Satosumi Takaguchi

First of what is apparently a five volume series. The first three parts are now available in English translation; the remaining two parts are scheduled for release in April and August.

Orphaned 17-year-old Nakaya goes looking for long-last father, expecting to find a burnt-out salaryman, and instead gets a baby-faced 33-year-old who makes a living as an anime voice actor. Finding himself with an unexpected son to support just as his current series is finishing, Shino tells his agency he'll show more take any job. What he gets offered is roles in boys love audio dramas -- and as becomes clear to the reader and eventually Nakaya, but not (yet) Shino, two of Shino's co-workers are gay and have the hots for Shino.

There's a good story in this book; the primary focus in the first volume is father and son getting to know each other (no, not in that way). Nakaya's mother fell pregnant when she and Shino were teenagers, and she chose to leave Shino to stop him sacrificing his education to look after them. Now they have to build a relationship, at a time when both are grieving, and Nakaya is having to make decisions about his own education. It doesn't help that Nakaya's grandmother has never forgiven Shino for getting her daughter pregnant, and doesn't want Nakaya living with Shino.

Along with this, there's a look at the voice acting industry, and Shino's developing relationships with two of his fellow actors -- platonic on Shino's side, but not on theirs. And then there's Nakaya's teacher, who is also gay and has a thing for nice voices...

The erotic content in this volume is mostly in the scripts Shino and his colleagues are working on, though there's one very nice kiss. If you're looking for hardcore you'll be disappointed, but fans of UST should enjoy this one.

The cover's a bit disappointing, but don't let that put you off, as the interior art is much more attractive. Note that it's a lot less bishounen in style than many (which matches my own preferences).

I liked this a lot. There's an interesting story with relationships that develop over time, there's a lot of gentle humour, it's nicely drawn, and the guys are hot.

Comments thread: http://julesjones.livejournal.com/123198.html show less

Orie finds out that the girl he loves, Yuka, has been cheating on him when the arrogant Tatsumi decides to jump in when Orie and Yuka are having sex. Already confused, Orie is torn even more when Tatsumi decides to introduce Orie to yet another man Yuka has been sleeping with, who happens to be the sempai Orie idolizes on his basketball team. Yuka, however, tells Orie that she loves all of them honestly. Though somewhat antagonistic toward one another, when (sorry for the spoiler, but it's show more on the back cover so I guess there's no hiding it) Yuka dies, the three begin to be drawn together and bond through their common loss.

This manga is simply breathtaking. If you're looking for a more unique love story (though perhaps you might call it more of a story about love) and you don't mind the bits of hetero sex and heavy subject matter, you really can't do better than this.

The only real complaint I've ever seen made about this is that the actions and emotions are confusing to the point of not making sense. Why would these guys sleep with each other after finding out their girlfriend was cheating on them with one another? And I admit, yes, in simple yaoi logic maybe this doesn't make sense. In your usual yaoi, any situation can be completely understood from a basic plot outline. We know the actions of all characters and why they do these things before we even get to know them. A situation like this, for example, should lead to blinding jealousy. That, or the girl is evil and the guys find solace in one another.

But this story refuses to be so simpistic. I think one has to try to forget how they read yaoi for a second and try to remember (ready for this?) how they and others deal with real life. Don't start trying to guess the 'answer'--there isn't one. And with that mindset, take the story and the actions of the characters as they come. You will see three people who are very sad, lost, and lonely, but despite this have love and even lust to spend, and who in the presence of one another begin to spill these feelings out as a means of coping.

If you're looking for a yaoi with a lot of hot sex, you probably don't want this. There are multiple sex scenes, and they sometimes last multiple pages, but they're fairly discreet things. On the other hand, though I kind of felt bad about it since the characters were having such a hard time, frankly I found most of the scenes more sexy than those in most yaoi, since they were so much more emotionally loaded. There was grief and confusion, but sometimes it was a touching kind of confusion, and sometimes there was tenderness. (Though it probably is worth reminding that these boys are hurt, and hurt people often do unkind things. The interactions sometimes lean more toward the bitter side of bittersweet.)

