M.J. Lyons's Blog, page 2

BLog: Fangs Vol. 1

BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.

Fangs Vol. 1
Story and art: Billy Balibally
Translation: Christine Dashiell
Publisher: TOKYOPOP
Release Date: July 6, 2021

One of my favourite BL subgenres is the “excuse to draw this” genre.

I think of Thigh High, an excuse to draw cute boys in schoolgirl skirts (and bras); Our Dining Table, an excuse to draw cute boys and food porn, or; Dick Fight Island, an excuse to draw… well, cute boys on an island of dick fighting.

My guess is that Billy Balibally (a fantastic pseudonym) said, “I want to draw really, really beautiful, fashionable boys and also want to write a horny vampire story.” Fangs is the result.

The story follows En, the sole survivor of a vicious vampire attack that left him recently turned. Ichii, an employee with the Health and Welfare Department, Protective Services, has taken on the role of guardian and mentor as he enters the new world of “fangs”–“vampire” has a loaded history, so it’s a strategic branding. The titular organization, Fangs, is a benevolent vampire bureaucracy meant to encourage the peaceful coexistence of fangs and mortals. They offer counselling and group therapy services, social gatherings, “pairing” parties (more on that later) and a blood-based Meals on Wheels program.

Fangs are immortal humans whose looks are frozen in time, their incisors extended and their ears pointed. They can still eat and drink, but the only sustenance that satisfies their thirst is blood, be it human or another fang’s. Going too long without blood, a vampire frenzies–which is apparently what happened to En, the alleged victim of a fang who’d been partying too hard and attacked everyone. The 19-year-old En is overwhelmed by his place in this new world. He learns at a fancy pairing party that fangs are encouraged to couple up to monitor one another’s physical and emotional health, make sure they’re getting enough blood so they don’t frenzy. En is a “virgin”, a single fang with the smell of human still on him who has never tasted the blood of another fang, which leaves its own mark. Scent is one of a fang’s most heightened senses, among powers of charm.

On top of his introduction to this new world that exists just out of sight of humans, the tension in Fangs is the developing relationship between En and Ichii. As he meets other fangs and learns the unique relationships and compulsions they navigate, the young fang struggles with how he feels about Ichii, and his new existence. He finds it strange just how at ease he is with everything. The mystery, perhaps a bit too understated in volume 1, is that the attack that left En turned is exceedingly violent and rare… although no one seems too bothered about it. Further, the mystery that is Ichii; he’s an old fang, although we don’t know how old, he was paired once, but we don’t know with who or what happened to them, nor do we know the reason for the cross tattoo on his right forearm, covering up a long scar. He’s been single for a long time, and overstates the official requirements for him to take care of En, including moving the young fang in with him.

The good is that Fangs is an incredibly beautiful manga, the character design and overall look and feel is unique, I can’t wait to see more English-translation manga from Balibally. The sexiness doesn’t hurt either, one of the saucier manga of the year, and the sex is beautiful, elegant and HOT.

Where Fangs stumbles is pace and action. It’s a strangely bucolic (although slightly melancholic) stroll through a vampire mystery, a slow introduction to the world and the genteel domesticity of immortal creatures that crave blood. Perhaps volume 2 will ramp up the action, but despite the introduction of the mysteries, En’s violent turning, Ichii’s background and role in the world, stakes feel pretty low by the end of it. I was reminded of a moment in My Androgynous Boyfriend volume 3 where a fictional mangaka is agonizing over the story he wants to create about two beautiful androgynous boys. He has the look down, but can’t figure out the action. He doesn’t want to make it a romance, nor does he want to make them fight or go through difficulties. He just wants them to be beautiful, living in a beautiful world. Sure, stories have been written about less, and that’s definitely where slice-of-life writing comes in. Still, it can make for dull reading, a character who starts with everything, enjoys their life with everything, and ends with everything they could ever want. Even My Androgynous Boyfriend introduces the silly little drama around Meguru’s rising androgynous stardom, and the minor tensions it creates in his friendships and relationship.

Fangs doles out just enough tension and mystery to put it above simply being indulgent “really, really beautiful, fashionable boys and also a horny vampire story”. The characters are adorable, the art is lush and gorgeous, the relationships interesting, the challenges of being an ethical vampire a fun little bit of world building. I’d read further volumes even if it ended up being nothing more than a sexy slice-of-life vampire story, all of that plus the art makes it a satisfying read. The hope is that the mystery and action will pull En and Ishii into a bit more of an active story. All of that being said, if you come to Fangs wanting little more than really, really beautiful, fashionable and horny vampire boys you will walk away from this one sated. I’m still thirsty (pun intended) for a little more action.

Level of Problematic: Department of Virgin Fang Protection; there’s a minor bit of creepiness around En’s “virgin” status, and some weird jealously and controlling behaviour in the character of Aogiri, partnered with the slutty, cheating Utsugi, but for all I know that could be building into something.

Level of Adorable: Department of Fang Recreation & Board-Based Sports; surfing vampires? It’s more common than you think! En is genuinely the most adorable little baby vampire and, again, the excuse to draw fashionable, cute, skateboarding vampire boys is very much appreciated!

Level of Spiciness: Department of Sexual Transmitted Blood; Fangs takes manga that speed through the sexy parts and says, “Why do in one page what you could do in ten?” And it is appreciated.

BLog: I Think Our Son Is Gay Vol. 1

BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.

I Think Our Son Is Gay Vol. 1
Story and art: Okura
Translation: Leo McDonagh
Publisher: Square Enix Manga
Release Date: May 11, 2021

In the first scene of I Think Our Son is Gay, 1st year senior (10th grade) Aoyama Hiroki is discussing the curry recipe of his mother, Tomoko. She adds corn, which is unusual to him, but he still loves it, and Tomoko says, “To each their own, I say!” She offers to teach him the recipe so he can make it for himself when he gets older. “It’s okay!” Hiroki says, “If I want to eat it when I’m older… I’ll just find a boyfriend who’s great at cooking and get him to make it.”

Realizing what he’s said, Hiroki begins freaking out and claiming he meant to say girlfriend. “Funny I keep saying the wrong word!!”

Tomoko just smiles, his little brother, Yuri, ignores his overcorrecting.

There aren’t many manga that feel like they could also be a parental guide to supporting gay kids.

I Think Our Son Is Gay is exactly what it sounds like, a quintessential slice of life manga, very episodic in structure. It’s light, fluffy and also incredibly meaningful. Without any fuss, this manga explores micro-aggressions, internalized homophobia and, of course, how to support someone who hasn’t identified as LGBTQ (even if you’re pretty much 100% sure yourself).

