#IReadsYou Review: CANDY COLOR PARADOX Volume 3

CANDY COLOR PARADOX, VOL. 3
SUBLIME MANGA/Shinshokane – @SuBLimeManga

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Isaku Natsume
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
LETTERS: Vanessa Satone
EDITOR: Marlene First
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0496-5; paperback (September 2019); Rated “M” for “Mature”
194pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

Candy Color Paradox is a yaoi manga from manga creator, Isaku Natsume (Dash!).  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.

Candy Color Paradox follows two reporters:  investigative reporter, Satoshi Onoe, and photojournalist, Motoharu “Kabu” Kaburagi.  Their boss at the news agency, Shinkan News, forces them to work together.  Onoe and Kaburagi bicker, but eventually become colleagues... and lovers.

As Candy Color Paradox, Vol. 3 (Chapters 1 to 5) opens, Onoe and Kaburagi are on an undercover assignment... that goes wrong.  No problem:  their boss, Kiuchi, gives Kabu a new partner, a young reporter and new hire named Kasai, who comes over from a rival agency.  A little jealous, Onoe discovers that not only is Kasai talented, but he also has a score to settle with Onoe.  Kasai has decided that keeping Kabu's attention on him and away from Onoe is also goal.  He seems to be winning until his ambition puts his and Onoe's life in danger with the mysterious Kenyu Group.

[This volume includes the bonus stories, “Necktie A-Go-Go!,” and “A Bar by the Station, 8:00 PM,” “Happy Vacation,” and “Kaburagi's POV,”and it has an afterword.]

The Candy Color Paradox manga is a yaoi manga that is also a workplace comedy-drama.  However, this opposites-attract love story does give the readers scenes of boys' love lovemaking and yaoi-type sex.

Candy Color Paradox Graphic Novel Volume 3 focuses on workplace melodrama and rivalries, whereas the previous volumes focused on the characters' personalities and attitudes about their friends and loved ones.  I enjoy these characters, and I like that they are reporters.  However, I found this volume to be a bit dry at times.  Onoe vs. Kasai ain't as intense or as interesting as creator Isaku Natsume probably thought it would be.

Still, Chapter 5 (entitled “Drop. 05” here) is a nice ending.  The story closes with a nice sex scene, and the extra stories are comic vignettes focusing on the leads and their closest friends and associates.  That's nice, too,  Adrienne Beck's translation and Vanessa Satone's lettering are good.  So in the end, Candy Color Paradox, Vol. 3 is nice and good.  I'd like the next volume (which were recently published) to be very nice and very good.

7 out of 10

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

For up-to-date news and release information, please visit the SuBLime website at SubBLimeManga.com, or follow SuBLime on Twitter at @SuBLimeManga, Facebook at facebook.com/SuBLimeManga, Tumblr at http://sublimemanga.tumblr.com/, and Instagram at @sublimemanga/.


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Yaoi Review: FOURTH GENERATION HEAD: Tatsuyuki Oyamoto

FOURTH GENERATION HEAD: TATSUYUKI OYAMATO
SUBLIME MANGA (Shinshokan) – @SuBLimeManga

MANGAKA: Scarlet Beriko
TRANSLATION: Christine Dashiell
LETTERS: James Dashiell
EDITOR: Hope Donovan
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0710-2; paperback (August 2019); Rated “M” for “Mature”
232pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato is a yaoi manga from creator Scarlet Beriko (Jackass!).  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.  SuBLime Manga recently published Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato in English as a standalone graphic novel.

Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato (Chapters 1 to 8) introduces 24-year-old Tatsuyuki Oyamato.  He is the fourth generation heir of “the Oyamato Syndicate,” Japan's largest yakuza organization.  Tatsuyuki, however, is not interested in being a yakuza boss, but enjoys being a playboy.  After Tatsuyuki has an erotic encounter with a masseur, Oyamato Syndicate retainer, Asoda, decides to send the wayward heir on an “adventure” to the city of Fukuoka.

