lone tricky situation in his life, but it’s not.

Suddenly, there’s a scruffy photographer named Kaoru Nakahara hanging around the school to work on a campus photography job.  Kaoru falls head over heels in love with Akira, and he won’t take even Akira’s loudest “No!” for an answer.  Worse still is that this persistent Akira-enthusiast is aware of Akira’s hard crush on Satoru, who now has a devotee of his own.  A female, Kano Miyata, arrives on the scene in Satoru’s life, and she’s also notices that Akira clings to his stepbrother.  When a young male model with a crush on Kaoru comes forward, Akira is not just in a love triangle; he’s in a love pentagon, and his feelings are all jumbled.

THE LOWDOWN:  In Camera Camera Camera, Vol. 1, lovers and rivals seem to appear out of nowhere.  Camera is a charming frivolous treat, the kind of light-hearted romantic drama one would expect from shoujo manga (comics for teen girls), and, except for the gender of most of its cast, Camera is practically a typical high school romantic comedy/drama.

Camera is successful because (1) it’s a breezy read (2) and it has such endearing characters.  Young Akira is so twisted by his deep emotional attachment to his brother and by his conflicted feelings for the pervy photographer who is suddenly on the scene that Akira is his own comic foil.  Unusual for BL, Camera has a strong female supporting character in Miyata.  Rather than make her just a girl-in-the-way, a throwaway female character/obstacle to boys’ fun, Matsumoto makes her a determined, level-headed, smart player.  Miyata may be an interloper, but she’s sympathetic and fun to have around.

Camera Camera Camera also effectively depicts the fierce yearnings of teen love without one sex scene, and the narrative is heavy with intriguing conflicts and complications.  There is, however, lots of comedy – pratfalls, misunderstandings, and playful fisticuffs.  This skillful interplay of comedy, drama, and romance is why Camera Camera Camera is a fun fun fun read.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of yaoi manga will want to read Camera Camera Camera.

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

CAMERA CAMERA CAMERA 1 is still available in a paperback edition from Amazon.

https://junemanga.com/

https://www.digitalmanga.com/

The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: VAMPIRE HUNTER D Volume 1

HIDEYUKI KIKUCHI’S VAMPIRE HUNTER D, VOL. 1

DMP BOOKS

MANGAKA: Saiko Takaki

TRANSLATION: Earl Gertwagon

ISBN: 978-1-56970-827-4; paperback w/dust jacket (November 13, 2007)

192pp, B&W, $12.95 U.S.

Sci-Fi/Horror; Rated “YA” for “Young Adults 16+”

Since the publication of his novel Vampire Hunter D in 1983, Japanese horror author, Hideyuki Kikuchi has published 16 more novels chronicling the adventures of his monster-killing dhampir (half-human/half-vampire).  A few years ago, Kikuchi and Digital Manga Publishing (DMP) joined to create manga adaptations of the Vampire Hunter D novels.

In late 2007, DMP published the first manga, Vampire Hunter D, Vol. 1, adapted and illustrated by Saiko Takaki.  Vol. 1 introduces “D,” the lone, mysterious vampire hunter, who wanders the post-apocalyptic Earth of the year 12,090 A.D.  In this age, a race of vampires known as the “Nobility” rule, and humans live in fear of them.  Once bitten by a vampire, a human is cursed to become a member of the undead.

Enter D.  He comes to the aid of a young woman named Doris Lang, who has been bitten by the vampire lord, Count Magnus Lee.  D takes up Doris’ cause, determined to deliver her from the cursed fate of becoming the undead and perhaps bringing her salvation.  Standing in D’s way are Count Lee and his daughter, Larmica.  However, the human population also hunts Doris.  Led by Rei Ginsei, a vicious and powerful hunter, and Greco, the mayor’s son, local villagers plot to imprison Doris and her little brother, Dan.  Can D take on so many adversaries?

THE LOWDOWN:  Adapting a book with a cult following into another medium can be a thankless task.  Sometimes, even involving the original creator in the adaptation will not reduce the criticism, skepticism, and concerns of fans.  Digital Manga Publishing and Vampire Hunter D creator Hideyuki Kikuchi had a thankless task, especially as the book had already been adapted into the 1982 OVA (original video anime), Vampire Hunter D.  They still made an excellent choice in picking Saiko Takaki, known primarily for his amateur work, to adapt D into manga.

Takaki’s adaptation of the prose into comics is truly a visual experience.  The story is less about the logical progression of a narrative and more about emotions, feelings, impressions, and sensations invoked by the art.  Takaki’s art is wild and untamed – a fierce windstorm of line work that is stylish and quirky.  The inking practically pulsates with life, like blood rushing so obviously beneath a surface.

Takaki leaves no doubt about it; the vampires and creatures that populate this story are like a force of nature, so when they use their power, Takaki reflects this by drawing in a whirlwind of unruly penciling and windswept brushstrokes.  He makes the terrifying beautiful; he even draws his humans as a rustic, hardy lot, for only such mortals could live so near such devastatingly dark forces.

No doubt, there may be Vampire Hunter D purists who can find fault with this manga, but Saiko Takaki’s work here stands in the very small circle of great vampire comics.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of horror comics that have exceptional art (EC’s horror titles of the 1950 and Marvel Comics’ horror titles of the 1970’s) will like the Vampire Hunter D manga.

