Reviews in Brief: Nase Yamato's Cigarette Kisses

Cigarette Kisses is somewhat of a departure for Nase Yamato -- previous works by her that I've read, Pet on Duty and Take Me To Heaven, were lighter fare, comedies that have enough psychological realism to earn their places on the bookshelf. This one is something more.

Yusuke is continually being dragged by his boss to the company's new smoking room for a cigarette break; he'd rather not go, not because he doesn't smoke, but because his school friend, Soji, also tends to be there, and Yusuke has a lot of unresolved issues in that area: Soji got married without ever mentioning it to Yusuke, his best friend,and Yusuke finds it hard to be happy for him. Things are complicated by the arrival of a third friend from their school years, Masahito. Soji soon drafts both friends for a special project under his supervision, and then things start to happen.

The interplay here is fascinating, as is the psychology of the characters. Yusuke, although he's loved Soji forever, can't bring himself to admit it to him, and has a hard time facing it himself. Soji got married in part because of his feelings for Yusuke -- he couldn't tell him how he really felt because he didn't want to ruin their friendship. Masahito has also loved Yusuke for a long time, but knew that Yusuke was in love with Soji and therefore kept his peace. Now things break wide open.

Yamato gives us what is probably a more realistic take on contemporary attitudes in Japan toward same-sex relationships than is usual in BL manga: a large part of the men's reticence about their feelings is the expected disapproval. There is also an undercurrent that offers a new twist in the genre as well: the three are all good friends, and all, at least in theory, open to the idea of a relationship with another man. However, it seems that we're going to wind up with our expected pairing -- Yusuke and Soji -- with Masahito being odd man out. Until the bonus chapter. (I'm devoutly hoping that Yamato gives us a sequel exploring that possibility.)

Yamato's drawing, as always, is delicious. Characters fit into her standard portrayals, absent the seemingly underage uke we saw in the other two I've read, and they're all beautiful. There are some very nice things going on with page layouts and visual flow -- a lot of activity in some sequences that is due purely to layout and her use of close-ups and fragmentary images, but it's always crystal clear. Sex scenes are yaoi standard.

This one has a fair amount of depth, attributable to Yamato's good sense of psychological realism and well-drawn characters. It's from Deux.