Review: GRAVITATION EX

It's time to return to one of the landmarks in millennial BL and see how its sequel fares.

GRAVITATION EX, by Maki Murakami.  First published in 2004 and first published in North America in 2007.

PLOT:

Shuichi and Eiri have finally settled into a relationship, and now they are travelling to NYC so Yuki can give his final respects to his former teacher Yuki.  No sooner do they get there than they get saddled with Riku, Yuki's orphaned son.  The two now have to juggle caring for a child alongside managing their stormy relationship, the demands of Shuichi's rising music career, and all sorts of nonsense along the way.

PLOT:

Gravitation EX is in many ways more of the same of the original series. The two of them may finally be an official couple, but Shuichi is still a high-energy twink and Eiri remands a moody, jealous pissant who got on my nerves almost instantly.  Yet in many ways it's different from that first volume I reviewed 13 years ago.  For one, the comic energy has been cranked to 11.  Wacky misunderstandings and randomness abound in this volume, and the way the tone constantly veers from wacky to dramatic makes the whole volume feel bipolar.

It also feels kind of fanfic-y as well, for lack of better phrase.  Maybe that's just because contriving a way to force your gay leads to take care of a kid for Reasons is equally as common as Forced To Share A Bed or Now They're Just In US High School.  Normally this is a way to bring a couple together romantically, but here it mostly serves as a way to thrust a wedge between our leads in order to manufacture cheap drama, into which Murakami shoves pretty much the entire supporting cast at one point or another.  Even if it wasn't sandwiched between so much comedy and misunderstandings, the romantic drama here would still fall flat because everything feels so contrived.

This is not so much a sequel as it is a continuation of Gravitation, and as such makes no effort to get new readers on-board beyond a single page chart at the beginning.  I managed to glean the basics about the various relationship and rivalries, but some things (like who this Yuki guy is and why Eiri hates him) is left unsaid.  That being said, this sequel isn't making much of a good case for Gravitation's story getting any better with time.

ART:

What did get better about time with Gravitation was the art and that is on full display here.  It's not just that the character designs have been (slightly) modernized, but that the linework and paneling are crisper and cleaner than ever before.  That's a good thing because Murakami is shoving more gags and wild takes into the panels than ever before.  The fact that it doesn't melt into chaos is a testament to Murakami's skill (as well as that of her assistants). 

RATING:

Gravitation EX is so much at all times.  It is loud, zany, fatuous, and eye-rollingly dramatic.  Those who are already invested in Shuichi and Eiri will likely be willing to tolerate it, but it's definitely not going to convince any newcomers to stick with it.

This series is currently published by Seven Seas and previously by Tokyopop.  It is complete in Japan with 2 volumes available.  1 of the 2 single volumes were released and is currently out of print; the 2-in-1 omnibus version is currently in print.