I’ve been reading a ton of BL, so here are some pocket reviews because I’m overwhelmed at the thought of writing individual reviews for all of these. I really love this genre and think the work being done in it is very interesting and engaging. I also continue to be glad that the books getting licensed and translated right now have much better art across the board then when I first started reading BL around 2004.
A Hero in the Demon’s Castle has a unique and fun art style. It’s visually dense with a ink brush feel that I found striking. The book follows the Demon King Wisped, who is used to heroes trying to storm his castle and kill him. One day a hero (True) gets into the castle who doesn’t want to kill him and just wants to hang out and be around him. There are some good themes here of society viewing you as a monster and abusing you for something you can’t help. The Demon King is actually a good person who struggles with being immortal, but he views himself negatively due to the trauma he went though in the past. True’s presence helps him to start to thaw out a little bit. I did wish that their relationship progressed more in this volume and that True was somewhat less childlike (extremely unbalanced power differentials always distract me from getting fully into a romance), but overall I did like this.
Tsumasaki Ni Kourozu is a short story anthology of somewhat fantastical tales. I bought this wrapped based off the strength of the cover (most BL publishers wrap any book above a Teen rating in plastic), so I couldn’t see the inside art, which I kind of regret. The body proportions here are wild and kept distracting me from the book. The backgrounds are really pretty and the tone overall is gentle, but the wonky long limbs and necks make the characters look bizarre. I am also not sure why this needed to be wrapped, as all that happens is some gentle kissing. The story I liked best was “A Fish’s Warmth,” about a young man who sees fish come out of people when they sleep. The concept was surreal and the visuals worked well. I don’t regret buying this but I am not sure I would have if I could have seen the interiors beforehand.
Secret XXX follows Shohei, who loves rabbits but is severely allergic to them. He deeply wants to be around them and ends up working at a rabbit pet store and hiding his allergy from the store owner, Mito. They end up falling in love and dealing with Shohei’s secret allergy, as well as Mito’s own secret that he’s hiding. The art here is very strong and the characters all have a lot of depth to them. I like a busy page and this book has dense art that I enjoyed. Their personal arcs are satisfying in terms of growth and learning to communicate, and I always like a story that brings in their families and friends and gives them realistic, sensible motivations. I’m looking forward to reading the Therapy Game series, which deals with their brothers falling in love (convenient, but I love a trope). This is an explicit book that earns its Mature rating with graphic sex scenes, and it also deals with heavier topics like suicide and fear of homophobia.
The Ruthless Commander and His Reincarnated Warhorse is just a delight. This is a manga adaptation of a web novel but it’s so seamless you wouldn’t be able to guess. This is an isekai premise, where Aleksei is reborn in another world as a horse. He helps save a military commander, Felix, from a bear, and Felix decides to train him as his warhorse. Felix is very stern and commanding, but also very kind and supportive to Aleksei. Eventually, Aleksei finds out that he can turn into a human and they’re able to further their relationship as romantic partners instead of just a man and his horse. This concept honestly cracked me up and the book has a humorous tone throughout — they know that this concept is silly and they run with it. Aleksei’s personality meshes well with Felix, as he helps him to soften up, and Felix provides Aleksei support and growth. Their power dynamic could have edged over into being uncomfortable, but I think the authors did a good job of showing Aleksei’s inner strength and determination to be in the relationship despite knowing less and being inexperienced. The art is really strong and this was a treat to read. Kuma, the BL imprint of DENPA, translates consistently strong and interesting titles. Whoever is on their editorial staff is doing a great job!