While the manga is from the point of view of Tomoko, a mother and housewife who occasionally works a part-time job, who’s just the loveliest, it hinges on the hijinks of Hiroki and his personality. Some people wear their heart on their sleeve, Hiroki’s heart wears him on its sleeve. He’s honest, emotive, easily flustered and a total dork, especially when it comes to guys. But it’s Tomoko, first and foremost, plus her husband and Akiyoshi and their youngest Yuri who show the range of attitudes towards their probably gay son/brother.

As far as hijinks go, like any slice-of-life manga the stakes are pretty low, at least in the sense that Hiroki and the family is never in any kind of danger or serious drama. Tomoko’s battlefield is one of a mother to a teenage boy, which means first crushes, internet search history foibles and a hidden muscleman book–probably slightly less volatile and more charming than the reality of being a parent to a teenager, if my teenage years were comparable. The emotional stakes, though, are both understated but essential to I Think Our Son Is Gay.

As an example, there’s a scene where Akiyoshi, who travels for work, is home and having dinner with his family. He brings up a boys’ love TV show two women coworkers are obsessed with, and acknowledges how popular gay stuff is, but says its “pretty gross”. Poor, oblivious Hiroki, of course, launches into a flustered speech agreeing, classic overcorrection. But Tomoko asks her husband if he’s actually watched the show, and says he should actually give it a try since it might change his mind about romance between men being “gross”, and that she’s going to watch it. She glances at Hiroki, who’s gone quiet and smiles to himself.

If we were to put our humanities degrees to work, one could say that Akiyoshi ends up representing the voice of urban masculinity. Definitely not, like, a burly, hyper-heterosexual manly man. He’s a glass’d, video game playing nerd dad who has no qualms about pitching in with housework and cooking when he’s home. But he’s straight and, unlike his wife, assumes Hiroki is straight by default, so that’s the way he behaves around his probably gay son. Yuri (my favourite) is the new generation of introspective, emotionally in-touch kids to whom being gay is no more surprising than someone who likes video games. There’s a great scene where Tomoko asks Yuri what he thinks of Hiroki’s crush, a polite, well-behaved dork named Daigo. Yuri points out that he seems nice, and Hiroki really likes him but he wonders if Daigo is “the same as Hiroki”. Tomoko, who’d been quietly cheering on and encouraging Hiroki’s friendship/crush, hadn’t even considered what might happen if Daigo doesn’t feel the same.

Okura mentions in I Think Our Son Is Gay Vol. 2 that publishing the manga gave him courage to come out to his mom, which is wholesome. I don’t believe I Think Our Son Is Gay could be written by anyone other than a gay guy–or the mangaka mother of a gay son, which would be rad. Even if Hiroki’s life is a little more idyllic than the probably gay teenage experience, the reference points are just too specific, and it still confronts issues that impact probably gay kids. Plus there are moments where, even if it’s nothing catastrophic, Tomoko feels overwhelmed about being a parent in certain situations, trying to do her best to support her kids while also acknowledging the harder reality they might face. The fact that a loving mother of a probably gay son could pick this up and see a loving mother of a probably gay son dealing with very real life situations gives me hope for all the probably gay kids out there.

Level of Problematic: Incognito Mode; wholesome from start to finish, while also acknowledging the things teen boys search on the Internet.

Level of Adorable: Lover Men; adorable doesn’t even begin to describe this family. Grumpy, quiet little Yuri is my fav.

Level of Spiciness: Magnificent Men of Muscle; WHOLESOME FROM START TO FINISH, although you do get to see a teenager get absurdly flustered over boys for 128 pages. Which, like, same.

GLog: semelparous Vol. 1

GLog                       girls love, yuri (◔◡◔)
BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.

semelparous Vol. 1
Story and art: Jun Ogino
Translation: Minna Lin
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Release Date: December 14, 2021

You, the young hero, stands over the corpse of your best friend. You two have trained side-by-side to battle kaiju, interdimensional titanic humanoid invaders, and join the ranks of an elite squad of warriors called bulwarks. Now your best friend is dead at your feet, and you are about to be crushed by a kaiju.

Then the greatest bulwark of all, an ample breasted, leggy, eighteen-year-old beauty with long dark hair and glasses, swoops in and sweeps you away to safety. She needs your power, your aegis, that warriors offer one another to bolster them in battle. You nod, you’d do anything to defeat the kaiju. You’ll give her all the power you have. So you channel all of your aegis into your right hand and reach out…

… and grab her giant anime tiddy.

And honestly, I dig it.

While I feel comparison’s a cheap way to describe other media, semelparous is the baby from a threeway relationship between Neon Genesis Evangelion, Attack on Titan and Pacific Rim. It borrows a little from each, intentionally or not–except Attack on Titan, that one has got to be intentional–but got enough personality to be fun on its own.

(I looked it up so you don’t have to: semelparous – reproducing or breeding only once in a lifetime.)

The aforementioned hero is Aratsugu Yorina, potentially a pureblood (creepy) bulwark, explaining her unique and powerful aegis first noticed by Kaminoi Youko, the aforementioned ample breasted, leggy greatest bulwark kaiju-fighter. Like… very amply breasted, to the point just beyond discomfort. But I just shrugged it off, tiddy manga isn’t my thing, and I loved this dumb, beautiful little schoolgirl kaiju fighter manga. If the idea of reading a tiddy manga about a 15- and 18-year-old grabbing each other’s tiddies for POWER… well, at the risk of using the term “psychosexual” two reviews in a row, we’ve all watched Evangelion, it doesn’t get more primordially, psychosexually Catholic than that. We’ve seen three abused fourteen year olds get tossed naked into a tube then filled with blood of the Second Angel for science. There’s a smart, professional woman who gets dicked down by the man who dicked down her mother. Shinji whacks it onto Asuka’s unconscious body. This is a judgement-free space.

Again, tiddy anime is not my thing, but this one’s pretty hardcore. It takes a couple of tries to turn off that part of your brain, especially once Youko shows up. It’s like… two grapes impaled on a toothpick. How does she not fall over forward every moment of her life?

The nice thing is the lore is delightful and wild enough that it keeps semelparous snappy. There’s a wall between our world and the kaiju’s “other world” (okay), but that wall is actually two walls with an “interspace” intermediate world with corresponding places on both worlds where the monsters attempt to break through (alirght…). Bulwarks are all descendants of a family that harnessed their aegis to protect and repair the human world wall (uh huh…), aegis power comes from the heart, so sharing it means touching the right breast, assumedly ample or otherwise, and letting the power course through the heart (*nods dubiously*). Dark-haired, glasses’d Youki-senpai has never had a partner until Yorina comes along with a plan to destroy every kaiju… AND PERHAPS THE POWER TO DO IT?!

