M.J. Lyons's Blog, page 7

BLog: Escape Journey Vol. 1

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

[image error]Escape Journey Vol. 1

Story and art: Ogeretsu Tanaka

Translation: Adrienne Beck

Publisher: SuBLime Manga

Release Date: September 11, 2018

Class clown and popular party animal Hisami Naoto is already making friends on his first day of college when he’s reintroduced to his high school ex-boyfriend, Hase Taichi. While they had a tempestuous relationship and an awful, hurtful breakup, Naoto tries to convince himself they can be friends again.

Until they tumble back into bed together once again.

And when things get difficult between them once again happy-go-lucky, Naoto finds himself trying to navigate his feelings for Taichi. Are they friends? Lovers? Can they even be either without it all going wrong?

While Escape Journey Vol. 1 may be standard fare in term of BL plot–two boys struggle to make a difficult relationship work–it’s Ogeretsu Tanaka’s twist on romantic drama that makes it a journey worth going on. I wasn’t sure what to expect after her more recent English-translated series Yarichin Bitch Club (high school sex club with romantic comedy breaking up the horny), other than excellent, sexy art and loveable characters. Even with some of the plot points that I didn’t enjoy, Bitch Club at least always had that.

Escape Journey‘s not a sex romp–even though there’s a lot of great sex scenes, more on that later. While their secret high school relationship started off fun, “slowly being with Taichi seemed less and less fun.” They stopped laughing, they would fight over inconsequential things. Eventually things came to a head and Naoto claimed he was regretting ever dating Taichi who, in turn, claimed they were fuck buddies, nothing more.

As Naoto and Taichi’s lives become entangled once again they find themselves falling into the same habits. While Taichi’s temper and stubbornness has gotten better since high school Naoto wonders if he can ever change to a point where they can grow beyond friends or lovers. As a classmate, a shy young woman, expresses interested in Taichi, Naoto find himself wanting something more than what they’ve been, but wonders if it’s even possible, and what they would call that.

The sex they have is an important facet of that. Haunted by Taichi’s claim that Naoto “is nothing but a fuck buddy I blow off steam with sometimes”, he finds himself resisting their relationship being purely sexual, and the tension that brings. Paradoxically, both are constantly horny and the sex on the page is plentiful (and super fucking hot) without being gratuitous or pointless because we care about their relationship and want to see them happy, emotionally as well as sexually. All this without the drama feeling overwrought. There’s plenty of levity and a cast of adorable secondary characters to balance out the dramatic moments.

One this note, most interesting are the two recurring women, shy Fumi and her friend–and flirtatious, gregarious foil to Naoto–Yuki. Typical BL would have Fumi be an unwitting obstacle to Naoto and Taichi’s relationship before ultimately being cast aside when these dumb bisexual boys come to their senses. While not the focus, Fumi becomes important to their relationship growing, and even grows herself throughout volume 1, which is refreshing in a genre where women often feel vestigial to the sacred, inevitable boys’ love relationship.

Escape Journey Vol. 1 is an elegant, sexy little romance with a lovely message about relationships. Sometimes you’re waiting for someone else to change without realizing that it’s you who needs to grow.

Level of Problematic: Escape problematic politics around sexual assault; another manga with a cavalier attitude towards “no means no”, made all the more jarring that the sex on the pages of volume 1 is mostly well balanced with plot and hot, save a single scene.

Level of Adorable: Escape to the aquarium to hold hands; a master of moe, Tanaka captures adorable moments and exchanges that had me slapping myself with the book at how cute they were.

Level of Spiciness: Escape to the bedroom to take care of your thirsty glasses-character uke; aside from the sex being plentiful and just a delight, Escape Journey is one of the best depictions of gay sex I’ve seen in manga. It always makes me laugh in manga when the top just dives right in… yeah, that’s not how anal works, unfortunately…

BLog: Seven Days Monday→Sunday

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

[image error]Seven Days: Monday→Sunday

Story: Venio Tachibana

Art: Rihito Takarai

Translation: Adrienne Beck

Publisher: SuBLime Manga

Release Date: December 10, 2019

There’s talk about stunningly attractive first-year Seryo Toji: he’ll date the first girl to ask him out on Monday, but only for a week. After exactly one week it’s always the same line, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t fall for you. Let’s break up.”

Handsome third-year Yuzuru Shino knows Seryo peripherally from archery club–a more steady shot than even him, an archery scholarship student. When they run into each other outside of school one Monday, Shino asks Seryo out on a whim. To his surprise and initial confusion Seryo says yes. Over the next few days the two alternate between taking their dating seriously and treating it like a joke, or wondering if the other is only joking or serious about their relationship.

Seven Days: Monday→Sunday is pure BL deliciousness, a simple premise, few external threats to the developing relationship, no sex on the page clouding or confusing things, just two boys navigating their feelings for one another in a relationship that’s assumed to have an expiry date.

That’s the tension that runs throughout, the inevitable outcome that hangs over every happy moment as the boys get to know one another. As he realizes Seryo is taking their relationship seriously, Shino realizes that he’s just going to get dumped like all the girls, completely cut out of Seryo’s life and, worse, that he doesn’t want that. We find out early on that Shino and everyone else have misunderstood Seryo’s “game”; it’s not a game at all. “Will this be the time I finally fall in love?” he asks himself at the beginning of every week. Its happened before, falling in love with someone more every day before he was abandoned by her. With those who’ve come since he’s initially hopeful but doesn’t hold out hope after a week when he feels nothing.

