Taiwanese new version of Seven Days by Takarai Rihito and Tachibana Venio with new cover and visual.
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Taiwanese new version of Seven Days by Takarai Rihito and Tachibana Venio with new cover and visual.
Source
Ookami wa Hana no Kaori volume 2 - Riyuma Kana
Its been a year since the first volume was released! It doesn’t feel all too long ago that I fell in love with the series. I ended up devouring the volume all too fast and now it’s back to the waiting game.
The second volume of Ookami wa Hana no Kaori brings drama, pain, happiness, and more pain. It’s a series that, underneath Aruta’s innocence and happiness, is a turbulent story filled with deep sadness; a story about two people of different status who are equally powerless against long-standing traditions.
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Amazonに「この商品を買った人はこんな商品も買っています」というコーナーがありますよね。「BLを買う人も、BLだけ買うわけじゃなくてミネラルウォーターとかの日用品も買うはず」「……ということは、「この商品を買った人はこんな商品も買っています」をたどっていけば、いつかはBLから炊飯器にたどりつくはず……!?」
Someone tried an experiment where, beginning with BL manga, they followed Amazon recs until they reached a rice cooker. They list their reasoning for each step which is p hilarious.
Here’s how you can play along:
Pick a BL to begin with
Look at the “Customers who bought this item also bought” list and choose the item you think will bring you closer to a rice cooker
Continue until you reach a rice cooker
Riyuma Kana - Ookami wa Hana no Kaori volume 2
Out August 22! I’m excited!
近頃、オシャレな表紙デザインのBL作品、通称”オシャレBL”が増えています。 ブックリスタが厳選したBL初心者さんにもオススメの120冊をご紹介します。 期間限定でここでしか入手できない特典付きや特別価格も多数ご用意。 思わず手に取りたくなる”オシャレBL”の世界をお楽しみください。
I spent 20 minutes trying to refind this link so I’m just gonna dump it on this blog so I don’t lose it again. Just a list of BL that have nice cover designs.
Oops, I’ve been a bit lazy with posting. Some notable stuff I’ve read in the last.. two months?
Yoru to Asa no Uta - Harada For some reason I thought this was an on-going series so I put off reading it for quite some time, but when I reached the end of the volume I was greeted with “END”?! Anyway, I love Harada but this title just didn’t quite hit the right notes for me. I seriously can’t get over how garbage Asaichi is. Like, everything about him is pure garbage. Yoru, your taste is SHIT. The thing with Harada’s longer works, I find, is that they the long route in addressing topics and there’s more room to see different sides of the character - that may mean you’ll love them more or hate them more. In comparison, her shorter works are blunt and to the point that the characters are trash. The longer it goes, the more time you have to try to find a redeeming point - only there is none for Asaichi. Yoru, on the other hand, I loved more and more. I find it amusing that Harada finds it necessary to write a continuation of Asaichi getting brutally violated. Never change, Harada.
Color Recipe volume one - Harada A BL about hairstylists! While it's not a top favourite from Harada, I did enjoy it for the most part and I’m looking forward to the next volume. It’s a curious work as it’s full of untrustworthy characters so you’re not sure whether to take their word as truth. There’s a lot of things I’m waiting to be resolved and I’m not really sure where Harada will take it so I’m holding off on commenting. I’m also looking forward to the drama CD a lot (I can’t wait to hear Kihara to get wrecked).
Kajou Mousou Shounen volume one - Pii What you see in the cover and title is pretty much what you get - It hit all the right buttons and I enjoyed it thoroughly (laughs..). It’s probably my favourite BL I’ve read of late but certainly your mileage will vary. Since it delivered everything I wanted I’m honestly a bit nervous to read the second volume.
Yarachin Bitch-bu volume one - Ogeretsu Tanaka Ogeretsu Tanaka seems to be a really hot name lately. Admittedly, I haven’t read a lot of their stuff, only Sabita Yoru Demo Koi wa Sasayaku and a few oneshots. If I wasn’t a fan before, I certainly am now. Miles away from the emotional Sabita Yoru Demo Koi wa Sasayaku about abuse, Yarachin Bitch-bu is pure crack. Everything seems ridiculous, yet we can see there is something deeper to these characters than meets the eye.
