Review: Makoto Tateno: Yellow

Makoto Tateno is a mangaka doing yaoi whose work I've learned to keep an eye out for. The first series I happened across by her was Yellow, an action-adventure series involving two "snatchers," free-lancers who recover illegal drugs for various clients, usually the police. Inside the larger story line, there are several substories of the more-or-less standard cops-and-robbers variety. Because this is one of those series that won't really support separate reviews for each volume, I am going to talk about the whole series here rather than just volume 1.

Yellow is slightly outside the normal run of BL or "bishonen-ai" manga. Both protagonists are older, in their early twenties, and one is avowedly gay (a device that Tateno makes use of in other stories). And it is definitely an action-adventure series, although yaoi in general tend to be more oriented toward shoujo ("manga for girls") than shounen ("manga for boys"). (But it's worth pointing out that even in this one the emphasis is on the relationship between the lovers.)

Taki and Goh are partners: they are snatchers and get their assignments from Tsunuga, the somewhat mysterious owner of the cafe below the apartment they share and where they take their meals. If you search this series online, you will meet a repeated blurb that claims Taki is masculine and straight, and Goh is feminine and gay. Nothing could be farther from the truth: yes, Taki is straight and Goh is gay, but both are tough, aggressive men, and Goh is not at all reticent about what he wants -- he is, in fact, the seme to Taki's uke in this story -- and what he wants more and more is Taki. Goh’s attempts to seduce Taki form an ongoing motif throughout the series. We see Taki’s resistance start to erode in Volume 2, as we also see Goh’s feelings shift from playful jokes to little more than lust to deep and very real love. This "main" story finally becomes the focus in the third volume: Taki, as might be expected, has a dark secret in his past, and when he realizes how that secret has come back into his present, in the guise of two assassins who have come to claim him, he is devastated. He also realizes that he loves Goh, whom the assassins see as an impediment to their goal, and will do anything to protect him. All the threads come together in the last two volumes -- Taki's past, Tsunuga's past, the assassins who call themselves the "Sandfish," and Taki's growing love for Goh.

It’s a treat to see in this series the interplay of character between these two, particularly as the final crisis comes and we realize just how deeply their feelings for each other run. Tateno hits a level in Yellow rare in yaoi. The long-awaited love scene, perhaps because it has been so long in coming, achieves an amazing intensity, almost poetry, made even more evocative by Taki's thoughts as he and Goh make love for the first time. The fact that Taki believes this is the last time he will be with Goh provides another layer of poignancy.

Do keep in mind that this is directed toward teenage girls (in this case, one suspects later teens rather than earlier), so it is overwhelmingly romantic and more than a little melodramatic. I also suspect there are a number of teenage boys who would find it appealing as well.

Tateno's visual style falls well within the range of typical manga styles, in her case tending toward slender young men with somewhat elfin features; one drawback is that it can be difficult to tell characters apart. She also adheres to what seems to be a manga convention of interspersing highly "cartoony" frames among the more realistic ones as humorous asides or throwaways -- meant, I suppose, to be cute, but sometimes merely annoying.

I do recommend this series highly: it’s a cut above most in this genre in the complexity of characters, and there’s a refreshingly low incidence of big-eyed waifs.

(June [Digital Manga Publishing, 2009, 2010)

Review: Suguro Chayamachi, Nitro+ CHiRAL: Togainu No Chi, Vol.1

This is another Epinions foundling. I did a lot of BL manga at Epinions; I imagine most of it will be showing up here.

The first volume of Togainu no Chi by Suguro Chayamachi and Nitro+ CHiRAL looks like the beginning to a very good action/adventure series with BL overtones, set in a near-future dystopia that provides an appropriate background to the story.

The apocalypse has come, and Japan is now divided into two nations, Nikkoren and the CFC. In between lies the city of Toshima, more ruins than anything else, home to the Igura, a battle game that's too real for comfort: you can lose everything in this one. Akira, an undefeated champion at another battle game, Bl@ster (in which you are not allowed to kill your opponent), is convicted of murder and given a choice: die in jail or try to survive the Igura. He also has a mission, but that's a secret.

Toshima is run by the underworld bosses and ruled by Arbitro, "Il Re." The winner of the Igura gets to fight the King and take his place -- if he wins. No one has yet. Arbitro has a side business that is the real reason for the Igura: line, a ferociously addictive drug that the crime cartel has now started marketing outside Toshima. That's the real goal: a lucrative business in drugs that doesn't depend on the denizens of Toshima.

