~ RECS ~ YAOI MANGA ~ A-G ~

ANO KADO WO MAGATTA TOKORO

mangaka : Toko Kawai
details : yaoi | R | angst, romance, school
summary : Yuuya, a highschool student who used to be a pianist, and Kiriya, a working adult, are in a comfort-sex relationship. Both enjoy each other's company and the no-strings-attached conditions of their bond, until one day Kiriya ends up as the substitute teacher in Yuuya's highschool. In one fell swoop, all secrets came tumbling out. Yuuya turns out to be only 16 years old, and not the 19-year-old Kiriya thought he was. Kiriya was in actuality a qualified teacher and not the salaryman Yuuya thought he was. And to compound the problem, Yuuya has now fallen in love for real, but Kiriya is dead set against having anything to do with Yuuya. Only after much persistence from Yuuya, does Kiriya agree to give him another chance, and both men find themselves trapped in a forbidden but intoxicating teacher-student relationship fraught with many obstacles.

comments : That was one lengthy summary, phew, but I feel that the manga deserves one. There are just so many layers to this story that it's difficult to sum up. As with Toko-sensei's masterful imagination, this story of hers is captivating. The characters are convincing and feel very real, the art is lovely, and all of these are accentuated by the sense of bittersweetness that suffuses the whole manga. Read it. It's great stuff.

BEWARE THE RIVAL

mangaka : Yamakami Riyu
details : yaoi | PG-13 | romance
summary : Having just worked up the courage to confess his love to his younger cousin Sakae, Ren is horrified when he finds out he's been beaten to it - by Sakae's good-looking, but smarmy and bratty classmate, Kunimi. It doesn't help that Kunimi refuses to tell Ren exactly what happened during his own confession, and so Ren and Kunimi - two rather cranky love rivals - end up spending quality time together as Ren tries to get closer to Sakae, with Kunimi in tow. This roundabout 3-way relationship comes to an abrupt head when Ren and Kunimi realise they both are no longer in love with Sakae, but with each other...

comments : Once again, Yamakami-sensei works her magic into this simple story of two love rivals who end up falling for each other, turning an unoriginal plotline into something very engaging and cute. The interaction between her characters always do it for me. Ren and Kunimi go from teasing and spiting each other, to an awkward bonding, and finally to a tentative romance. They're as unlikely and as cute a couple two rivals can possibly be! On the other end, Sakae himself has a sweet little thing going on with another boy. ^_~ One thing about the manga though. This story is the main story but takes up only half of the manga. The other half focuses on another unrelated couple - but it's also a story worthy of your time, I say!

BOKU NO KOE

mangaka : Nitta Youka
details : hard yaoi | heavy R (so far) | seiyuu, angst, romance, fun
summary : Jouchi Wataru is a budding seiyuu (voice actor) who's just got his big break. Now finding himself working with star seiyuu, he has to quickly find his feet. While his colleagues are great, it is the blunt and aloof Kazama Renji that really fascinates Jouchi. A few misunderstandings and realisations later, Jouchi is determined to persist in getting to know Kazama even more. ^_~ Side story includes the ambiguous relationship between the two veteran seiyuu in the same team.

comments : Nitta-sensei's artwork reaches the height of brilliance in this manga, one of her latest offerings. Other than being distracted to death by the beautiful men, I like the seiyuu setting of this manga. It HAD to happen. With all the popularity of Japanese seiyuu, a Nitta Youka manga about seiyuu comes along at the right time. Again, the best thing about her work is the relationship between the men. You find yourself just wanting to KNOW what will happen to the men as they deal with friendship, work and romance.

BONDZ

mangaka : Toko Kawai
details : semi-hard yaoi | R | sweetness, romance, some angst
summary : Keita and Tomo begin a forbidden, clandestine summer romance behind their girlfriends' backs. What started as casual sex inevitably became more as feelings get involved, but a misunderstanding gets in the way and the boys separate. Now, two years later, a working Tomo walks the streets in the snow, reminiscing about the past, until he sees...

comments : This is a very, very refreshing read. I really have no idea why, since the themes it evolves around are pretty much ordinary - sex, summer, romance, angst, and a hell lot of tongue (^_~). But something about the way the couple interact - longing beneath their playfulness - and they way they meet up again after all those years, is just... nothing short of a summer dream. Sweet, cute, fun and wistful.

