The Yaoi Review » Shiuko Kano

YAOI MANGA REVIEW: Kiss All The Boys V3

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:29:33 +0000

Kiss All The Boys Volume 3 – Manga – Shiuko Kano

Volume 3 is the final volume in the Kiss All The Boys series and brings this story to an interesting conclusion. So by now we know all the craziness of this plot. We have poor virgin Tamaki whose best friend, Haruka AND Haruka’s father Tetsuo are lusting after him. Then there are our losers in love, Michiro and Momoyama who are both lusting after Tetsuo (who is lusting after Tamaki) and last but not least is Kippei who is lusting after Haruka (who is lusting after Tamaki). Got it? *sigh* So exhausting this plot. Oh, and Haruka and Tamaki are both only 15-years-old while the rest are in their 30’s. Shota anyone?

So, that all being said, volume 2 ended with Tetsuo being kissed by Tamaki and realizing that his little soldier is standing at attention (keep in mind he’s been battling impotency for 2 years) In this final volume, Tetsuo has to come to terms with his true feelings for Tamaki and what this means for all those affected by this, specifically his son who also loves Tamaki, his best friend who professed his love for him, and his next door neighbor Momoyama who he has used and abused throughout volumes one and two. To add to the pressure, Haruka’s mother Izumi has come back to town stating she wants to bring Haruka back to Paris with her. Will Tetsuo finally face how he really feels about his son or will he steal his love interest and send him packing? You may be surprised by his final decision.

This has been an odd duck through all three volumes so I think the ending is fitting to the story. The humor in volume three did not disappoint (the reference to “Heidi” had me in stitches as did a lot of other great one liners). I’m not sure I agree with Tetsuo’s reasoning for why he’s into Tamaki and there are a few things Tamaki says in this volume that sort of creep me out (i.e. Am I an adult now?). The sex doesn’t disappoint (two masturbations scenes, one alone and one with a partner, and one full sex scene). The speech bubbles still presented some issues but not as bad as volume two and the illustrations and character design were as good as the past volumes. All this being considered, if you’re already this far into the series it is definitely worth getting the last volume.

Character Design = A-

Plot = A-

Book Design/Illustrations = A-

Sexual Content = B+

Translation = A-

Overall grade = A-

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YAOI MANGA REVIEW: Kiss All The Boys V2

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:39:51 +0000

Kiss All The Boys Volume 2 – Manga – Shiuko Kano

Before I go too far into my review of this volume, I should point out that if you have yet to read volume 1 you won’t want to read this review as it will contain information from that volume and may spoil it for you. So, at the end of volume 1 we were left with a bit of a cliff hanger. Michiro had just said I love you to a presumed to be sleeping Tetsuo who of course, was not sleeping. Volume 2 picks up with the fall out from this situation. The beginning of this volume has some very emotional and touching moments, probably the best in the series. Michiro has to deal with the very real fact that he may have just lost his best friend forever and Tetsuo has to deal with trying to understand just why after all this time Michiro would say such a thing knowing it could ruin their friendship. The rest of this volume deals with the fall out that leads to some very drastic and sometimes not well thought out decisions. I started to realize with this volume just how selfish Tetsuo really has been in that it is always about him and how HE feels about everything. He doesn’t think about the consequences of his own actions. As the back cover of the book explains, Tetsuo has come to realize that his impotence isn’t an issue when he is with a man and this also causes him to lash out and do some stupid things. This indirectly brings in another character, Kippei Kazama who becomes his editor and a potential love interest for one of our other (potentially underage) characters.

I think this volume brings up the interest factor for the series. The plot thickens a bit with the introduction of a new character and Tamaki’s role in the series is a bit more established. There are some nice touches by the mangaka with the flashbacks to Michiro and Tetsuo’s time in high school in that Michiro had his natural hair color and a slightly different haircut instead of making him look like a slightly younger version of exactly how he looks now (although I do forget this from time to time and confuse myself on exactly who he is). One down side is that I found it harder to follow the speech bubbles in this volume as compared to the last one. There were numerous time that I had to reread certain areas and still did not feel comfortable that I understood who was talking. The translation to English, however, was fine. The sex scenes were a bit limited to one oral scene and one full sex scene. I’m rating the character design and illustrations the same as my last review as these have not changed. I’m bumping up my grade on the plot but decreasing it on the translation due to the bad speech bubbles and also on the sex due to the limited amount in the book.

Character Design = A-

Plot = A-

Book Design/Illustrations = A-

Sexual Content = B

Translation = B

Overall Grade = B+

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YAOI MANGA REVIEW: Kiss All The Boys V1

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:30:48 +0000

Kiss All The Boys Volume 1 – Shiuko Kano – Recap & Review

I have struggled with just how to review this series as I have already read it in its entirety and this review is just for volume 1. I struggle because I don’t want to give away too much yet I feel it is important that the reader know just what they are getting into with this series. It is written in the humorous style unique to Shiuko Kano and one which I do enjoy, and although it is graphic, it is not nearly as graphic as some of her other work (see my reviews of I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone and Maybe I’m Your Steppin’ Stone). There are a lot of characters in this one which helps add to the conflict throughout this story. Mostly it is a lot of unrequited love where two characters both like another character who happens to be lusting after yet another character. One thing to be aware of is that this series does include two couplings of 15-year-old boys with guys in their 30’s and although it is humorous, there is a somewhat dark undertone to it if you really think about all that happens throughout the series.