Genuinely a fun, enjoyable read. The art and combat is awesome, just exactly what you want from a manga with the main character asking for a “combat skirt” because she can’t move in a catsuit. With the first big reveal we learn that killing kaiju isn’t as simple as cutting them down, and we learn the reason why many bulwarks walk away from the job as they start to learn the truth. Still, Yorina and Youki have their respective Tragic Anime Backstories, both with their own reasons for mutilating their own souls in the service of protecting humanity. And we’re waiting to find out if Yorina is the daughter of a famous bulwark captain… and gets some hot yuri tiddy action. The older teen rating means we’ll probably stick with the softcore locker room changing, inappropriate shower groping and intense, sapphic bed conversations.

Again, comparison is cheap, but I think the best and most flattering comparison is Neon Genesis Evangelion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jun Ogino said, “I want to make the yuri Evangelion“, but in a good way! semelparous feels bizarre and Freudian and inappropriate and dumb and gritty and action-packed in the same madcap way as Evangelion, genuinely a fun read and I’m already looking forward to volume 2…

… and, even for this BL queer… it was a little hot, okay?

Level of Problematic: Power of the tiddy!; oh yeah, the tiddy is egregious in semelparous. And the weird high school thing… But, again, tiddy manga isn’t for me, and as I’ve said many times before, we’ve all sinned, this is a safe space.

Level of Adorable: Combat skirt activated!; cute in the same was as Evangelion. We’re going to watch this poor teenagers get royally headfucked, aren’t we?

Level of Spiciness: Let me sapphically wash your back!; again, doesn’t go much harder than Evangelion… which is a chaotic, powerful statement in itself.

BLog: You Are My Happiness

BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.

You Are My Happiness
Story and art: Bukuro Yamada
Translation: Mike Wolfe
Publisher: Kuma
Release Date: November 2, 2021

Imagine if David Lynch did boys’ love manga.

I’ll let that thought sink in for a bit.

Everything feels hazy and dreamlike. Statements seem simultaneously vague and meaningful, like something half-remembered through the fog of memory. Two people speak, but the dialogue seems disjointed, like they’re both having a different conversations together. The world is lush, shadowy and unsettling.

That’s the experience of reading You Are My Happiness, another art-porn entry into the Kuma oeuvre from the same mangaka who dreamed up Melting Lover. The main story follows people-pleaser college student Tamaki and manic demon nightmare boy Sakuma. Tamaki’s devoted his life to do anything for anyone, including letting co-workers take advantage of his generosity, or women take advantage of his body. He does it all out of a sense of empty duty to the world, not because it fills the void inside him. Sakuma shows up at Tamaki’s job, a remote food stall deep in a park, and seduces him away. As Tamaki begins to indulge in his dark, psychosexual urges his tightly controlled life starts to come apart. A second shorter story, “The River’s Water Tastes Sweet”, is about former gay porn director turned film crew caterer Mitsuru as he connects with actor Fujisawa… who may be more than he seems!

The titular story is utterly deranged, Jungians or Freudians would have a field day with it. What starts as a relationship where demon-winged Sakuma takes and Tamaki gives–Sakuma “saving” Tamaki by breaking him free from his empty self-sacrificing cycle–reverses through the story. Interestingly (and symbolically?!), as his life unravels he begins to tie Sakuma up–shibari features prominently–and starts to see another relationship entirely. Meanwhile wandering, demonic Sakuma is transformed by the relationship as well, emotionally, psychologically, physically.

Yamada writes in the manga’s notes that it was originally supposed to be a horror manga, but they set it aside for a few years and then redeveloped it for BL. Even if the story is, at times, inscrutable this adds to the bizarre, dream-like quality Tamaki, and the reader through him, fall into. Who is this strange demon boy who claims his wings could appear as anything to anyone? How does he come and go out of Tamaki’s life, and why? What exactly does he give Tamaki that both unhinges and heals him? If you’re coming to “You Are My Happiness” for fluffy BL, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re coming for a strangely cerebral, psychosexual mind trip don’t miss this one.

“The River’s Water Tastes Sweet” is both shorter and simpler, but equally supernatural. Mitsuru, a film set caterer has an encounter with an actor who claims he’s a kappa, and also has a connection to Mitsuru from their previous lives. Another strange but strangely sweet story.

A review of You Are My Happiness could easily be a review of the Kuma project in general, equally bizarre and beautiful wrapped in enigmatic BL. Art BL would be the best description, especially for work like You Are My Happiness, Wild, Wild Wildlife and Melting Lover, high concept, genre-bending or breaking BL storytelling that’s more interested in some fucked up element of the human experience than the usual formula and tropes. “You Are My Happiness” is a story that I found unsettling and confusing while I read it, but I kept thinking about it after putting the book down, and I’ll probably revisit. Perhaps as a tightly wound person who cares too much about being in control and overcorrecting selfish desires there’s something appealing about a hot demon boy (mind-)fucking the neuroses out of me while I violently individuate. Art is the way we process the world, examine the our emptiness and what would make us more whole, it’s just we usually don’t get to that headspace through boys’ love.

I stand by my David Lynch-BL comment. Any story that’s strange and unique enough to unsettle us into a gentle dissociative emotional state is doing something right. A line that would indeed work very well in a Kuma/Bukuro Yamada story: “When you see me again it won’t be me.”

Level of Problematic: Anima; light psychosexual violence.

Level of Adorable: Mystical participation; slutty, slinking Sakuma is a standout, super cute and sexy manic demon nightmare boy.

Level of Spiciness: Hedonist Lover; if you’re into some hot, unsettling sexuality maybe a few rungs down from MADK on the fucked up scale don’t let this one pass you by. Sexy and vaguely terrifying! The shibari art is… *chef’s kiss*

BLog: Restart After Coming Back Home

BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.

Restart After Coming Back Home
Story and art: Cocomi
Translation: Anna Schnell
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Release Date: November 13, 2021

Boys’ love skews towards stories about high school aged guys. That makes sense to me, there’s something romantic about that period of life. Hormones and inexplicable crushes, young people on the verge of being adults, expectations of conformity and the quiet rebellion of going against it all with a single kiss.

That said, it’s refreshing–especially as someone who’s in that weird in between stage, definitely not a young adult but certainly not in a place where I feel like a settled, acclimated “adult”–to see BL characters in the next phase of their life. I think of stories like Our Dining Table (one of my all time favs), or Seaside Stranger. There is a certain romance about that in between stage. Struggling to find your place in the world, failed jobs or relationships, feeling aimless or stuck, the hope that someone will come along and give you new purpose.

