Ellie Mamahara is another mangaka recommended to me by my yaoi guru -- or maybe I should call her "sensei." I ran across Alley of First Love and, having learned to rely on April-sensei's judgments, snapped it up. It doesn't disappoint.
Shusuke works in his family's liquor store and is quite popular -- he has a string of girlfriends, as well as catching the attention of the little old ladies in the town who play at matchmaking. Then his childhood friend Atsushi returns from England, where he had been working in a research lab. Their parting was not the best. Atshushi made his arrangements without telling Shusuke, who was really messed up by the whole thing, since, in addition to being best friends, he was in love with Atsushi. Nevertheless, they make their peace and start hanging out together again. It becomes a gentle, low-key comedy, with every opportunity to get to the meat of the matter -- leading, ultimately, to love confessions -- thwarted by interruptions by friends dropping by, customers, younger brothers, or Atsushi's twin nieces, who swear they will marry Shusuke when they grow up.
Low-key, yes, and I'd categorize the comedy more as humor, situational and personality driven, but funny nevertheless, although not in a laugh-out-loud sort of way, and not in a way that undercuts the seriousness of the story. It's another study in fear and indecision, mostly from Shusuke's point of view, as he works himself toward finally making that confession.
The graphics reflect this tension between humor and import, with a unique blend of an almost brutal angularity and an open innocence that's quite appealing. The proportions of the character designs are at first glance odd -- think Alberto Giacometti does comics -- but one soon gets used to them. No, I take that back -- I actually found them very engaging and quite expressive. There's a kind of heavy sensuality to Mamahara's more finished renderings that is hard to describe, but the cover art gives a good idea; amazingly enough, she slips into more comedic, not-quite-chibi renderings easily and with no disruption.
This one's a winner, and I'm eagerly awaiting Baseeball Heaven, due out in April. From BLU.
(And please note that this really is "in brief." I'm trying to tighten up on these because they've been getting too long.)
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