Reviews in Brief: Mio Tennohji's Meeting You

One thing leads to another: after reading Don't Rush Love, I picked up a copy of the "prequel," Meeting You, and enjoyed it just as much.

Himeshiro is not a nice guy. He'll go with anyone who asks, male or female, but always holds them at arm's length. And then a really sweet, shy kid, Touru Onozuka, confesses his love and Hime makes him the same offer: Do you want to go out or have sex? Touru is floored -- he never expected to get this far -- and somewhat hesitantly asks if they can go out. Hime sets up a series of little tests that seem meant for nothing so much as to drive Touru away once he sees what Hime is really like, but it finally sinks in that Touru really does love him. Hime starts to think that maybe he doesn't really have to be like that.

This one is pretty much in the mold of Don't Rush Love, with a shy but courageous and determined uke and a fairly despicable seme --Himeshiro and Kusama, who makes an appearance here, are birds of a feather indeed.

And there are side stories --this is actually a collection as much as anything else. The first, "How To Find a Gentle Kiss," is a bit of fluff involving Senken and Sakuma. Best friends in high school, they parted ways soon after one eventful night watching the stars, when Sakuma confessed his love in a particularly intimate way. Three years later, they discover that they work for the same company, although Sakuma has just returned to Tokyo from the branch office in New York. It turns out that the love wasn't really one-sided.

Senken also makes an appearance in the next story, "Mornings at the Bus Stop," which is delightful. Shunpei Machida, in spite of running, is late for the bus one morning. He encounters Kaoru Touhon, who offers him water when he starts to choke while catching his breath, and says he's like a dog Kaoru cared for once -- he drinks the water as though it were supremely delicious -- and can he call him "pochi"? Somewhat put out, but nonetheless attracted, Machida waits for Touhon at the bus stop the next morning, and they strike up an acquaintance. This being yaoi, events take their course, especially after Machida decides that it's OK to be Touhon's dog until Touhon gets it.

The final story returns us to Touru and Himeshiro, in which Hime is forced to conclude that Touru is indeed very sweet and innocent, and probably not playing with a full deck.

The graphics are once again very appealing, and I still can't figure out why I find them so, but I do: Tennohji seems to be one of the rare mangaka who can make the big-eyed uke actually work -- Touru is absolutely adorable. The graphics are firmly within shoujo conventions, with some wonderful page layouts.

This one's from 801.