Maybe it’s not a surprise a manga with a title like Restart After Coming Back Home falls into the latter.

Hot-headed Kozuka Mitsuomi has done just that. Fired from a job in Tokyo, he’s returned to his hometown where he’s staying with his parents, who run a store that sells things for Buddhist home memorial alters. He’s been charmed into friendship with Kumai Yamato, a happy-go-lucky farm boy neighbour his age. While Mitsuomi realizes his feelings for Yamato pretty quickly the relationship is imbalanced–Yamato was adopted by crotchety old Jiichan and his late wife in high school, so he spent years hearing about Mitsuomi from his mother. Despite his easy going nature, Yamato is more of an enigma, rarely talking about himself or his past.

There’s something lovely about stories like Restart, Our Dining Table and Seaside Stranger; maybe we could call the BL subgenre “bucolic orphan romance”. Restart After Coming Back Home definitely hits on the best aspects of these types of stories. Despite its lightness and low stakes there’s still hearty emotional substance. The balance in Restart rests on Mitsuomi, who was raised in a big, loving family but struggles to find his place and Yamato, who was orphaned as a baby and doesn’t know if he can love someone in that way after growing up with little intimate emotional connection, but has never doubted his place working and caring for old Jiichan, especially after the death of his wife.

Like Boy Meets Maria, it’s something that resonates with me in these stories we don’t get in enough “Western” media. It’s almost like the emotional version of negative space–I’m sure there’s a term for it in Japanese art criticism that I don’t know, the closest I can think of is the concept of ma. In Boy Meets Maria we follow Taiga, a happy-go-lucky dumbass, but that ends up being a protective mask for an unspoken emptiness he feels inside of himself from always turning away from emotional pain and life’s difficulties. In Restart, the reversal is that, while Mitsuomi is the one who feels like his life is going nowhere and Yamato is always smiling, the latter is the one who hides that emptiness. That’s the tragic beauty of our bucolic orphan romance stories, the excavation of emotional emptiness that comes from pain and isolation.

This one is also cute beyond anything, despite its subtle sadness. The most refreshing thing about their burgeoning relationship is that while they admit two men in a relationship isn’t the norm in society, and they expect people to have their judgements, neither of them agonize over it. They fall into the relationship very easily. Maybe that’s the key, because the story doesn’t fall into the standard “BUT WE’RE BOTH MEN! HOW COULD THIS EVER WORK?!” trope, it leaves plenty of room to explore the characters’ emotional depths as they come together. Interestingly the artist Cocomi writes in the afterword that the book has a happy ending “but… maybe being lovers doesn’tgo smoothly for them. Maybe they break up, maybe they get back together again, maybe they go through those stages more than once.”

Again… realism, not something you usually look for in BL, but very much welcome. And I suppose we’ll find out how their story continues in Restart After Growing Hungry.

Level of Problematic: Red bean and roasted soybean rice balls; extremely delectable, goes down smooth.

Level of Adorable: Farm boy’s fresh vegetables; this one is so incredibly fluffy and adorable. If you’re into two boys lovingly teasing each other and then sharing feelings for 200 pages, then this is the BL for you.

Level of Spiciness: Small town festival oden; SIGH. About as spicy as a meal at a New Years Festival stand. But lots of feels.

BLog: Boy Meets Maria

BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.

Boy Meets Maria
Story and art: PEYO
Translation: Amber Tamosaitis
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Release Date: October 26, 2021

CW: Mentions of childhood sexual abuse

I went into Boy Meets Maria with the story already written in my head. I quite literally read a book by its cover.

My version of the story goes like this: sensitive, caring black haired boy meets sad, beautiful effeminate blond boy. He hears weird rumours, blond boy crossdresses. He’s intrigued and as the two get closer he learns blond boy is actually a girl on the inside. Tragic backstory, dramatic reveals, ultimate salvation. Black haired boy accepts blonde (transgender) girl and, by doing so, helps her accept herself.

Turns out I was a little close and way off. The real Boy Meets Maria is a bit more complicated.

Boy Meets Maria starts with adorable, oblivious dumbass, black-haired high school boy Taiga starting at his dream high school. He confesses to his friend, big, fuzzy chinned blond thug with a heart of gold, Tetsu how he’s going to join the high profile drama club and become a star. At a club demonstration he falls in love at first sight with Maria, an ethereally beautiful blonde dancer and member of the drama club. He confesses and is brutally shot down, equally crushing as when he auditions for the drama club and finds out he lacks the emotional depth needed to act. There he also learns the truth, Maria is actually Arima, an androgynous, effeminate boy who shines on stage dancing as a woman–considered odd but mostly accepted by the others.

Taiga’s feelings don’t change after this revelation, he pursues Arima in hopes of getting to know him, and begins to take acting lessons from him. Taiga learns that Arima is actually an amazing actor in boy roles, but will only perform as a girl. This is where we fall back into unfortunately familiar BL tropes; a neurotic mother, childhood trauma and sexual abuse; probably one of the more explicit depictions of childhood sexual abuse in any media…

That said, Boy Meets Maria is very much worth reading. It would be worth it just for the art. This manga has some of the most gorgeous, expressive characters and elegant art moments. The late PEYO, manga artist Eguchi Kousei, infuses the art with so much drama and feeling, down to the very linework.

That sense of drama, and the fact that the manga is about two boys in a drama club, tempers the more melodramatic elements of the story somewhat. That, and the manga’s hilarity and playfulness beyond Arima’s tragic background. Taiga and the students around him are a delight. His friends Tetsu and short but wise Fukumaru end up being the (literal) straight men to Taiga’s hapless obliviousness and discovery about Arima and himself. Taiga isn’t just a white knight swooping in to help Arima become whole, his own pain is a main plot point; Taiga, in spite of his adorable idiocy, deals with his own pain and failures, which is why he originally struggles to connect as an actor. That’s an interesting, unexpected element of Boy Meets Maria, the issue of personhood and feeling incomplete, the ways that emotional hurt can develop into a protective mask.

This hopefully isn’t a spoiler, since we already know that I was wrong in my cover read that Maria would end up being a Sad Trans Girl Fulfilled By A Cisgender Boy. One of the more pleasantly surprising elements of Boy Meets Maria is the need for connection and reciprocal fulfillment for healing. The fact that the arc wasn’t a simple conversation of “you don’t need to be a girl/boy for me to love you”, the #loveislove reductive take on what sexually- or gender-diverse people need to heal.

