Manga A Day: Gerard & Jacques Vol 2

Amazon.com: Gerard & Jacques Volume 2: (Yaoi): Books: Fumi Yoshinaga ISBN: 1598165429 ISBN-13: 9781598165425

There was no manga post yesterday. Bad day at the day job totally wiped me out, so I took a nap. When I woke up I planned to review Gerard & Jaques Vol 1. But I got halfway through my copy when I discovered that I had a defective volume! About halfway through it would go three pages of chapter 4, then a couple of chapter 6, and then some of chapter 5, and then back to 4. -_- On other words, Friday sucked all around. So I decided to skip my Manga A Day post and go back to bed. But I had read a copy of Gerard & Jacques Vol 1 about a year ago, so I decided to go ahead and read and review Vol 2 today.

Gerard & Jacques is a yaoi love story set against the backdrop of the French  Revolution, which only becomes important in this second book. In the first book Gerard, a commoner but a wealthy one, visits a brothel that specializes in young men. The owner asks him to be the first customer to a young aristocrat boy. Jacques had been sold by his family to cover his father's gambling debts after his death. Gerard, after er...breaking him in... pays to redeem him and tells Jacques to make something of himself. Some time later Jacques ended up working as a houseboy for Gerard.

At the start of the second book Jacques has graduated to manservant and is in his twenties. Jacques' mother, her fortunes having improved after remarrying, tracks him down. She and her new husband want to adopt him into their family. Jacques must decide if he wants to live a life of ease as an aristocrat or stay as a servant of Gerard. Their relationship is mostly platonic at this point, despite the way they met and some inappropriate touching in vol 1.

Gerard is shocked when Jacques returns. He found a dirty secret about his childhood and is crushed. Gerard, who'd been getting stinking drunk at the thought of him leaving, declares that he'll love him more than any stupid mother or father could. He starts to prove it, but they are interrupted.

The next day Gerard doesn't remember much of it, other that Jacques is staying. Jacques can't forget and begins to fantasize every night about Gerard. The slightest contact causes him to blush and explode. (Literally! As in "Kaboom!") At last he can't take it anymore and crawls into bed with Gerard.

Things take a dramatic turn here, with the reintroduction of Raul De Amalric who had been part of a threesome relationship with Gerard and his wife in the past. He had betrayed Gerard with his wife, and continues to visit mischief on him. (Surprise! Sex!) Also, the French Revolution happens.

The artwork is great, as usual for Yoshinaga. I especially like the detail she put in the period costumes. She has her usual fondness for detailed characters floating against white space, but she does some beautiful establishing shots of period French Architecture and interior design when necessary. She's got a bad habit of posing her characters in painful looking embraces in this book. There are a lot of instances of exposition "bombs" in this story too. In the space of a page five years or more will pass. Jacques or Gerard will explain, in a huge bubble that takes up half a page, how much time has passed and what they've all been doing since then.

It throws off the pacing, and compared to the first book, feels very rushed. It makes me wonder if this was planned as a longer story and then chopped up to fit in a two book series. Despite that, I'd still recommend this two book series because it's a head above most other yaoi.

Your Three Words

I found this on the website for the CBS tv show <I-Caught>, a show on viral videos. This is one they made themselves taking three words of advice/wisdom/ life details and setting it to music. Keep a watch for the girl around the 2 minute mark. I don't know who she is, but I think we'd be friends.

Manga A Day: Yubisaki Milk Tea Vol 05

Amazon.com: Yubisaki Milk Tea Volume 5 (Yubisaki Milk Tea): Books: Tomochika Miyano ISBN: 1598168908 ISBN-13: 9781598168907

Yubisaki Milk Tea, it just gets squickier and squickier. How many uncomfortable storylines can you pack in one 180 page book? I think Yubisaki Milk Tea has gone for the record, I can't imagine what they'll pack into the next volume. Lets count of the squicks, shall we?