If we can extend the metaphor based on the advice of the manga’s archery instructor, an archer must always face the target with composure, no matter what. The bow is a mirror of the heart. So too, a reviewer could argue, in manga. Face the target with grace, clarity and composure. The serene simplicity of Seven Days reminds me of why I loved Our Dining Table, ROADQUEEN or My Androgynous Boyfriend; why each works so well for me. There’s humour, sure, or angst, but aside from the central relationship there’s very few distractions. We read BL manga, which is boys love so, above all else if there isn’t at least the rock solid foundation of an interesting, empathetic relationship it’s harder to hit the bullseye. Without that sex can feel gratuitous and drama seems pointless.

Seven Days is also the first manga I’ve reviewed where the artist and writer aren’t the same person. I’ve read plenty of fantastic manga with a dual writer/artist, but in this case I think the collaboration takes it to the next level–both artists are free to focus on the things that they are best at. The art by Rihito Takarai is both subtle and dreamy–the archery scenes are particularly delightful. I was delighted to read in her credits that she’s the mind behind Ten Count, a series I’ve been enjoying but haven’t written about yet. The writing by Venio Tachibana and translation by Adrienne Beck match the art with a delicious, slow-burn of a story, exquisitely paced. There’s a masterful use of narrative ma in Seven Days; there’s one scene I remember later in the manga where Seryo stops in the middle of an intense, difficult conversation with Shino and notices, in thought bubble, that where they are from high above, he can see Shino’s house and the intersection he was just standing on. Such a small moment but so impactful, revealing and beautiful. As each day of the week rolls by–sections highlighted by Rihito’s exquisite interstitial pages–our joy and anxiety over the relationship rises and falls with Seryo and Shino. The art is the bow and the story is the arrow, or maybe vice versa.

As with previous one-offs, my only complaint is with Seven Days‘ self-contained story. I want more of these boys. As I finished the manga and was luxuriating in the gay feelings I told my roommate I would die for these boys. A BL manga that truly hits the mark of boys love.

Level of Problematic: A beautiful boy holding a bow in perfect, elegant stance; there’s a toxic female character that is one of the few external threats to Shino and Seryo’s relationship, but she’s balanced out by Koike, one of Seryo’s many exes and a friend of Shino’s, and she’s the best.

Level of Adorable: A first date at “Ramen Kitty”, a ramen shop filled with cats; good God, the moe and Gay Feelings almost killed me. Beautiful anime boys in rumpled uniform suits, you do the math.

Level of Spiciness: A potentially submissive pretty, rich boy; Seryo claims he likes it when his partner is the controlling type.

TOP 5 THINGS TO READ WHILE NAKED AND ISOLATED

Find my literary behind!

Naked Boys Reading

NAKED AND ISOLATED
An Aggregated Reading List

Here in London, where Naked Boys Reading began, we’re ALREADY bored of washing our hands 10000x a day, and our premium PornHub subscription feels LACKING in textuality. The Covid-19 Emergency has meant that we have to rethink modes of sociality and offer other means of connection (we aren’t up for this “social distancing” rhetoric!).

We have decided to aggregate a list of Top 5 Things to Read While Naked and Isolated.

We’ve asked our friends, lovers, and enemies to offer a top 5 that might ease you through your self-isolation.

The engagement requirements are simple:

Pick a text (order it and support literary economy), Get naked (you’re alone, go on!), Read (that’s an order, Nerd).

Brian Lobel
NBR Curator, Lover

Esquires Handbook for Hosts (1949)Autobiography of a Face, Lucy GrealeySurge, Jay BernardZorba the Greek, Nikos Kazanstzakis Your Silence…

View original post 444 more words

GLog: RoadQueen Eternal Road Trip To Love

GLog                       girls love, yuri (◔◡◔)

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

[image error]ROADQUEEN: Eternal Roadtrip To Love

Story and art: Mira Ong Chua

Publisher: Seven Sea Entertainment

Release Date: October 8, 2020

Leo is a studly, standoffish young racer who, in the entire world, only cares about her motorbike Bethany. She was the heartthrob of the entire student body the moment she stepped foot in Princess Andromeda Academy, and she made the mistake of promising to date anyone who could beat her in a race, something her classmates enthusiastically take her up on, to her constant annoyance. As she nears the end of her senior year no one has managed to beat her; she’s still a lone-wolf lesbian.

Until, out of nowhere, a woman named Vega literally drops into Leo’s life and helps her fix up Bethany. Leo assumes Vega wants to get a date out of it, but when the bill comes after all their work Leo has no money so Vega takes payment in the form of Bethany. After finishing out the year, accepting rides to school from no one, Vega literally comes crashing back into Leo’s life and makes a deal; they’ll pretend date for a week and Vega will grade Leo on a pass-fail system, and if Leo can be a decent lesbian and get a single “pass”, Vega will return Bethany and walk away, no argument.

I’ve interviewed boys love artists previously who described how they write male same-sex characters as a way of levelling the romantic playing field–in a sexist society, the argument goes, that in a romance between a man and a woman there will always be a power imbalance, a bias brought to the pages by either the artist and writer or the readers. At least if a romance is between two men, however gendered or coded by writers or readers, they’re still both men and aren’t necessarily starting off with sexist baggage.