CAFÉ LATTE RHAPSODY

mangaka : Toko Kawai
details : shounen-ai | PG-13 | sweetness and fluff
summary : Serizawa is your usual nice young man working at a bookstore, when one day he chances upon a strange customer. Immensely tall and intense-eyed, this stranger is a shock for Seri at first sight. That is, until upon further observation, Seri realises that the tall stranger is in reality, a painfully shy and gentle young man named Keito. As the two youths meet more and more often in the bookstore, they begin an earnest and sweet friendship.

comments : It's been a long while since I've been so charmed by a character in a yaoi manga, but here, Keito-kun does it for me. He is, singlehandedly, one of the sweetest and cutest characters EVER. In one chapter, he manages at least 10 different fluffy expressions without being grating. Serizawa also provides a lovely counterpoint as the cheerful and outgoing friend who slowly draws Keito from his shell. Toko-sensei does a wonderful job with this manga. The plot is engaging, the bookstore setting is charming, and the characters are entirely believable with their awkward bumbling in their friendship.

CASINO LILY

mangaka : Nitta Youka
details : yaoi | NC-17 | gambling
summary : The beautiful Magira is also known as the 'Casino Lily'. He has a strange curse, where he cannot win with his own money, but could clean out out the casinos with someone else's money. In return, he lives the high-life, enjoying the attention and the sex from different men who use him as a charm. But Magira himself has a promise to his 'lover' Shouji back in Japan that he would return should he fail to break his curse. What Magira doesn't expect is the entrance of the dashing and devoted Carlo into his life...

comments : This is a one-volume manga, and an accompaniment to Nitta-sensei's most famous work [Haru wo Daite Ita]. If you're familiar with HwD, you'd recognise the characters Magira and Carlo. In [Casino Lily], they get their own story told. I'm rec-ing it for the pretty interesting take on casinos and gambling. I think Nitta-sensei does a nice job portraying the intoxication and headiness of winning and losing around the casino tables. I'm also rec-ing it for the hot, graphic sex, lol. Nitta-sensei's art here is not as beautiful as her latest styles, but her depiction of smut will always be amazing! ^_~

CUT

mangaka : Toko Kawai
details : semi-hard yaoi | R | schoolboys, hints of incest, cutting, violence
summary : Chiaki, a troubled high-schooler entangled in an affair with his mother's lover, meets Eiji, an equally messed up boy with a disturbing, long and deep scar across his arm. Both intriqued and repelled, the boys begin a tensed and strange friendship that gradually becomes even more.

comments : The most outstanding feature of this manga is the emotional connection between the two boys. Their shared pain and happiness just hangs on that one fragile thread, and you just can't help but follow their relationship and hope that they will find themselves at the end. I love how the mangaka can tell you the story using gestures and minimal words. A very touching and emotional manga with shades of darker undertones that are heartrending as they are refreshing.

DEAR MYSELF

mangaka : Eiki Eiki
details : yaoi | PG-13 | angst, romance
summary : Two years ago, an accident left Hirofuma with memory loss. And now, in present day, he gets another knock on the head, effectively wiping out his memories from those two years, and rewinding his brain back to the time before the first accident. It doesn't help when he very abruptly discovers that those two years had given him not just a brief life he doesn't remember, but also a male lover! Daigo, a child-like and terribly insecure boy, clings to him like a life-buoy and to solve this whole mess, Hirofuma has to turn to a special diary - written by himself during those two years and addressed to...yes, himself.

comments : This is one of those manga where the plot is what captures you! The words 'Dear...' is what you would write in the header of a letter, except in this case, it's the writer writing to himself. A tad confusing, but pretty neat. Memory loss is a common theme, but the way it's used in this manga is refreshing - memory loss leaving behind lingering traces, and even more significantly, lingering people. It's not all angst in this manga, although Daigo being forgotten is pretty heartbreaking, there're doses of light humour throughout. It's also actually fun following Hirofuma as he goes into a frenzy trying to reacquaint himself with himself, lol.

