Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Affair by Shiuko Kano review

Affair

Author/Artist: Shiuko Kano

Publisher: 801 Media, Inc.

Rating: 18 and up

Genre: Yaoi, Drama, Romance, School Life, Anthology

Grade: C

Affair is a collection of one-shots written by Shiuko Kano. Shiuko Kano-sensei's work is known for showing all other works the middle finger (figuratively, of course). Her characters have the tendency to be rough around the edges and not your standard wide eyed shoujo types that you see in many other works.

Affair is about two guys who were on the same baseball team but ran into each other some years later. Yoshiyuki seemed to be hostile towards his sempai because of things that happened in the past. His sempai, Okabe, had the possibility of becoming a well known baseball player but due to some mysterious circumstances he quits the baseball team, and quits school, without any explanation. You'll have to read on to find out what the mystery is.

The next story, My Dear Mad Dog is about a couple of half brothers (they have different mothers, but the same father) one of which is to head up the organization (a yakuza family). Hijiri does everything he can to protect Kyouichi and Kyouichi does everything in his power to make Hijiri miserable. They were born at the same time, they go to the same school, and are constantly compared to one another. This one-shot has an Oedipus feel to it (I had to read Oedipus Rex for my Humanities class and found it utterly disturbing!)

One Lucky Guy is the tale about Hirose and Takei. They happen to be co-workers. Takei loses his job because of showing up a company CEO. Hirose tries to take the blame but it doesn't work out for him. Takei is ultra lucky and Hirose has bad luck big time. Takei moves in with Hirose and brings his luck with him. It seems that Takei has had a thing for Hirose and was hoping for something to happen relationship wise. Will Takei's luck help him out?

How unfortunate for Yagi. He's a college student and doesn't have a drivers license. In Love Machine Yagi starts taking driving lessons from Tamiya. Yagi and Tamiya met at a drinking mixer. It seems that Tamiya has a thing for Yagi, but Yagi thinks that Tamiya is always joking. Will Tamiya get what he wants in the form of Yagi?

Erotic Affair 2005: "Epilogue" features out men Yoshiyuki and Okabe getting it on. You also find out who is the uke and who takes on the seme role. Believe me, it's a tad unexpected on which roles they are.

Affair was enjoyable, but it's not one of Shiuko Kano-sensei's strongest work. Usually it's pretty hardcore, rash, and raunchy. Her sex scenes are generally quite explicit. But in this manga there is something lacking, and I can't quite put my finger on it. As always Kano-sensei's art work is brilliantly detailed and her men are ultra sexy. In the art aspect, there is nothing missing, it's as amazing as always. I think the weakest link is the story. I found myself fairly confused. Because I'm a blonde it's expected for me to be easily confused, but this is ridiculous. I'll just have to read it a couple more times and mayble I'll get it. Don't get me wrong if you think that I'm bad mouthing the work, I'm not. Like I said Kano-sensei has stronger work out there but I enjoyed it nonetheless. This is a must have for Kano-sensei fans (which I am one) and I say check it out. If not for the story, her art and 801 Media's presentation makes it worth it. It has a full color cover page of Hijiri and Kyouichi which is pretty hot. The 801-chan comic is hilarious like always. It has a full color dust jacket which is just stunning. I say check it out if you have the time but if you don't then that's cool too.

***Review Copy purchased at Barnes and Noble***

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