Miwaku Shikake – Amai Wana, from Yonezou Nekota

Hello, good night! After what it seems like forever but indeed were only two weeks, I decided to write another yaoi manga review! 😀 Who’s excited?! Yes, you! Not really, but bear with me.

I’m closer than ever of my goal of reviewing all my recent reads and I’m really excited about this! But going back to today’s target: Miwaki Shikake – Amai Wana, from Yonezou Nekota-sensei! (This title struck me as particularly odd as there is a trace connecting its parts, so I translated it on Google and the title happens to be awesome: Captivating Fascination – Sweet Trap.)

from my Instagram 😀

The Story

Amami and Hachidori are your regular workers on a high-tech firm. Hachidori is the perfect image of the hard-working and demanding sexy boss and Amani is the perfect image of the hateful employee that wants to get back at his boss for being a tyrant.

Only that they aren’t.

Amami and Hachidori have history together, a very annoying past on Amami’s point of view.

And their history is about to get deeper and even more personal when Hachidori saves Amami of being molested by another man in the middle of the street. Will Amami be able to be grateful to a man he can barely respect?

The Analysis

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

I really enjoyed this title. It was short and funny, with the right amount of sexiness to it and a good dose of surprise in the plot. It could have been bigger, even for a short story and I really wanted to have seen Hachidori being a queen, but oh well. It was amusing anyway! Four stars 😀

The narrative pace was fast and mainly from Amami’s point of view. Hachidori has his moments as well, more to the end, as a way of wrapping all the events of the title. It worked for me, but the plot left room for so much more, ugh!

Yes, the plot. It was surprisingly complicated for such a short story! I can’t complain much, Nekota-sensei did a good executing job and wrapped things up, but I wanted more. #spoiled

I seriously loved the characters on this manga. Amami was so clueless that it was funny. Usually, I tend to find this type of character rather bothersome, but not this time. Also, there is an interesting fact here: Amami leads the reader to understand that he used to be molested by older boys as a kid. As a result, he is extremely homophobic. I guess I can’t really blame him, but the way Nekota-sensei cures him is the best 😉

Hachidori also were a very different type of dominant protagonist. He’s obviously a top in bed matters, but still dresses up as a woman at a gay club. It’s a shame that Nekota-sensei didn’t draw him like that, because I can’t imagine this scene to save my life, haha!

Anyway, there is a huge bonus on this title: the art*!

from left to right: Hachidori and Amami ❤

Hachidori being a diva ❤

and how they work together lol – I removed the dialogues to avoid spoilers 🙂

If you look for a quick and pleasant yaoi read, this title is totally for you!

Thanks so much for reading! ❤

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

Even So, I Will Love You Tenderly (No Touching At All series), from Kou Yoneda

Hello, nice afternoon to you! We are in the middle of Summer in Brazil, so the making of this post was interrupted my cold nights and really warm days at the pool, haha! It took me three days to finish writing this =O

Rants apart, I decided to finally review my first read of the year, haha! It’s a manga called Even So, I Will Love You Tenderly, from Kou Yoneda-sensei!

If you find this name to be familiar, it is because this oneshot is a kind of independent second volume to No Touching At All, that you may have seen here 😀

The Story

Deguchi is an average salary man that is very skeptical when it comes to love. Used to pick up lovers for one-night stands (sometimes, for even less time, if you get my drift), the last thing he expected was to meet someone he can build a relationship with at a bar. And yet, it’s exactly what it happens.

Onoda is a nerdy guy working at the same company that Degushi used to, but in different areas. They meet at a bar through a common work colleague and a friendship is born. Onoda has a crush on a guy that works at his company, named Shima. He has no idea of Degushi’s feelings or even his sexual orientation. Onoda himself thought he was heterosexual until meeting Shima, but now he is not so sure…

To everyone’s delight, Deguchi is a very patient man when it comes to things that really matter and does his best to discreetly make Onoda see that Shima is not really meant for him.

But will Deguchi have the courage to spoil their friendship in case Onoda doesn’t love him back?

The Analysis

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

I stumbled on this title quite by accident before Christmas and almost had an attack to see it was from the same series as No Touching At All, one of the most beautiful yaoi (a.k.a. gay) mangas ever. But life happened and I ended up forgetting about it until browsing my virtual collections of tbr mangas, some weeks ago. It was love since page one, as I love Yoneda-sensei’s draws. And, of course, it was awesome to have glimpses of Shima and Togawa’s relationship from another point of view. Deguchi and Onoda warmed up my heart and almost had me crying at some scenes, as Yoneda-sensei’s plots are very realistic for good and bad. This is a big full five stars title!

