two of Hearts
by Kano Miyamoto
Haruya, a formerly acclaimed novelist, is in a slump. He lives by the coast and pays the bills by writing magazine articles. He and his editor are also sleeping together.
One day, he spies a teenager trying to wash his clothes in the ocean. He takes pity on him and invites him in for a meal and a shower. This is a normal adoption-style storyline common to yaoi. It’s evident from early on that Haruya is going to help the kid get rid of his concern of being touched, the kid will inspire him to terrific writing, and the two will fall in love. It’s getting there in two of Hearts that’s the appeal for fans of this genre.
Personally, I like love stories with a lot more equality between the participants, but there’s lots of caring on view here as each gives the other something they needed. and Haruya has the excuse of being, as he says, “not a very responsible adult.” He’s also cute, with his glasses and rumpled black hair. (He sort of reminds me of Bernard Black.)
Take Me to Heaven
by Nase Yamato
Take Me to heaven is cute and funny. High school student Fumiya (who looks young for his age) sees ghosts, which freak him out. He lives next door to a Buddhist temple, and Shogo, the kid of the priest, is his best friend. Shogo’s tall and popular, but he’s also the only one able to reassure Fumiya and make the ghosts go away.
I haven’t seen lots of yaoi with horror overtones, and while some of the ghosts are creepy, I appreciated the way the whole thing is handled in a light-hearted fashion. Fumiya and Shogo have plenty to bring them together, so I found their relationship plausible. enjoying it develop was both entertaining and believable, lightened with touches of comedy.
There are several flashbacks to them growing up together as kids, which are adorable. I appreciated the way the artist could manage that as well as touching consideration and mutilated ghosts.
Kiss All the Boys
by Shiuko Kano
Tetsuo draws porn comics but has a problem: he’s impotent. To complicate things, he had a kid when he was 17. The kid is now 15 and has moved in with him. Tetsuo’s editor is also his best pal and the brother of his child’s mother.
I liked the comedy involved in this premise, where nothing is taken too seriously, although I did often have trouble figuring out which character was speaking.
Tetsuo finds out his kid is gay when he sees the kind of porn manga he reads. one of them is called “Take Me in the Mushroom Fields”, and the drawings of the fungus look like something else entirely. I thought the sense of humor about Kiss All the Boys‘s own genre was refreshing.
Tetsuo finally gets a hint of his real inclination when he has an anonymous hand-job encounter with someone who turns out to be his new neighbor. It’s a kind of conservation of character, where everyone winds up being connected in a lot more than one way to supply plenty of reasons to keep having them interact with each other.
In this book, people keep pushing each other to the floor and trying to get hold of each other’s organs. It’s hilarious, because it cuts ideal to the chase. There are two a lot more books in the series if you like this one.
Additional Titles
I’m told the following additional Deux yaoi titles that I haven’t had a chance to read are highly recommended:
Seduce Me After the Show, by Est Em, a collection of five stories about love among performers. She has also written Red Blinds the Foolish.
Future Lovers, by Saika Kunieda, a touching romance about a man who thinks he wants the normal wife-and-kids life, only to fall in love with another man.
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