(Cover for Breath V5)

The long awaited Breath Volume 5 is almost here! Release date is scheduled for April 30th, and pre-orders will be available starting April 15th. We'll be giving out free yaoigen coasters with pre-orders (while supplies last). This will be the first of our new collection of yaoi theme coasters, so be sure not to miss it! (More details will be provided at that time.) And for those who missed our custom Breath bookmark giveaway during Volume 1 pre-orders, you'll have another opportunity to get it! Please support us by ordering directly from our website.

Just got an 'unofficial' update from Yaoi Generation about Breath Volume 5. They ARE working on it but ran into some hitches with the printers. I promised to keep it vague so I won't give the dates they think it will be out but know that it should be relatively soon based on what they told me. You can watch for an official update on their site or as soon as I'm notified, I'll post it here. Yay! Can't wait!

 

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-

Looking for somewhere to discuss this book without ruining it for others?
Discussion post now up at GoodReads.

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*This copy of Breath Volume 4 was provided by the publisher.

Breath Volume 1 – Chifumi Ochi – Recap & Review

So I FINALLY got my copy of Breath after two weeks of it being lost in the mail.  If you remember correctly, this is the very first release for the new yaoi publisher Yaoi Generation and it is a five part series.  Our two main characters are Arata Kirishima and Kohshi Yanagi.  We also have two side characters, one being Arata’s twin brother Takashi also known as Ten, and a second side character, Akkun, the bartender.  The story starts out with Ten standing up Yanagi at a local gay bar.  Feeling lonely, Yanagi takes home a rather drunk stranger who wanders into the bar (and by take home I mean they go to a local “love hotel”).  After a very passionate night together, the drunken stranger sobers up and leaves Yanagi on a very sour note acting as if this was something he never wanted.  Imagine Yanagi’s surprise when he runs into this stranger again only to find out it is his friend Ten’s twin brother.  So Yanagi does what any jilted one night stand would do… he blackmails him into being his permanent lover.

Volume one is really just setting up the story and only scratches the surface on any potential feelings Yanagi and Arata may be having for one another.  Overall, I liked the story; especially since it is rather smutty.  The characters are attractive and well drawn, although not overly manly.  Ten is majorly hot and Arata in the early scenes when he is letting his hair down at the bar is quite attractive as well.  The book is nicely put together and includes one color page after the cover as well as a bookmark specific to the breath series that was provided by the publisher.  It is nice to get the extra touches in a time when most publishers are cutting back on the extras.  The illustrations are nice and there were no issues with the translation or following the speech bubbles.  As I said earlier, the sex is smutty so this is definitely a hard yaoi.  There are three full sex scenes and two less involved sex scenes and they are graphic.  I’m knocking the grade down on plot to a B+ only because we are too early in the series to really see where this is going so it is possible I may rate this higher with subsequent series.  I still think it is worth a read as I think it has great potential and I have heard many good things about the series.

Characters = A-

Plot = B+

Illustrations/Book Design = A-

Sex Scenes = A-

Translation = A+

Overall Grade = A-

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