In this volume:

Yoshinori makes out with his sister
Yoshinori's sister throws herself at Hidari's father (again)
After being interrupted while having sex, Yoshinori dresses up as yuki to masturbate.
Kagami, Hidari's (14/15? year old) best friend has been letting an adult guy take nude pictures of her
Hidari offers to let Kagami use her for sex as an apology for not being in love with her
Yoshinori, as Yuki, takes erotic nude pictures of Kagami
In a bonus side story, Minamo, Yoshinori's classmate, reveals that her brother used to make passes at her in middle school.  And she liked it.

Diiiiiisssstuuuuuuurbing. I can't imagine what they're going to do in the next book. Everyone is so mixed up. None of these things are particularly frowned on by anyone in the story. Everyone is so lonely that they're just throwing themselves at anyone who shows them a bit of attention.

The delicate and sketchy artwork set off the story. Almost half the story takes place at night or in darkened rooms so there is a lot of screen tone and shadows. At times it makes the artwork look muddy. The characters at times look alike, sometimes only set apart by hair color and length. In one scene where Yoshinori and Minamo are kissing, it's hard to tell who is who.

This isn't a book for everyone. It's provocative and disturbing, but shows surprisingly deep flashes. It's not just a perversion-fest. It's the kind of book I'm afraid of some parents group finding on the shelves and using as a rally cry against manga, because it would be easy to just see the raw sexuality. It's easy to miss the soul searching and exploration because of all the sexual fumbling going on by the cast.

This book felt like it was going in a million directions at once. It seemed to fly a bit off the track set by the earlier books in the attempt to shock as much as possible. I want to see if they can pull it back on track with the next book.

Manga A Day: Yubisaki Milk Tea Vol 04

Amazon.com: Yubisaki Milk Tea Volume 4 (Yubisaki Milk Tea): Books: Tomochika Miyano ISBN: 1598162934 ISBN-13: 9781598162936

In the last volume of Yubisaki Milk Tea, main character Ikeda Yoshinori decided that he was going to break up with high school classmate Minamo to "protect" his childhood friend and middle school senior Hidari. Plus, he decided that he still liked dressing up in women's clothes and even if his voice was now changing he was going to keep at it. It's honestly the only book I can think of where cross-dressing isn't used as a comedic foil or contrivance to complicate love, but for drama instead.

lj-cut text= "I wonder who the intended audience is of Yubisaki Milk Tea is supposed to be."

This is such an odd book. Yoshinori is a young man battling puberty and what it means to be a male with male desires. Hidari is a young girl who desperately wants to grow up and be "adult." Minamo is a shy girl just starting to make connections with other people. "Yuki," Yoshinori's alter-ego, is the only person who seems to have it "figured out" and Yoshinori is just playing a role.

Some of the storylines in YMT disturb me. Pretty much anything with Hidari as a character I find squicky. She's in middle school, only about 14 years old, and she is thrusting herself into adulthood as quickly as possible. In the first chapter she hyper-sexualizes herself by first consciously flashing Yoshinori while they play ping-pong and then later going to his room and stripping. However, as much as it makes me uncomfortable to watch this child try to act like an adult, her actions ring very true. Everyone knew someone in middle school who was just trying too hard. The fact that she freaks out as soon as any of her advances work is also very realistic. Girls that age are curious, and they can be forward. And no, they aren't ready for it, but just try to get them to admit that!

I'm more disturbed by Yoshinori's reaction to Hidari. I don't expect a guy to have no reaction when a girl, one he's admitted to having feelings for already, strips down in front of him and offers herself up. When she starts crying and saying "No!" (and she's 14!!!!!!!) I'd expect him to stop. At least he feels bad for it later. Of course he uses it as an excuse to spend most of the volume dressed up as "Yuki." As Yuki, Yoshinori completely sublimates his male desires, often thinking how disgusting boys are for having lustful thoughts. For all the characters in the book Yoshinori is the most immature. He's completely unwilling to grow up and uses his alter ego as a way to escape.

Both Minamo and Hidari know about Yoshinori's secret. Minamo, who was scared of boys, used it as a way to be comfortable with Yoshinori. Hidari treats Yuki and Yoshinori as two different people. People who don't know about his secret are his best friend Wataru, who has a crush on Yuki. Yuki seems to have feelings for him too, but if it's exactly romantic I don't know what it is. I think it's easier for Yoshinori to have tough conversations as Yuki, like girls aren't expected to be as tough as boys are.

