YAOI REVIEW: Open the Door to Your Heart

Open the Door to Your Heart ~ Yugi Yamada

(aka Into Your Heart Through The Door)

Juné Manga ~ 200 Pages

Japanese Pub Date ~ '03 / English Pub Date ~ 12/10

Book Size ~ 5 1/8 x 7 3/16

Quick Synopsis:

“Shoichi, the oldest Honda brother, is a stiff and serious young man who works as a tax collector. His life isn’t exactly full of surprises… and he definitely never expected his long-gone sibling—the globetrotting, sexy Shunji—to show up at his doorstep! Will Shoichi ever erase the memory of the secret, scandalous night that he and Shunji spent in one another’s arms 10 years ago? Or maybe the most important question is… does he even want to?

Open the Door to Your Heart proves that some attractions, no matter how shocking, are just too strong to ignore! Shunji left his family’s home to travel the world after a single passionate encounter with his older brother left both young men too confused to carry on. Now, a decade later, he’s returned to the scene of the tryst… but will be find things as he left them?”

Plot/Readability:

If you haven’t already made the connection, Open the Door to Your Heart is a side-story of Close the Last Door. The two main characters in this story are Shoichi and Shunji, the two older brothers of Kenzou (aka Honda) from Close the Last Door. If you want to read the books in order it would be Close the Last Door V1, Open the Door to Your Heart and then Close the Last Door V2, but only because Honda introduces Nagai to his brothers in this book. That being said, it isn’t necessary to read them in order as the story will still make perfect sense.

Open the Door to Your Heart is much different than Close the Last Door. There is no love triangle and the characters’ personalities are much different. Shoichi is very straight-laced and acts much like the oldest child would, whereas Shunji is the middle child and has a very carefree, jovial spirit. The two are opposites, but they play well off each other and that leads to some nice chemistry.

One thing I really enjoyed in this story is how realistic their lives are. We get to see Shoichi’s work as a tax collector and get to meet some of his clients. It’s through these clients that the story develops and Shoichi is brought back into his life. The story is solid, full of sweet angst and I think you’ll enjoy it.

There is a short 20-page unrelated story at the end called Diary of a Domestic and I must say that I loved it even more than the main story. It’s told from the perspective of a very young domestic about his young master and the young master’s lover. It’s sad in some ways, bitter sweet in others but I think Yugi Yamada did a wonderful job with it.

Character Development:

There is great angst between Shoichi and Shunji and that really helps with the development of their characters. Shoichi is struggling with his past encounter with his younger brother and with his identity as Shunji’s brother. Although Shunji is very carefree and always smiling, you can see the sadness in his eyes as he sees Shoichi struggle night after night.

In addition to these two we also meet two of Shoichi’s clients and I must say, I absolutely LOVE Yo-chan. Every scene she’s in just kills me and she brought the most comedic zest to the story in my opinion. Here’s a picture just so you can see what I mean:

Sexual Content:

There isn’t a lot of sexual content in this book. More like a lot of small snippets of them being together in different ways but I found it worked for the story so I didn’t really mind. I don’t feel it would have done the story justice to rush the sex just to have more in the story or to make the first sexual contact more than what it would have been in real life.

Illustrations:

I’ve said it before and it continues to remain true for this story as well, but Yugi Yamada isn’t the most detailed of artists. I do love how her characters express themselves and her awesome ability to draw comedic situations. There are few mangaka in my opinion that can draw comedy as well as I think she can. I always find a chuckle in each of her stories and it’s usually from a comedic face or comically drawn situation.

Final Thoughts:

If you like the Honda boys then you’ll definitely want to pick up Open the Door to Your Heart. It’s a great addition to the Close the Last Door series and it goes in its own direction so you don’t feel like you’re reading the same thing. As icing on top there is a bitter sweet one shot at the end that I feel will add to your enjoyment of Yugi Yamada’s storytelling.

Plot/Readability: A-

Character Development: A-

Sexual Content: B

Illustrations: B

Overall Grade: B+

WHERE TO BUY:

4 Comments

Tara May 27, 2011 at 4:41 AM

Great review! I have to re-read it now (simply because I re-read Close the Last Door vol. 2 last night.

I guess the side-story wasn’t memorable for me, though. O_o;; I don’t even remember there being one! Oh, well! Time to re-read it!

[Reply to this comment]
Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
May 28th, 2011 at 5:38 PM
Get on it!

[Reply to this comment]
Lady May 28, 2011 at 11:40 AM

I found it an odd piece of work. Even if there’s 1 minor point that would make the story acceptable, I usually don’t approve of incest stories & that’s what we got going on here. I like the main story w/ Kenzo & Nagai better… that feels a lot less creepy. However,I DO agree about Yo–chan! She rocks! She kicked so much ass, I looked forward to her in each scene! And that’s something that usually isn’t said about a female in yaoi! LONG LIVE YO-CHAN!

[Reply to this comment]
Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
May 28th, 2011 at 5:35 PM
Lot of people like the brother stories or twincest. Gotta appeal to the masses. And yes, Yo-chan rocks. Loved how she’d just pop up out of nowhere on someone’s lap. XD

[Reply to this comment]