Yaoi Manga Review: TEN COUNT Volume 4

TEN COUNT, VOL. 4
SUBLIME MANGA (Shinshokan) – @SuBLimeManga

MANGAKA: Rihito Takarai
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
LETTERS: NRP Studios
ISBN: 978-1-4215-8906-0; paperback (May 2017); Rated “M” for “Mature”
188pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

Ten Count is a yaoi manga from manga creator, Rihito Takarai.  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.   Ten Count focuses on the developing relationship between two men, Tadaomi Shirotani, a corporate secretary who is a “germaphobe,” and Riku Kurose, the counselor and clinical psychotherapist who tries to help him.

The truth is that Shirotani cannot resist Kurose's advances.  As Ten Count, Vol. 4 (Chapters 19 to 24) opens, Shirotani is at the mercy of Kurose and a shapely butt-plug Kurose wields.  Although he shivers with pleasure, Shirotani declares that Kurose is disgusting and runs away.  His words to Kurose, however, will cost Shirotani and will force him to be real about his feelings concerning Kurose.

[This volume includes the Ten Count bonus stories, “Kurose, Shirotani, and Thumb Wrestling,” “Kurose, Shirotani, and Silky Sensations,” and “Kurose, a White Cat and a Can of Tuna.”]

In my review of the first volume of the Ten Count manga, I wrote that it was okay that there was no sex in the first six chapters of Ten Count.  Sometimes, even yaoi manga is good at quietly building romance over a slow simmer of a narrative, but by the sexual... I mean... second volume of this series, it was on like rough-sex Donkey Kong.

Ten Count Volume 4 is one of the most intensely sexual comic books that I have ever read, just as was the case with Vol. 2.  [I did not read Vol. 3.]  Creator Rihito Takarai surprised me by how she made masturbation seem as sweet as a first kiss in Vol. 2.  In Vol. 4, she spreads Shirotani's butt cheeks and reveals the anus and puts the Oh! in Ohio.  Her romantic lead cannot get enough of the pleasure that he derives from objects and digits being inserted into his bunghole (with a nod to President Lyndon B. Johnson).

Still, the pure, heartfelt romance remains.  From the beginning, I thought that Ten Count was an odd yaoi manga considering the profession of one lead and the condition of the other.  However, disorders and jobs aside, Ten Count is a love story, and I want a happy ending.

A

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


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Yaoi Manga Review: TEN COUNT Volume 2

TEN COUNT, VOL. 2
SUBLIME MANGA – @SuBLimeManga

MANGAKA: Rihito Takarai
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
LETTERS: NRP Studios
ISBN: 978-1-4215-8803-2; paperback (November 2016); Rated “M” for “Mature”
186pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

Ten Count is a yaoi manga from manga creator, Rihito Takarai.  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.   Ten Count focuses on the developing relationship between two men, Tadaomi Shirotani, a corporate secretary who is a germaphobe, and Riku Kurose, the counselor and clinical psychotherapist who tries to help him.

Shirotani was opening his heart to Kurose, and the latter's 10-step program was helping the former.  Then, Kurose told Shirotani that their sessions were over.  As Ten Count, Vol. 2 (Chapters 7 to 12) opens, both are dealing with the repercussions of Kurose's decision.  In a state of shock, Shirotani has withdrawn into his home and refuses to leave – even for work.  When Kurose texts him and asks to see him, Shirotani will discover the secrets behind Kurose's actions.

[This volume includes the Ten Count bonus stories, “Kurose, Shirotani, and Clothing” and “Kurose, Shirotani, and (If There Were) Honorifics.”]

I wrote in my review of the first volume that it was okay that there was no sex in the first six chapters of Ten Count.  Sometimes, even yaoi manga is good at quietly building romance over a slow simmer of narrative.

That said, Ten Count Volume 2 is one of the most intensely sexual comic books that I have ever read.  I can say that creator Rihito Takarai surprises me by how she makes masturbation seem as sweet as a first kiss.  This kind of true romance will leave the reader breathless.  Still, the relationship between Shirotani and Kurose remains a fragile thing, intense orgasms aside.  The simmering will continue in future chapters of Ten Count, which I highly recommend.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Yaoi Manga Review: TEN COUNT Volume 1

TEN COUNT, VOL. 1
SUBLIME MANGA (Shinshokan) – @SuBLimeManga

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Rihito Takarai
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
LETTERS: NRP Studios
EDITOR: Jennifer LeBlanc
ISBN: 978-1-4215-8802-5; paperback (August 2016); Rated “M” for “Mature”
186pp, B&W, $16.99 U.S., $19.99 CAN, £10.99 UK

Ten Count is a yaoi manga from mangaka, Rihito Takarai.  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.   Ten Count focuses on a corporate secretary who is a germaphobe and the counselor who tries to help him.

Ten Count, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 6) introduces Tadaomi Shirotani, the corporate secretary for The Tosawa Company.  He has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and wears gloves so that he does not have to touch people or things.  He does not eat at restaurants, nor does he even take the train.  He washes his hands so much that they are raw and covered with scars.

One day, the president of The Tosawa Company is in an accident.  One of the people involved in the accident is Riku Kurose, a clinical psychotherapist at Shimada Psychiatric Center.  Kurose immediately recognizes Shirotani's OCD and offers to take him through a 10-step program to cure him of his compulsion.  As they begin the program, Shirotani realizes that his attraction to Kurose grows, causing complications even as he starts to get his compulsion under control.

[This volume includes the Ten Count bonus story, “Kurose, Shirotani, and Hay Fever.”]

There is nothing wrong with a little bump and grind as R&B nasty man, R. Kelly once sang.  But neither is there anything wrong with no bump and grind in an oh-so-slow building romance comic book.

In her afterword to Ten Count Volume 1, author Rihito Takarai says the she almost worried that readers would complain about the leisurely pace of the chapters that comprise Vol. 1.  I have no such complaints.  Considering the concept and central plot of this manga, having the characters quickly engage in sex would seem unrealistic.  There is something about the glacier pace of two people who know little about each other slowly falling in love that is super-sexy.

I found it hard to take a pause in reading Ten Count.  It is like watching the birth of romance and true love – step by step.  There is powerful dramatic tension and good reading in that.

A

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


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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