Maybe that’s why its so exciting to me to see how well ROADQUEEN: Eternal Roadtrip To Love works as a manga-style comic book–it’s read left to right, Western-style. Princess Andromeda Academy is an all girls queer woman utopia; at the very least the entire student body, as far as we can see, lusting after Leo shows that its a dykes-on-bikes island of Lesbos (fufufu). The woman-ness of ROADQUEEN is refreshing, from my appraisal the only character who is both a man and has a line is a single faceless, unnamed tertiary character–she could be a raging, short-haired butch arcade attendant for all I know, that’ll be my headcanon at least. The all woman paradise removes heterosexist bullshit from the mix, what’s left is a gorgeous queer woman romantic comedy.

There’s something so indescribably magical about ROADQUEEN, a perfect balance of humor, snark, warmth and love. Leo is a “gay fuckboy” who does her best to sabotage any affection directed towards her, an oblivious lesbian ball of trash who deserves to be put through the ringer. Vega is a mysterious femme fatale, though with a soft and vulnerable core and her own motivations. Leo is the rude, selfish butch lesbian Katherina to Vega’s lovely femme Petruchio–although without all the play-within-a-play sexism and cruelty.

Why does ROADQUEEN work so well? Ong Chua writes in a post comic note that “ROADQUEEN is steeped in warm memories–I made this book to make my loved one laugh. … These stories are always inside jokes, love letters with very specific addresses… but I’m still happy when they reach others.” That comes through so strong, there’s so much joy and hilarity on every page. The characters are so well written and relatable–I’m a Leo who wants to be a Vega–the comic is so endlessly quotable, the art is incredible and ROADQUEEN is cute, sexy and romantic on every page.

My only complaint is a non-complaint. I want more; more Leo and Vega, more Bethany. I would love to see something like ROADQUEEN optioned as a series with ongoing lesbian motorbike adventures. I never want this roadtrip to end.

Level of Problematic: Giving gay fuckboy lesbians their comeuppance; the cast of ROADQUEEN is small, but diverse in terms of body shapes, gender and race, and deals with toxic behaviour in an adorable, genuine way.

Level of Adorable: Two girlfriends and their motorbike named Bethany on an eternal roadtrip to love; like, good gawd, if you’re not sold on girls in love and their motorbike, I would check your pulse and make sure you still have a heartbeat.

Level of Spiciness: Horny girlfriend at the arboretum; rated “older teen”, ROADQUEEN is tease-y and spicy without being adult.

BLog: Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! Vol. 1

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

[image error]Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! Vol. 1

Story and art: Yuu Toyota

Translation: Taylor Engel

Publisher: Square Enix Manga & Books

Release Date: March 10, 2020

In the darker corners of the Internet, a legend of mystical power is digitally inscribed, first surfacing in the early days of the 21st century. The enlightened know to look for the bane glyphs and prophecies that portend a power only the most dedicated–or the truly cursed–can access: 30 years of virginity can make you a wizard.

Salarayman and 30-year-old virgin Adachi discovers this Internet legend is true… to an extent. He’s bemused to find that the magic he accesses on turning 30 is that he can read minds if he has contact with someone, which makes riding the subway irritating, and keeps him from finally losing his virginity to a kinky prostitute.

His powers do make work more interesting, especially when he discovers that his handsome, popular co-worker Kurosawa has a crush on him. When he’s forced to stay late at the office, Kurosawa helps him finish some work and offers to let him stay the night.

I think one of my favourite things about Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! Vol. 1 or manga like Can an Otaku Like Me Really Be an Idol?!, aside from their excellent titles, is how quick ostensibly straight guys fall into homosexuality or sexual fluidity in manga. I wonder if that pans out at all in Japan, if guys will just sort of shrug their shoulders and say, “Hey, I’ve got nothing else on, might as well hook up with my guy friend.”

Cherry Magic! is a romantic comedy where Adachi agonizes a little bit over Kurosawa’s interest in him, but it’s less about his own sexuality and more what he assumes a gay guy behaves like. When he sleeps over at his co-worker’s apartment and is dressed in pyjamas Kurosawa bought with him in mind, Adachi isn’t sure how to act or how we’ll be treated, but is confused when his enamoured doesn’t try anything–meanwhile, Kurosawa’s on the other side of the wall sleepless that the man he loves is so close.

This slow, telepathically one-sided romantic dance lets the reader slip in and out of the minds of two silly, obviously crushing men. It’s an interesting narrative device, especially in manga/comics where you can often very easily see inside the thoughts of primary and secondary characters. The fun comes from the imbalance; Kurosawa’s obliviousness to Adachi’s reactions to his adoring, sometimes lustful thoughts, and Adachi’s slow realization that he may not mind the attention. The manga also introduces a secondary 30-year-old-virgin-wizard, Adachi’s friend and romance writer Masato Tsuge. An adorable bonus chapter shows Masato developing a crush on and friendship with a young, rough delivery boy who has some strange interest in a cat the writer adopted. Cherry Magic! may not be the most mind-blowing or narratively inventive BL manga I’ve ever read, but it’s cute and got likeable characters and that kept me reading, and will keep me coming back for later volumes. It’s also a quick read, there’s almost as much bonus chapter as there is manga!

