Merry Month of Manga Review: CRIMSON SPELL

Speaking of forgotten BL publishers, it's easy to forget that Media Blasters once dabbled with the genre themselves during that brief period where they tried publishing manga in general.  Most of the titles are of no particular interest...save for one, that is.

CRIMSON SPELL (Kurimuzon Superu), by Ayano Yamane.  First published in 2006 and first published in North America in 2007.

PLOT:

Prince Vald only wanted to save his castle from a rampaging demon, but in the process he was cursed by a magic sword.  He sets out to find a cure for his condition, only to find the sorcerer Halvir instead.  Halvir soon discovers that unless restrained, Vald's curse turns him into a savage beast brimming with magical energy and the only way to calm it down is to tire with lots of gay sex.  As time goes on, Halvir starts to care for Vald, but it seems that Halvir has issues from his own past that he must resolve if their quest is to continue.

STORY:

Fantasy is something you don't see a lot of in BL.  I suspect the biggest reason for that is that decent fantasy requires some degree of commitment to devising a suitably creative world and story.  This is in conflict with the expectations most fans have for BL works, which is to offer as much smut as possible as frequently as possible.  Amazingly, Yamane managed to exceed my expectations and deliver a series that balances the two parts perfectly in Crimson Spell.

That being said, we're not dealing with a George R. R. Martin-level masterpiece here.  The basic plot is fine - there's nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned hero's quest - but Yamane's creativity only stretched as far as her randomly smashing letters together until she came up with something vaguely Nordic for all the proper names and such.  She also likes to shove in as many magical things as she can: magic swords, magic shape-shifting familiars, even an entire school of wizards frozen in time.  Still, it's well-paced so that the progress of the story always feels like it's matching the progression of Vald and Halvir's relationship.  She saves the smut for the lower-key parts of the story which means that it never derails the story like so many other, lesser works.

If you're familiar with Yamane's best-known work, Finder, then you'll know that Ayano Yamane is noticeably more kinky with her works than most BL mangaka.  Crimson Spell is no exception to this, but she does adapt her kinks to work within the fantasy setting.  That means that instead of traditional rope bondage, she uses magical bondage as well as the sadly inevitable tentacles.  Of course, that's on top of Halvir's rather sketchy notion of consent as well as the question of how much this would count towards bestiality.  I can't say how palatable any of this will be to any given reader, but the kinkier elements are incorporated in a way that doesn't jar the reader from the story at large and it's used infrequently enough that it never becomes too awkward or tiresome.

Our leading pair is also kind of basic as far as fantasy characters go, but she put a surprising amount of thought into making those personalities complement one another.  Vald is a veritable Boy Scout of a man, one so hopelessly innocent and noble that verges upon naïve.  Still, his goodness is tempered by the guilt he feels over the damage he's done in his cursed form, a creature that is nothing but base and violent desires.  Over time it also comes to include his growing fondness for Halvir.  He might not fully understand why he's so attached to the man, but he'll fight to protect it (and Halvir) nonetheless.  In comparision, Halvir is sly and cynical.  He joins Vald's quest not out of the goodness of his heart, but because Vald's curse intrigues him.  He's also more than selfish enough to take advantage of Vald's curse (and his body) to sate his lust and top off his magical energies, knowing full well that Vald is completely unaware to what happens to him in his beast form.  Mercifully, Yamane stops Halvir from becoming a complete monster of a man when he's forced to confront both the mistakes of his past and his own feelings for Vald and start doing right by both.  In some ways it's just another example of opposites attracting, but those additional bits of depth allow them both to stop becoming less like a typical seme and uke pair and more like partners on equal footing.  That also means that they both have character arcs of their own and thus their story doesn't necessarily end when they confess their love.  That along with all the other factors noted above give Crimson Spell an edge that few BL series possess, one that makes it an enjoyable read.

ART:

Yamane's come a long way as an artist since stuff like Finder, and it shows on every page.  Her character designs may still trend towards the sorts of lithe bishonen seen in BL works everywhere, but there's a sense of life to these characters that I don't often get from BL art.  The men may be lithe but they actually have some muscle on them, which gives them a bit more dimension then one usually gets.  She also handles the action scenes well, as the sweep of spells or an attack have a sort of lively energy about them that makes them genuinely fun to behold.  She also manages to strike a good balance between man and beast in Vald's transformation.  He's still pretty humanoid in form, but there's just enough difference in the details as well as Vald's body language to sell the concept to the reader without straying into awkward furry territory.