Not long after arriving, Tatsuyuki is practically kidnapped and raped by a man who claims to have a past with him.  But who is this Nozomi Koga?  If he did know Tatsuyuki in the past, was Nozomi different?  And just how connected to Tatsuyuki and Nozomi's pasts is the loan shark, Uichi Roga?

[Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato includes extra material, including an illustrated “Afterword;” the manga short story, “Personal Space,” and another manga, “Bonus.”]

One thing that I can say with utmost confidence is that the Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato manga is intense.  The second thing I can say confidently is that this manga depicts dirty, crazy lust.

Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato features sex – rough and passionate and consensual.  Sometimes, the story does present that kind of romance novel did-not-say-yes-but-did-not-say-no lovemaking.  I guess it's kind of rapey.  The truth is that Tatsuyuki and Koga have so much personal baggage from their respective childhoods that it would make sense that creator Scarlet Beriko would have her lead characters be a little troubled, both in personality and in attitude.  But they grope, thrust, hump, lick, and suck their way to happiness and happy-ever-after.

I have to be honest.  The yakuza angle and subplots don't really work.  It all seems forced and contrived, but translator Christine Dashiell makes the best of it in English.  Still, I cannot call this some kind of romance slash crime-drama.  It is a yaoi manga.

Beriko's compositions are loose and fluid, sometimes shifting and impressionistic.  Her art fits this story of mercurial personalities and conniving liars.  James Dashiell lettering perfectly conveys the secrets and lies and the cries and whispers... and the sounds of sex.  “Pant,” “thrust,” “slap,” and “Ha” make frequent appearances as sound effects.

Fans of truly explicit yaoi manga and of highly melodramatic boys' love with want to read Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato.

A
8 out of 10

https://www.sublimemanga.com/

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


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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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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I Reads You Review: WORLD’S END (Yaoi)

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-

I Reads You Review: VANILLA, VOL. 2 (YAOI)

Creator: Riyu Yamakami (cartoonist); Sachiko Sato (translation)

Publishing Information: June Manga/DMP, paperback, 200 pages, $12.95 (US)

Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-56970-755-5 (ISBN-13); 1-56970-755-3 (ISBN-10)

 

Drama/Romance; Rated “M” for “Mature 18+”

Originally published in Japan in the late 1990s, Vanilla is a yaoi graphic novel from creator Riyu Yamakami. Under its Juné Manga imprint, Digital Manga Publishing released Vanilla in two trade paperbacks a few years ago. Vanilla is the story of a high school student, 17-year-old Ichiro Morio, who falls deeply in love with a new teacher, Yoshitaka Saeki, who doesn’t believe in declarations of love.

As Vanilla, Vol. 2 opens, Morio has broken past Mr. Saeki’s rough exterior, or has he? They knocked boots, but afterwards, Mr. Saeki is as callous as ever. Now, Kazuki Nakajima, a former lover of Saeki’s, has decided to make things even more difficult between Morio and Saeki by hitting on Morio!

This volume also includes a Vanilla Extra Episode, entitled “Pink Diamond.” This story takes place after Vanilla and tells the tale of how Kazuki Nakajima and Saeki’s butler, Yajima, became the pair known as the “Jima Duo.” Both discover that two people who seem to be very different are actually quite similar.

After a strong start, Vanilla doesn’t race to a passionate conclusion. It skips to a soft happily-ever-after ending. It’s still fun to read about the lovesick student pining away for his aloof, lover boy teacher, but as I read this, I got the idea that it was too short and that something was missing. What? I don’t know, perhaps, some heat. The chapter that leads off Vol. 2, “Scene 5” starts off with some passion, but the narrative quickly cools. The “Pink Diamond” novella is a bit livelier, mainly because Nakajima is so petulant and stubborn – in a charming way.

Vanilla isn’t exactly vanilla. In some ways it works like a romance novel, but there is just enough nuttiness and crunchiness to make Vanilla a bit different from everything else.