DEEP FLOWER

mangaka : Yamakami Riyu
details : yaoi | R | angst, ncs, romance
summary : Kei has always been infatuated with the beautiful and cold as ice Kaiya, until Kaiya finds out about it, and forces Kei into a physical relationship that seems to be inescapable. A broken Kei finally gets his freedom after graduation. Years later, he is a salaryman with a new life and a new lover, and just when things can't get any smoother, Kaiya shows up again...

comments : I feel that the best thing about the story is the unabashed angst, and the clearly-unhappy main couple (hereby main couple referring to Kaiya and Kei). We've all had our fair share of couples breaking up and then getting back together relatively easily, so it is quite a change when you a couple like this who's in hurt from the start and practically all the way to the end. Yamakami-sensei does a great job wringing the emotions from you, and I believe many readers either hate, or love the story, depending on which seme they're rooting for. Including myself! ^_^' So read the manga already!

DOUBLE SNAKE

mangaka : Oumi Shinano
details : yaoi | R | angst, yakuza
summary : For four years, Kouki has been working as an ordinary salaryman and living with his dark, handsome lover Rin. Also known as the 'Black Snake', Rin is slated to be the successor of the mysterious yakuza group that Kouki used to be a part of. All is peaceful until Kenji (a bratty youngster enamoured with Rin) plans a brash plot that gets Rin in danger and forces Kouki to reveal his and Rin's enigmatic backgrouds.

comments : It's a short one-shot but one that I was particularly attracted to because of the yakuza setting (yay for cool Japanese gangsters in manga!) and also- get this - the snake motif prevalent in this one-shot. I don't wanna give too much away because the snake motif is very much entwined with the identities of our 2 main characters, but I just have to say this - the tattoo of the black snake on Rin's back is devastatingly sexy!

DEVIL x DEVIL

mangaka : Sachiyo Sawauchi
details : yaoi | R | angels, demons, angst, romance
summary : Hotei is a brash, prickly, somewhat childish demon who's been having the worst luck finding prey (humans, yes). And it's all because of the beautiful, charming and utterly arrogant fallen angel Suzaku. They bicker all the time, until Hotei turns into a little boy by accident, and discovers a whole new sweet side to Suzaku. ^_~

comments : It's a pretty short story, but I like it for its bold, dramatic art, and the whole quirkiness of the story. The angel-demon theme is explored in a fun, and rather bizarre (munching on humans, munching on each other, yeah you get it) way that is just really refreshing! Hotei is a tad uke-ish but he's really endearing, and hell, Suzaku IS one beautiful angel!

DOUSAIBOU SEIBUTSU

mangaka : Sumomo Yumeka
details : yaoi | PG-13 | schoolboys, fluff
summary : Yokota and Nakagawa are two completely different boys. While Yokota is efferverscent and bubbly, Nakagawa is reticent and composed. Despite their differences, they become friends anyway. As they get closer and closer by the way, their friendship starts taking tentative steps towards something more.

comments : This manga is fluffy in a very laidback style. The whole story is just a straightforward charting of the two boys' friendship-turned-romance, with the occasional doses of angst, sappiness, sweetness. Yet they're all done very lightly, so reading the manga feels like a breeze. Another thing I love about the mangaka's style is how she does away with unnecessary dialogue and just focus on gestures and thoughts. The couple feels like normal highschool students, sometimes mature, but mostly showing their innocent youthfulness through their awkward stumbling through their relationship.

EMPTY HEART

mangaka : Masara Minase
details : yaoi | R | angst, romance
summary : Takumi, a highschooler, is crazy in love with his art teacher and friend Usami. The only problem is that Usa in return has always harboured a secret love for Ryuta, Takumi's elder brother. When Ryuta announces that he is getting married, Usa is heartbroken and Takumi seizes the chance to propose a deal. He wants to use himself as a substitute for Ryuta since they both look so alike, and Usa accepts it. Would Usa and Takumi ever find true love while using each other like that?

comments : The plot is simple, but effective, and there are two other things going for this manga. The artwork is seriously pretty. Masara-sensei is amazingly consistent in her style, and her characters are just beautiful. The second thing is that the characters are so likeable. Usa is adorably confused, little uke Takumi is a very cute mix of impetuousness and fragility, and even Ryuta the protective big brother is loveable. I think Masara-sensei really nailed the right amount of angst, romance and humour in this one!

