Ten Count, from Rihito Takarai

Hello once again! I’m sorry, I feel awful that the next four reviews scheduled for the blog are all about gay books or mangas (a.k.a. yaoi mangas), but it’s as I was telling my friend earlier today: not my fault that my dissertation got me so far behind in living and blogging, haha!

Also, not my fault if Ava March is perfection and sent me an early Christmas present yesterday, but this is a topic for another post, haha! Now I’d like to talk about the manga in hand, Ten Count, from sensei Rihito Takarai ❤

from my Instagram ❤

The Story

Shirotani Tadaomi is the secretary of the President of his company. Despite suffering from a high degree of Mysophobia (the fear of germs and dirt in general), Shirotani does his job well and lives a quiet existence. Until he meets Kurose, a psychiatrist that immediately acknowledges Shirotani’s condition and offers to help him, but as a friend.

Shirotani wasn’t bothered by his own life style until Kurose sweeps him off his feet. Now, besides dealing with his fears, he also has to decide what he feels for the psychiatrist. His responses to Kurouse’s advances are what is going to determinate whether he can be cured or if he is a real lost case.

The manga is still being publish in Japan and this review contemplates it until volume 4.

 

The Analysis

Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂

This series was recommended to me by a close offline friend that knows darn well my reading tastes, so I had no doubts that I would love it as soon as I got to read it ❤ Thanks, Rach! I’m deeply in love with Ten Count since page one *–* (and you already knew that because of the discreet voice messages that I sent you, screaming the matter and all).

Honestly, this is one of the best manga series that I have read in my life! It meets with all my expectations when I pick up a series: the art is flawless, the characters are awesome, the plot is lightly mysterious and involving, the romance (when present) is cute and the sex scenes (when present, again) are hot and without any trace of vulgarity.

I know it’s a little sad and depressing to have a mental checklist when you start to read something, but it is truly rewarding to find a series that makes all the items checked on the list! Ten Count is one of those series and its author, Rihito Takarai, is amazing.

The narrative pace is slow and we see it all from Shirotani’s perspective, so the reader also finds Kurose a mystery in a pretty package. Shirotani reflects a lot about almost everything despite not being a talker, so the story pace is very slow in the beginning and it gets better with each volume, as the reader now is enchanted by what lies within both characters pasts and how can they be in love with each other.

The plot is not overly complicated. Shirotani has a mental condition and a stranger offers to help him healing. There are some twists and some reader-heart-attack moments, but nothing brilliant or overly intelligent. The focus of the story is the human development between Shirotani and Kurose and I’m totally fine with simple plots, as long as they are well executed. Spoiler alert: this one is, haha!

…with everything about you, Ten Count…

The characters. OMG the characters! We barely know any other characters that are not Shirotani and Kurose AND I COULDN’T CARE LESS 😀 Both are such complex and complete characters… I mean, it’s amazing. Both men are broken, each on their own way, but they are not lacking individuals that were just waiting for their soul mate to arrive, you know? They already are who they are, but they get better together. It’s magical.

And to talk about the art is to show, so here are some illustrative images* of our beautiful couple, colorful and black and white:

from left to right: Shirotani and Kurose ❤

Flawless. I love this soft drawing style, fluid and clean. SO PRETTY, OMG!

Bonus point: the sex scenes. Until volume 4, the sex scenes are sparse and most preliminary play than actual sex, but all so true and so plausible… I can’t wait for volume 5 to be out, because I really want to see those two catching fire together, haha!

Honestly, I love the soul deep connection between Shirotani and Kurose and their love, as dysfunctional as it is, warms my heart ❤ If you like yaoi/boys love, just read this one, seriously.

That’s it! Thanks for reading and sorry for the many reviews on books and mangas of the same genre, but oh well, haha! I regret nothing ❤

 

 

*ps: I do not own the illustrations, they were found on Google, belong to Rihito Takarai sensei and were used with illustrative purposes only 🙂