Further to this, despite the premise the manga is teasing but not harsh on its 30-year-old-virgins. They’re not sex-crazed losers desperate to lose their virginity and prove to themselves or others that they can, as the stereotype could go. They’re not even that bothered with the fact that they’re virgins. In Adachi’s case, he’s just a meek introvert who blends into the background and is easily outshined by those around him, who learned everything he knows about romance from his mom’s shojo manga when he was younger. His gentle nature means he mysteriously only uses his power by accident for the most part, until he uses it once to read the mind of an upset client of Kurosawa’s to help his friend. That could be a game-changing power in the hands of someone more willful–perhaps in another, non-romantic comedy genre–but as he continues to get glimpses of Kurosawa’s feelings for him, Adachi realizes its unfair to simply string his friend along when real feelings are in the mix.

What will further volumes bring? Will Adachi start to use his powers for other purposes beyond glimpsing into his crush’s mind? And what happens if he loses his virginity? Will the powers be revoked? If he stays a virgin into his 40s will he eventually rule the world as the wizard king?! We will return in further volumes to follow Adachi’s magical, virginal progress.

Level of Problematic: Wanting to learn more about the guy who has a crush on you (WHEN YOU CAN LITERALLY READ MINDS, YOU DUMBASS); not much to say! Despite the subject matter and focus on sex (and sexlessness), Cherry Magic! is wholesome and adorable, without weird dynamics.

Level of Adorable: Fawning over a cat named Udon with your delivery boy crush; as often happens, I end up falling for bonus chapter content harder than the main story. Both are freakin’ adorable, but I was especially enchanted by Masato’s crush on his grumpy delivery boy. More of that, please!

Level of Spiciness: Daring two male co-workers to kiss in a round of King game; the BL version of Chekhov’s gun is, like, Adachi’s first kiss. You put on the table that your protagonist has never even been kissed and then build the tension of when that’ll inevitably happen. That’s about as spicy as things get! (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

BLog: Can an Otaku Like Me Really Be an Idol?!

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

[image error]Can an Otaku Like Me Really Be an Idol?!

Story and art: Wacoco Waco

Translation: ?????

Publisher: Kuma

Release Date: February 25, 2020

Takumi Suzuki is a high school idol otaku, a fan with obsessive interests, who is especially obsessed with the idol pop group Yume Q. But Suzuki has a secret; with his girly voice he uploads covers of his favourite Yume Q songs as Rumepi, an anonymous idol otaku girl. He has plenty of fans, mostly pervy older dudes, but he’s left to obsess in relative obscurity.

Enter handsome, popular boy Misaki Hayakawa, Suzuki’s crush from the entrance ceremony on. After helping Suzuki up after tripping while listening to Yume Q’s “On the Sakura Love Idol Road”–the first thing Suzuki ever said to his crush was, “Oh! You have an idol’s smile…”–it was love at first sight. One day, while cleaning their classroom, Suzuki finds some limited edition idol memorabilia in Hayakawa’s desk and realizes the popular boy is a fellow otaku.

Horrified at the discovery of his secret, Hayakawa brings Suzuki back to his place and demands to know some weakness or dark secret. Having none as the loser otaku he is, Hayakawa takes the only reasonable course of action: he dresses Suzuki up in an idol costume he conveniently has on hand to take pictures of his classmate cross-dressed. Of course, a simple costume isn’t enough, Hayakawa grabs a wig, does Suzuki’s makeup, takes some sexy pictures and, overwhelmed, kisses him.

In response, Suzuki, in full idol drag, fucks his fellow otaku’s brains out.

Just fuck me up, @kumapub. #boyslove #yaoi pic.twitter.com/66fj32yWTw

— MJ Lyons (@queer_mikey) March 10, 2020

I mean, it’s all there on the packaging… the delighted, sparkly cross-dressed protagonist, the labels seme (Suzuki) and uke (Hayakawa) on the back cover, but the brazen, uncensored smut of a girly, pretty cross-dressed boy topping the tall, handsome, popular boy is delightfully transgressive. In the same way as Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato, the simple twist on expectations of who’s the top and bottom in a BL story is such a fabulous, sexy discovery–artist and writer Wacoco Waco even writes on the author bio inside the once again beautifully packaged Kuma manga, “Make the cute ones the seme!” Amen.

Because, oh boy, there’s a lot of sex in this one. After losing his virginity to cross-dressed Suzuki, Hayakawa reveals that he was saving his virginity, NAY, he was training his entire life to only ever get off to/with idols. Therefore, of course, he will act as Suzuki’s producer to turn the nerdy otaku into an idol worthy of losing his virginity to.

I was expecting a raunchy comedy, but what I wasn’t expecting was a tender BL romance. In that sense, Can an Otaku Like Me Really Be an Idol?! is very much like it’s premise, a raunchy, slutty, horny high school sex comedy dressed in the sweet, innocent, wholesome jpop idol costume of BL romance. You would expect there to be a lot of hand-wringing and agonizing on the part of Hayakawa–not only was his secret found out, and not only did he get deflowered by his classmate, who’s dressed up in an idol costume, who is a guy, and not only did he take it royally in the ass, but he enjoyed it?! But, in the face of his scheme to make Suzuki an idol worthy of his sexual energy he seems to make peace pretty quickly with the fact that he’s a big bottom boy.

