Kazusa Takashima seems to be one for charming stories with not a whole lot of substance, and absolutely gorgeous drawing. I've been looking for Man's Best Friend since I read Wild Rock, and finally got hold of a copy.
The title story concerns Ukyo, a student who rescues a very dirty, very scruffy stray. He takes him home, gives him and bath and a name -- Kuro -- and starts wondering about his sanity when Kuro turns into a gorgeous young man -- with dog ears and tail.
There are actually three stories about Ukyo and Kuro. The second details what happens when you take your dog for a walk, if the dog happens to have gotten so excited about going out that he turned into a human. The third is about what happens when a boy and his dog decide to play in the water on a hot summer's day.
The second set of stories are about Kasumi and Ken, childhood friends separated at an early age by Kasumi's parents' divorce. Kasumi eventually comes back to spend summer vacation with his father, which is when Ken finally realizes two things: Kasumi is a boy, and he's gorgeous.
The final fiction selection here,"Princess Goldfish," is fairly weird: Keisuke is just about to make some time with his friend when he is distracted by a couple of kids, disappointed in their winnings at the Pet Lottery -- a goldfish. As they are on the verge of tossing it away, Keisuke buys it from them and takes it home. As he's sleeping that evening, he suddenly realizes there's a beautiful boy in his bed: the goldfish he rescued, taken human form to thank him. And thank him he does.
Yes, the stories are light, but very entertaining, especially the Ukyo/Kuro series. Kuro, in particular, is a wonderful characterization, both through dialogue and drawing: he is about as believable a dog-turned-boy as possible, from his awkwardness in walking on two legs to his puppyish enthusiasm to his rambunctious sexuality. Even his difficulty with human speech is wonderful. Strong characterization is something that holds good throughout this collection.
And the drawing is indeed wonderful. Not as finished as Wild Rock, but somehow more appealing because of it. And Takashima has done some beautiful things with page layouts and flow here. There is a gorgeous two-page spread of Kuro in the third story. (And for those concerned with such things, sex scenes are quite restrained.)
This one's from BLU, and imprint of Tokyopop.
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