At first I was curious why Takaguchi did not draw this manga herself, but knowing it better now I can see that while Takaguchi's art isn't bad, Honami's is much more appropriate to this story. It's soft, whispy, and expressive. I'd seen Honami's art before this and thought it was very pretty but wasn't blown away by anything but the general look of it. But reading this leads me to believe that this was not a 'problem' of Honami but of her needing better material to rise up to. The emotions in the story may be difficult to describe in words, but the art expresses it deftly. This manga really reminds that being a GOOD yaoi artist is more than drawing pretty pictures.

The more I read of Takaguchi, the more it seems like the quality of her work from series to series varies considerably. But this manga must be one of the best, and definitely one of the most solid. It's gorgeously written, dramatic, and emotionally complex. If you don't like females in your yaoi, or if you don't like stories where you don't get a simple, direct, and obvious cause for every action and utterance, you might not like it. It's also NOT a light read. There's a very high angst factor. But this isn't some immature emo protagonist trying to drown themselves in their own tears. It's a story of soul searching, and while answers are never clear-cut, it says something about the way we dole out our love and our bodies, and about the void that is left behind when a loved one dies, and the way in which people yearn to fill it. show less

After the funny and pandering but character driven and intelligently written Sakende Yaruze/Shout Out Loud, I was initially very eager to try something by Takaguchi again. After reading up a little more on her works, though, I began to think her tastes were a little too kinky for me, and suppressed the urge. Now with an English translation of another of her works available, and with gorgeous art by Yukine Honami, I decided to finally give it a try.

The main rundown for this story is, the main show more character is a young student, new to his school and in a position of power and scorn among his dorm mates. The series seems to be about various groups in the school using sex to vie for power, while at the same time a story of the main’s realization that though the unwholesome and manipulative way many in the school use sex may be bad, sex between two men is not by definition wrong. As you can probably see, this manga undoubtedly gets points for the attempt at tackling a little more than “and so, they fell in love and had sex” plot many BL are fond of. Unfortunately, the manga does carry some mixed messages that detract from the quality and enjoyment.

Some have complained about the rape in this manga, stating that it is romanticized or deals with it in an unrealistic, comedic, or offhanded manner. But why, when many yaoi have near-rape, or what in my opinion IS rape, and usually not dealt with in a very realistic way? Especially when Can’t Win With You is so un-graphic? Indeed, while to say the main character shrugs off the sexual harassment would be a bit of an overstatement, it is true they do not, at least so far in this volume, come off as heavily affected as I think most would be. On the other hand, while the degree of the offense was not as high in the few I have read, the main's less than satisfyingly outraged or disturbed reaction I found HIGHLY reminiscent of some shoujo romances I have seen. So unless our fair yaoi readers have come under a mysterious, sudden spell of homophobia, that must not be it. In the end, I think this great aversion some have to this story is because it actually IS somewhat more realistic. The students see the rape as humorous (or at least make a show of acting as if they do), true, but I do NOT get the impression the reader is supposed to find it so. Sexual acts are in this story an impersonal tool to get what one wants.
Fangirls do not like this. Near rape and sometimes rape are ok, if dealt with in a highly romanticized, gratuitously unrealistic manner (even if the fangirl doesn’t realize that’s why she’s accepting it). We can mentally write it off in that case.

Ok, so CWWY portrays some unwholesome sexual activity in a slightly more realistic manner. Yeah, that’s probably going to turn off some readers, but that doesn’t really make it bad, does it? Of course not. But here’s the problem: CWWY DOES have romanticized fangirl fodder in it as well. Besides the main taking his sexual harassment a little too well, the author eventually pulls the “he secretly liked it” thing. Also, the series is set in the tried and true BL fangirl fantasy location: an all boys’ school. Where, of course, all the males have no problem openly lusting after or fucking other men. I also get the feeling that living in a place where sex is used as a tool, residents would have a hard time having honest, affectionate sexual relationships. It would screw you up a little. Sometimes I felt this might have been taken into account, other times it seemed it might be falling victim to the “love cleanses all sins” cop-out a lot of yaoi likes to take. Another problem was that while the sex was all so unwholesome, this IS a yaoi after all, so one sometimes begins to confusedly wonder, “…Was I supposed to get off on that?” And finally, while actual age differences in yaoi couples have been worse than in this story, the way the characters are drawn make it look a lot worse. Younger characters look like middle schoolers, older look like college students or possibly beyond.