The sex scenes are, frankly, some of the best I’ve read in BL/yaoi manga in the past year. After their initial boning, Hayakawa begins to develop Suzuki’s career as an idol by having him dress up as otaku girl Rumepi and perform some Yume Q dance numbers, revealing his/her face to his online following. The two of them get worked up and, before they can continue, Hayakawa sits Suzuki in his lap, lifts his skirt up and begins jerking him off. This devolves into mutual.

As Rumepi’s popularity grows and Hayakawa’s secret otaku life is found out by his friends, this focus of living your truth even when your truth is an impossible fantasy was equally unexpected.

I was worried the sexual focus would be Suzuki-as-“trap”, however throughout the fetish is not the cross-dressing, per se, but the adorableness of Suzuki-as-idol. For this reason, when Hayakawa begins to reveal that he may care about Suzuki as more than just a sexual- or idol-outlet it feels adorable and lovely. Suzuki’s not a fetish, but someone Hayakawa wants to put his time and energy into and, recognizing this, Suzuki wants to put more effort into being an adorable, talented idol for Hayakawa. Similar to My Androgynous Boyfriend or Our Dining Table–although considerably more perverse–the focus on a wholesome, loving relationship keeps you turning the pages just for the moe; though if you’re a perverted freak like me the popular boy getting butt-fucked by his cross-dressed nerd boyfriend will double the appeal.

All this being said, I think I’ve discovered something about myself connecting Otaku Like Me to Dining Table or Androgynous Boyfriend in my head, since they’ve all absolutely been my favourite reads so far this year…

[image error]

My one and only complaint is that Can an Otaku Like Me Really Be an Idol?!, as a one-off, rushes through the plot. There are ups and downs in both of their lives, but it snaps through them at a breakneck pace. Self-contained is not a bad thing, but I would have loved to get more interactions, more moments from their life, more sex, more relationship, more Rumepi. I’ve enjoyed manga, but I’m already looking forward to re-reading this one. Can an Otaku Like Me Really Be an Idol?! made an otaku out of me.

Level of Problematic: The hit jpop single “No Means No”; a couple of the scenes air on the side of sexual assault… its that unfortunate manga thing where “no” and “stop” actually mean “yes” and “keep going”. Sigh.

Level of Adorable: Showing your friends a picture of you and your idol girlfriend, who’s actually your otaku boyfriend; just, like, extraordinarily cute.

Level of Spiciness: Getting butt-fucked by your idol girlfriend, who’s actually your otaku boyfriend; just, like, extraordinarily spicy. There’s also a bonus chapter standalone comic that is PERVERSE. Also, no censorship, lots of dick and butt.

BLog: The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese

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

[image error]The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese

Story and art: Setona Mizushiro

Translation: Jocelyne Allen

Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment

Release Date: November 26, 2019

A character study of protagonist Otomo Kyoichi: a salaryman, nearing thirty, attractive, a natural, effortless magnetic charisma, oblivious, married (unhappily), a history of infidelity and philandering, not particularly discrete, passive moral character, history of getting “swept up” into adulterous relationships with women without any particular dedication or real emotional investment, like a weathervane pointing toward whatever wind prevails, spends lavishly on his wife as stand-in for affection and intimacy, unaware he is being cheated on, a combination of character traits and situational circumstances that make him susceptible to blackmail.

Enter Imagase, a former school friend of Kyoichi who now works as a chain-smoking private investigator hired by Kyoichi’s wife to investigate the possibility of cheating. Imagase first confronts Kyoichi with evidence of an affair with a temp from his office, but promises to keep his secret for a kiss. Next the PI returns with evidence of an affair with a woman from a client company and demands another kiss… but he doesn’t say where…

The Cornered Mouth Dreams of Cheese is a melodramatic drama of an obsessive relationship and compromised morality, but beyond that it’s an examination of Kyochi’s character. As he becomes entangled in Imagase’s affections, Kyochi is continually challenged on his habit of literally falling into whatever woman gives him a hint of affection–an unhappy wife from his high school reunion, an ex-girlfriend. When openly-gay Imagase lodges himself into Kyochi’s life, uncaring of his friend/victim’s supposed heterosexuality, he occupies a new, fraught place, more than a fling, less than a real relationship. The cornered mouse dreams of cheese, but as they bat one another around emotionally, sexually, its unclear whose who in this cat and mouse game.

The give and take of their relationship is bizarre, the characters are inconstant; there are moments when Kyochi is fed up with being toyed with or put upon and demands Imagase vacate from his life, only to inevitably seek out the man who has an unhealthy fixation on him. Imagase will violate Kyochi’s privacy to find out about his latest assignations and disappear in a fury, only to resurface in Kyochi’s life. At the same time, Kyochi can demand Imagase break up with another man he’s seeing, and Imagase can completely invade Kyochi’s life and while both cause conflict neither questions this dynamic. Imagase seems fixated on fucking Kyochi, and Kyochi denies he’d ever let him and yet falls back into bed with him time and time again.

One of the more interesting moments of the manga is later, when Kyochi’s ex-girlfriend from college, Natsuki, arranges to meet with Imagase to talk about his relationship with Kyochi. She is perhaps the only person in Kyochi’s life who is a rival to Imagase, both as a relationship and a keen perception into Kyochi’s character. The two discuss frankly their interest, both admit that Kyochi isn’t a good relationship prospect, but both warn the other off. Perhaps these are two cats fighting over the titular wriggling mouse underneath both of their paws. When Kyochi shows up they demand he choose one or the other, and he does but, true to his character, he inevitably submits to his fickle character.

