Punch Up! by Kano Shiuko

Rating: 8
Sublime 2012 - Libre 2006
4 volumes
Translation: Adrienne Beck

I put off reading this series for a long time because I've read some Kano Shiuko before and I'm familiar with her MO: muscular guys having hot sex with not a lot else happening; smutty but shallow. The first volume of Punch Up begins in much the same vein, man meets man and soon enough they hook up and have hot sex. The story charges ahead with no attempt at subtlety and no need to engage the brain. I was set for the habitual superficial smutfest when on nearing the end of the volume I realised I was enjoying this Kano title more than usual. Bring on volume two and it keeps getting better. By the middle of the volume I'm in full-on gush mode. This is by a mile the best I've ever read from Kano Shiuko, a must-read for all fans of smut (that would be everyone?) and for anyone who likes sweet loving relationships because this couple is one of the sweetest I've seen in ages.

Maki is a successful architect, a playboy with a taste for manly muscular men. Kouta is a young construction worker with a quick temper which, when triggered, unleashes a foul mouth and fast fists. The story begins with Kouta in the middle of an argument with a colleague. Maki, who is the architect on the building project, rushes to intervene and promptly catches a punch face-on from Kouta. Kouta apologises but ends up arguing with Maki as well with the result that neither man has a good impression of the other. It is then that Maki spots his lost cat on site and finds out that it was Kouta who found and took care of it, and even got evicted from his apartment which doesn't allow pets. Maki agrees to let Kouta stay at his place for a while and so the two grudgingly begin living together.

Punch Up is a spin-off of an earlier series by Kano called Play Boy Blues (PBB). I've not read PBB but found that, plot-wise, it wasn't a problem, the story reads fine as a standalone manga. The only problem was that many of the side characters in Punch Up were originally from PBB and the mangaka assumes the reader already knows them and does very little by way of introduction or characterisation, so initially they're rather confusing to keep track of. Fortunately, the series revolves entirely around the main couple and the PBB characters don't intrude too much.

Maki and Kouta get together rather too hurriedly in the first chapter and a series of clumsily contrived incidents occur in the volume so that the more they learn about the other the more they like. Plot development has never been a strong point for Kano and it's no different in this series. What is a revelation is that in spite of the awkward plot devices Kano manages to create two very likeable characters and it's enjoyable to watch them fall for each other.

Maki is a funny character. He's a horndog with a roving eye and poor Kouta is constantly troubled by Maki's perviness and dubious of his ability to stay faithful. Often, a scene will be building up to a touching moment, only for the mood to shatter with a silly pervy remark from Maki, but this is behaviour typical of him that keeps you grinning through much of the story. Kouta is the more serious of the pair. He talks tough but is riddled with insecurities. He has a history of bad relationships with men and has pretty much given up on love. Maki has to earn Kouta's trust bit by bit and it's wonderful to watch their love grow. Maki discovers the joy of having someone special in his life after years of empty casual affairs but the real delight is in seeing Kouta open up and allow himself to be happy.

Most of volume two is like the couple's honeymoon period and is a smorgasbord of sweetness. The two are an idiotic lovey-dovey couple and I pretty much squeed my way through the whole volume. In the latter half we are introduced to the character of Yuya, Kouta's first love whom he bumps into having not seen him in years. Yuya's appearance marks the end of the honeymoon and the beginning of troubling times. Kouta's first experience of love was a traumatic one as we are shown in a beautifully written bittersweet chapter at the end of volume two. The tone of the story turns more sombre and angsty from this point on and never does it hit the sweet highs of the second volume. Midway through volume three an awful cliché of a plot device is thrown in and again I'm rudely reminded of Kano-sensei's weakness at plotting. It takes the rest of the series to resolve this story line and it's a frustrating read in parts but at this point I'm so heavily invested in this adorable couple that there's no question of not seeing it through.

I haven't mentioned the cats yet but they are a bonus cute factor though really, Kouta is the cutest thing with no competition! After a stumbling start the story really takes off and hits such glorious heights it reminds me of why I love BL manga in the first place. The weaker latter two volumes prevent this series from becoming a true great for me but it's still a series I'd heartily recommend to any fujoshi.

Honey Darling by Akira Norikazu

Rating: 8
Sublime 2012 - Libre 2008
1 volume
Translation: Christine Dashiell

Despite being a huge Akira Norikazu fan, when I first read Honey Darling I didn't think much of it and wrote it off as one of Akira's weaker offerings. However, for some reason I kept returning to the book and after countless readings it's become one of my favourite go-to comfort manga, like an old jumper it's something I reach for when I can't be bothered with anything else and just want to snuggle into something warm and familiar. That rating of 8 that I've given it is more like 6 parts for story and 2 parts affection.

