YAOI REVIEW: Breath V4 ~ Chifumi Ochi

This review is spoilerish of past volumes!

In volume 3 of Breath, we really got to see the darker side of Arata’s brother, Ten, when he drugged Yanagi and tried to sleep with him knowing Arata would walk in on them. Ten clearly has a major brother complex and would rather hurt his own twin than see him be happy with someone else. In volume 4, we get a glimpse into the childhood of Arata and Ten and see why Arata has such a major inferiority complex. We also get to see that Ten has had his brother complex since childhood and was even going out of his way back then to keep Arata as his own. This all really hammers home just how evil Ten really is since he clearly knows how insecure and inferior Arata feels and yet he still tries stealing his boyfriend Yanagi away from him right in front of his own eyes. After the fall out of Yanagi’s supposed betrayal in volume 3, volume 4 shows each character starting to self destruct. What happens when Arata and Yanagi see each other again? Let’s just say by the end of this volume, Ten is going off the deep end big time. This volume ends on one hell of a cliffhanger and I’m really not sure how this whole thing is going to shake out (which is rather exciting!). 

As far as illustrations and print quality, volume 4 is right on par with all other volumes. I had no problems with the translation or following the speech bubbles. As far as the sexual content, there is one really good sex scene that is rather long and pretty graphic. If you’re already invested in this series, you definitely want to pick this one up. If you haven’t invested in this series yet, I feel each volume is better than the next and what started as a rather fluffy yaoi title is really showing its depth and darker side.

Plot = A-

Illustrations = A-

Characters = A-

Sexual Content = A-

Translation = A

Overall Grade = A-