Creator: Ritsu Natsumizu (cartoonist); Issei Shimizu (translation)
Publishing Information: DMP/Juné Manga; B&W paperback, 208pp, $12.95 U.S.
Ordering Numbers: ISBN 10: 1-56970-774-X; ISBN 13: 978-1-56970-774-6
Rated “M” for “Mature Audiences 18+”
Crushing Love is a yaoi manga short story collection from Ritsu Natsumizu. The stories focus on romantic love and passionate affairs. In each relationship, the romance is a burden on or creates a burden for one of the partners more than for the other – a crushing love.
The title story, “Crushing Love,” opens to find rich boy, Keiichiro Kuroda, still smarting over being the jilted lover. When his former lover, desperate for cash, asks for money, Kuroda agrees to give him the money (5 million yen), but he won’t make it easy. Kuroda sets up a game wherein he leaves the money in the park as a test.
The bag with the money in it, however, gets picked up by Kaoru Otowa, who is also desperate for cash. Although he initially plans to turn the money over to the police, Kaoru decides to leave to town for Kyoto in order to pay off his debt to Yukihiko Shingyoji, a shady businessman. Kuroda accosts Kaoru and then, decides to accompany him to Kyoto where a cat and mouse game between Kuroda and Shingyoji ensues – with Kaoru as the prize.
“Crushing Love” epitomizes the stories in this collection, stories in which love is a burden or puts a weight on a lover. In the title story, the weight is on Kaoru as the one who needs the money and because he believes that his debt is what stands in the way of real romance with Kuroda.
A better example of crushing love is “Purity and Tyranny of Love,” which is tied to “Crushing Love” by the character, Yukihiko Shingyoji, who is one of the romantic leads in “Purity.” In fact, this story actually takes place during “Crushing Love” and is a side story. This time, the burden is on Sei Aoyama, the son of a former Shingyoji family servant. Sei loves Yukihiko, and while Yukihiko flirts with Sei and has sex with him, Sei is unsure how real their relationship is.
All these stories play with the idea of uncertain love, in which one lover is unsure of his partner. In these stories, the uke (bottom) is both the girlish bishounen boy and the one plagued with doubts. Meanwhile, the seme (top), who is usually masculine, devilish, and a tease, happily enjoys the sex, but also slyly keeps his uke toy unsure about the seriousness of the relationship.
This collection is a good read, light and frothy. There is plenty of sex, but the drama is not serious. It’s a bit too melodramatic, like a gentle spoof of soap opera romance.
B
