Shout Out Loud!, Volume 2

Second of a five part yaoi manga series about a long-separated father and son trying to build a relationship while dealing with other upheavals in their lives. Shino's an anime voice actor. Now he has a son to support, he's started taking on any roles he's offered -- including yaoi audio dramas. Nakaya's a teenager not quite old enough to be independent, but old enough to be initially very uncomfortable with his father's job. It doesn't really help that he's noticed the interest some of Shino's colleagues are showing in him, even if the unworldly Shino hasn't.

This volume sees some development in the various plotlines set up in volume 1. Shino may be innocent, but even he can't help noticing when his colleague Mizusawa invites him home and then kisses him very thoroughly. And passing it off as a bad case of bringing the job home stops working when Mizusawa and Tenryu start squabbling over him on a live radio show. Especially when Tenryu mentions having kissed Shino when Shino got drunk and passed out one night... Nakaya is trying to protect his father's virtue, but he's distracted by his own problems, not least of which is getting a crush on one of the ice hockey coachs.

As with the first volume, the focus is on story and character development rather than sex, although the UST gets a bit less U in this one. There are several well-developed characters here and a number of potential relationships hinted at for both Shino and Nakaya. It's a sweet and often very funny story that kept me reading, guessing at how things might play out. The sex is limited to kissing, but is none the worse for that. The artwork is beautiful, and includes quite a selection of hot guys. Once again this series scores highly on both the eye candy and brain candy.

It's possible to pick up the story with this volume, but I'd strongly recommend starting with the first volume in the series.

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