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

https://www.digitalmanga.com/

The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: BLADE #12

BLADE (2006) #12
MARVEL COMICS

WRITER: Marc Guggenheim
ARTIST: Howard Chaykin with Gene Colan
COLORIST: Edgar Delgado
LETTERS: VC’s Rus Wooton
COVER: Marko Djurdjevic
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S., $3.75 CAN

“A Stake Through the Heart”

Back in 2006, Marvel Comics launched a new comic book series starring Blade, their vampire hunter who first appeared in the 1970s horror comic book series, The Tomb of Dracula (#10, July 1973). The character would go on to be the star in a trio of films, beginning with Blade (1998) and starring Wesley Snipes as Blade.

This Blade comic book series, which ran for 12 issues, was written by screenwriter and television writer-producer, Marc Guggenheim. It was drawn by Howard Chaykin, an industry legend and veteran writer/artist best known for the highly influential 1980s comic book, American Flagg! Guggenheim’s take on Blade was closer to the character in the comic books than the one in the movies, and much of this series focused on the early years of Blade’s mission as a vampire hunter extraordinaire.

Blade #12 finds Blade at Castle Dracula in a face off with his biological father, Lucas Cross, a vampire. Lucas, the head of the mysterious Order of Tyrana, intends to force Blade to fulfill a prophecy that would restore the souls of all living vampires. Blade knows, however, that not having a soul is the only weakness that vampires have. Blade’s colleague and friend, vampire detective Hannibal King, is desperate to have his soul back and has sided with Lucas. Everything is against Blade, and it gets worse. His greatest adversary has returned. Also, the story goes back in time to the most crucial mission of Blade’s young career, the one that made him the vamp-killing man he is today.

This Blade series ended by seemingly giving Blade a new future. Since its publication, Blade would go on to be a supporting character and team member in the short-lived Captain Britain and MI: 13 (a series that I absolutely did not like). He’s even a black sheep-like character in the recently launched Ultimate Avengers.

I do miss this series, primarily because I am a huge fan of the character. I also liked the fact that each issue offered a self-contained story, except for the final two issues, which are apparently connected in order to close out the series. As much I liked this series, however, I think that it barely scratched the surface of Blade’s potential. Comic book publishers are currently quite impressed with the idea of hiring television scribes to write comic books, and have been for most of this past decade – especially those who have worked on serial dramas or on genre series (particularly crime or weird/fantasy series).

There are probably advantages to hiring screenwriters (mastery of story structure? reputation? name recognition?), but I wonder if imagination is one of those advantages. Do Hollywood types bring the kind of creativity and unique vision to comics that dedicated comic book writers do? Once again, as much as I enjoyed this Blade series, Guggenheim’s work was not nearly as imaginative and as fun to read as the work Chris Claremont and Marv Wolfman did on this series four decades ago.

It is too bad that Claremont and Wolfman are not now writing a Blade comic book. Speaking of classic Blade creators: Blade #12 has art by Blade’s co-creator, artist Gene Colan.

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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#IReadsYou Review: BLADE #9

BLADE (2006) #9
MARVEL COMICS

WRITER: Marc Guggenheim
ARTIST: Howard Chaykin
COLORIST: Edgar Delgado
LETTERS: VC’s Rus Wooton
COVER: Marko Djurdjevic
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S., $3.75 CAN

“The Big Fight”

Several years ago, Marvel Comics launched a new comic book starring Blade, their vampire hunter who first appeared in the 1970s horror comic book series, The Tomb of Dracula (#10, July 1973). Of course, Blade is best known for the trilogy of films starring Wesley Snipes as Blade. Marvel has had, at best, mixed success with Blade comic book series. [Although an African-American (Snipes) was the star and co-producer of the Blade film franchise, Marvel has never allowed an African-American to write or draw a Blade comic book series.]

Debuting in 2006, the most recent Blade series was written by television writer-producer, Marc Guggenheim and drawn by Howard Chaykin, a longtime industry veteran writer and artist, best known for the highly influential 1980s comic book, American Flagg! (although Chaykin has also been a television writer-producer). Guggenheim’s take on Blade was closer to the character in the comics than the one in the movies, and the series ran for 12 issues, much of it having to do with Blade’s origin.

Blade #9 finds Eric Brooks, a.k.a. Blade in London delving into his later mother, Tara Brooks’ past to discover her connection and his possible connection to the Order of Tyrana. The apparent head of this group is Lucas Cross, the man claiming to be Blade’s father. Meanwhile, at a London hotel, Union Jack, a vampire hunter, launches an attack on Blade’s colleague, vampire detective Hannibal King.

Evan as a back issue, Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin’s Blade comic book still feels fresh and new. Guggenheim wrote each issue as a self-contained story. While each issue is connected to a larger narrative, it can be read, comprehended, and enjoyed without reading other issues. Visually and graphically, Chaykin infused Blade with a sense of humor, irony, and a touch of satire.

Blade #9 epitomizes what Guggenheim and Chaykin did so well with the entirety of their Blade comic book series, and that was the creation of a serial drama in which each chapter was important unto itself. An individual issue did not need the overall story arc to validate it. This allowed readers to pick up any issue and get both a complete reading experience and the Blade experience.

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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