I’m trying to imagine what this manga wants to say about relationships, especially relationships between men. One of my favourite scenes that maybe illustrates that is where Kyochi ends up in bed with the aforementioned high school crush. Their discontented pillow talk after consists of her bitching about her unhappy home life with an overbearing mother-in-law and unsympathetic husband, she clearly just wants to be seen by someone and matter and projects that onto a willing, milquetoast Kyochi. Meanwhile Kyochi lies next to her, ignoring her, ruminating about how he was thinking about Imagase when he came. Perhaps the conclusion is that people fumble for what they want out of relationships, but we’re rarely ever able to give it to one another. Perhaps that’s why Kyochi and Imagase both seem so unhappy throughout, even with one another. But then again, I guess the mouse wouldn’t be particularly happy about being under the paw of the hungry cat.

Level of Problematic: The obsessive gay man dreams of locking down his ostensibly straight boyfriend; obsession and affection make for poor bedmates. Admittedly, obsession as a narrative trope doesn’t interest me. I struggled with finding the “love” in the story, so I struggled with the story.

Level of Adorable: The exes dream of screaming “get out!”; the art is cute, lots of flustered, blushing, straight-curious Kyochi, but everyone seems so unhappy…

Level of Spiciness: The straight man dreams of blowjobs; maybe the one thing I can get into is the “straight boy seduced” trope, and there are some hot scenes… I just wish there was a little more joy and a little less self-loathing and angst.

BLog: Interview with artist orcamode

BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.[image error]

Tagawa, a young office worker stuck late finishing reports, is titillated to discover his coworker, Shibata, has a secret. This secret takes the form of elaborately tied rope-work tenderly wrapped around his torso beneath his shirt and tie. Shibari, “to tie decoratively”, was popularized in the West based on elaborate Japanese bondage and BDSM techniques. Tagawa soon discovers the unique uses of good rope-work.

This delectable, porny short story comes from the mind of orcamode, published by NYC-based THE YAM FAM, purveyors of queer comics, fanbooks and zines. I came across a copy of orcamode’s Hidden Beneath on the shelf of Toronto’s own hometown comic hub The Beguiling Books & Art, and instantly knew I had to speak to the artist.

MJ: Hello! Can you introduce yourself to any readers?

orcamode: Hi! I’m orcamode. I draw original erotic BL comics as well as fan comics, and I enjoy indulgent and sometimes dark themes, both in the work I read and in what I create.

Your art’s gorgeous! I’d describe it as sort of a mix of anime and Western comic book styles. How’d you get your start drawing?

Thank you! I started reading comics when I was in 4th grade, and the first time I ever drew a comic with panels was in 5th grade in a lined notebook. All I consumed for a long time was manga, since I was living in Taiwan and that was what was most available to me. I didn’t really read western comics until much later, but I think I can attribute my more hybrid art style to having been online a lot since middle school and seeing art styles from all over the world. From middle to high school, I also had a great drawing teacher who often took us out for life drawing and challenged us to draw from various genres.

[image error] I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some of your work retweeted through (porny) fandom anime Twitter, but “Hidden Beneath” was definitely the first time I saw your work formally! How did you first become interested in shibari? What got you into drawing it?

I don’t remember exactly when I first became interested in shibari. My interest in it increased in recent years, but I think I’ve always been drawn to the idea and look of shibari. I like puzzles, I like packing things into boxes and luggages, I like figuring out how things fit together, so I think shibari pushes similar buttons in my brain. I like visualizing and figuring out how the knots work and how they retain tension, all while looking beautiful. When I ink traditionally, I also tend to draw fairly thin lines, which happens to work well for drawing shibari and is very satisfying to me.

What’s your favourite thing about working on BL or porny art and comics?

I love comics because it’s made up of suggestions. Each panel teases a small part of a larger scene, and the scene is completed through a collaboration of what the artist puts down and what the reader interprets. This aspect of comics is why I love it as a medium in general, but I also think comics are a great medium for porn especially. Sex and our feelings about sex are very personal, and there’s so much room to explore ourselves in the gutters between every panel, both as an artist, and as a reader, and I think that’s what makes comics so addictive.

My favorite part about working on BL and porn is allowing myself to be indulgent. Sometimes I find myself hitting a wall while writing. I’ll overthink a scene and write myself into a corner. Then I’ll mutter something like “I wish I could just do THIS instead”. That’s when I stop and think, “Well why the hell can’t I?” Every time, if I replace a scene that’s boring me with something I would want to see if I were the one reading, something straight from my id, I’m always happier with the result. I love how freeing that moment feels.

[image error]“I will also have these hand-tied wood shibari charms at Katsucon AA table P26! These boys can be anyone you want them to be Well… The white-haired one maybe looks a little too specific”

Are you watching or reading anything these days that’s inspiring you? Any suggestions?

I’ve recently really fallen in love with Niyama’s works. I particularly like “Boku no Omawari-san” and “Mujaki na Wanko to Nekokaburi”. Both are available on Renta! Their English titles are “My Dearest Cop” and “An Innocent Puppy Meets a Two-Faced Cat” respectively. I highly recommend checking it out! I’ve also been immensely enjoying Jack Stanovsky & J.R. Doyle’s original fiction, “Ritual Bluff”, which you can read on AO3. Absolutely excellent.