FAR EAST LOVE MISSION

mangaka : Takahashi Kanzaki
details : yaoi | R | espionage
summary : After a GIA (General Intelligence Agency) agent went missing on an undercover operation, Hiro's first assignment is to hunt him down. It's just his luck that the disappeared agent happens to be his charismatic and roguish once-mentor - Chris.

comments : The espionage theme is pretty refreshing. Without giving too much of the story away, let's just say that while tracking Chris down, Hiro's discovery of Chris's whereabouts also leads to the unearthing of more gorgeous bishounen spies. The connections the men, and the cat-and-mouse chase between them make this manga a thoroughly enjoyable ride. Our main couple, Chris and Hiro, in particular, share an ambiguous, charged relationship that is full of sexual tension. The art is distinctive, the men actually DO look like men (regardless of seme/uke position), and in general, is very pleasing on the eye.

FINDER NO HYOUTEKI

a.k.a : [Fainda no Hyouteki], [You're My Love Prize In A Viewfinder]
mangaka : Yamane Ayano
details : hard yaoi | NC-17 | yakuza, triads, gunfights, photo-journalism
summary : Story revolves around a shady, dangerous and downright sexy Asami Ryuichi and his illegal exploits (sexploits, more like it!). Objects of his attentions include the inquisitive reporter Takaba, who has since been manipulated into becoming Asami's personal sex slave (LOL), and the equally beautiful and strong Liu Feilong, with whom Asami has a seven-year history of angst, bloodshed and unresolved sexual tension.

comments : This is Yamane-sensei's most famous work so far. The plot is pretty thin and not the most realistic, but the chase between the three men keeps the pace moving. The love triangle is also relatively spicy. You will find FnH fans divided into two camps : Asami x Takaba, and Asami x Feilong. For myself, the biggest draw of FnH, is the art. Yamane Ayano draws some of the most beautiful manga men EVER. Just seeing the art is good enough for me. Plus, Asami and Feilong churn some really hot sexual tension! ^_~ Now you know which camp I belong to!

GERARD AND JACQUES

mangaka : Yoshinaga Fumi
details : semi-hard yaoi | heavy R | French period setting, aristocrats, bourgeoisie
summary : In another one of his visits to the brothel, cynical and world-weary bourgeoisie Gerard first meets Jacques, a youth who was sold when his aristocratic family fell. The proud and reluctant Jacques is unceremoniously deflowered and vows never to forgive Gerard. But never would both expect that upon escaping prostitution, Jacques would end up working as a servant in the house of, yes, Gerard! This begins the eventful, tumultous and bittersweet romance between these two unlikely men in the midst of the Revolution.

comments : The French period setting is a very refreshing change and provides quite an interesting perspective in this story. The characters are well-developed and engaging. Although this romance is the not-quite-original hate-turned-to-love type, the way the two men reconcile their feelings against the backdrop of their contrasting backgrounds would have you rooting for them all the way. The humour comes in light and appreciated doses, and I enjoy the side characters as well, who support the story but don't distract from the main pairing. Oh, one last thing, young Jacques grows up in the story and into a really fine young man! (for those worried about any shota. ^^;;)

GINCHOU KIDAN

mangaka : Honjou Rie
details : yaoi | R | angst, period, romance
summary : Ginchou is the most sough-after courtesan at the male brothel Heavenly Jade Pavilion, and Souichi is his newly-appointed protector (servant). Although Souichi is certain he does not like men, he gradually falls deeply in love with the mysterious yet haunting Ginchou. Ginchou himself starts to see Souichi more than just his servant. Will the pair of star-crossed lovers ever find happiness?

comments : Although the storyline is not all too original, the skilfull story-telling and lovely art more than make up for it. The period-setting is a nice touch (men in kimono are always pretty), and the angsty romance is touching without being melodramatic or saccharine.

~ recs ~

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