Spring Fever by Yugi Yamada review

Spring Fever

Author/Artist: Yugi Yamada

Publisher: Deux Press

Rating: M - 18 and above

Genre: Yaoi, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Grade: A

In this volume of yaoi there are two one-shots. Well, one one-shot and a continuing story spanning several volumes and publishers. The two stories are Spring Fever and Wildman Blues.

Yusuke Onishi has the tendency to fall in love easily. He also has really weird taste. He's only eighteen but he seems to be interested in women who are older than him. Having recently gotten his heart broken he figured he was doomed in the romance department. Until he meets Hirokazu Takami. Takami is a 38-year-old single father. Yes, I said father. Didn't you see "Yaoi" in the genre section above? Takami moved into the home next to Yuske's. Takami's ex-wife recently died in an auto accident, so he is left to raise Yu, his son alone. Since Yusuke has fallen for Takami, he tries to do everything he can to help. Besides, Yu could use a playmate and Yusuke and Yu get along really well. But things don't go quite as Yusuke would like, especially with the entrance of Takami's former brother-in-law. What is on the horizon for this budding romance?

In Wildman Blues we meet Naoki and Ayu. They were neighbors at one time, but as soon as Naoki graduated from high school he and his mother moved away. Three years later Naoki has moved back and by some twist of fate Naoki and Ayu bump into each other on the street. There's a flashback that shows what things were like between Ayu and Naoki and why their friendship ended. Naoki has fully come out and Ayu is straight and currently has a girlfriend. Little do either party know that their worlds are about to be turned upside down.

I stated in my review for Don't Blame Me vol. 1 that I initially had no desire to read anything written or drawn by Yamada-sensei. Of course it's now been proven how wrong my opinion was. Her art compliments her stories perfectly. They are written with the perfect amount of humor to hook you and by the time you reach the end you'll feel satisfied. Spring Fever is very sweet and you can't help but fall for Takami either. Yu is adorable. I love how Yamada-sensei draws children. They're so cute and precocious. I really liked Wildman Blues. Out of the two tales, Wildman Blues is definitely the more explicit of the two. But who would want to ruin the sweet story of Spring Fever with so much sex that it ruins it. Deux Press never ceases to amaze me. Since Spring Fever was one of their first releases it is fairly stiff like Hate to Love You and I Shall Never Return. Even though you have to wrestle like mad to keep it open, it's still worthy of having in your yaoi collection.

Like I mentioned in the first paragraph Wildman Blues is part of a larger story. Yamada-sensei has published different parts of Naoki's story in different compilations; so to be helpful I'm going to list in chronological order and where you might find the stories.

A Little Glass Sky - This shows us Naoki in high school being bullied by other classmates. Here we're introduced to Naoki Suzuki, Souhei Shirai, and Yada. Yada is Naoki's tormentor. You can find this story in Glass Sky published by Juné.

Wildman Blues - Naoki has been out of high school for three years and a new love welcomes him. Souhei Shirai and Yada show up for a brief moment, along with Chikazawa (another former classmate but we really don't meet him until Laugh Under the Sun.) This story is located in Spring Fever published by Deux Press.

Extras - We see Naoki in top form and showing up to a class reunion. He faces his bullies and deals with them with flair. Ayu, Chikazawa, and Shirai show up in this quick story. This is published in June's Glass Sky.

Laugh Under the Sun - This story focuses on Shirai and Chikazawa's story but Naoki is pretty involved and we see what I would assume is the back of Ayu in a couple of panels. This is a one-shot called Laugh Under the Sun released by Juné.

This list really helped me iron out Naoki's story which helped me figure everything out. You don't have to read these stories in chronological order to enjoy them. I read Wildman Blues first. It didn't ruin anything and reading all of the chapters really helped.

***Review Copy purchased at Borders***