Hurt is much more personal than that, and even if it stems from gender that’s only one facet of it. The idea that gender deviation isn’t necessarily something that needs to be corrected, but a part of us that can leave us hurt and incomplete. Sometimes what it takes is an external force, like a dumbass, loveable dark haired boy who won’t give up on you, to fill in the missing pieces. Or a caustic but sensitive blond boy who also makes a beautiful girl.

Level of Problematic: Strawberry shortcake-based trauma; the sexual abuse section was both integral to the story, but also maybe a bit overwrought and clichéd. When an abuser takes a pair of scissors and goes, “snip snip”…

Level of Adorable: Itinerary-based romance; there’s an adorable bonus scene with Arima and Taiga on their first date that makes the entire journey oh so worth it. There’s actually just so many fantastic Arima and Taiga moments. You’ll just want them to be happy disaster gays together. Tetsu and Fukumaru are also the best.

Level of Spiciness: Smooch-based acting notes; not very much in terms of spice. I guess the older teen (17+) rating comes from… that scene… yeesh…

BLog: Bad Boys, Happy Home Vol. 2

BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.

Bad Boys, Happy Home Vol. 2
Art: Hiromasa Okujima
Story: Shoowa
Translation: Adrienne Beck
Publisher: SuBLime Manga
Release Date: November 9, 2021

Love! Sex! Human trafficking!

Whether it’s a cultural translation issue or just inelegant storytelling, in my illustrious manga reviewing career I’ve talked just oh so much about jarring narrative elements and dark tropes ending up in often fluffy genre of BL. I think of the sexual violence of Caste Heaven, the kidnapping and sexual violence of Fourth Generation Head, the closeted, murdered father and psychotic mother of Therapy Game… basically the entirety of The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese… the suicides, the homophobia, the abusive parents, the stalking, the “if you were with someone else I’ll kill myself” instances, the prostitution… BL writers go to some dark places in a genre that’s, at its root, supposed to be about two (or more) boys in love.

As a person who engages with and critiques the medium, my problem is never with these being included–I’m pretty sure I spent most of my Caste Heaven review talking about depictions of rape in manga. My problem, rather, is with them being included clumsily. Like any storytelling, if you’re going to go to dark places, it has to feel earned, otherwise it just ends up feeling ridiculous or absurd.

In volume 1 of Bad Boys, Happy Home, easily one of my favourite titles of the year, teenage bad boy with a heart of gold Aisuke meets Seven, a young man sleeping in a local park, and challenges him to a fight–it’s what Aisuke does to blow off steam, fighting random local thugs. When he realizes Seven is homeless and about to move on, he invites the mysterious young man to stay with him, at least temporarily, so they can continue fighting. But, of course, their relationship becomes more and more intimate as they learn to live together. We learn that Seven’s mysterious past involved shady business dealings since he’s being searched for by thugs, as well as the equally mysterious, equally numerically-named Eight.

In the aftermath them fooling around, initiated by Seven, Aisuke is feeling awkward and unsure about their relationship. Meanwhile, Seven has thrown himself into work around the clock to save up for his own place.

On top of being one of my favourite titles, Bad Boys, Happy Home also has to be one of the more bizarre and compelling BL series. Certainly not the first or last time organized crime has ended up in the medium… basically a huge segment of Scarlet Beriko’s oeuvre… It’s still a strange cross-cultural artifact. When I think of gay romance stories from North America, organized crime isn’t where my mind goes immediate–unless you include gays writing romance copaganda HEYOOOOOOOOO!

In volume 2 we learn a little more about the background Seven escaped from. Clearly child prostitution, exotic animals trafficking, which might also be a cover for human trafficking and drugs. This, and Eight’s machinations aimed at Aisuke, are the backdrop against a truly delightful romance. An example of the cuter parts from early in volume 2 is when Aisuke realizes he’s barely seen Eight except in passing from how hard his crush is working. As Eight gets ready to head out for work, Aisuke starts gently and affectionately punching his sometimes-roommate/sometimes-crush, then screams “HELL YES, I’M LONELY WITHOUT YOU, DAMN IT!” Even as their relationship takes an intimate turn they once against start to spend more time together, including the requisite BL aquarium date. Adorable, sexy and emotional.

So the question left is… does it feel earned?

As sociopathic Eight circles around Aisuke and Seven’s lives the stakes feel real. There’s sexual violence in volume 2, but instead of feeling gratuitous (or comparable to the consensual stuff, which is always weird in BL) it feels dark and scary, especially juxtaposed against the lighter, sexier and more adorable moments. I feel like I’m doing the series a disservice for focusing on the darker elements of Bad Boys, Happy Home, because that’s why I think it’s such a successful story… there’s so much more to it than that. The characters are adorable, the romance feels real, that’s what makes the dark stuff work. I won’t spoil the end of volume 2, but as it was playing out I genuinely felt panicked and heartbroken. We’ve followed Aisuke and Seven’s relationship from the first loving punch.

Level of Problematic: Mr. Childhood Exploitation; Again, even if the darker stuff is jarring, it works in the larger story. But hoo boy… there’s some shit in this one, let me tell you…

Level of Adorable: Mr. Penguin Nipples; THEY ARE STILL SO CUTE.

Level of Spiciness: Mr. Fancy Condoms; Oh yeah, this one gets into it with some truly saucy, spicy Aisuke-Seven scenes… and then some other sex scenes that are, hopefully, not meant to titillate.

The Evil Lesbian of Tresyllian Castle: Video Gaming’s First Gay Character

CW: Discussions of homophobia and transphobia, brief mention of implied sexual assault in a video game, tragic lesbianism

I love a good bad guy.

One of my all time favourite villains is Sander Cohen from BioShock (2007). I replay BioShock just to spend an evening with Sander Cohen, because he is so wonderfully unhinged, so indulgently amoral, and just so fun as the foppish tyrant of Rapture’s Fort Frolic. Cohen has a number of disciples who, it’s strongly hinted, he had various carnal relationships with. Cohen is disappointed that he followed Andrew Ryan to Rapture, referring to him as “the man I once loved.”

For better or worse, gay characters and villainy go hand-in-hand in video gaming narratives. Whether as a trope that introduces gender confusion as a symptom of a character’s mental instability, like the effeminate, cross-dressing psychopath Alfred Ashford, first introduced in Resident Evil: Code Veronica (2000), or as sexual deviance and brutality used as a facet of a character’s evil, like I found when I was visiting home last summer and I began to play Far Cry 3 (2012).

