Reviews in Brief: Nase Yamato's Pet on Duty

This mangaka was recommended to me by a colleague who is even more into manga than I am, and has a lot mor exposure to the field. Based on this one, she obviously knows what she's talking about.

Mizuki is out of work. His company has declared bankruptcy and, with only a high-school education, he's not finding it easy to get another job. He finally calls his older brother, Koichi, and asks if he can live with him. Koichi agrees, but it's not until Mizuki is moving in -- with his one bag of possessions -- that he realizes that Koichi lives in the company dorm with three roommates -- not to mention the other young men on the floor. And there are rules: no visitors, no pets, and certainly no out-of-work younger brothers.

Mizuki, however, is eager to please, and happily takes over the household chores. The guys on the floor just as happily adopt him as their "pet," calling him Mi-kun, a common name for a cat. The one problem is Kudou, one of Koichi's roommates: Kudou is a gruff sort, a real workaholic, with no patience for the fun and games the others regularly engage in. Strangely enough, Kudou shows Mizuki some kindness, and even a bit of affection, and soon starts making excuses to spend time with him. The inevitable happens, but that's when the real frustrations begin:

This one is very appealing. Both Mizuki and Kudou are stubborn sorts, insistent on their independence. Mizuki has a tendency to fall flat on his face whenever he tries to do anything, and Kudou soon realizes that being totally self-sufficient is maybe not the way to go. It's really a comedy of errors, with the two lovers managing to miscommunicate much more often than not, complicated by the omnipresent dorm mates, who just want to have fun and don't really twig to the fact that sometimes Mizuki and Kudou just want to be alone together.

The graphic style is wonderful, characterized by strong, clean lines and excellent use of tone and shading to give body to the images. Narrative flow is likewise clear, and characterizations are apt. I do have two small complaints: this is one where you might have trouble differentiating among characters without looking at their hair styles, and Mizuki just looks too young. He's eighteen and looks closer to twelve, which sort of undercuts the believability of the romance.

Those two cavils aside, this one is enough to keep me looking for more of Yamato's work. It's from Boysenberry.