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by Megumu Minami
Published in the U.S. by Kitty Media
Dishonorable Mention
This dishonorable mention has little to do with the yaoi rape and torture in this volume of short stories. I'm not into that sort of thing, but I'm sure there's someone out there who is. And it's not the art, because the art is good except for the complete lack of genitals on anybody.
(So actually it's a bunch of well-dressed Ken dolls raping each other.)
The stories are rushed, disjointed, and juxtapose surprisingly dull dialog with images of coerced sex. Good art can carry a mediocre story -- but it can't carry this mess.
Pleasure Dome is available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.
- Miranda
by Motoni Modoru
Published in the U.S. by Kitty Media
Slugline: Some guys of flexible sanity run an internet revenge site for victims of gay rape. Naturally, wackiness ensues.
Needless to say, this is an odd single-volume manga. Some of it succeeds at being funny, but some just comes across as confused and strange. Mamezo and Ai, who run the revenge service, claim to be gay and this manga seems to claim to be yaoi, but there isn't much going on in that department. There's no romance to speak of, very little sex, and in the full-frontal shots there's... nothing there. At all. So this is more of a very adult comedy than a yaoi romance or porn.
The comedy derives from outrageous claims and non sequitors, with some success... and some not so much. (What's funny about OPEC? I don't know either.) Character development is slight and the dialog is sometimes clunky, so it's not exactly a big recommendation but it's mildly amusing.
Poison Cherry Drive is available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.
- Miranda
By Asami TojoPublished in the U.S. by Kitty Media
Slugline: Four guys in the modeling business are busy seducing each other.
This story is set in that manga universe where all men are gay, even the would-be rapists. These four guys spend the volume pairing up and agonizing over each other -- some more than others, and some more convicingly than others.
There's a modest amount of character development and slightly different story trajectories, but on the whole it's a fairly standard set of two romances driven by insecurity and hurt/comfort. There's some not-quite-hardcore porn which is well placed in the context of both fantasies and reality. No surprises about who's on top, either. I think it would be refreshing for the smaller guy to be the dominant one or, even wilder, that they could take turns. I mean hey, it's a lot easier for two guys to switch off than for a hetero couple -- what, these semes can dish it out, but they can't take it?
Thunderbold Boys Excite vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.
- Miranda