The narrative pace is fast and mostly from Deguchi’s point of view. We have some Onoda moments, but they come just before the end. I think it worked like this because Deguchi is a highly interesting character: he has a façade of badass sales man to the world, but actually is very romantic and hopeful. Maybe the reader wouldn’t catch his true essence if both characters shared the narrative more than they do.

The plot is simple and yet oh-so-complicated. Yoneda-sensei draws a very human and common story life, without any great actions, adventures or surprises, but it never ceases to be complicated. Deguchi is in love with a man he thinks he can’t have; Onoda is in love with a man that has no eyes for him; both can’t openly admit being gay because of the high prejudice of Japanese society surrounding them. This is too real! It’s a boys-next-door kind of title and that’s why it captures your heart. Yoneda-sensei shows us that we live several happily-ever-after moments, but they are never forever. There will be always a problem, a barrier to overcome. This is being human and in a relationship. It’s just beautiful.

In matter of characters, we are introduced to really few ones besides the couple, Shima and Togawa and none of them is really that important. The spotlight goes to Deguchi and Onoda and I’m fine with it. I mean, the story is about them, right? LOL I loved Deguchi. Usually, I like the dominant better, but Deguchi had so much personality and independence even after falling for Onoda that I couldn’t stay unaffected. Onoda was the insecure and indecisive of them and he only tops because Deguchi likes to be bottom. However, what really touched me concerning all characters in this title is their reality, their humanity. The boy-next-door thing.

Oh, did I mentioned that also they were all pretty? Hahaha! Look*:

From left to right: Deguchi and Onoda ❤

THEY ARE TOO CUTE OMG

I love Yoneda-sensei’s draws ❤

Bonus point: the sex scenes. There aren’t many, but they were well put and executed, making it all about their desire to be together *–* For good or bad, this is not a title that you look for if you want hot moments, haha!

Overall, a beautifully written and drawn title that you can’t miss if you like drama and contemporary gay romance ❤

That’s it! Thanks for reading ❤ How’s the weather where you are??

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

Manga author: Matsuri Hino

Hello, everyone! Today I begin another section at the blog: authors from my heart <3. I’m that kind of person that, if I like one book or manga from a writer or mangaka, I will madly look for all the other works from the person, lol. This section will take place four times in a month: two posts for book authors and two for manga authors, or mangakas ❤

So, I officially open this section with one of my all-time ever favorite manga authors: Matsuri Hino-sensei.

sensei ❤

We first met in 2003, when Meru Puri was released in Brazil by Panini. This series changed my life and my conscious preferences on men to this day. If you ask me, her strong point is her art. Her draws are insanely beautiful and a true signature ❤ As for the plots, that’s a weak point. I don’t know what happens, but I feel that she gets lost into her own stories sometimes, haha! Anyway, who cares about plots when you can have a look at her men? LOL

Anyway, Hino-sensei only has six titles to her name, as she is the kind of author that focus on a series at time. I already read them all, so here we go, in the order of my reading:

• Meru Puri

This was my first and beloved one. Soon, I’ll make a decent review of the story, but Alam and his brother Jeile still visit my dreams at night with their perfection ❤

Goodreads blurb:

On the way to school one morning, Aili loses her mirror – one that had been passed down to her through generations – and suddenly finds herself in a bizarre situation. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect Alam, a little boy from a magical kingdom, to have emerged from the mirror in the short time it took her to track it down!

 And those are Alam and Jeile, from left to right:

 

• Vampire Knight

I have a funny story with this series. When I was younger, I wasn’t very, er… Watchful(?) of the manga world. I loved it and all, but I only knew about the releases when I saw them selling, haha! At the time Vampire Knight was released around here, it wasn’t long after Meru Puri’s end, so I was feeling very abandoned. When I saw Vampire Knight, I had an attack and bought it thinking that it was the continuation of Meru Puri. I didn’t even bother reading the title, I just took it home with me (#stupid, haha!). My mistake turned out just fine, but I admit that I never finished this series – stopped by volume 8, because of publishing problems at Brazil. One day, I’ll start over and finish it 🙂

Goodreads blurb:

Yuki Cross has no memory of her past prior to the moment she was saved from a vampire attack ten years ago. She was adopted by the headmaster of Cross Academy, and now works alongside Zero to guard the Academy’s secret. Cross Adademy is attended by two groups of students: the Day Class and the Night Class. At twilight, when the students of the Day Class return to their dorm, they cross paths with the Night Class on their way to school. Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu are the Guardians of the school, protecting the Day Class from the Academy’s dark secret: the Night Class is full of vampires!

