Yaoi-Con Purchases

Since Yaoi-Con was in my neck of the woods this year, I decided to go for a day and hang out. It’s really not my type of con. I’m not that into yaoi or fangirling or cosplay or even seeing the hot dudes get stripped down to their skivvies. When it was up in the Bay Area and I was in college, it was the kind of con we’d go to hang out and be geeky. Now that all my friends couldn’t make it, I pretty much went for the excellent swap meet and a bit of shopping.

The one thing I’ve been noticing about yaoi manga lately is that there’s more out there to suit my tastes (solid consensual romances, usually between two post-college-aged men, heavy on the good writing.) So I tried to look for some DMP titles to satisfy my cravings for  good yaoi manga. I thought I’d review what I bought there briefly, along with two non-yaoi manga and the manga that came free with my con badge.

This Night’s Everything by Akira Minazuki

Bllllllllurrgh.  No only was this post-revolution “body guard” manga not was I was hoping for (something more like Men Of Tattoos…), but it was so character driven that the potentially interesting setting was completely ignored. Not the kind of writing I really like to read. There was also a bad taste of rape culture in the air of this manga, although whether or not the sex is consensual is up to interpretation.

I also really hate the emotion-less assassin archetype because it’s often not done well. You just need other, more vibrant characters or a solid story to pick up the slack. This Night’s Everything just has a lot of emotion-less assassins sulking around and no real story. It’s a common pitfall of yaoi manga: the story only matters as long as it gets the lovers from Point A to Point B. (Point A being the beginnings of a gay crush and Point B being sex.) So boring.

Manhattan Love Story by Momoko Tenzen

An older June title set entirely in New York City, I wasn’t sure if I’d like it or not, but I took the chance anyway. And I did like it, up til one chapter that was okay with a 13 year-old boy getting with his MUCH older teacher/apex sexual predator. As if that wasn’t bad enough, there was a sex scene with another young boy and said older teacher. Talk about icky!

But I did like everything around that one chapter. Lots of cute, inter-connected stories about couples falling in love and established couples deepening their love. These chapters were fluffy and cute, but solid enough to make you feel like these characters were real. I just wish I could have stopped Momoko Tenzen from publishing that one chapter, or at least have her put the boy in college, not grade school.

Flutter by Momoko Tenzen

Now this is the kind of age-range I like to see in my manga! Grown men! High school boys are just too close to hitting icky territory and college-aged students tend to act like high schoolers in most yaoi.

That being said, this is a really fluffy manga. It’s all about the emotions and the pair getting from Point A to Point B. It’s better than most fluff, but you can see Momoko Tenzen relying on a lot of tropes to tell the story. I can’t help but see all of these as crutches that yaoi mangaka rely on too much. I’d rather spend my money on more original content. (Sometimes I wonder if that’s why I’ve been so slow about catching up on my shoujo manga lately.)

I just wish there was a little bit more meat to Flutter because it’s terribly pretty. Even a character’s back story wasn’t enough to plump this one up into a better read.

Honey*Smile by Yura Miyazawa

Okay, okay! I swear I don’t dislike all yaoi! Honey*Smile was actually a pretty good example of what I *do* like. This manga is divided into two sections, one story about two college buddies finally hooking up at the company they work at and another related story about a lawyer who falls in love with his intern, whom he had previously defended in juvenile court.

But, Daniella, you say! I thought you didn’t like the young ones! While the intern’s exact age isn’t mentioned, it’s pretty much implied that he’s an adult. Thank goodness. I don’t want more manga that veers into underage territory on my shelves!

What I like best about these stories is that they have back story, quirky characteristics like disliking cigarette smoke and, thus, more depth than usual. It’s funny how a little something like an aversion to cigarette smoke can help me enjoy a manga more, but it just goes to show you how little thought goes into most characters in yaoi manga. I wouldn’t be able to describe many as clearly as the characters in Honey*Smile, where I can tell you what the characters like to eat even though it’s been a week since I read the book.

Itazura na Kiss volume 9 by

I think it’s pretty obvious that I like ItaKiss considering how many volumes I’ve bought now, but sometimes I’m surprised I like this series. To say that the protagonist gets constantly abused by those around her (who should be close friends and loved ones) is a vast understatement. This manga should be re-named “Kotoko the Underdog.”

That said, there’s less focus on Kotoko getting straight-up bullied by her husband and more of her struggling through nursing school. At least in the context of nursing, the “abuse” makes sense. It’s an extremely tough job and Kotoko stumbles a LOT. But it’s all for those sweet moments when she reconfirms her love for her husband or she overcomes a previously impossible hurdle. I recommend ItaKiss if you’re not reading it already!

Passionate Theory by Ayumi Kano

High school boys and math is a pretty apt description of this manga. If you’ve read this far, you’re probably bracing for impact already, but this freebie I got for attending Yaoi-Con really wasn’t so bad. It helped that there wasn’t any sex.

I wouldn’t call this one a favorite manga at all, the main couple just went around in too many circles, but it did have depth to it. I think Fumi Yoshinaga has completely spoiled me…

Your Story I’ve Known by Tsuta Suzuki

The first story in this volume is a little weird. It has a host dating this yakuza guy who used to date his mother. The yakuza feels a bit guilty since the host was often abused as a kid. I’m not sure how I feel about guilty love in yaoi, but it made for something more interesting than the norm.

The rest of the stories are nothing to write home about except a short story about a high school boy and a samurai ghost falling in love. It was pretty hilarious and touching, even though I’m not a fan of the gratuitous underage sex. You can tell the author has a small talent for creating interesting characters.

Secret Thorns by Kikuko Kikuya

I thought I was going to like this one because the first story about two former lovers reconciling was decent. But then the next two stories were underage/quasi-incestual and bordering on non-consensual respectively. That’s all I have to say about this one. Too bad because I liked Entangled Circumstances by this same mangaka…

Start with a Happy Ending volume 1 by Risa Motoyama

I was surprised to see this one among all the yaoi, but it’s a new DMP release, so why wouldn’t they promote it anywhere the company can? I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but what I got was surprisingly touching stories about humans who died with unfinished business and cats.

Each chapter pretty much tells the same basic story, so it’s very predictable, but still so very, very cute. If you’re a fan of any kind of pet manga or just want to read something adorable, you should totally pick up Start with a Happy Ending. It’ll cheer you right up!

So my total score comes to 5.5 out of 9 manga total. Not so bad, although it just makes me long for more manga like Fumi Yoshinga or est em’s…