B+

I Reads You Review: VANILLA, VOL. 1 (YAOI)

Creator: Riyu Yamakami (cartoonist); Sachiko Sato (translation)

Publishing Information: Juné Manga/DMP, paperback, 192 pages, $12.95 (US)

Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-56970-754-8 (ISBN-13); 1-56970-754-5 (ISBN-10)

Drama/Romance; Rated “M” for “Mature 18+”

Vanilla is a yaoi graphic novel from creator Riyu Yamakami. Originally published in the late 1990s, Vanilla was published in two trade paperbacks by Digital Manga Publishing under its Juné Manga imprint a few years ago. The story focuses on a high school student just starting to accept his gay inclinations when he falls deeply in love with a teacher who does not believe in confessions of love.

Vanilla, Vol. 1 introduces high school student, 17-year-old Ichiro Morio, who is just one of the boys, except that he really isn’t. Morio’s friends are always talking about the girls they would like to “get with.” Morio is not really crazy about dating girls. He has his eyes on the new chemistry teacher, the cold and callous Yoshitaka Saeki.

Morio notices that Saeki is also indifferent towards the girls who throw themselves at him. Saeki, however, is not into romance and sentiment, so can the romantic Morio melt his teacher’s cool apathy?

Readers who prefer their boys’ love to be deeply romantic will love Vanilla. The lead character, Ichiro Morio, is old-fashioned in that he believes that romantic love must absolutely come before physical intimacy. He is practically scandalized by one-night stands and recreational sex in general. Thus, Riyu Yamakami gives the readers page after page of Morio thinking about love, his schoolmates’ lusts, and, of course, his aloof teacher. This is romance-shojo masquerading as yaoi because it is about young love more than it is about hot sex.

While this volume only has brief graphic depictions of sex between male lovers, the passion and yearning slowly simmers, constantly building up anticipation. In fact, whenever the characters share some physical contact, the narrative seems to explode with a burst of energy. I look forward to the next volume.

A-

http://www.junemanga.com/

I Reads You Review: FAMILY COMPLEX

Creator: Mikiyo Tsuda (cartoonist); Duane Johnson (translation)

Publishing Information: Digital Manga Publishing; B&W, paperback, 200pp, $12.95 U.S.

Ordering Numbers: ISBN 13: 978-1-56970-771-5

 

Rated “T” for “Teens 13+”

Mikiyo Tsuda is a manga writer and artist; she also creates under the name Taishi Zao. Tsuda is known for her comedy-shojo manga (with shojo being comics for teen girls). In the comedy-shojo vein is the manga, Family Complex, originally serialized in Japan in 1999 and 2000 and published in the U.S. by Digital Manga Publishing in 2008.

Essentially, a collection of inter-connected short stories, Family Complex focuses on the Sakamotos, a family of extremely beautiful people. There is the 41-year-old father, Hidetoshi, who is pretty rather than handsome, and the 41-year-old mother Nanami, who is more girlish than womanly. The oldest child and son is the tall, dark, and handsome, 17-year-old Harumi, and the 16-year-old elder daughter is Natsuru, a robust young woman. The youngest child is the silent and alluring 10-year-old, Fuyuki.

The only exception to the rule of beauty in the Sakamoto family is the rather ordinary younger son, 14-year-old, Akira Sakamoto. He feels out of place with his family, because people outside the family are taken with the beautiful Sakamotos, but don’t think Akira belongs with his own family! Akira has developed a complex about being different, and it may cause him to turn away from the family that loves him.

I’ve come to enjoy Mikiyo Tsuda’s work, although some of it seems to be the comic book equivalent of mindless, American television situation comedies. Even with elements of and references to Gothic-Lolita, bishounen, boys’ love, and girls’ love, this frothy concoction is for readers who love “cute” and teen-oriented manga about close and lovey-dovey relationships.

I think Family Complex works because the Sakamotos are like a cotton candy version of the Addams Family, except that unlike the Addams, the Sakamotos are liked because they are so pretty, lovable, and open-hearted. Not only are the characters within the manga drawn to them, but so are the readers. Tsuda also manages to tell a sincere story about adolescent insecurity that, in spite of the cuteness, feels authentic when it depicts the struggles of a teen to fit in with family, friends, and schoolmates.

The Sakamotos appear in another Tsuda work, Princess Princess, with Akira being a supporting character in the series. They shine in their own story, Family Complex.

B+