Japanese cover for the Japanese release of Captive Prince (in April 2016) (x)
[pre-orders available at the twitter link above)
I remember I used to do weekly posts about BL I read throughout the week; I don’t read as much to make it a weekly thing again, but I hope to do it now and then since the only time I post is when there’s something I really enjoy. Here are some titles I read in January!
Dear, Crazy Monster - Motteke I’ve had this on my to-read list for a while now because !! yandere! BL!! I’m not a fan of the seme that gets jealous at the very sight of someone else breathing the same air as their lover, because that immaturity is suppose to be romantic, but when the possessiveness is obviously deranged it’s really something to take twisted pleasure in. It’s always curious to see how far an author will push the yandere trope; from the cover and title I was expecting something crazy and, boy, was it a wild ride. The insanity intensifies due to the pairing being two brothers.
Yoru wa Tomodachi - Ido Gihou A complicated relationship between a guy who takes on the role of a sadist to satisfy a masochist. This book left me feeling pretty complex; I’m not sure if I can say I enjoyed it, but I was enthralled by it to finish it in one day. While I think I understood their complicated relationship in the end, my limited Japanese still has me wondering if I’m missing something. It’s a gripping read in any case.
Yamada to Shounen - Mita Ori This was ridiculously cute! I really liked how Yamada, as an adult, was actually perceptive to Chihiro’s crush and thoughts. I'm looking forward to reading more of this mangaka’s stuff!
2015
Well, well, well. It’s time for another one of those yearly reflection posts.
Canis volume 1-3 by ZAKK.
In the past few years there’s been far and few BL that have really, really impressed me. I’ve read a lot of BL and even if a lot of the plots get recycled, I still love the genre. Still, it feels like most of my favourites are ones from long ago and nothing of late has reached that same level for me. There’s been stuff this year I enjoyed - a lot - but they weren't on the same level that I would rank into my favourites. Thus comes the Canis series by ZAKK.
I had actually read the first volume of Canis a year or so ago but I didn’t follow the releases since I don’t like reading on-going stuff. I made the exception for Canis since the art looked gorgeous, but I left it at volume one and forgot about it. Skip forward a year and I’m rereading the first volume again, as well as the following two volumes.
The romance in Canis is a slow moving one; they grow and learn together, try to figure out their true feelings, they’re very human characters in respect to their flaws and insecurities. Although slow, it’s very, very much worth it in the end. Seeing them together in the end is just so rewarding after three volumes.
What really sticks out about Canis is that ZAKK makes the most out of her character’s occupations - one is a hat maker while the other is ...well, himself. A hat maker in itself is a rare find in BL. But it’s not just the character having this job, it’s the fact that it’s utilized to play a role in the story. More often than not you can have a story about a doctor without going anywhere near any patients or health issues. Satoru’s life as a hat maker is fascinating, especially when it gets connected with his and Ryou’s relationship; he moves forward as a hat maker, as well as progressing in a romantic relationship - the two go hand and hand. It’s also nice that the hat shop side characters feel relevant and are likeable.
And I can’t not mention how gorgeous ZAKK’s art is. It’s honestly breathtaking. Her characters are all beautifully designed and fashionable. I’m taken by the way she draws Satoru’s wavy hair, but it’s the eyes that really draws me in. Her deformed character style is also quirky but charming in their own way. There’s just a lot of life to her drawings and I’m really hoping I’d be able to see more when I get a copy in my hands.
The Canis series doesn’t end at three volumes - the next volume seems to focus on a set of side characters, but it certainly ends on a very satisfying note for Satoru and Ryou. Even if later volumes don’t get back to them I am very satisfied with what we were given thus far. I’ll be waiting for the volumes to stack up before I dive into later volumes but I’m looking forward to them very, very much.
Ookami wa Hana no Kaori volume 1 - Riyuma Kana
Now and then there‘s a manga that you see and you have a burning desire to read no matter what; Ookami wa Hana no Kaori is that manga for me. It’s a spin-off of the mangaka’s earlier work, Ookami wa Koi ni Naku, which I haven’t actually read. I discovered the book through a collaboration with Saibai Shounen, an app about growing ikemen mandrakes (lol), and it peaked my interest so much I had to buy the manga.