A quick background on the story: Tetsuo Atarashi is a 32-year-old single hentai manga writer who is struggling with being impotent and to make matters worse was recently saddled with his 15-year-old son, Haruka Enomoto, who he’s had little contact with. Needless to say, they don’t get along very well and Haruka’s being gay doesn’t help any. Some of the other characters in this story are Michiro Enomoto, Haruka’s uncle and Tetsuo’s best friend and editor; Kiichi Momoyama, a 22-year-old Tetsuo runs into at an X-rated flick and becomes sexually involved with; and Hiroto Tamaki, Haruka’s 15-year-old best friend and one-sided love interest.

Overall, I think it is a well put together book. The character design is nicely done as each character has a different look and I think the boys are cute and the men are pretty sexy. The plot is an interesting one and not your usual fare although it’s not as in depth as some I have read. The construction of the book and its illustrations are better than average and I didn’t have any trouble with the translation. There were a few times I was a little confused as to who was speaking but not to the point of interrupting the story. As far as sexual content, there were a total of 3 sex scenes; two masturbation scenes and one full sexual encounter. It was enough to keep it interesting although more would have been better in my opinion. As a whole, it is an interesting series that deals with issues different from what we typically get in yaoi and as long as you are ok with the age pairings, then it is worth a read.

Character Design = A-

Plot = B+

Book Design/Illustrations = A-

Sexual Content = B+

Translation = A-

Overall Grade = A- but barely

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YAOI MANGA REVIEW: Maybe I’m Your Steppin’ Stone

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:45:02 +0000

In Maybe I’m Your Steppin’ Stone we get to see more of Kousei Mogi, a minor character from I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone, which this manga is loosely tied to (although the timelines of the two novels don’t actually jive and is acknowledged by the author). Kousei is a 27-year-old scaffold constructor and the owner of his own company. In this manga, he is divorced and has a child (Subaru) with his former wife. Subaru is in the same nursery as Yukko, the niece of a local convenience store clerk named Kenji Hirosue. Kenji is 20-years-old and is madly in love with Kousei, who he runs into regularly either through the convenience store or through his niece’s nursery school. This of course leads to a lovely sex filled romance that takes up a little more than a third of the book.

The other main couple is Shunji Nakano, age 25, and Yasushi Mejiro, age 22, both of whom work for Kousei at his construction company. This is one of my favorite couples and happily book number three focuses on them (it’s not released yet). Their story is full of angst due to Shunji’s troubled sexual past but not the “I’m a 16-year-old high school uke” kind of angst we tend to get so much of. Both characters in this couple are manly men and incredibly sexy. They too have loads of sex, which is why this series is one of my all time favorites. Did I mention there are at least TWELVE sex scenes in this manga not counting other sexual encounters I didn’t consider to be full sex scenes? It is a nice follow up to the juicy, romp filled I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone I fell in lust with although it does have some of the same issues as the first, like trouble following just who is speaking.

The last story in the book is a side story that is completely unrelated to the rest of the manga. It is about two high school students, Hotta and Kosaka. Hotta is hot for Kosaka, who just so happens to be sleeping with the teacher. The question in this story is just who is manipulating who… the teacher or the student… and what will Hotta do to rectify the situation?

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YAOI MANGA REVIEW: I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:23:28 +0000

Finally, my first manga review (of a full book, anyway). I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone is about Kazuya Sakai, a 23 year old uke construction worker and Masashi Ezumi, a 17 year old seme high school student (seems like the roles are a bit reversed but it works!). Kazuya is in love/lust with Masashi’s sister, Natsuko and asks for Masashi’s help in winning her over. Masashi points out that since Kazuya is a high school drop out, she’ll never be interested in him. He offers to tutor Kazuya so he can take the test and get his degree (think G.E.D.) but in return, Kazuya has to offer himself to Masashi as payment.

Ok, so let’s get to the good stuff. I love this book (and it’s follow up Maybe I’m Your Steppin’ Stone) because of two big reasons: (1) there are lots of pages (206 in this volume) and (2) it’s 206 pages of plentiful sex. How plentiful? I counted 11 sex scenes in total and that doesn’t include flashbacks, one sided sex or dream scenes. The scenes are graphic (full genitals) but screened in a way that doesn’t make it overly in your face (but still detailed enough!). The story is fun, funny, graphic and a must have in your collection. As far as the book’s construction, it has a nice dust jacket, one color page in the front and the illustrations I would rate as about a 3.75 out of 5; not the best work I’ve seen but not to the point of being distracting either. There are times when the speech bubbles were a little hard to follow so it may take a second read through but it didn’t overly detract from the story, which in and of itself, is still interesting.

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