A Devil and Her Love Song

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Posts Tagged Boys’ Love/Yaoi

Review: From Up Above


Manga-ka: Sakuya Kurekoshi
Publisher: June/DMP & Oakla Publishing
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Released: November 2007

Synopsis: “You think your life is weird? Imagine being the reincarnation of an ancient priestess from a thousand years ago. That’s the unfortunate fate that has befallen Yuuto, a high school student and kendo competitor whose life is turned upside down when he is visited by a thunder god named Kazuchi. The disgruntled god claims that he is bound to Yuuto and that the only way he can be free is to have Yuuto remember something he’s never done in his lifetime! Will Yuuto be able to tap into his priestess past to remember the magic word to set the thunder god free? And if he does, would he really want the dashing Kazuchi to leave?”

The story begins with Yuuto, a young high school student, who finds he may not be as ordinary as he once thought, when a lightning strike leaves him without a scratch. What it did leave him, however, was a raijuu, a thunder god, who enters Yuuto’s life proclaiming the student is actually the reincarnation of a priestess, the same priestess that sealed the god away! Now the raijuu needs Yuuto to remember his true name so he can be free again.

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Review: Alcohol, Shirt & Kiss


Manga-ka:Yuko Kuwabara
Publisher: DMP/June
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: March 2007

Synopsis: “Broken-hearted Naru tried drowning his sorrows with fellow police officer, Kita, only to wake up the next morning naked… in Kita-san’s bed?! That arrogant smirk on Kita’s face tells a tale, but Naru can’t remember a thing. Did the alcohol cause him to do something he’s going to regret? Or is Kita simply playing perverted games with Naru’s mind? What’s worse is now the uncomfortable tension will play out at the station house – in front of all the other officers!”

After his girlfriend broke up with him, Naru began seeking comfort in bottle bottoms along with fellow co-worker Kita. He finds himself asleep in his friend’s bed the morning with no memory of what had happened. After several more nights of the same, Naru vows not to let it happen again only to find himself in the same predicament but this time completely naked! Kita tells him what a passionate night the two shared and now Naru isn’t sure what to think.

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Review: Love Is Like A Hurricane (Vol. 02)


Manga-ka: Tokiya Shimazaki
Publisher: 801Media
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: August 2007

Synopsis: “Gifted with intelligence and looks, student council president Azuma confessed his love to Mizuki, and with a little push, they “successfully” started dating. The entire school has even officially recognized their relationship. So you would expect things to be progressing smoothly… This is the second installment of the super popular series about Mizuki, with his gradually changing feelings, and Azuma, who is confident he can make Mizuki drunk on life and his love.”

Love is Like A Hurricane’s second volume continues right where the first left us. Mizuki continues with his exhaustive efforts to stop Azuma from overwhelming him but is constantly foiled, swept away in a torrent of love, sudden advances and envy-driven affections. Minor characters continue to add more to the plot and offer short breaks between Azuma and Mizuki’s emotional game of cat and mouse. A side story near the end continues the escapades of the brothers from the first volume as well.

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Review: Love Is Like A Hurricane (Vol. 01)


Manga-ka: Tokiya Shimazaki
Publisher: 801Media
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: May 2007

Synopsis: “Getting your breasts or butt grabbed on a train in Japan is a common experience for some women. So when Mizuki finds himself getting molested first thing in the morning on the way to school, he can’t believe it. Worse, the perpetrator isn’t a nasty old man but the school student council president, Azuma! … Can Azuma convince Mizuki that they are a match made in heaven?”

Love is Like A Hurricane’s title story begins with young high school student Mizuki on his morning commute to school when he suddenly finds himself the victim of a molesting pervert. It turns out that the pervert was none other than his school’s student council president, Azuma. Azuma has taken a strong liking to the spirited Mizuki and now it’s battle of wills, one which Mizuki seems unable to avoid and even less able to win.

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Review: Hate to Love You


Manga-ka: Makoto Tateno
Publisher: Deux
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: November 2007

Synopsis: “The Konoe and Kazuki families have been fighting like cats and dogs for generations. Masaya Konoe and Yuma Kazuki attend the same elite high school and are known to all as arch rivals, but do they really hate eachother? Masaya still cherishes a childhood memory of a time when Yuma shared a ‘treasure’ with him. Now they share a secret attraction. Can they control their passion? Burning desire has a way of erupting into flames!”

Hate To Love You is the premiere yaoi manga of Makoto Tateno, best known for her popular boys’ love series, Yellow. The story is a self-proclaimed Romeo and Juliet type story staring Masaya and Kazuki, future heirs to their family’s respective companies and next in a long line of rivalries between the two groups. The two shared a secret childhood friendship that’s grown to be something very different, but is it love or hate?