The whole book seems to be about Yoshinori taking it easy. Everyone else is growing up around him. He seems to be chafing at it a bit by the end of the volume. Everyone seems to be giving him a free pass too. I hope in future volumes that he toughens up a bit, and people stop making excuses for him.

Technorati Tags: manga, manga reviews, yubisaki milk tea

Manga A Day: Vampire Doll Vol 01

Amazon.com: Vampire Doll: Guilt-na-Zan Volume 1 (Vampire Doll Guilt-Na-Zan): Books: Erika Kari ISBN: 1598165194 ISBN-13: 9781598165197

It's cute. And, well... it's cute. There isn't much else going for Vampire Doll. I don't mind when a book is only meant to be funny and cute. A manga (or book, movie or TV show) has only one job "be entertaining." Not to be the cleverest, the deepest or most artistic, it just has be an entertaining way to spend your time. Vampire Doll just barely squeaks into the entertaining category. But hey, the art is cute.

A hundred years ago dread aristocrat vampire lord Guilt-Na-Zan was sealed away in a cross by a master exorcist. Now, in present day Japan, Kyouji, the descendent of that exorcist has resurrected the fearsome dark lord... in the form of cute little girl wax doll. Kyoji's purpose? To have her wear cute clothes and do housework and chores so he can focus on his many hobbies, like reading magazines about cute girls and making weird dolls. 

Being in cute body of a young girl has severely limited Guilt-Na-Zan's powers. Where before Guilt-Na-Zan could summon a tempest, now as Guilt-Na-chan he can only summon showers of candies and flowers. Before he could summon the beasts of the night, now he can summon a horde of cute plush dollies.

If being house servant to a bully and an idiot isn't bad enough, Kyouji has a twin brother who is an even bigger idiot. With a large collection of cursed objects he doesn't know how to use, Kyoichi (who calls himself lord Night Veil) is trying to get the cross that Guilt-Na-zan was sealed in so he can use Guilt-Na-Zan as a servant instead. Luckily, when Guilt-Na-Zan drinks Tonae, the sweet and guileless little sister of the twins, he can temporarily regain his form and fight Night Veil off.

I have nothing to complain about with Vampire Doll's artwork. The handsome guys are handsome, the cute girls are cute, cute, cute. There are backgrounds, well drawn even, when they're needed and they don't abuse the screen tone. The characters are distinctive. Even when Kyouji doesn't have his glasses on, you can't mistake him for his twin, even though they are "identical."

Vampire Doll does have some good gags. Vincent, the bat turned human, is a very fun "dumb handsome guy." And I especially liked the storyline where someone was draining the wickedness out of the schoolboys at Tonae's school. It's a mad scramble to catch the culprit before the school becomes a breeding ground of boy's love characters. I just wish that all the chapters were that entertaining. I hope in future volumes that the storylines improve. However, this one is going to go on the bottom of my "to buy" pile so it might be a while before I revisit it.

Technorati Tags: manga, manga reviews, Vampire Doll

No manga post today...

I'm tired from fighting to restore my website. Everything should be up and working now. Yay! I've gotten really good about backing stuff up and it took me less than 24 hrs to get everything, including my interactive stuff back up. I even had a chance to post my chapter of the weekly Fruits Basket chapter discussions.

I also got an email from someone distressed that the forum was down so they couldn't read the chapter discussions. Someone who isn't Hymina, Ysabet, Dreaming0 or me! So people who read and write the summaries, and lead the discussions, we are being read and they are appreciated. Now I just wish the lurkers would unlurk. We are friendly! We don't bite unless we're asked.

Manga A Day: The Embalmer Vol 1

Amazon.com: Mitsukazu Mihara: The Embalmer: Books: Mitsukazu Mihara ISBN: 1598166468 ISBN-13: 9781598166460

Mitsukazu Mihara is well known in the Goth-Loli community for her manga Doll, but this is the first work of her's I read. Now I must go out and buy everything of hers she's ever written. I thought The Embalmer would perhaps be a mystery story, with the main character Shinjyurou Mamiya perhaps solving the reasons why the people he's embalming had died. I could not have been more wrong. Embalming turns back the hands of time.