Since it was their copy, I asked my younger brothers if there were any gay characters. They cited tertiary antagonist Bambi “Buck” Hughes, a mercenary psychopath, justified to be killed because he is raping your friend, and intends to keep the main character as another sex-slave, explaining when you threaten to fight him: “I’ll take you bloody, if you like. I like my meat rare.”

Maybe it’s not so surprising that video gaming’s earliest gay character is also video gaming’s earliest gay villain.

However, plotting the first gay character (whether they’re a villain or not) in video gaming is not as straightforward as checking off a box beside L,G, B or T. Like other kinds of media, queer or trans representation is often steeped in euphemism or stereotype. Instead of speaking to sexual or romantic desire, gay identity becomes a byproduct of mental instability, or a punchline in a joke that uses effeminacy, flamboyance or gender confusion.

In his detailed video about homophobic tropes in video gaming, Matthew Patrick of YouTube channel The Game Theorist (incorrectly) dates the “first non-heterosexual character to ever appear in a video game” as protagonist Curtis in Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of the Flesh (1996). While the game has an openly gay character, Trevor, and the protagonist even speaks to his desire for both men and women, in one extended conversation with a therapist Curtis describes how his psychotic mother dressed him up like a girl as a child, his attraction to bondage, and how he’s planning to cheat on his girlfriend with an S&M domme. The game is generally uncomfortable and again relies on a trope of mental instability, which goes hand-in-hand with sexual deviance and gender confusion.

In spite of all of this, gay villains are a guilty pleasure of mine; especially if they’re done well, if they have that complexity, and if their evil is based on something more than sexual deviance. That’s why I find it interesting that the first gay character—or at least the absolute earliest I could find—in a video game is a villain in the text-based mystery Moonmist.

Created by text adventure company Infocom, famous for their Zork series—Dungeons & Dragons-inspired dungeon-crawlers—and an official text-adventure Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy game. Following the game’s release in 1986, a review of Moonmist in Compute! magazine described the company as “pioneers of the sophisticated text adventure.” The game was written by Stu Galley, a MIT Master of Science who described himself, in an interview for the documentary, Get Lamp, as “employee number six” at the then fledgling game company.

Unlike their previous games, Moonmist was packaged with a number of required accompany materials, like a map of the castle the character would be explore. Compute! described how the “parser—the part of the program that interprets your typed commands,” was more sophisticated and specialized that previous games, and commended the immersion of the main character in the story.

Below will be major spoilers for the game Moonmist. Thanks to the wonders of the digital age there is now a fully realized emulator available for free on Abandonware. (Note: Even though it can be a bit trial and error—I guess that’s text adventures for you—and navigating the game map can be a little bit difficult to get used to (though the map and other materials are available online, at least as of this post), it was really fun, and I ended up really wanting to solve the mystery!

You play an American detective who is summoned to the aide of your friend at Tresyllian Castle in Cornwall, England. A fun game mechanic happens when you contact the house with the intercom. You are asked for your title (Lord, Lady, Mr. or Ms.) plus your first and last name, which is then all incorporated seamlessly into the game. Then you are asked what your favourite colour is.

The intercom informs you the guest bedroom you’ll be staying in was, conveniently enough, recently redecorated in that exact colour! The colour you pick actually decides the plot your mystery will follow. For the purpose of meeting video gaming’s first gay character, we’ll be set up in the “blue” room.

On the castle grounds you meet Tamara, the aforementioned friend from the States. She has recently become engaged to Lord Jack, proprietor of Tresyllian. Once introduced the couple explains the mysterious events that led to your summons: a legendary ghost of the castle, the White Lady, has recently made appearances threatening Tamara, who now fears for her life. They’re convinced the events aren’t wholly supernatural, so you’ve been put on the case.

Your arrival also happens to coincide with the birthday of Lord Jack’s (deceased) eccentric uncle, Lord Lionel, an adventurer who has left his legacy in a series of clues promising to lead whoever can decipher them to his treasure. This plot makes up half of the game’s mystery, which I won’t be focusing on.

Tamara leads you through the castle to your room, introducing you to the other guests, including antiques dealer Montague Hyde, British military man Sir Ian Fordyce, London socialite Lady Iris Vane, grizzled Doctor Nicholas Wendish, and aloof artist Vivien Pentreath.

>Examine Vivien

She is a tall, tawny-haired woman of vintage beauty and uncertain age.

“Vivien painted that portrait of Deirdre Hallam, the girl who drowned in the castle well,” says Tamara. She gestures to a framed picture hanging by the fireplace.

When you ask Vivien about Deirdre:

The artist shrugs with a sad, wistful smile. “What can I say? Deirdre was a most unusual girl… utterly unworldly… almost fey. She grew up in a cottage not far from here, you know. Her drowning was a terrible tragedy… and yet… sometimes I’m not sure she WANTED to go on living.” She turns her face away to hide a tear.

Conversations with the characters reveal their connections to Deirdre, their understanding of her death, and their sightings of the ghost. One character, a butler named Bilitho, claims that the ghost must have poor eyesight and be left-handed, as he saw her groping around on the floor of the new great hall with her left hand. Once Tamara has lead you to the blue room, and Bilotho has unpacked and advised you about the ghost, with little ceremony he offers you an aerosol device to use as a weapon, should the need arise.

They leave you to change and wash up for dinner…

>Take off clothes

Okay… My, what a fine figure of a man!

>Look in wall mirror

You look a trifle dirty in your birthday suit.

(Aside: I always look dirty in my birthday suit.)

If you go to the drawing room before dinner, you find Vivien sobbing quietly, in the same room as her portrait of Deirdre, the painting described as:

… a lovely young woman with flowing blonde hair, standing on a grassy slope, gazing out to sea. It’s painted in pastel tones, which emphasize Deirdre’s violet eyes. There’s something ethereal and fairylike about her. Ironically, her silvery white, sleeveless gown is the very one she was wearing at the time of her accident.

You attend dinner with the other guests, which sets into motion the Lord Lionel plot. You can chat a bit with characters:

>Tell me about Tamara

(said to Vivien)

“I won’t say what I think of her, but it rhymes with ‘rich.’”

Yikes.

After retiring from dinner you’re left to explore the castle, searching for clues in Lord Lionel’s treasure hunt, and for the identity of the White Lady. Time counts down minute-by-minute and you have until 6 a.m. to solve the mysteries. You discover a lost contact lens on the floor of the new great hall, right where dutiful Bilitho said he saw the ghost.

You follow Vivien, who seems to be searching about the castle, and you uncover the secret passageways that run through the walls of the castle. Eventually you end up in Vivien’s room where you discover a contacts lens case and her diary, and she walks in on your snooping.