It's an extremely simple story that doesn't try to be more than what it is, and that is a sweet romance between man and man (and man and cat). Chihiro is a young man drifting through life with no dreams or aspirations, working at a pachinko parlour to pay the rent, and just living day-to-day. One night he comes across an abandoned kitten in a cardboard box and takes her home. He soon falls in love with little Shiro and looks forward to coming home to her every evening. One night Shiro falls ill. Running through the streets in a panic searching for the local vet clinic Chihiro bumps into Kumazawa, who fortunately turns out to be the vet. Chihiro is grateful to the vet for treating her but Kumazawa is not so impressed with Chihiro and gives him a lecture on what a responsible pet owner should be, pointing out that Chihiro should have looked up a vet clinic when he first took the kitten in. Chihiro is chastened and slaps himself on the cheeks to Kumazawa's surprise. Chihiro tearfully apologises to Shiro for not taking proper care of her; touched by the scene, Kumazawa says he'll take those tears as payment for the medical bill. A flustered Chihiro realises the vet is not as scary as he first thought and on spying a recruitment poster in the clinic he asks for the job on impulse. Kumazawa says he can't hire Chihiro as a veterinary assistant but can hire him as...his wife?! Turns out he means a live-in housekeeper and so Chihiro and Shiro move in with Kumazawa to begin their life together.

On the face of it, there's nothing eye-catching about this manga, the setup and plot is standard romantic fare, the characters are pretty generic and conform to usual yaoi seme/uke stereotype, the writing is simple and unfussy; just what is it about this manga that keeps me coming back for more? And when I think about it I have to bow down in admiration of Akira-sensei all over again. Simply put, I enjoy every moment of this manga. Akira is good at capturing all those moments, from Chihiro's genuine affection for his kitten, to his confusion over the growing feelings he has for Kumazawa, to the seemingly mundane moments that make up a daily routine which, with Akira's skilled pen, we see as moments of stress or fun or satisfaction for Chihiro as he gets used to his new job. I already know what happens in every scene but I still enjoy experiencing those moments each time I pick up the book.

At twenty-something pages each, all the chapters are quite short and because she does it so effortlessly you almost don't notice how good Akira is at quickly establishing characters, situations and the mood with a few deft strokes of her pen. Her artwork is expressive and varied, and a single illuminating facial expression can pull you right into the scene in the space of a panel. In the first chapter all it takes is a few panels for the reader to see Chihiro's attachment to Shiro or to feel his anguish when he fears for her health. Kumazawa is a silent stoic type so by default is hard to connect with emotionally yet with a single transformative smile Chihiro, and the reader, is struck by the kindness in his expression and know that there is more to him than meets the eye.

I have no idea what the title Honey Darling refers to but it's most likely something to do with the overflowing cuteness in the manga. Akira regularly uses 'chibi' art where Chihiro has cat ears and Kumazawa has bear ears (kuma means 'bear' in Japanese) and these comical moments are funny and cute. Kumazawa views Chihiro as a stray cat, hence the cat ears, and treats him as such; Chihiro often has to remind him that he's human and not a cat. The real cat, Shiro, is adorable and in several asides the mangaka notes that the story is turning into a cat manga rather than a boys love one (chibi Chihiro pops up with a goofy expression to say that there's nothing wrong with that).

This story is pure fluff and certainly won't be for everyone but for those who love a sweet slice of romantic fuzz, this cat manga masquerading as BL is an easy recommendation.

My Bad by Shinba Rize

Rating: 3
Juné 2010 - Houbunsha 2002
1 volume
Translation: Phillip Rankaboshi

My Bad is a collection of mediocre one-shots that range from average to really rather bad. This is some of Shinba's earliest work and boy does it show. The volume cover art is fine but once you open the book you're confronted with an awful title-page illustration of some uke where the anatomical proportion is drawn so bad it actually hurts your eyes. The next title-page illustration is no better. Thankfully the main body of the manga is drawn much better with just a smattering of dodgy disproportionate bodies cropping up but even those few are distracting once you've been put on guard from the first page.

Of the five stories in the volume there is only one that I actually enjoyed, two I thought were so-so, and the other two I mostly frowned through. The one I liked was the fourth story about a high school boy falling for a train conductor whose voice he likes so much that he takes long train journeys just to listen to the conductor's announcements and chat to him on occasion. It's a cute little story that works because the characters are quite likeable (unlike some others in the rest of the anthology) and you can see why they fall for each other. The conductor is an unpretentious straight-talking kind of guy and the uke finds that he can chat to him easily even though he's usually bad at talking to people. The conductor takes an interest in the bratty kid who has a habit of skipping school and I'm happy when they get together because the uke has found someone he can open up to and I'm glad that the seme has found love just because I like him.