This is Kaname, one of the main characters in Vampire Knight, and a long lost brother of Alam and Jeile (ok, he is not, but you can understand my confusion now, right? Haha!)

 

• Wanted

This is my second favorite title from her. Too bad it’s an oneshot

Goodreads blurb:

In the Mediterranean at end of the 17th century, former songstress Armeria disguises herself as a boy and boards the ship of the pirate Skulls–the man who kidnapped Luce, her first love. Captain Skulls is arrogant, violent, and a skirt chaser! And unfortunately for Armeria, he discovers she’s a woman…

 

• Captive Hearts

Third favorite o/ The story is very funny overall and the characters are interesting.

Goodreads blurb:

Fate plays an unusual trick on a privileged boy in this adorable shojo!

Being carried around everywhere and having handsome Megumi act like a slave may seem ideal, but Suzuka just wishes he would stop. Can anything be done about Megumi’s captive state? Or is Megumi doomed to see Suzuka as his master…forever?

Carefree Megumi Kuroishi was living a life of luxury until the day a girl named Suzuka Kogami walked into his life. All of a sudden, Megumi finds himself kneeling at Suzuka’s feet and prostrating himself like a servant! What Megumi doesn’t know (until that very moment anyway) is that his family is cursed to follow the orders of the Kogami family.

 

• Watashi To Fukigen na Panya-san

This is a short story without a proper cover, sweet and sad. I particularly didn’t like it very much, but it’s cute in its own way.

Goodreads blurb:

A touching story of a young woman on the verge of adulthood who reminisces about a certain bakery she visited many times during her youth as she is on her way to visit it once more.

• Shuriken to Pleats

This is Hino-sensei’s current project. I read what was already available at my Manga Rock app and I hated it. And me hating it broke my heart, because I know it will take a while now to a new release, as she works into one manga each time…

Goodreads blurb:

The story revolves around Mikage, a schoolgirl who is the descendent of ninjas. She lives in modern-day Kyushu, and she serves a certain man.

That’s it, guys! Thanks for reading 😀 For now, I can promise reviews to Meru Puri and Wanted, but I can gladly review all of them if you are interested 🙂 Do we have other lovers of Matsuri Hino-sensei’s works around??

 

*I do not own any of the images used on this post, they were all found at Google researchs and used here to illustrative ends only.

Hanayome wa Oku-san, from Yuki Shimizu

Hello, everyone! Some days ago I was having troubles to sleep, so I decided to pick up a one shot manga to pass my time and tire my eyes. I found a perfect manga by chance, that was Hanayome wa Oku-san, from Yuki Shimizu. The title can be translated into “Oku-san, The Bride”.

The manga is very short, with only two chapters, but it was enough to steal my heart. The main characters, Nana and Oku (not my favorite Japanese names, but one can’t have everything), met at college, where Nana was known as The Prince of Good Fortune, as any girl who slept with him was said to have all her wishes granted. Oku had a crush on him, so, one day, he asks Nana to sleep with him, as he was in need of some luck in his life – or so he tells Nana.

After that one time of passion, Oku quits college and had to change his life, to never see Nana again. Until they end up working at the same place.

Their workplace was a wedding venue called “White Bell”. It had two chapels, a smaller one and a big one, both with gardens, a room for the couple spend their nuptials and what they called “The Pride of White Bell”, their wedding dresses collection. It counted with lots of dresses signed by international stylists, so it was the highlight of the venue.

Both Nana and Oku were assistants, available for the marring couple, helping to make all the decisions and preparations, both before and on the special day. Nana was the most requested one, as his “prince aura” never left him. The White Bell wasn’t functioning in all its capacities yet and it was only a matter of time for Nana to quit the place – and that was killing Oku. He knew that, after the fake wedding presentation for potential customers, it would be over again.

What both men didn’t know was who would turn out to be the groom and bride of this fake weeding 🙂

Now, before anything else, I have to praise Shimizu-sensei’s art. Her traces are just gorgeously beautiful! I love lean and masculine men, with delicate drawing like Matsuri Hino’s and Kaori Yuki’s. It’s neat and perfect ❤

aren’t they perfect? ❤

Short and sweet, with the right amount of drama, lots of romance and a perfect end, Hanayome wa Oku-san is an awesome reading for yaoi/boys love lovers, like me 🙂

That’s it! Thanks for reading 😀 Do you also like yaoi mangas?