Manga Review Monday Special Edition: My First Yaoi
Due to the very slow week in manga releases this week, I thought it would be a good idea to try something special. In the first installment of Manga-Nation, I mentioned the book Great Place High School. Last week, I was able to track down a copy. And you can probably guess from the headline, but this was indeed my very first yaoi purchase ever. Normally, the bishie style turns me off, but the premise sounded like it had comedy potential:
The GP high-school 'Technologies & Information' club is filled with all sorts of weirdoes, narcissists, and worse. It's hard enough for their president, the kind Ryouichi, to put up with all that and keep the club running. But when Minami joins the club, things get even worse! Minami is a good boy, but any machine he approaches breaks...
What did I think? Read on after the jump...
Done in the 4-koma style, Great Place High School is your generic high school comedy. Reading the description reminded me of Cromartie High School, but the book reads more like Azumanga Daioh. Actually it IS Azumanga Daioh. One of the characters even has their own Mr. Tadakichi (although he looks a little more like Marmaduke)! I'm not complaining, however, as it still has the same type of charm. The all-male cast is ADORABLE. When Minami appears, everyone seems to fall in love with him at once, with some trying to make him their "little brother" (which is actually a bit creepy considering it's a yaoi book).
I'm still not sure if yaoi is a genre I could get into. If not for the promise of comedy, I wouldn't have bothered to pick up this book. Still, it's a pretty funny book. Keep in mind though, Great Place High School is only meant for mature readers. There are a few sex scenes, but done tastefully (also edited) and sort of romantic. My final verdict?
Read it.
Know of other yaoi titles you think I should try? Drop me a line.
Il Palazzo
Posted to Review on 14 July 2008
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: Great Place High School, Manga, Marmaduke, Yaoi
I have but two words for you when it comes to yaoi titles you should read. Antique Bakery. 'Nuff said.
Pff! Antique bakery? That's not real yaoi. Evidenced by the fact that it isn't even carried under their yaoin label.
But seriously, you should try more yaoi. There's a lot of good ones out there. And you can't just judge all yaoi by one book either. Yaoi manga is as varied as any other manga.
Of course I'm a bit of a yaoi addict (bishie and bara), so I'm not exactly objective. I even have original Japanese ones that I can't even read. You pictures tell a lot of the tale though.
Some titles I recommend are Tokyopop's Eerie Queerie (don't mind the stupid title TP's 13 year old fangirl translators gave it, it's actually quite good), most stuff from Blu, New York New York (which I don't think has an official American release) and finally 801. releases for the more erotic stuff.
There's more of course, but that's just off the top of my head.
I've been getting into a lot of American yaoi lately, and while I'm sure there's an assload of uptight little japanophiles who will no doubt lynch me for saying this: they're actually pretty good. I highly recommend Dark Prince (which is basically a smorgasbord of filth, with lots of incest and rape and other stuff I'm ashamed to admit I get off on), Saihoshi the Guardian, Winter Demon (both these titles have really interesting storylines in addition to steamy sex), The Lily and the Rose (which features some of the most gorgeous artwork I've ever seen in a manga, Japanese or otherwise) and Exorcisms and Pogo Sticks (the artwork isn't as great in this one, but the humor more than makes up for that, in my opinion) Give them a try.
Hm, as for American yaoi I quite like Offbeat, though it's more shonen-ai than yaoi. I wish the bloody third volume would come out already though, freakin' Tokyopop.
@Lauren: There are some good OEL yaoi, but there are some stinkers too. Also, the creators of The Lily and the Rose (Dany&Dany) are Italian, not American. :) There's a LOT of BL stuff going on in Europe that we Americans tend to miss out on, so I'm always glad Yaoi Press is on top of it.
Nexus is right that Antique Bakery isn't yaoi, but if you want to try an amazingly awesome hardcore title by the same creator, BLU Manga's release of "Gerard and Jacques" is absolutely phenomenal. Great mix of hilarious and sexy and serious and fun.
Nexus is right about Antique Bakery not being YAOI... or not quite being YAOI. IIRC, it was published in a mag that was transitioning between YAOI and Josei at the time but I'm not sure which way that was going.
Still a solid title, if not a little hard to follow at times.
Overall, though Fumi Yoshinaga really rocks and I'd recommend most of her work. I liked The Moon and the Sandals a lot and Solfege was interesting, though dark.
Yugi Yamada does some interesting work, too, though most of her work are short stories. Close the Last Door had more mature characters (twentysomething salarymen) and had its interesting moments.