>Read diary

Vivien’s diary falls open to a tear-stained page, and you read:

“O Deirdre, sweet Deirdre! Jack will pay dearly for your cruel death by loosing his new sweetheart…”

What’s this, “sweet Deirdre”? Threats to Tamara?

Last of all you discover the White Lady costume, and you show Vivien the evidence against her.

>Show diary to Vivien

She flinches a little before answering

“What can I say?” she shrugs. “It’s a fair cop. You’ve caught me with damning evidence. But there’s something you don’t know yet, Michael old chap, which may put the matter in a different light.”

Still smiling, she puts her hand into the wooden box, and takes a blowgun and aims it at you!

Luckily…

>Spray Vivien with aerosol device

She drops the blowgun and claps both hands over her mouth and nose. Her face takes on a greenish pallor, and strangled noises issue from her throat. Next moment she collapses on the floor!

As Vivien comes to with a fresh attack Bilitho is on the scene, taking her into custody. And here’s one of the most interesting aspects of the game… you get to see the “author’s version of the crime”:

Vivien was intensely attached to Deirdre, and she jealously hated Lord Jack for coming between them. When Deirdre accidentally fell down the well, Vivien was convinced that she had committed suicide because she felt abandoned by Jack.

So Vivien began her vengeful ghostly masquerade – to find proof that Jack was responsible for Deirdre’s death, to prick his guilty conscience and make him confess, and to terrorize Tamara, who replaced Deirdre in Jack’s affections.

The devil is in the details with this one. Like so many gay characters before and after her, Vivien is never explicitly referred to as a lesbian. Her homosexuality is somewhat shrouded, but her character is the archetypal villainous lesbian. A cool, aloof, acid-tongued woman, independent, an artist, spiteful, vengeful, predatory. You can almost see the sleek, dark, shoulder-padded fashion, the smoky, condescending looks. Vivien immediately made me think of Ines from Sartre’s No Exit, who shares similar narrative and characteristics.

While Vivien’s the villain of Moonmist‘s “blue” storyline, she’s still a complex, fairly sympathetic villain (at least for an ’80s text-based mystery game written by what I can only assume were mostly straight guys). The “tear-stained page” is a heartbreaking little detail. Her devotion to Deirdre is clear; the painting of Deirdre is described beautifully, and she stuck around just to enact revenge for her beloved. In spite of being a villain, Vivien isn’t simply depicted as someone with a mental illness, or a stereotype.

The evil lesbian of Tresyllian Castle will forever haunt video gaming as the first gay character.

This article was adapted from a previous blog post by the author, and previously appeared in Zoyander Street’s Memory Insuffcient Vol. 2, Issue 2

Sources

Matthew Patrick, “Game Theory: Are Video Games Anti-LGBT?” YouTube, The Game Theorists, May 5, 2014

Neil Randall, “Moonmist,” Compute!, Vol. 9, No. 7, July 1987, page 34

Jason Scott, “Get Lamp,” YouTube, July 2010

Play Moonmist at Abandonware Games

BLog: Birds of Shangri-La Vol. 2

BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.

Birds of Shangri-La Vol 2
Story and art: Ranmaru Zariya
Translation: Adrienne Beck
Publisher: SuBLime Manga
Release Date: November 9, 2021

Boys’ love manga isn’t the genre we often turn to for interesting explorations of the human experience.

That’s not to say manga, on the whole, can’t be a medium for good storytelling, it’s just that BL isn’t usually the genre we seek out for a Fine Literary Experience (nor does it have to be, like many fujoshi/fudanshi BL is my happy place). For me, standard BL fare can be broken down into one of a few categories: fluff (varying degrees of quality and enjoyment), fanservice (ditto), boys with feelings/angst (double ditto). When BL rises above and becomes an especially interesting art or narrative experience, that’s when I get really excited. I think of volume 1 of MADK, as well as Bad Boys, Happy Home or Our Dining Table as recently examples that rose above the fluff, fanservice or angst and offered something a little more.

In my mind, Birds of Shangri-La volume 2 goes a little further in a really impressive way.

We return to the island paradise and utopian all male brothel of Shangri-La, where the eccentric and loving owner caters to the whims of, and protects, his little birds, who nightly spread their plumage (among other things) for their loving, heavily vetted guests.

Volume 1 focused more on introducing Shangri-La, as well as our leads. There’s sad-eyed, beefy straight boy Apollo, hired by the owner as a “teaser”, an attendant who gets the birds nice and ruffled for the guests, as well as caring for them in other ways and even occasionally acting as bodyguards, as we learn in volume 2. His heterosexuality is an added bonus, since the birds wanted a “naive straight boy” experience in a teaser. Then there’s Phi, one of Shangri-La’s star attractions, a strikingly beautiful, mercurial prostitute with a tragic backstory (of course).

Going into volume 2, one would be forgiven for guessing the narrative arc of the series as follows: Hunky straight boy is paired with beautiful, sex-obsessed, damaged gay. Straight boy is told by the owner that the rules of being a teaser is: “Never bring a bird to climax. Never penetrate them. And never fall in love.”

So obviously damaged gay will reveal his vulnerabilities, learn those of hunky straight boy, wear down his heterosexuality, hunky straight boy will bring said bird to climax, penetrate him and OBVIOUSLY fall in love.

What actually happens pulls some elements from the formulaic BL tropes, but complicates them in some really delightful ways.

Phi’s background is explored at length in volume 2. He was born into the slums of a war torn mainland city, maybe something like to Burma, Laos or Vietnam. Raised by an abusive, alcoholic father, Phi was sent out into the city to prostitute himself as a child to feed the addiction of his father, who eventually disappeared. Phi became a street kid, doing whatever he needed to survive, eventually falling into the orbit of a street kid gang leader named Hassan, who also exploited Phi. Faced with purges of the poor and homeless, Phi eventually turned on Hassan and, injured in the process, ended up taken in by the mysterious owner.

The backstory is pretty brutal, but unlike other BL protagonists, where it could easily feel melodramatic or overwrought (my favourite words for BL plot), Phi’s story isn’t isolated. It’s situated in the larger narrative; it works. We similarly learn over the course of volume 2 of the myriad of forces arrayed against Shangri-La. On top of bad ex-guests and stalkers, the owner is dealing with a vocal political minority on the island looking to adopt anti-sex work laws from the mainland. Phi is shaken by the resurgence of dreams of his childhood, and struggles with his fears and trauma, while also seeing a mysterious shadowy figure taking pictures of him and receiving strange, disturbing anonymous emails.

