Hot Limit by Minori Shima and Akira Kanbe review

Hot Limit

Author/Artist: Minori Shima/Akira Kanbe

Publisher: Juné

Rating: M – 18 and up

Genre: Yaoi, Drama, Romance

Grade: A

*** Review originally appeared at The Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society at http://liheliso.com/buzz/. Check it out! ***

Kazuma Sogou is a college student who hates to go to school. To occupy his time he works several part-time jobs to pay the bills. One evening at the bar he works at, Kazuma sees the most beautiful person he ever beheld. But he was taken by surprise when he found out that this beautiful person is a guy (he thought he was a girl). It turns out that Maya is a regular customer and seems to be able to charm the pants off anyone, literally.

Kazuma gets another part time job working for some rich family. On his first day he is introduced to the young master of the house, Shinya Suzaki. Shinya shares an extreme likeness to the beautiful Maya. It seems that Shinya and Maya are the same person. Kazuma, one day at work, meets a gentleman by the name Seiichirou Tanabe. Tanabe is a Member of Parliament (or a high powered government employee, I’m not really sure). It seems that Tanabe has some sort of control over Shinya. Kazuma accidentally overhears a conversation between Tanabe and Shinya which is extremely disturbing to Kazuma (and to me, too). Tanabe seems to be using Shinya’s other personality of Maya to seduce older businessmen. Will Kazuma be able to pull Shinya out of Tanabe’s grasp all while unraveling a mystery involving his family business?

It is really fascinating that in one shipment of review materials I can have a really good book and an average book. I’m referring to Hot Limit as the really good book. Minori Shima-sensei’s story and Akira Kanbe-sensei’s art are a great combination. I was really looking forward to this book and had planned on purchasing it, but it showed up in my mailbox to be read and reviewed. You can’t comprehend the excitement I felt. After reading Loving Gaze by Kanbe-sensei I found that I really like sensei’s art style. The toning and shading really compliment sensei’s soft art. I have noticed that many characters across many stories all look similar. But the art is so soft and pretty I’m able to overlook it. Who knew that political intrigue and underage prostitution could look so good and be interesting all at the same time. This is a Juné release so you can guarantee that it will be a larger trim size, have a dust jacket, and just look good all the way around. Now I’m a die hard Akira Kanbe-sensei fan thanks to Juné. I hope to see more from Kanbe-sensei and through Juné, which really makes great artists shine that much brighter through their excellent quality. If you like Akira Kanbe-sensei, Juné, or yaoi manga in general, check out Hot Limit.