She also makes excellent use of artistic angles to bring energy to her scenes, and this is no more evident than during the sex scenes.  They go by in montages shown from every sort of angle, and it gives the impression that the two are wildly thrashing about in passion, shifting positions on a dime.  Other times she makes great use of perspective as a sword or staff pokes its way out of its borders or communicating the speed and strength of Vald's beast form.  I've rarely seen panel composition used so well to communicate both mood and movement and it's almost criminal that I find it in a series of gay fantasy smut.  Still, I can't help but admire her skill.

PRESENTATION:

My review is based off the SuBLime reissue of this series, not the original one from Media Blasters.  It's hard to find a lot of details about the previous release, but most reviews of it indicate problems that were endemic to Media Blaster's manga releases.  That means plenty of weird font choices, amateurish dialogue placement, and a few odd spelling errors and inconsistencies.  In comparison, SuBLime's translation is smooth as silk and highly consistent with the rest of their works.

RATING:

Crimson Spell will never be mistaken for high fantasy, but it stands above the crowd thanks to a well-balanced couple and some incredibly dynamic bits of art.  It's easy to see why SuBLime rescued this series and it's one that's well worth any BL fan's time.

This series is currently published by Viz under their SuBLime imprint, and formerly by Media Blasters.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 6 volumes available.  The 2 volumes from Media Blasters are out of print, but 5 volumes from SuBLime are currently in print and available as e-books from Sublimemanga.com.

Merry Month of Manga Review: NOODLE SHOP AFFAIR

I can't believe it's taken me this long into the month to get around to a book from Aurora Press.  Back at the height of last decade's manga boom, they were one of the most prolific BL publishers around.  Sadly they too were victims of the economic downturn, but not without leaving books like today's selection.

NOODLE SHOP AFFAIR (Himitsu na Kankei), by CJ Michalski.  First published in 2002 and first published in North America in 2009.

PLOT:

Ukyo is the heir to a powerful Yakuza clan, but a chance encounter left him utterly smitten with an adorable ramen shop employee named Kakeru.  Just as he's prepared to declare his love, Ukyo discovers that Kakeru has Yakuza trouble of his own.  Kakeru has no love for the Yakuza as they split up his family, hurt his father, and are threatening to close the shop over a massive debt.  Ukyo is prepared to do anything to help Kakeru whether it's posing as a poor employee or taking on a bit of a secret identity to dole out some well-earned mob justice.

STORY:

I've got to hand it to Michalski here.  There are plenty of Yakuza-themed BL works out there, but this might be the only one I've encountered that you could genuinely call light-hearted.  There are a lot of dramatic elements at play here, but she juggles them so nicely that they don't spoil the pleasantness of the romance.

Ukyo and Kakeru are not terribly spectacular as characters.  Kakeru is little more than a pleasant boy, and apparently his looks and generic good demenor is more than enough to make Ukyo's heart go pitter-pat (and his nose drip with blood).  I will say this much for Ukyo: he may be the seme here, but he's got a lot more humility and emotion than one usually associates with that role.  He's not aloof - if anything, he tends to wear his emotion on his sleeves.  That means he's the one who is usually blushing and generally overreacting to Kakeru's perceived attractiveness, even as he both tries to play it cool and keep his secret identity a secret.  He's not too proud as a character to serve as the butt of the joke sometimes, and this goes a long way towards making Ukyo a surprisingly endearing protagonist. 

That's good because the plot itself is kind of thin.  The premise starts off fine, if a bit farcical, but the tragedy in Kakeru's backstory isn't given enough time or importance to give them the impact they need to be properly tragic.  It's clear that the ending was rushed as stuff tends to just happen suddenly in the second half with little explanation.  It's also clear that Michalski was determined to make this a neat and tidy happy ending, logic be damned.  It suits the bright mood of the work overall, but it doesn't feel entirely earned.  Still, I can forgive it to a degree because it's so light and happy that it's hard to get too mad at it.  After all, I'm used to Yakuza-based BL being as grim and gritty as the genre will allow, as well as needlessly melodramatic.  There's plenty of room for one that dares to be more of a traditional romantic comedy.

