Endless Game

by Gengoroh Tagame

Librarian note: alternate cover/mock-up edition of ISBN13: 9783867876414

Gengoroh Tagame in English! Gengoroh Tagame is one of the stars of manga. His stories are among the best in this genre and until recently have only been published in Japanese. Bruno Gmnder is pleased to publish two of them in English for audiences around the globe.

Genres: LGBT, Gay, Comics, Manga, Graphic Novels, Erotica, Art

160 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2013

About the author

Gengoroh Tagame is a Japanese manga artist who specializes in gay BDSM erotic manga, many of which depict graphic violence. The men he depicts are hypermasculine, and tend to be on the bearish side.

Born into a family descended from samurai, Tagame began his career as a manga artist in 1982, while he was studying graphic design at Tama Art University (多摩美術大学). His works have been published in several Japanese gay magazines, including Sabu, G-men and SM-Z. Since 1986, he has used the pen-name Gengoroh Tagame, and since 1994 Tagame has lived off the profits of his art and writings. In recent years, Tagame has edited a two volume artbook series about the history of gay erotic art in Japan from the 1950s to the present, 日本のゲイ・エロティック・アート (Nihon no gei, erotikku āto, Gay Erotic Art in Japan) volumes 1 and 2.

All his works contain "virile males, or youths, and their apprenticeship of physical and mental submission". Works of his include: Jujitsu Kyoshi at B Product; Emono, Shirogane no Hana (3 vol.) and Pride (3 vol.) at G-Project.

His manga Gunji (軍次) was translated into French in 2005, followed by Arena in 2006 and Goku in 2009. An artbook of his works has also been published in France by H&O Editions. An exhibition of his works was held in France in May 2009. Tagame is openly gay.

Tagame has been called the most influential creator of gay manga in Japan to date, and "the most talented and most famous author of sado-masochistic gay manga". Most of his work first appeared in gay magazines and usually feature sexual abuse. Tagame's depiction of men as muscular and hairy has been cited as a catalyst for a shift in fashion amongst gay men in 1995, away from the clean-shaven and slender bishōnen stereotypes and towards a tendency for masculinity and chubbiness. Tagame's work has been criticised by notable gay manga writer Susumu Hirosegawa as "SM gekijō" (S&M theater) for its violence and lack of complex storylines.

A small amount of Tagame's work has been licensed in English; a short story, "Standing Ovations", was included in the third issue of the erotic comics anthology Thickness, and in July 2012, Picturebox announced a short story collection, The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame, for 2013 release, which will be the first completely bara work published in English in a print format. The book will collect short works spanning 15 years of Tagame's career, including a new story commissioned especially for the book by book designer Chip Kidd.

(notes : everything else can be read on wikipedia)

Reviews

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover of my book doesn't look like that! Who needs a jockstrap when you could have sexy jean frot instead? orz

Endless Game is light on story but full of hot, raunchy sex. I felt like I was checking off a list of how many sexual scenarios, positions, and toys could be fit into the pages of one tankoubon. Very steamy, very well drawn.

Going from memory, here are some things that happen in the comic: There's rimming, double penetration, backroom sex, sex for money, multiple partners, vibrator wands, anal beads, dildos, nipple clamps... even sexy go-go boy dancing.

There was a surprising amount of colored art. Enjoyed that and the continuity of this volume much more than The Passion, but at the pricepoint ($25-35) I can't recommend Endless Game to anyone but a diehard fan.

Very minimal complaint: I was annoyed with the way sound effects were handled.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Tagame's artwork, but the BDSM aspect usually is too much for me. This is a love story of sorts where he deliberately doesn't use BDSM to tell the story and it works brilliantly. It is, however, a tale about how one's desires and easy sex can lead you down a path into getting paid for it. But it wouldn't be Tagame's world if everything were simple.

[Andre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Does this author know how to write anything but idiotic rape and BDSM stories?

And funny things is, I remember nothing from this anymore. Even after only 10 days I forgot. If I hadn't written this review I might have had forgotten that I ever read this.

[Mir]

Does porn usually end with an essay from the author explaining his intentions? Because if so that is fascinating. He addressed most of the questions I had while reading. Thanks, author! Because you took time writing this I will take the time to type it out, since I suspect most of my readers will not be picking up the book. I wouldn't have myself, except that your My Brother's Husband, Volume 1 was amazing and I wanted to try something else you'd written. And everything else you've written appears to be BDSM porn.

Afterword: There were a few things on my mind when I wrote Endless Game.

I write in a distinctly hardcore BDSM style, but with Endless Game I deliberately kept the BDSM tropes contained. Even while the plot included plenty of hardcore sex and rough play, there are no real elements of sadomasochism or bondage/dominance. What's more, all the depicted actions have been assented to, even in advance, by the main character, Akira, himself.

The story is what I imagine to be a plot driven by maximal iterations of "gay pornographic intercourse." Readers who don't have BDSM fantasies can take pleasure in the story, but the erotic elements are still sufficiently hardcore. At least that's what I was aiming for.

I was also very cognizant of instilling a kind of critical element in the depictions of sex. Akira has a voracious appetite for sex and is in perpetual pursuit of attaining personal ecstasy in this story. He's a youth who believes this pursuit suffices as the entirety of his existence. As a result of this pursuit he leaves his life to the charge of another person and begins his descent to a status as a "marionette prostitute."

As a parable, it's structured as a "tragedy," with the "fall" of the main character, but Akira himself doesn't think of this at all as a "tragedy." In fact he considers himself "lucky" and is incredibly "happy." This dichotomy in, in other words, the critical element I'd scoped out.

So, as to avoid misunderstanding, I did not write this suggesting Akira was some naive young man unaware of the trap he was caught in. I don't hand down judgments through my story, whatever the variety. Whatever one will think of when reading this is entirely subjective to each reader, and as its author I don't have a correct interpretation. There is none.

These were my so-called aims in writing Endless Game even though I don't think too much about the questionable stuff and would be delighted just to know that the readers are getting hard )or wet, in the case of my female readers), reading my manga. More than anything else, I write 'gay pornographic manga" for this purpose.

By the way, as I copied this, on the facing page was a full-page illustration of two muscled men one of whom is penetrating the other anally whilst yanking his balls. After the Afterword the seme (Akira in both scenes) is coming on the floor while being fucked from behind by a different muscled guy. Just to give you a sense of a level of graphicality, dear reader. I won't include any images because they all violate goodreads guidelines regarding nudity.

[I intend to review more later; I'm just copying this text out now so I can return the book to the library. It is bright pink and says GAY MANGA in block letters (which, publisher, is probably not helping your American sales, really what were you thinking?) and GAY MANGA was also printed on my library receipt.]

[Minatokagi]

amazing