Send Them a Farewell Gift for the Lost Time is by Cocomi, whose other books I’ve liked a lot. This title is more bittersweet and conflict driven than their rural romance series (Restart After Coming Back Home and Restart After Growing Hungry), but it really works here in terms of showing how a relationship can go sour and resentments can fester. Tsukushi and Toui have been together for four years, but Tsukushi is sick of cleaning up after Toui and having his efforts ignored. He feels underappreciated and decides to break up. However, their lives are hard to disentangle and they keep having sex, even though Tsukushi has developed a real antipathy for Toui. The emotional depictions here are very sensitive and nuanced, with Toui getting his own chance to show how the relationship has impacted him as well and how he is not solely the bad guy. Each of them has to grapple with their own part in their communication breakdown and has to decide how to best move forward. I thought this felt very realistic and thoughtful. Cocomi’s art continues to be great, with a great use of screentone and shadow to convey emotion and depth of field. I hope that their work keeps getting translated over here!
Don’t Call Me Dirty and Don’t Call Me Daddy are interrelated works that follow the romantic entanglements of Shouji and his father. Don’t Call Me Dirty is about Shouji falling in love with the homeless man, Hama, who lives in the area and coming to terms with his own sexuality. The title works in terms of both Hama’s physical dirtiness and the internal dirtiness that Shouji feels after being in a relationship with a straight man who was disgusted by Shouji wanting to have sex with him. Both of them have to come to terms with how they view themselves and how other view them, and to be able to stand up for each other in the face of societal prejudice. The story of Shouji’s father Ryuuji continues in Don’t Call Me Daddy. Ryuuji was left to raise Shouji as a single father and asks his childhood best friend Hanao to help him. They raise Shouji together, but Hanao is hiding the fact that he is gay and in live with Ryuuji. When Shouji starts getting a crush on a boy in kindergarten, Hanao flees the relationship from fear that he is making Shouji think being in love with a man is normal. Twenty years later, fate brings Ryuuji and Hanao back together, and they have to figure out where they want to go now. Both volumes were full of characters with terrible communication, which really bugged me. Also, almost everyone is judgemental and mean to Shouji, and he spends a lot of time being picked at by family and friends. The art is okay but sometimes weird and underdeveloped. Despite this, the emotional core here is strong and I finished both volumes due to wanting everything to work out for all involved. You don’t often see themes of homelessness and older men in love in BL, so I found this refreshing.
The (Pet) Detective Agency has great art and several mysteries get solved in the course of the overarching narrative, so I felt like I got good value for money here. Fumi runs a private detective agency and Rou is his assistant. They do a lot of lost pet related cases because animals are extremely attracted to Rou. Rou is also always trying to kiss Fumi and get him to take his romantic interest seriously, but because he is younger and his assistant, Fumi worries that he’s taking advantage of him and that it’s maybe a joke. Through the course of the book, they solve a bunch of cases and come to a satisfying conclusion with their romance. This mostly has kissing and some heavy petting (hence the Older Teen rating instead of Mature), but the overall emotional arc and the depth of the characterization makes up for it. I also really liked all the side characters and the humor throughout was good. Lighthearted but with some dark themes.
You Are My Happiness is a strange and dark book but I like that sort of thing, so this stuck with me and I enjoyed how much it made me grapple with what the heck was going on. This has two stories in it, with “You Are My Happiness” taking up the vast majority of the book. Tamaki is a college student who says yes to whatever other people ask him to do, and he ends up meeting Sakuma one night as he’s manning a food stand. Sakuma has the wings and tail of a demon but due to his inability to say no, Tamaki ends up abandoning his food stand and having sex with him. As their relationship continues, Takami lets more and more of his life and responsibilities fall by the wayside. I think what was especially striking here was Yamada’s playing around with our expectations of who is corrupting whom and who is in danger. The sense of surreality and horror creeps up more and more, with a denouement that even I found shocking and striking. “The River’s Water Tastes Sweet” is similarly unsettling and leaves you with questions and dread. Both were great examples of how this seemingly simple genre can always provide new and interesting concepts to the engaged reader. It’s books like this that keep me trawling the shelves in search of something unique. They’re out there!
All in all, January was a great month for reading BL and I have two feet more of manga to work through by my couch, so expect more reviews from me in this field.