ART:

Normally with BL artists they can either draw great looking characters overall or they can't draw a guy to save their lives.  Here I get the feeling that Michalski has much more of a fondness for drawing semes than ukes.  Ukyo and his fellow Yakuza bruisers are rather gangly, but they also have these solid, square-jawed faces that are wonderfully expressive at times.  Ukyo benefits most from this, as it adds to his adorable little freak-outs.  In comparison, Kakeru is flat and generic looking for an uke, and he's drawn so young-looking that it makes Ukyo look like a pedophile. 

Maybe that's the reason that there is pretty much nothing explicit to be found in the book, despite what the cover might warn.  Kakeru gets a few threats of rape, but mercifully that is never followed through with.  It's so tame that Ukyo and Kakeru only kiss a couple of times.  Those wanting some proper smut might be disappointed, but any explicit action would have spoiled the pleasant mood that Michalski worked so hard to cultivate, so I'm more than willing to let it pass.  The pages are fairly full and the backgrounds rather indifferent, but the panels flow well from one to the next.  Overall I was pleased with the art, as Michalski brings enough charm and skill to the page to make up for the more conventional elements.

RATING:

If you're like me and have been craving some genuinely cheerful BL, then Noodle Shop Affair just might help curb that hunger.  It's not quite good enough to satisfy it entirely, but it's still a welcome repast from what is otherwise a lot of heavy, overbearing material.

This book was published by Aurora Press and is currently out of print.

Merry Month of Manga Review: HEY, CLASS PRESIDENT

It's always a shame when a promising premise in a manga is derailed by its own creator.  Today's review is just one of many examples of that in BL.

HEY, CLASS PRESIDENT! (Seito Kaicho ni Chukoku), by Kaori Monchi.  First published in 2005 and first published in North America in 2009.

PLOT:

Chiga can not believe it.  His spacey teammate Kokusai got elected as class president and Chiga was made vice president!  What this means for Chiga is that he spends his days running interference between Kokusai and everyone who tries to molest him, be it fellow students, teachers, and even random strangers on the train.  Kokusai even manages to get molested in his own home while sleeping!  As Chiga tries his hardest to keep Kokusai on track, he finds himself being drawn to Kokusai romantically and having to resist his own urges.

STORY:

I was so disappointed with this series.  The first couple of chapters suggested that this was going to be a comedic sort of manga, one where Chiga has to constantly guide Kokusai through a daily gauntlet of perverts.  Handled well, that could actually be pretty fun in an outrageous sort of way.  Instead it quickly devolves into a middling mess of conflicted feelings and lack of communication.

Maybe I was just projecting because it's not often that we get genuinely funny BL.  Most books tend to be so serious and overly dramatic that I find myself wanting a bit of levity once in a while.  It's not like this series didn't have a good starting point.  Monchi makes it clear early on that Kokusai is perfectly average in every way.  He's not extraordinarily handsome, bright, or talented, but has some unknown quality that lures men to him in droves, regardless of their orientation.  Worse still, Kokusai is completely oblivious to their intentions.  He just presumes that every guy who tries to get their hands on him is simply really friendly.  I can't be the only one who looks at a character like that and sees comic gold.  Like the song goes, though, they had to go and spoil it all by making the protagonist say something stupid like "I love you." 

After those first few chapters, Chiga ends up falling hard for Kokusai because he's so helpless and naïve.  That's right: Chiga falls for him because he's just too damn moe.  The rest of the volume is thus spent watching these two dance around their feelings, as Kokusai starts to fall for Chiga himself.  The only other thing that happens is the half-baked mystery around who molested Kokusai in his own home.  Then the story completely forgets that drama shortly after it happens so we can enter a neverending circlejerk of jealousy.  Even after Chiga and Kokusai finally talk to one another about their feelings, Kokusai starts getting jealous of Chiga's ex-girlfriends, his classmates are jealous of all the attention that Chiga lavishes on Kokusai, and Chiga is jealous and overprotective of Kokusai because that's pretty much what he's been doing since the beginning.  Worse still, there are no quirks or foibles to counteract all this jealousy, and the student council angle is dropped so quickly that one wonders why Monchi bothered in the first place.  In that case, you have to wonder why she bothered with the comedy if all she was going to do was a bunch of tedious jealousy-fueled drama like everyone else.

