Deux, the yaoi imprint of Aurora Publishing, has been cranking out titles at a pretty good clip, so I decided to check out two of their more likely-looking volumes. I’m not a yaoi reader, so my thoughts are more on the books as manga than as part of the genre. Both are rated M, mature, and priced at $12.95.
Yakuza in Love, vol. 1, by Shiuko Kano: Stylish, but hard to follow, tale of love among the ranks of organized crime. Lead character Aoi Ichimura has a cross-shaped scar on his face and a reputation as a badass, but underneath it all he’s a lovable wimp who happens to be extremely lucky. While dodging to avoid stepping on a baby bird, he bumps into The Don, knocking him away from a hitman’s bullet. As his reward, he is made the apprentice to underboss Yuji Sakiya, who is more the strong, silent—and competent—type. The attraction is instantaneous, but despite the fact that other members of the Yakuza are happily bonking each other all over the book, Aoi is reluctant to show his affection. There’s a real plot, involving the organization’s shift from its previous enterprises to porn and slavery, a rival gang’s attempt to muscle in, and plenty of double-crossing. I found the opening sequence confusing, but after a while things started to fall into place. Still, the story was disjointed enough that I was relieved to find the character profiles at the end, which helped me sort a few things out. The art is slick and elegant, and if broad-shouldered, well-dressed men are your type, then this is the book for you.
Hate to Love You, by Makoto Tateno: The cover trumpets this as “a yaoi version of Romeo and Juliet,” but the chief similarity is that the two protagonists come from feuding families, which is only the starting point of Romeo and Juliet. The whole web of love, deception, and death that Shakespeare used to fill up the rest of his pages is noticeably missing from Hate to Love You, and Tateno’s work contains something the bard neglected to include: a seme and a uke. The Konoe and Kazuki families both own construction companies and have been feuding for generations, and high school students Masaya Konoe and Yuma Kazuki are continuing the tradition. The story is told from the point of view of Masaya, who is frustrated because Yuma is better than him at everything, from grades to getting the girl. Yuma is the cool one, except when he gets passionate with Masaya, while Masaya is all emotional and bothered and can’t do anything right. I actually found the most likeable character to be the girl who connects the two, Akiko Tojoin. She’s a smart, sympathetic character who brings the two families together, literally and figuratively. This one-shot story wraps up in only four chapters, so Tateno fills out the book with a rather creepy short story about a kid who stalks a grownup and winds up getting more than he bargained for. Tateno’s fans seem to like her art a lot; I found her figures a bit flat in places, but her drawings have a dynamic quality that makes them work anyway.
A few words about production values: The Aurora/Deux folks are aiming a bit higher than most manga publishers in terms of paper and print quality. The first batch of books I saw from them, which includes Hate to Love You, was printed in China on paper that was very white and very stiff, which made their books hard to open—not unlike Broccoli Books were a year or so ago. The latest books, including Yakuza in Love, are printed in Japan on creamier, thinner paper that is still smoother and whiter than the stock used by most manga publishers. This makes the newer books easier to read, physically, but they also have an odd smell, possibly from the ink.
In terms of cover design, I like the Yakuza in Love better because it’s bolder and more graphic, plus I like the typeface they used for the title. On the other hand, the hot pink logo clashes with the rest of the art; it’s too bad they couldn’t modify the color. I’m not crazy about their back cover design, which is used for all their books—purple and pink type on a white background and an oversized logo, ratings box, and price tag all make the book look cheap, which at $12.95 per volume, it really isn’t. Still, if the worst thing I can find to say about a company is “I hate their back cover design,” they’re doing pretty well.
What is it with yaoi publishers and pink logos? I know “pink=gay” is an obvious bit of branding, but a) it’s a stupid stereotype and b) it makes for really ugly cover designs. June do this too. Blu, more sensibly, went for a blue logo, which looks pretty good on the spines and covers of their books, but they make up for it by printing in a small format that squashes the edges of the pages into the binding. Grah!
Sorry, bit of a pet peeve there. I used to work in publishing, so practical things like this really annoy me.
Speaking of Deux, allow me to make a shameless plug. I hope you will check out est em’s debut work, Seduce Me After the Show when it comes out on April 25. est em is a former student of mine and a dear friend. I also served as the supervising translator for this volume, and wrote a blurb for the back cover. But Deux (Aurora) did not put me up to this, and I don’t get a single penny in royalties, so I have nothing to gain financially by plugging this book. But I think it’s an amazing debut, and I couldn’t be prouder of her. As a student, est em did a wide range of stories, all of them brilliant, all of them experimental, and none of them “boys’ love.” It’s not that she was a closeted boys’ love artist who came out after graduating. She was scouted by a boys’ love publisher who saw some of her self-published work, so she said “What the heck?” and gave it a shot. Today she is perhaps the hottest rising star of the genre in Japan. Her second collection just came out, and two (or was it three?) more are scheduled for release this year. Deux only had room for about a third of what I wrote about her on the back cover. Here’s the entire blurb I wrote for them:
Thanks for the review. I arrived here after searching on Google for Hate to Love You since my friends recommend it to me and I don’t like wasting my time on crappy manga. I would definitely rent it now.
Thanks again.