The two stories I didn't like feature less affable characters, one has a spoiled selfish uke who cries for a week when the relationship doesn't go his way and the other has an aloof seme who casually rapes his doormat of an uke for the flimsiest of reasons. The title story is about a boy who has a secret crush on his neighbour and stoops to stealing his underpants. The boy's pervertedness is amusing at times but on the whole the story, like the rest in the anthology, is too formulaic and superficial. The last story is of a type that I usually like, cracky gag manga about an idiotic couple, and for this reason was probably the story that I liked second best in the volume. Yasunobu's and Takashi's fathers are leaders of opposing political parties and at school they maintain an antagonistic front but in secret they are passionate lovers who call each other "Yasu-bear" and "Taka-pie"; they view themselves as a modern day Romeo and Juliet. It's silly and cute, and ends with an heroic and heartwarming coming-out.

Though I say I liked one or two of the stories, at best, they were still very average. I was suckered in by the pervy premise of an underpants-thieving uke but you don't have to be; there are tons of better manga out there and the only reason to buy this title is if you are a maniacal Shinba Rize fan or if you have nothing else to spend your money on and it's selling for really really cheap.

Only the Ring Finger Knows by Kannagi Satoru & Odagiri Hotaru

Rating: 8
Juné 2004 - Tokuma Shoten 2001
1 volume
Translation: Sachiko Sato

When I first started reading BL manga a few years ago Only the Ring Finger Knows (OTRFK) was one of the most popular titles around and a staple of western fujoshi favourite manga lists. Recently restocked by DMP after years out of print, I took the opportunity to revisit this classic fan favourite, one of DMP's earliest releases. After so many years the story still does not fail to tug at my heartstrings and make me go, "aw!" and is a title I'd recommend to any BL fan who missed the fuss the first time around.

Adapted from a popular series of light novels written by Kannagi Satoru, only the first novel was given the manga makeover, a source of grievance for some fans of the novels, however, the story reads perfectly well as a single-volume manga and I'm definitely an advocate of series that know to stop while they're ahead as opposed to those that drag on interminably. I've read the first two novels (also published by DMP in English) and found the writing rather weak; I personally much prefer the manga adaptation by Odagiri Hotaru, whose expressive artwork breathes life into scenes that were stilted and clunky in the novels.

The latest fad in Wataru's high school is for couples to wear paired rings. Wataru wears a ring only because he likes it and doesn't concern himself with the fad until a chance encounter leads to the discovery that he wears the same ring as the most popular boy in school, Kazuki. Suddenly all the girls are pestering Wataru to reveal where he bought his ring since they all want to wear a matching ring with Kazuki as well. For Wataru, this all comes as nothing but a pain, especially on learning that the handsome Kazuki is not all that he seems; kind to everyone else, Kazuki is oddly antagonistic towards Wataru. Wataru is at a loss to understand why Kazuki is cold only to him and is bewildered by his own feelings of hurt in response.

OTRFK is a light shounen-ai manga that adheres to many conventions of shoujo manga. The main characters are a stereotypical pairing of ordinary high-schooler x most popular boy in school and everything about the plot is so generic that it feels like a cobbling together of boilerplate shoujo scenes. It has all the trademarks of another run-of-the-mill manga and yet the superior storytelling lifts it above the humdrum and transforms it into a touching tale of pure and delicate teen romance. For all the hundreds of stories with similar plots, this is one of the few that succeeds.

It's hard to put a finger on exactly what sets this story apart and I can only say that it's down to good intuitive storytelling. In a straightforward romantic story of this sort what's most important is that the reader believes in the feelings of the characters, can identify with their emotions and empathise with them every step of the way, and this is what OTRFK achieves effortlessly. It's a combination of excellent pacing, the right choice of expression for the right moment, a good balance between romance, angst and comic relief, and knowing just when to linger on those important emotional turning point moments, that Odagiri employs to craft a slowly simmering story where the tension gradually increases as the depth of feelings grow. The characters' reactions are natural and appropriate, and never seem exaggerated nor melodramatic. Yes, they find themselves in some contrived situations occasionally but I never stop believing their reactions through them all. It's a wonderful portrayal of the purity, excitement and fragility of youthful first love, the bewilderment of unfamiliar feelings taking possession, and the fear of rejection and being hurt.

In the end, it just goes to show that it doesn't matter how contrived or generic a plot is, I wouldn't care if it was the most original plot in the history of fiction if it failed to move me; the real skill lies in the success of execution and OTRFK is a good example of this most basic of fundamentals.