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Review: Truly Kindly


Manga-ka: Fumi Yoshinaga
Publisher: BLU Manga
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: August 2007

Synopsis: “From modern-day tales of romance in Seattle, to eerie stories from historical Japanese fantasy, to Yoshinaga’s further depiction of the class conflict before the French Revolution. The characters Claude and Antoine, a young aristocrat and his butler, are initially introduced in this volume; we see their further adventures in Lovers in the Night.”

Truly Kindly is a compilation of short stories by Fumi Yoshinaga, a follow up to her previous compilation, Lovers in the Night, and includes a return of its title characters. Ranging from surprise endings to the short and sweet, it’s a diverse collection of character driven stories for which its manga-ka is known.

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Review: Takumi-kun (Vol. 01): June Pride


Authour: Shinobu Gotoh
Manga-ka: Kazumi Ohya
Publisher: Tokyopop
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: September 2007

Synopsis: “Takumi, a boy from humble origins, prepares to begin his second year at the school. Held back by psychological issues, Takumi’s indifferent attitude has garnered him no friends and the reputation as a cold fish. Then along comes Gui, a wealthy and charismatic student born in America. Gui is the only person who doesn’t see Takumi as odd, and the two become friends. But how will the two cope when Gui confesses his love to Takumi?”

The Takumi-kun series was originally a series of boys’ love novels by Shinobu Gotoh, adapted years later into a six-part manga series by Kazumi Ohya. With each manga volume of this series individually titled, June Pride, is the given title of volume one and here readers are first introduced to Takumi Hayama, the focus of the story. Taking place in an all boys’ school, readers follow Takumi and his peers through their years at the secluded and prestigious Shidou Academy.

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Review: Can’t Win With You! (Vol. 01)


Author: Satosumi Takaguchi
Manga-ka: Yukine Honami
Publisher: DMP/June
Rating: Young Adults (16+)
Released: August 2007

Synopsis: “Yuuhi-kun planned to build a soccer field on the piece of mountain land that was his inheritance, but when his brother’s elite Shuuiku Academy needed a new campus, Yuuhi was forced to reconsider. Now he finds himself both the landlord, and a student at the school! Needless to say, the other students are none too happy about being shipped out to the boonies, so Yuuhi – AKA “chicken-head” – has become the object of their collective ire. But there’s something about the country bumpkin that has many students eyeing Yuuhi in a different way…a way that makes him very uncomfortable. Seems there’s a lot more than “book-learnin’” going on at this school, and Yuuhi’s about to get a whole ‘nuther kind of education!”

This schoolboy love story begins with Yuuhi, a young boy from the country who dreams of one day having a soccer field built where the mountain he’s inherited now stands. A problem with this arrives in the form of plans to have a school built there instead, but only with his permission. Two students, speaking for a party who don’t want to have their school dropped out in the middle of nowhere, approach Yuuhi in attempts to persuade him to refuse the deal. Unfortunately their choice to insult where he lives and their resulting vengeance for Yuuhi’s reaction, garners the opposite effect and the land is rented to the school.

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Review: My Only King


Manga-ka: Lily Hoshino
Publisher: DMP/June
Rating: OlderTeen (16+)
Released: March 2006

Synopsis: “In the land of magic, a new king is being crowned. However, a mishap during the ceremonial rite causes the royal crest to be accidentally attached to a normal human, Kazuomi. To protect the crest from any villains who may be after it, Mewt, the cute and brave sorcerer, is dispatched to the human world. There, Mewt must live disguised as a girl, and as “she” and Kazuomi live under one roof together, the two begin to find themselves attracted to each other…”

Citizens of a far away land gather to crown their new king, branding him with the country’s crest in recognition. However a magical mishap sends the crest off to an unknown source and it’s up to the young sorcerer Mewt to find it. Moments later, Kazuomi, a notorious lady’s man, is suddenly struck with a pain in his stomach, and is soon landed upon by the young girlish Mewt who fell from the sky. Kazuomi is the new bearer of the crest and it’s now Mewt’s job to watch over him and learn the ways of this new world.

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Review: Gakuen Heaven


Manga-ka: You Higuri
Publisher: BLU Manga
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: November 2006

Synopsis: “Keita, your average male high school student, suddenly gets an invitation from the prestigious all-boys school Bell Liberty (BL). He’s approached by two good-looking guys who turn out to be students at BL–but not just any students! They are Niwa and Saionji, or the “King”and “Queen” respectively!”

Keita Itou has always been lucky; unfortunately luck is all he’s ever had. An average boy with no special talents, he’s amazed when one day he receives a fully paid invitation to attend the prestigious Bell Liberty Academy, an all boys’ school for the gifted. Unable to turn down the opportunity, he packs up and ends off. One bus accident and two beautiful men to greet him later, school has started and Keita is determined to discover why he was asked to come in the first place.

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