YAOI MANGA REVIEW: Dog X Cat

Dog X Cat/Yoshimi Amasaki

801 Media — 18+ Rating — 222 Pages

Quick Synopsis:

Atsu and Junya are childhood friends. Junya has been in love with Atsu for as long as he can remember and finally decides to confess his feelings to his best friend.

Plot/Readability:

Dog X Cat is the perfect representation of yaoi. Plot? What plot? For a title with so many pages I sure did have a hard time finding any true conflict. It certainly isn’t a unique plot by any means; two best friends, one secretly in love with the other. He confesses his love and the rest of the story deals with the relationship you know they’re going to have. Usually this is where we find all kinds of hills and valleys in the way of relationship issues that make them stronger as a couple but not so much here.

Character Development:

Although there wasn’t a lot of character development, I did enjoy how the mangaka gave each character animal type traits both in their actions and in how they were periodically illustrated. Atsu was the cat while Junya was more like the dog Atsu always wanted, thus the title of Dog X Cat. Also, each chapter is titled either Dog X Cat or Cat X Dog based on whose perspective that chapter is written from (as in either Atsu is the one talking or Junya).

Illustrations:

This mangaka needs a little more work on how to draw hands and feet. Besides the face, hands and feet are two of the hardest parts of the human anatomy to master so I feel her pain! She gets points for cute factor though. She included a lot of illustrations of cats and dogs, not to mention the cat and dog representations of our characters and they were all absolutely adorable! I found myself chuckling more than a few times while reading this one and I think you will, too.

Sexual Explicitness:

You’ll be hard pressed to find two boys hornier than these two. Every chance they get, they seem to be going at it. Is this an explicit read? Oh yeah. Will you get your fill of sex? You know it! I don’t think you will be disappointed in this one. I’ve seen sex scenes executed better in how the mangaka chooses to illustrate them but this one gets the job done.

Final Thoughts:

There’s nothing I love to see more than a yaoi title with so many pages and this one doesn’t disappoint in length. If you’re looking for something with some plot or even a tiny bit of originality to it, this isn’t the title for you. Having said that, I still read all 200+ pages without being bored to tears so I think the high cute factor and the occasional chuckle it gave me was enough to keep me interested. That and the sex. We can’t forget the pages and pages of weepy, blushy, nipply bishies that seem to have a very hard time keeping their clothes on.

Plot/Readability: B-

Character Development: B-

Illustrations: B

Sexual Explicitness: A-

Overall Grade: B

Side note: 801 Media had a contest awhile back to design the 801-Chan strip that goes in the back. There were six winners chosen and this one included a strip with a storyline provided by Lissa Pattillo who many of you know from Kuriousity and the new Boys-Luv.com websites. Congrats Lissa!

~Jennifer LeBlanc

8 Comments

Tara January 14, 2010 at 8:06 AM

I own and read this.

I remember liking it.

But I actually cannot remember much else about it. Oi. It’s kind of sad that I rank this as one of those forgettable mangas. X_X;;

But now I shall re-read this! Though, I think I’d rather read “U Don’t Know Me” more at the moment than this one.

[Reply to this comment]
Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
January 14th, 2010 at 8:10 AM
Honestly, that is a very good way to categorize it… forgettable. If I didn’t take notes, this would have been a three sentence review. It’s not a terrible story, just not a memorable one.

[Reply to this comment]
Sage Whistler January 14, 2010 at 3:00 PM

This one is on my 2buy list. Thanks for the detailed review. I have found a few mangakas that need hand and feet work but, like you, I can look over that.

[Reply to this comment]
Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
January 14th, 2010 at 3:02 PM
Plot wise, it’s pretty forgettable but if you’re ok with that, you should be happy with the rest.

[Reply to this comment]
Angie January 14, 2010 at 6:48 PM

I actually saw a preview of this on YouTube. Made me want to read it. But is there a way to read it online as well? I just like to make sure I really like it. Though I like your review, the each section is really helpful to understand.

[Reply to this comment]
Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
January 14th, 2010 at 6:54 PM
I just checked eManga.com and don’t see it on there. I’m assuming this is the YouTube preview you saw:

http://www.youtube.com/user/801media#p/a/u/2/5D9vRVpsKQw

If not, check that one out. It’s probably going to be the best way to see if you’ll like it or not.

[Reply to this comment]
Angie Reply:
January 14th, 2010 at 6:58 PM
Ah, yeah, that was the one, lol.

[Reply to this comment]
Jason Thompson, Mike Gombos, and Dan Hipp walk into a blog post… « MangaBlog January 15, 2010 at 6:14 AM

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