The story begins with Iru, a young man in the military, discovering a malnourished and scar-covered boy from the “White Deer” clan in a cave. Not knowing speech, Iru gives the boy the name “Aruta,” (using the kanji for gold colour) for his striking gold eyes. Iru takes Aruta back to the capital in hopes that he will be happy in the royal palace; it has been a long tradition that those in the White Deer clan marry a royal of the “Wolves” clan. Aruta has grown far too attached to Iru by this point, however, and thus turmoil looms between these two people of different social statuses.
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I haven’t been reading much BL lately (which is why this blog updates infrequently), but here’s books on my current reading list:
Yajirushi and Suki na Hito Hido by Harada I’ve read two of the stories in Yajirushi and they’re what you’d expect of Harada - very messed up. The two books are a lot more censored than Harada’s first two books.. the dicks are just white blobs now...
Yasashii Epilogue by Mochimeko I bought this a while back but I’m rereading it since my Japanese has somewhat improved since. Currently two chapters in and definitely getting a lot more out of it than the first time I read it. Mochimeko’s art is still adorable.
Stranger by Kuku Hayate The Wild West! My friend Annette sent me a copy of this earlier this year but I’ve been guilty of just leaving it collect dust because I’ve been too lazy to attempt this with my crappy Japanese. I’ll have to get on it once I’m done with the above.
a review of the year of sorts
Just some thoughts about 2014, the new year and the future of this blog.
Young Bad Education - Dayoo
Young Bad Education - Dayoo
I was so excited to finally get my hands on this. Ever since seeing the cover and the word '"yandere" advertised all over it, I knew I had to read it. I can only talk about the titular story and its extra right now since I haven't read the second story yet, but I want to talk about it before the year is over!
The story begins with Mizusawa, 17 and third year student, comes across his teacher, Takatsu, 37 years old, drunk and lying on a park bench. There, Takatsu drunkly confesses that he's been looking at Mizusawa since he was a first year and kisses him. More than scared or disgusted, Mizusawa is curious. Takatsu's clumsiness and bashful face draws Mizusawa in, rather than repeals him. But Takatsu doesn't want this; it was supposed to be a secret unrequited love, and starts running away. The pairing is described as "attacking yandere x cold-feet yandere," haha, that pretty much sums it up. I really got a lot of joy at seeing Takatsu slip up, haha. He's really the type of character you want to bully (pls look at the last photo for reference, how can you not want to tease that face a bit?) and I was cheering Mizusawa on to bully him for me /o/
The most eye-catching thing of Dayoo's art is definitely her colour pieces; they're soft but still very striking. Mizusawa's eyes look utterly mesmerising on the cover and Dayoo makes extra emphasis to draw close ups of his eyes throughout the manga. It adds an extra layer of emphasis that Mizusawa is looking ahead, while Takatsu averts his eyes and hides behind his glasses.
While I enjoyed it for the most part, there were a bit that I felt like Dayoo could've expanded on in terms of characterization. Also wished the couple could've filled the whole book! I generally read raw manga at snail pace but I managed to get through the four chapters in two sittings. The second story is titled "Kimi wa itazura na hidane" which features a wanko mail carrier x bad tempered novelist, is Dayoo's debut work, apparently. I'll probably take a bit more with the second story since there's a lack of yanderes, haha.
Colour comic from Kumota Haruko's Itoshi no Nekokke volume 3.
I was browsing eBookJapan and saw they had a preview of the volume I've been meaning to buy a physical copy of. I fell in love with Mii-kun and Kei-chan again!
Here's a translation of the comic at the start of the volume. Please read Itoshi no Nekokke if you haven't!
Bonus:
In the Box by Konohara Narise
I finished Konohara Narise's In the Box series in two days flat. Once I started, I couldn't put it down; it was one hell of a rollercoaster ride. It's been a long time since I've read a BL has hit me so hard. I recommend you pick it up if you like your BL a bit twisted.
In the Box spoiler talk under cut!