Here’s a little list of several more of my favorite manga and comics that I revisit from my shelf regularly, just for fun:

Letters for Lucardo by Otava Heikkilä
Pornographer by Marukido Maki
Jackass! by Scarlet Beriko
Dear, MY GOD by Asada Nemui
MADK by Suzuri Ryo
Hen-Ai by Harada
Poji by Harada
Yes, Roya by Emilee Denich

Are you working on anything new fans can be excited for? Any new projects?

I’m working on a new short BL comic called Liquid Labyrinth! It’s currently in the early script stages, but I’ll be starting work on it very soon, and I hope to have it printed later this year. It’ll take place within the set of an immersive theatrical play (think Sleep No More) and follows the protagonist’s ~encounter~ with a mysterious cast member.

Anything else you’d like to say?

To everyone who reads my comics, thank you so much! I have been treated very well and I feel very lucky. May you all chase your bliss and continue to love things unabashedly and with great passion! You make the world a kinder place.

You can discover more of orcamode’s work on their Pillowfort page, or if you want your own copy of Hidden Beneath you can buy one on THE YAM FAM’s website.

BLog: Caste Heaven Vol. 1

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

[image error]Caste Heaven Vol. 1

Story and art: Chise Ogawa

Translation: Adrienne Beck

Publisher: SuBLime Manga

Release Date: March 10, 2020

(｡ó﹏ò) Content Warning: Frank discussion of sexual assault (ó﹏ò｡)

“It’s called the caste game. Who started it? And when? Nobody here could tell you. … The rules are simple, really. The king can lord his status over the class… while the lowest caste, the target, can be bullied by anyone at will.”

Caste Heaven, like it’s yaoi SuBLime cousin Yarichin Bitch Club, is another manga of high school sex escapades, but where Yarichin leans on comedy, Caste Heaven is more of a psychological drama. The caste game hierarchy consists of a single king and queen at the top, followed by the king’s right hand (the jack), the “wannabe” and the “yes-man”, then a series of descending ranks down to the single joker, the target.

At any time the caste game can be disrupted by the anonymous caste game committee, who declare they’ve hidden cards around the school, and whoever finds the card and returns it to the committee first claims the role. Resident tyrannical king and pretty boy Asuza Yuya conned his way into the king card and, when a new caste game is declared, believes his position is secure, seducing “wannabe” Kohei Karino into finding him the king card.

His betrayal by Kohei, the new king, his immediate rape (supposedly by Kohei, though the rapist’s face is in shadow), and his new role as the target begins to pick away at Asuza’s furious bravado. Sexual assault is both punishment and threat held over him by Kohei, who offers Asuza a deal: be his bitch or be fair game to the entire class. The proceeding story is the resulting power struggle, the sexual violence carried out on Asuza, glimpses of his life and what lead him to be the horrible king that landed him in his position.

Caste Heaven is one of those stories where the premise is perhaps more interesting than it’s execution. Either in Japan, with its strict hierarchies both in school life and beyond, and/or in late-stage capitalism where artificial power structures prop up oppressive regimes and systems; school game as microcosm where a lucky few at the top of a literal pyramid lord over descending victims of the system, either toadying to the upper castes or stepping on the lower castes as their only means of power. A fabulous premise a la Battle Royale or the Hunger Games, even if its on a smaller scale.

However, the premise gets lost in wandering encounters of exploitation and sexual violence between new target Asuza and king Kohei. Artist and writer Chise Ogawa writes in a post-manga note how she remembers having “a lot of trouble with the storyboarding for chapter 1.” The more interesting moments of the manga are explorations of Azusa’s background–if a little trope heavy–as the child of a poor single mother who is a prostitute, who loves him but is negligent, and who taught him that life will keep poor people down. For this reason, though, it’s bizarre that Azusa is so full of himself that he believes things will just work out in his favour when the caste game is called.

There’s plenty to say about the more problematic aspect of Caste Heaven, how heavy it is on rape, non-consent and dubious consent. I have a complicated relationship with depictions of sexual assault in media; I think even problematic depictions have their place, if we weren’t so fascinated, horrified and sometimes even titillated by depictions of rape artists wouldn’t create them, and we as media consumers wouldn’t buy them. Sex isn’t straightforward, it can be violent and exploitative. On the other hand, domination and submission, loss of control and rape fantasies are all things normal people explore in their sexual lives, and art reflects that.

I usually try not to read other people’s reviews so as not to influence my own opinions, but I was struggling to parse what I felt about Caste Heaven and found a review by Online Eccentric Librarian:

We have seen this story done so many times in manga now: social excuse is given to justify rape, give sympathetic backgrounds to the rapists, and by the end love with triumph and justify the original forced carnality. How much you enjoy Caste Heaven will depend on your tolerance of the Rape To Love trope. This rather graphic manga is a strong reminder that there is an odd cultural belief in Japan that those who are raped really enjoy it but were too ‘missish’ to say so and so had to be forced. Even gang raping here is more of an annoyance and inconvenience – more about lacking social power than a violent invasion.

The “Rape To Love” trope and cultural criticism is a particularly helpful one, since Caste Heaven certainly uses the “if you don’t want it why are you hard” line a couple of times. The way sexual assault is wielded as both a story point and as the thing that is ostensibly supposed to turn us on in the manga often feels simultaneously cruel and gratuitous, but also weirdly chaste–the art uses the conveniently blocked nudity/genitals convention, which is odd for such an explicit manga, but it was originally published by Libre, from my understanding a Japanese BL/yaoi magazine, so I assume it’s more heavily effected by weirdly specific censorship.

