Millennium Darling 2006 by Maki Naruto review

Millennium Darling 2006

Author/Artist: Maki Naruto

Publisher: Juné

Rating: YA – 16 and above

Genre: Yaoi, Comedy, Romance

Grade: C+

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

I am the type of person who doesn’t like to start reading books in the middle of a series. I tried it once and I was so confused that I vowed I would never do it again. Unfortunately, with Millennium Darling 2006 I didn’t have that luxury. The previous seven volumes of Millennium Darling (known as Seikimatsu Darling in Japan) haven’t been licensed here in the States. For me to be able to grasp the plot and get a handle on the characters I had to read it at least twice.

Sakamoto is a spoiled guy. His lover, Sentarou, dotes on him 24/7. One afternoon Sakamoto gets a call from Takasugi, a friend of his and Sentarou’s. Takasugi warns Sakamoto that if he continues to behave the way he does, Sentarou will get fed up and leave. Sakamoto will have none of that! Not only does Sakamoto have to find out what’s up with Sentarou, Sakamoto’s father has found him a bride. It’s none other than Takasugi’s sister, Reiko. WAHHH! What will Sakamoto do?

In this book not only do we follow Sakamoto and Sentarou, but we meet Takasugi and Ogata, Shikibu and Tsutsumi, Todoroki and Takeru, and finally Kitasenju and Juujou. Not only are there a bunch of characters, but they all cross paths, they all know each other, and they all have kids.

I honestly thought that Tatsumi Kaiya’s Party was the most confusing book of all time. I mean, any time you need a flow chart to figure out characters and their relationships to other characters is not a good sign. But, Millennium Darling 2006 surpasses Party with the confusion prize. Here is a story with already developed characters and relationships. I, personally, like to read and develop along with those characters. I also like to have the back-stories, which you don’t get in Millennium Darling 2006. I want to know how these characters met, fell in love, etc.

I liked the art. It reminded me a bit of Chifumi Ochi (author and artist of Honey Senior, Darling Junior). It’s cute, but not spectacular. Maki Naruto-sensei did make great use, however, of chibi characters. Her drawings of our couples’ kids are extremely adorable, but how could kids not be adorable in manga form. Juné does a great job, as always, with presentation. With the larger trim size and dust jacket, it makes a great bookshelf item. I do have one question though. What’s up with the military-style font? This book has nothing to do with the military, so why do we have an Army-type font? Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

I liked the book fine, but be ready to read it a few times (and mark the page with the flowchart to keep track of things) to really enjoy it. I just really hope that we can get the previous seven volumes licensed and published so we can develop a relationship with these characters, just like out Japanese counterparts have!