But wait, how are these disparate elements so different from my beloved Sakende, which had some mixed elements itself? And doesn’t Shino try to brush off his (admittedly less severe) sexual harassment? Yes, but I believe we also got the feeling he wasn't really able to to the extent this main does. As for the first question… Perhaps it sits too much on the fence. It needs to decide if it is a gritty story about a high school power struggle and sex gone wrong, or a lighter, comedic BL fantasy about an all boys' school. Choosing one or the other in no way condemns it from having elements of the other (sakende, after all, was I think at it's core a drama about juggling romance and accepting a changing sexual identity while attempting to be a good father. that didn't stop it from using the ridiculous setting, or carrying heavy doses of humor, able to hold its own with the comedy alone even if you weren't interested in the rest of the romance and angst). But it needs to ground itself in one. I feel like it wants to primarily be the gritty story, but as the reaction of some reviewers shows, it’s a little unclear.

As for the rest of the writing, the plot is a little less entirely relationship-based than most BL, but that’s still what it mostly consist of. The relationships do have more to them, though, than “Does he love me?” and “Are we going to have sex?” which is rather refreshing. However, there are simply too many characters to introduce all at one time. I can remember their roles in the plot fairly well, but it’s quite hard to keep names and nicknames straight, much less personalities. There are so many characters and so much happening that everything is mostly actions without much reaction that might help character development.

Consequently it’s rather hard to get into the characters and their emotions. Frankly, I think the part that rang the most emotionally for me was when the main character in the beginning doesn’t bow down to the bullying and instead does the opposite of what they want. It is triumphant, while at the same time perhaps a little petty, and maybe a little stupid. We get the feeling he isn’t a total pushover, is someone we don’t have to roll our eyes and look down upon, but at the same time has a thing or two to learn about dealing with people. After that, when more people and plot started getting introduced? It was a bit of an unaffecting sea of happenings, though sometimes interesting.

The humor also doesn’t seem as good as that from Sakende. Part of that is surely character based humor that needs more time so we can get to know the characters first, but I have a hard time seeing that develop with these guys at the rate the development is going now.

Sakende didn't wow me at first either, though. While I’ve heard Takaguchi can be great but has a rather sketchy record with the quality of her work from series to series, I'm willing to give this series at least one more volume. If it decides to chose its path and flesh itself out, it could be an interesting, if not romantic or sexy, read. show less

Third in a five part series about a long-separated father and son getting to know each other while trying to deal with new relationships.

Nakaya's got a bad crush on the ice hockey coach, and tries to do something about it. He ends up asking his father's advice on what happens if you find yourself attracted to another man -- but Shino's struggling with the same question himself. Shino's colleague Tenryu has made his own feelings clear, and Shino's found himself responding.

After finishing the show more first half of their current anime series the voice actors go for a weekend break at a spa resort, giving ample opportunity for squabbling and seduction attempts -- none of which go according to plan. By the end of the book Shino faces the fact that he might finally be falling in love again, for the first time since he lost Nakaya's mother.

As with the first two books in the series, it's more about the story than the sex -- this volume does ramp up the steaminess, but the men and the book don't go all the way. There's some nice foreplay and kissing, but the real joy is in the humour and the way the various relationships develop. It's gentle but it's not pure fluff -- for example, Tenyru's dealing with a nasty divorce and faces losing contact with his daughter -- which makes it all the better.

It's possible to follow the plot in this one with just a synopsis of the previous volumes, but I'd strongly recommend reading the first two volumes first -- you'll get a lot more out of it if you've already got to know the characters. show less