Each story is a little vignette about the people Mamiya embalms. You could take each story as a stand alone story and be completely satisfied. The author makes little notes about the embalming profession and why it exists. It's a bit of reverse culture shock to a western reader, where embalming is a normal aspect of the death and grieving process. The little anecdotes that are meant to explain why embalming exists helps us to understand why it's uncommon in Japan.

There is no doubting that this is a morbid book, in almost every chapter someone dies. Mihara doesn't pull any punches either, I was tearing up over more than one of these stories. The one with the father who died of tuberculosis struck me especially hard. But it's never gruesome, there is no gore or bloody corpses. Mihara's lovely and stark artwork only enhances the melancholy nature of the story. There is almost no shading in her visuals, telling the story in a bare black and white. This could have had the effect of making everyone look like a cardboard cutout in a less experienced artist's hands, but Mihara's artwork is rich with depth.

Each story's pacing is spot on, unrushed and uncluttered. Mamiya's personality leaps off the page. The reader is just as interested as the landlord's daughter to learn more about him. It never feels like the story is suffering for not telling revealing all about him right away. The blurb for the next book promises to delve into how he got into the profession and I look forward to it.

Technorati Tags: manga, manga reviews, mitsukazu mihara

Manga A Day: Category: Freaks Vol 1

Amazon.com: Category Freaks Volume 1 (Category Freaks): Books: Sakurako Gokurakuin ISBN: 1588993000 ISBN-13: 9781588993007

Category: Freaks volume one is a collection of creepy stories about "freaks" who feed off of the pain and misery of humans. "Freaks" seem to be something like ghosts or demons, but they come about because of the dark and nasty emotions of humans. But there are creatures who can destroy them, something called "Stands." The main character, though I use the term loosely, Asagi Nanami is a Stand and runs a Paranormal Investigation firm. He looks like a middle school student but it hasn't been revealed how old he or his grade school looking bunny girl sidekick Tokiko actually are. His chief researcher is a college student named Amano. They also have an assistant, Mahime, a typically clumsy and cute college age girl who is sometimes the self confident Yahiro. I don't know if it's a spilt personality situation with her, or if Yahiro is some kind of supernatural being sharing Mahime's body. Over all, I'm confused.

Each story is rather straight forward, something nasty starts happening to humans and Nanami and crew find the Freak and take care of it. The Freaks are pretty varied, volume one has a golum-looking thing in a corporate office basement, a sex god with a penchant for maids, and a giant teddy bear version of Jack the ripper among others.

However Nanami usually just appears and the beginning and end of the stories. He makes comments like he's getting orders from or answers to someone else, but you never find out who that is. Things like Tokiko's penchant for gobbling down the remains of the freaks, or Mahime's personality switch aren't explained at all. They also don't explain Izumi, the eyeball thing that lives in his stomach. They only give a sketchy explanation of what the Freaks and Stands are, not enough to get a good understanding of them. I hope that they'll be explained in future volumes.

I like the creepy atmosphere Gokurakun establishes in the stories, but I feel they rush to the conclusion a little too quickly. Each story is contained in just one chapter, meaning a lot is packed into thirty odd pages. This is one manga I think would be better as an anime. The audio and visuals, properly executed, could make up for the short length of the stories. I have to say I really love Nanami's snarky know it all attitude.  He looks like a middle school student, so I picture him sounding like Hiro from Fruits Basket. He's subtly funny.

The artwork varies. The girls in this book get loving detail, and there is a fair share of fanservice throughout. Anyone under 30, male or female, look attractive. Anyone older, especially older men, look like caricatures. Being a horror book the author does give a lot of detail to the backgrounds, setting up a nice dark vibe. When Nanami uses his "Stand" abilities the artwork takes on a cool abstract tone that I really enjoyed and it's something that would really look neat animated.

If future volumes develop a plot to connect the stories together, and explain some of the unanswered questions, this series could be really entertaining. If it doesn't, the disconnected stories could quickly fall into a boring "monster of the week" format with no tension. I hope the stories become longer too. I think with two chapters they could make a much creepier story.

Technorati Tags: manga reviews, manga, catagory freaks