Even if you wanted to explore complicated, violent sexuality, even the emergence of some sort of love or affection from a sexually exploitative relationship, there has to be something backing it up. The brief glimpses of Azusa’s life aren’t enough to get me over the more problematic aspects of Caste Heaven. His relationship with Kohei feels one note, with no significant development in volume 1. A brief B-plot chapter depicting a strange but strangely lovely relationship developing between two side characters is more along the lines of how the manga could get sexual dynamics right in the aftermath of the caste game even while exploring exploitative sex. However, the manga gets muddled in plot, undeveloped relationships and poor sexual politics.

Level of Problematic: “If you don’t want it then why are you hard”; I apparently have more to say when I struggle with the problematic politics of a manga. See above.

Level of Adorable: “I like you because you remind me of my dead childhood bunny rabbit”; even the cute moments are tinged by morbidity, which can be fun, but yeesh… See above.

Level of Spiciness: “Be my bitch or you’re fair game to the entire class”; there are some sexy moments and plenty of fan service that are ultimately bogged down in poor sexual politics and the weird censorship. See above.

BLog: Our Dining Table

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

[image error]Our Dining Table

Story and art: Mita Ori

Translation: Amber Tamosaitis

Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment

Release Date: December 17, 2019

For young salaryman Hozumi Yutaka life is bland. He goes to work, goes home, eats store bought food, maybe occasionally making his own onigiri. A chance encounter in a park with an adorable four-year-old brings Yutaka into the life of Ueda Tane and his much older brother, Minoru. After sharing his onigiri with Tane on a couple of occasions he’s invited to their home to teach the boys and how to make his delicious rice balls. Since their mother died not long after giving birth to Tane, the Uedas have been enjoying regular but uninspiring meals with their father. As the relationship between Yutaka and Minoru develops they discover that there’s something magical about cooking together, and something healing about sharing a meal.

On its surface Our Dining Table is a fairly simple one-shot manga; a slow burn, there’s nothing earth-shattering or cataclysmic in the lives of these characters. Mita Ori uses the act of cooking and eating together, food, as a frame for exploring the lives and experiences of these two young men. Kid brother Tane latches on to Yutaka and demands he return to make curry with them. Yutaka, who’s never been able to enjoy meals with people since his childhood, finds himself breathless in anticipation of their time together at the dinner table.

But beneath this adorable surface there’s something deeper, the manga is an examination of loneliness and grief. Yutaka has trouble relating to people, and we find out early on that he was adopted and had a fraught relationship with his siblings. Minoru became a surrogate parent for Tane early on, and isn’t sure he’s been doing right by his little brother. Again, there’s tragedy and sadness in their backgrounds, but there’s nothing overwrought or melodramatic. People deal with abusive or negligent family members, parents die too young, but life moves on and we move with it, even if we hold onto sadness deep down.

Even if its clear from early on, from the moments they share or glances on the pages of the manga, that a relationship between Yutaka and Minoru is inevitable, the journey is still worth every page. The manga is wholesome–no sex other than what you want to imagine in your head–but its the build of intimacy, the reveals within their developing relationship, that keeps it a page-turner romance.

Yutaka and Minoru are lovely, but from start to finish Tane was the highlight of Our Dining Table. Similar to one of the more charming elements of Don’t Call Me Dirty (or one of the weirder dynamics of Fourth Generation Head: Tatsuyuki Oyamato) you don’t expect to see a kid as a central character of BL storylines. In Don’t Call Me Dirty the kids at Old Man Kaji’s convenience store formed a Greek chorus to Shouji’s woes and foibles. In Fourth Generation Head the protagonist ends up the sex slave of the father of one of his boyfriend’s kindergarten children–like I said in the review, it’s a weird one.

Tane, on the other hand, is a central character, and inspires the inciting incident that brings their little chosen family together. He’s so cartoonish and extreme in the way children are, both in behaviour and in art style. He’s constantly and adorably getting in the way of Yutaka and Minoru’s relationship, in the way children do. If Minoru became a surrogate father to Tane by necessity, Yutaka becomes something of a surrogate mother to Tane without hesitation. He cooks for him, cares for him, but Our Dining Table isn’t heavy handed or prescriptive about gender roles; in a post-manga note Mita Ori even writes “To be honest I never figured out who is the seme and who is the uke,” and with reason, it’s not particularly pertinent to the story. I haven’t read Tagame’s My Brother’s Husband–it’s currently staring at me from my “to read” pile–but I’d be curious to compare the role of another central child character in another gay manga.

If, like me, Tane ends up your favourite character, the cherry on top of the delicious cake that is Our Dining Table is a bonus comic that depicts an aged up little brother. It will have you begging for another helping.

Level of Problematic: A tasty curry shared with a loved one; an examination of love, loneliness, grief and chosen family uncomplicated by bad politics. My compliments to the chef!

Level of Adorable: Onigiri with adorable, edible faces; like a decorated rice ball that’s almost too cute to eat, you’ll be left reflecting on what’s exactly in this manga that makes it oh so delicious.

Level of Spiciness: A kimchi tomato and cheese hot pot, mild enough for a four-year-old’s stomach; if you’re looking for sex or smut you’ll have to try another restaurant. This dish is a slow-burn boys love romance.