We first meet Rin and Motomi, whom Rin calls "Old Man" (he must be all of 30) and who is a non-player -- he makes a living as an informer. Neither is reticent about his preferences in regard to romantic involvements, and it's Rin who first makes the acquaintance of Akira and Keisuke, Akira's friend who followed him into Toshima. In fact, Rin propositions Akira, whose main concern is getting Keisuke to safety, preferably out of the city -- Keisuke is not a fighter. There is also another fighter of whom we only catch glimpses at this point, Shiki, who is somewhat more than deadly and whose purposes are unknown.

The story line here is complex and multifaceted, and this could easily be the beginning of a lengthy series. The setting is rich and coherent and the characters are vividly drawn, both graphically and in their dialogue. Relationships are somewhat ambivalent, particularly that between Rin and Motomi. That between Akira and Keisuke also leaves much unsaid. To be honest, I was somewhat surprised to see the BL elements here -- Togainu no Chi is published by Tokyopop, which normally publishes BL manga under the BLU imprint. But those elements are undeniably there; whether they actually develop into anything is anyone's guess at this point.

Visually, this one is dense, almost tactile. Although the basic format follows shounen conventions, it's not all that strict. The settings are dark, in keeping with the mood of the story, and the visual contrasts are arresting. Characterizations are very well done, and follow a bishounen aesthetic -- men are slender and androgynous, although quite muscular; there are no women (well, one in a flashback). The characters display a lot of individuality.

My one complaint is that the drawing suffers from the format: it's a standard Tokyopop edition, slightly larger than an American mass-market paperback, and the compression of the images to fit the page sometimes leads to them being illegible, or nearly so, especially in action sequences, of which there are many. On the whole, though, the graphics are very strong and quite beautiful.

There's no sex, but a lot of death, little of it pretty. In spite of that, I think it's worth following, at least for adults -- it's gritty enough that I'd hesitate to recommend it for any but older teens. (The publisher rates it at 16+, but I don't know that I'm perfectly comfortable with that.)

(Tokyopop, 2008)

Review: Yamimaru Enjin: The Way to Heaven

I did a lot of BL manga at Epinions. This is one you won't find there any more.

Yamimaru Enjin's The Way to Heaven is one of the stranger BL manga I've run across, and also one of the most powerful. Enjin provides a basis for the story that allows her to play with time and character in ways that, so far in my experience, are unique.

Keigo Moriya is crossing a pedestrian bridge when he discovers a small dog tied to one of the supports under the walkway. He leans over the rail to try to save the dog and begins to fall. Kifumi Watase, who is crossing the same bridge, attempts to save Moriya, but both men fall into the highway, where they are hit by a speeding truck. They awaken in a room with a woman who claims to be from another galaxy, come to save Earth from ecological disaster through an energy-recycling technique that her people have discovered. Each of the men is typed: Watase's type is "vampire" and his part in the experiment is to harvest blood, while Moriya's type is "werewolf" -- he is to harvest semen. They will be allowed to go back in time based on how much of each fluid they harvest. However, it seems that Watase remembers Moriya from their previous lives: Moriya was a boxer and Watase saw him at his first professional bout, which also ended his career. Moriya lost the fight, but wasn't knocked out; he stayed conscious long enough, however, to suffer permanent damage to his eyes. Watase says that witnessing Moriya's fighting spirit and determination changed his life: part of a yakuza gang, he went straight.

This story is centered on the growing bond between the two men, starting with Watase's admiration for Moriya and Moriya's attraction to Watase -- an attraction that Moriya will not admit. In fact, although Moriya had a male lover in life, it is Watase who initiates their intimacy. The episodes that show them back in time center on Moriya's relationship with that "lover" -- Watase's boss, Akutsu, whom Watase idolized. However, the Watase then was nothing like the Watase that Moriya knows, which adds a nice tension to the story as Moriya tries to reconcile the lying con artist described by Akutsu, whose attitude toward his "plaything" is cold and disdainful (that Watase is totally straight) with the caring, affectionate man he knows in their temporary afterlife.

Graphically, the drawing displays that lean clarity that so attracts me to this genre, coupled with the expressiveness I've come to expect. The style is spare but marked by a strong, definite line, and narrative flow is always clear, even though Enjin makes full use of the conventions of shoujo manga in her layouts. There are a couple of sex scenes, which make use of the "invisible" option. From a visual standpoint, this is a very appealing volume.

What strikes me most about The Way to Heaven, is Enjin's subtle but unequivocal focus on the emotional tie between Moriya and Watase: long before there is a sexual component, it's apparent that these two men have come to care deeply for one another, and I think that's what gives the story its power. It's a subtle portrayal, created bit by bit and mostly as subtext, and becomes truly affecting.

(Digital Manga Publishing, 2009)