Yuki Yamamuro is an actor -- in fact, he's a very popular TV star who presently is working in a stage production, a modern-day version of Goethe's Faust. He's double-cast in the role of Mephistopheles, alternating performances with a rising young star, Mitsuru Sawaki. His producer, mentor, and sometime lover, Ryousuke Otaki, wants both of them for a 50th anniversary production for his TV network. Yuki, knowing how Otaki works, decides to make a pre-emptive strike and attempts to seduce Mitsuru. Things don't turn out quite the way Yuki planned.
Double Cast is not the usual comedy of errors that we've come to expect from Mamahara, but Mizuhashi's story has more going for it than I had thought at first. It's a fairly serious story, more drama than comedy -- in fact, there's almost no comedy at all -- and quirkier psychology. Otaki knows that Yuki needs constant reassurance and has provided it for ten years. Now it's time for Yuki to stand on his own two feet. Strangely enough, it's Mitsuru who gives him the direction he needs.
Mamahara's drawing is gorgeous. I've always been fond of her character designs -- those tall, angular guys with huge hands and feet -- but everything's up a notch or two in this one. It's a recent work, originally published in 2007, and the style and layouts are that much more sophisticated than in the past.
Don't let your expectations get in the way of this one -- it's got some meat and deserves a careful reading.
From DokiDoki. (Note: The English-language edition is so recent that I had to use the Japanese cover. It's the same art, just the language is different.)
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