ART:

Monchi's art is also all too typical of BL as a whole.  Her character designs are weirdly lanky and long, which means just about everyone has giraffe necks and spidery hands.  Chiga in particular is so lanky that he's constantly slouching just so his back and arms can stay in frame.  The only thing that does work about the character designs is Chiga's rather stylish haircut (complete with long bangs and the occasional headband) and the thick, tasteful frames on his glasses.  At least he's fairly distinct, which is more than can be said for the rest of the cast.  Otherwise the art is very mediocre - nothing notably wretched, but nothing remarkable either  This is true whether the pages are about jealousy drama or actual sex.  The sexual bits aren't sexy by any means, neither are they a disaster of limbs and invisi-peen.  By the low standards of BL, it's pretty average looking.

RATING:

Hey, Class President! starts strong but slides down fast thanks to pointless drama and rather middling artwork.  Thus it goes from OK to completely forgettable, just like the majority of other books under DMP's label.

This series is published by Digital Manga Publishing.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 7 volumes available.  5 volumes have been published and all are currently in print.  The first volume is also available as a e-book through emanga.com.

Merry Month of Manga Review: KING OF DEBT

Of course, not every BL work can be as good as the last one.  Nor are all of them stand-alone stories.  Many books, much like today's selection, are anthologies of short stories where the author can explore all sorts of ideas and concepts.  It's just that also like today's selection, it's a mixed bag in quality at best.

KING OF DEBT (Shakkin Daio), by Sanae Rokuya.  First published in 2007 and first published in North America in 2008.

PLOT:

In the titular story, we follow former college buddies Taketora and Souta.  Souta has managed to hold down a steady job, but Taketora seems to spend his days bumming money off of Souta and repaying him with...well, his bum.  Their relationship changes when Souta learns that Taketora isn't quite as broke as he lets on.  After that is "Rush," a story about a boxing student and his coach.  Then we move on to "My Dear, My Bear," where a young man discovers that his teddy bear, a keepsake from his beloved older brother, can now turn into a young, attractive, and frequently nude man.  Finally, there is "VS.," where the competition between a couple of hosts becomes something far more heated and complicated.

STORY:

BL is a genre that's not normally known for long, epic stories.  Many BL managaka are lucky to come up with enough material for a volume or two, and that's presuming that they get popular enough to merit a longer story in the first place.  As for the fans, many of them have no further use for the story once the seme and uke confess their love to one another.  That can be a problem because it doesn't leave them a lot of space to build up the plot or the characters beyond the basics, which goes a long way towards explaining why so many of them use and reuse the seme/uke tropes so much.  This problem is only magnified when it comes to anthology works like King of Debt. 

There are five stories here total, but honestly they are all so brief and bland that they all blend together into some inchoate mass of gay sex.  The only one that stood out in my mind afterwards was "My Dear, My Bear," and that's simply because it's about a guy who spends most of the story believing that his precious childhood toy can come to life and wants to have sex with him.  I almost want to give such a bizarre premise points for originality.  Of course, they all end up the same way: the couple confesses their love and celebrates with sex.  That can be titillating if built up properly, but the characters are such ciphers and the sex scenes are so rote and censored that you might as well be watching someone slap a couple of Ken dolls together.

I wish there was more to say about the other stories, but they are so short that the summaries I listed above are pretty much all you get.  At least Rokuya found a way to tie such disparate stories together in a way that's mildly clever.  The final chapter has all of the characters from the preceding stories interacting with one another at the same bar, and their barroom conversations serve as the epilogues for their own respective stories.  It's a shame that she couldn't bring this same level of cleverness to the rest of the stories here.  When it's not blasé it tends to be weird, and neither of those are substitutes for qualities like 'good' or 'interesting.'

ART:

Rokuya's art is very conventional.  Unfortunately that means that every guy here is pointy, gangly, stiff, and flatly drawn.  Regardless of what expression she is trying to capture, every guy's face seems to be stuck at 'mildly pissy' or in a lecherous leer.   Blushes are nothing but blotches of hatch marks awkwardly placed over faces.  The awkwardness of the bodies carries over to the sex scenes, as they all tend to be rather vague and plainly drawn.  She tries to make up for this by keeping the panels large but closely focused on the characters, leaving only a bit of room for some screentone at the edges.  Finally, she piles them all on the page in a rather messy manner, with lots of panels layered over one another without a lot of rhyme or reason.

RATING:

The King of Debt is king of nothing but boredom, awkward art, and a bit of occasional weirdness.