The danger and menace feels earned, set against a very realistic, volatile political backdrop, juxtaposed against the tropical paradise of Shangri-La and the other birds living their lives in beautiful idyll.

That filters down to Phi and Apollo’s relationship. Like Phi, sad-eyed Apollo was brought to Shangri-La by owner, feeling betrayed in the midst of a bitter divorce, told to use it as a chance to rest and recover. Phi does indeed try to wear down Apollo’s heterosexuality, but it’s not a matter of simply falling into bed together. Apollo resists it even as he worries about Phi, and wants to care for him. That’s refreshing in and of itself, a straight boy who isn’t turned out of convenience or sexual coercion.

Ultimately, the story is about vulnerability. Phi’s body and sexuality was the only thing that saved him as a child, and the thing he keeps relying on to get him through life, for better or worse. Shangri-La is his first and only real home. Apollo’s sense of betrayal by his former fiancée has lead him to put up walls. The vulnerability of the precarious paradise of Shangri-La hangs over the entire story. Even among the melodrama, the characters have motivations, desires and fears, and make complex, imperfect choices, hallmarks of a damn good story.

Level of Problematic: Antisocial personality disorder; ah BL, always struggling with issues of consent. The only saving grace in Birds of Shangri-La is that it depicts a character making a bad choice, and gives another a chance to assert their autonomy. Certainly not a “rape to love” trope situation, but still off putting.

Level of Adorable: Interpersonal attraction; a perfect mix of the sweet and spicy, is Birds of Shangri-La.

Level of Spiciness: Unconditioned stimulus; while mostly Phi and Apollo, volume 2 is chock full of spicy. Yeah, yeah, like in volume 1 it does the weird explicit but censored thing, but I’m still here for it.

BLog: My Love Mix-Up! Vol. 1

BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.

My Love Mix-Up! Vol. 1
Story: Wataru Hinekure
Art: Aruko
Translation: Jan Cash
Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: October 5, 2021

A comedy of errors translated to the hall of a Japanese high school, if you’re looking for the most glorious BL manga dumbassery (and I mean that as a compliment) look no further.

Hit by a recap quiz, shaggy-haired high school disaster Aoki is forced to ask his crush, a sweetheart, angel-faced girl named Hashimoto, for a spare eraser. He notices some writing on the well-used eraser and pulls off the sleeve to find “IDA” with a heart carved into it.

Hashimoto clearly has a crush on the boy who sits in front of Aoki, the stoic, serious but kind-hearted Ida. And then, of course, Ida notices the eraser. Instead of pinning it on Hashimoto, Aoki admits it’s his.

And then, later, he doubles down on that with Ida on the rooftop.

And then, even later, he doubles down on that with Ida during their class production of Cinderella. In a dress.

My Love Mix-Up! is a fluffy, light, adorable BL romantic-comedy; as writer Wataru Hinekure describes, “a slightly silly love story about some good, eager high school kids”. The premise is as absurd as it is fun, very BL. Instead of just lying and saying the eraser belongs to someone else, or just admitting that, no, he does not have a crush on Ida, Aoki just keeps digging himself deeper until he realizes that the lie may not actually be a lie anymore.

If you’re looking for a radically imaginative and groundbreaking story… well, you may be in the wrong genre (although you wouldn’t be disappointed with Bad Boys, Happy Home or Thigh High for something fun and a little different). My Love Mix-Up! is more for you if you’re looking for fluffy, comforting BL that hits all of the right notes with all the requisite BL scenes, such as:

rooftop confessionsstaying late to work the school culture festival togethercross-dressing misadventures for a school playcrush standing up for crushee in front of class

Honestly, the only thing missing is a sick-day visit. I assume that’ll come in volume 2.

There is an interesting element to this manga that most BL lacks, in the character of Hashimoto. Relationships with girls sometimes figure into BL, usually as an obstacle to overcome for the boys to get together, or as a means for one boy to make their object of affection jealous, or, worst of all, the crazy, jealous ex that threatens the happiness of our BL boys.

I examined concepts of compersion in volume 2 of My Androgynous Boyfriend–as a refresher, compersion is a polyamorous principle of “vicarious joy associated with seeing one’s partner have a joyful romantic or sexual relation with another.” The argument can be easily made that compersion can go beyond the romantic or sexual–most of us love seeing someone we care about extremely happy or excited about something, even if we’re not the ones to provide it. In the case of My Love Mix-Up!, compersion is very much applicable to Aoki’s feelings for Hashimoto.

She may not be the most multi-dimensional character to ever grace the pages of manga, but the refreshing thing is that Hashimoto is not an obstacle, or a threat to Aoki’s developing feelings for Ida. Sure, the manga starts with our dumbass high schooler pining for her, but Aoki decides right away that, rather than fight Ida for the attention of his crush or sabotage Hashimoto and Ida’s chances together, he would rather be a good friend to her and wants to see her happy with her own crush, as painful as that is for him. So they spend a lot of time talking, and Aoki wants to be her friend and confidant, and encourages her to be more self-confident and go for the thing she wants, even as he begins to believe that’s the same boy as him. She’s also part of the genuine surprise twist at the end of volume 1 that got an actual gasp from me. Worth it just for that.

That’s not to say that My Love Mix-Up! is a serious and philosophical exploration of love and affection. Good God, Aoki is an absolute disaster, which is what makes him such a delight as the protagonist. On top of Aruko’s art being gorgeous–definitely that soft, flowery shojo feel–she ramps up Aoki’s reactions to depict him exactly the way he is: a golden-hearted, wears-his-heart-on-his-sleeve bisexual disaster. On top of being a BL pretty-boy, Aoki’s over-the-top expressions and the absurd situations he gets himself into through sheer oblivious dumbassery are part of what make this manga such a laugh our loud read. I will conclude this review with my favourite examples.

You’re welcome.

The first two courtesy of the VIZ Media free preview, the third (my favourite) courtesy of me.

Level of Problematic: Footwear-based assault; the worst this one gets is your standard-issue BL crossdressing trope. My Love Mix-Up! is light, fluffy and innocuous, like Aoki’s brain.

Level of Adorable: Avian sandwich theft-based romance; precious little cinnamon bun, Aoki is definitely in the running for “Best Boy of the Year”, but I didn’t even get into how wonderful Ida is. Easily matches Aoki’s oblivious, dumbass energy.

Level of Spiciness: Kabedon-based seduction; even if it’s not explicit and keeps within the teen rating, all I ask is showing these two dumbasses fumbling their way into bed in a later volume. It will be so glorious and stupid.