Blogger.com won’t let me post this response to Tumperkin’s post:
If a picture paints a thousand words…thoughts on manga yaoi romance
My reply is apparently too long. *sniff* So here is it.
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Ah, Yamada. Love her. That’s a sequel to an earlier work – also by Yamada and Aida – Takaga Koi Daro (It’s Only Love), which takes place four or five years earlier where it shows the circumstances that lead Sawaragi to getting arrested by his brother-in-law’s love interest. I liked the sequel more, I think. Although TKD is somewhat unconventional (for a BL comic, anyway), it’s almost flippant especially when comparing with that one.
I’m curious, though; how the heck did you manage to read it on Kindle? Isn’t text too small to read?
“Anyone else tried manga romance and if so, do you have any recommendations?”
Oooh. I have to admit the best ones haven’t yet been published by any US/UK publisher. And many titles below aren’t yet available on Kindle, I think? With that in mind:
Published by DramaQueen
- Not Love – Kano Miyamoto
- The Judged – Akira Honma
- Last Portrait – Akira Honma
Published by Deux Press
- Future Lovers – Saika Kunieda
- Lovers & Souls (2 vols) – Kano Miyamoto
- Say Please – Kano Miyamoto
- Two of Hearts – Kano Miyamoto
- Red Blinds the Foolish – Esu Em (lit: S & M)
- Seduce Me After the Show – Esu Em
Published by DMP/June (associated with Digital Manga Guild)
(this pub is notorious for publishing volumes of a series out of order, like they did with Tired of Waiting for Love & It’s Only Love. So I’ll try to focus on standalones.)
- Freefall Romance – Hyouta Fujiyama (wonderfully expressive)
- Sweet Whispers – Hyouta Fujiyama
- Cafe Latte Rhapsody – Toko Kawai [painfully sweet & standalone]
- Bond(z) – Toko Kawai
- Cut – Toko Kawai
- The Day I Become a Butterfly – Sumomo Yumeka [philosophical and whimsy, but I love her]
- Same Cell Organism – Sumomo Yumeka
- Kiss Blue (3 volumes) – Keiko Kinoshita [art is awkward, but the story really does grow on you]
- Maiden Rose – Fusanosuke Inariya [I'm not that keen on this, but it has a massive following]
- No Touching At All – Kou Yoneda [one of most respected BL creators] [Edited: I just read Amazon US reviews of the DMG edition. Apparently, the translation - done by Jocelyne Allen - is pretty bad. Such a shame.]
- Rabbit Man, Tiger Man – Akria Honma [Unbelievably silly and adorable. I never expected this from Honma, who did incredibly dark romances, The Judged and Last Portrait, both published by DramaQueen]
- Thirsty For Love – Satosumi Takaguchi & Yukine Honami [a lot of BL readers hated this one because it's not exactly a BL and it revolves around alienation, sadness, death and oddly empty resolution of a girl and three boys, but I found it thought-provoking and memorable.]
- Close the Last Door (3 vols) – Yugi Yamada [romantic comedy; silly, funny and rather sweet. Yamada is one of those creators I'd follow any time, regardless the quality of her work]
- Manic Love / Fake Fur / Emotion Circuit – Satomi Yamagata (many readers find her works confusing because she doesn’t organise her stories in chronological order and, sometimes, she can be a tad too lyrical, but I love it.)
Published by BluManga
- You and Me, Etc. – Kyuugou [warning: I haven't seen the BluManga edition yet as I've read the original]
- Gerard & Jacques / Lovers in the Night – Fumi Yoshinaga [I'm not keen on Yoshinaga, but quite a few adore her works. Blegh.]
- Love Pistols – Tarako Kotobuki [truly one of most WTF? series out of josei (which also publishes BL), but so compelling. Published by BLUmanga under Tokyopop (now defunct) and will continue to be published through SUBLime under Viz Media]
Published by netcomics.com (it does offer some titles in print)
- Black-winged Love – Tomoko Yamashita
- U Don’t Know Me – Rakun [South Korean; this one has some flaws, but interesting for a SK BL comic.]
- Let Dai – Woon Soo-yoon [SK; I have a serious love/hate relationship with this one. Dai is probably one of most charismatic and hugely emotionally disturbed characters I'd come across in comics. He's cruel and kind, hateful and loving, compassionate and horribly ruthless, and... gah. I couldn't stand him sometimes, but he got away with it. Repeatedly. The story dragged in a couple of places, some cultural references were puzzling, and the end was almost a failed pay-off. I still can't believe I read all 15 volumes of this. Probably the longest series I read as my usual limit is just three volumes. But it's one of most compelling comic series I read. It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Pardon the cliché.]