Seriously, screwing your teddy bear? What the hell.

This book was published by Digital Manga Publishing.  The physical volume is out of print, but is currently available as an e-book at emanga.com.

Merry Month of Manga Review: SLEEPING MOON

If I had to choose a favorite amongst BL publishers past and present, I'd have to go with SuBLime.  Viz might have been a late comer into the BL market, but they've learned from their predecessors in a big way and have crafted for themselves a solid library of titles, including today's selection

SLEEPING MOON (Nemureru Tsuki), by Kana Miyomoto.  First published in 2008 and first published in North America in 2013.

PLOT:

Akihito Odogawa is coming back home after many years, but he's far from thrilled about it.  For generations, the men of Akihito's family are cursed to die at age 30, and Akihito's 30th birthday is not too far away.  Akihito's discomfort at home isn't helped by his cousin Ren, who alternates between hanging around the house gloomily and making uncomfortable passes at Akihito.  Then one night Akihito finds himself transported to the past.  Together he must work with one of his distant ancestors to find both the cause and the cure to his family's curse, even if the process uncovers some very restless spirits.

STORY:

Sleeping Moon manages to combine boys' love with supernatural mystery in a way that's moody, compelling, and extremely well-balanced.  Right off the bat, the cast is a lot more understated than what one usually sees in BL.  There are no broad stereotypes, no hysterics, and no semes and ukes for the most part.  The closest anyone comes to that nonsense is Ren's occasional ignorance of personal boundaries and even then it's rare and restrained enough to not derail my enjoyment of the story.  Since the cast mostly acts like people instead of tropes, the focus of the story can be on the mysteries of the past and on all the supernatural stuff, and that's where the story truly shines.

The plot proper is also fairly understated, but that allows Miyomoto to focus on building up an air of spookiness that serves the story well.  She parcels out just enough information to keep things moving along and she uses this same approach with the romantic elements.  She slowly and subtly lets the tension build between Akihito, Ren, and their ancestor Eitaro, let their interactions gradually turn into a sort of supernatural, time-travelling love triangle.  This kind of restraint is rare in the genre and it takes some genuine skill to pull it off. 

As for the supernatural elements, it's one part time-travelling ghost story and one part haunted house story.  There's something pleasingly Gothic about the concept of a family curse and a sprawling old house loaded with mystery, as well as the gradual revelation about Eitaro's ties to Akihito's family, but here the focus isn't on melodramatic Gothic excess but the quiet tension of family secrets left long unspoken.  Miyomoto's restraint as a writer allows her to focus on building the mood and the mysteries first before she starts breaking out the actual scares.  That quiet, spooky mood almost lulls the reader into comfort before she snaps them out of it at volume's end with the appearance of the first unhappy spirit and it's quite an effective scare.

It's not often that I find a BL work that works so well on every front.  It's a compelling mystery, an understated romance, and just a well-written manga all around.

ART:

Miyamoto's subtle approach also applies to the art.  The characters are all proportionate and handsome.  Honestly, their only fault might be that they tend to all look a bit generic.  The sensuality is mild at its most.  It never goes beyond a rough make-out session, preferring instead to trade in a lot of longing looks and a few furtive kisses.  She doesn't neglect her setting; if anything, she takes great care in how she draws Akihito's family estate.  She doesn't indulge in a lot of dark and moody lighting, but she does make it look beautiful while still capturing the stifling air around it and making it seem old and mysterious.  Such effort goes a long way towards selling the mood of the piece to the reader.  Her panels and page composition are not flashy, but neither are they stodgy and straightforward.  She often likes to wedge in smaller reaction shots over one another, and it helps to give some of the more dialogue-heavy scenes a sense of liveliness, which also helps to keep the reader engaged in the story.  In a genre that's often loaded with visual excess, Miyamoto makes her work stand out by imbuing it with quiet, graceful skill.

RATING:

Sleeping Moon is the perfect antidote to those who love supernatural romances but are tired of all the drama (and vampires) that the subgenre tends to come with these days.  It's quietly compelling, masterfully moody, and great looking to boot.  It's yet another gem of the SuBLime library and one well worth seeking out.

This series is published by Viz under their SuBLime imprint.  This series is complete in Japan with 2 volumes available.  Both volumes have been published and are currently in print as well as available as ebooks through SuBLime's website.