- Age Called Blue – Esu Em
- 9 Faces of Love – Wann [a mixture of genres]
Like I said, the best ones haven’t been licensed. Shame, really. Maybe one day when I feel rebellious and reckless, I’ll post a scanlated list of best works.
Would you like a list of heterosexual romance comics and perhaps lesbian comics? 
Most ‘yuri’ (lesbian) comics tend to feature more dialogue and emotions and visual codes than sex, really. I highly recommend *anything* by Ebine Yamaji. Free Soul, Love My Life and Indigo Blue.
*cough* Sorry for being so long-winded.
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Wow – this is great. Thanks! I’ve just been trawling Amazon for these titles. Quite a few of are unavailable or only available at shockingly high secondhand prices but I’ve ordered samples of the two available on Kindle (Same Cell Organism and No Touching at All) and two print ones by post (Say Please and – yes! – Let Dai volume 1 cos from what I could see of the covers, I loved the look of the artwork).
Yes, I would love some hetero and yuri reccs too. I’ve not much liked the look of the female character artwork in the few I’ve read – but I’m hoping they don’t all look so doll-like? So far I’m finding that the artwork is very important to me indeed – which was a big plus for the Yamada.
And, yes, with one exception I’ve read all of these on Kindle – I’ve found it ok but yes, a small proportion of the text is difficult to make out.
Also, ‘scuse ignorance but what does BL stand for?
T
Hah, Let Dai. Since it’s South Korean, remember to read it from left to right, not right to left like you do with Japanese comics. I should warn you that it features violence (school, teen and family), gang rape (off screen) and its effects on the survivor (actually, Let Dai’s portrayal of the survivor’s struggle to come to terms with it was quite good, comparing with other comics), dysfunctional families, etc. It swings between drama and melodrama, which is very Korean. It does offer comic relief in between, thankfully. But good luck with the series if you do decide to go with it.
Artwork: Yes, it’s important to me as well. If you like that kind of art (I do, too!) and dislike bunny art* (I dislike it as well), the list will be shorter. No problem, though. Recalling the good ones will be such a hardship(!)
*Bunny art = size of a character’s eyes are usually a measure of the character’s innocence, trust or cheerfulness. Bigger the character’s eyes, more pure/innocent/trusting/cheerful the character is likely to be. The idea behind this is that huge eyes cannot hide emotions or thoughts. They are too pure to even try.
So, the ones with the freakishly huge eyes represent total trust or innocence, and *everyone* around them love them. Even the villains, for christ’s sake. The majority of bunnies are generally TSTL. And they cry a lot, which drives me batty. Yeah, bunny art doesn’t do anything for me.
All it does is that it just makes me want to say “Please just ******* die!” and punch their face. Hard. On the bunny boiler level. Hence, “Bunny art”. Very mature of me, I know. Especially when we consider the fact that it often put food on our table.
BL = Boys’ Love. I detest the term ‘yaoi’ because it’s a US term with its own meaning, nothing to do with what BL is about. I should do a post on terminology and my interpretations, actually. *strokes chin* Yeah, I should do that.
Ths is is great. I would love to read some of these. Thank you! (and thanks to T, for her post, and the inspiration)
Aw, thanks. I think – with your recent post about death and sex in mind – you’ll find Satosumi Takaguchi & Yukine Honami’s Thirsty for Love interesting as it features sex as an affirmation of life.
ok, will try those. Is Amazon the right place? I’m asking because I did try to find a few and they were very expensive, like $25 each. May be out of print? Or is that normal?
If I were you, I’d go to http://www.akadot.com as it regularly offers heavy discounts and sales. Ebay is often a good choice as sellers offer used copies at around $3 each. Otherwise, try libraries.
High prices usually means the publisher is now defunct or that the license had ended.
Actually, I’m happy to scan and upload my copies of out-of-print titles for your private use as it’s really no different from you buying used copies. Let me know which ones interest you.
“Bunny art” – great term. I recognise this. The language of eyes – and hair? I think? – is so interesting.
I would love if you would post more on this – and direct me other places if you know of them.
Do I take it you or someone you know has a professional interest?
OK, will do.
I don’t know about being a professional as I’d describe myself as a freelance
But yes, I’d worked as a freelance (some were office-based and some were not) for Japanese, US-based Japanese and British publishers, on and off, over last few years in editorial and copyright clearance.
Ok, I’ve gone ahead an purchased two of them: The Day I Become a Butterfly, and Thirsty For Love. I really was interested in The Judged, but cannot find it for a reasonable price. Will let you know how I liked them!