One Night Lesson by Ryo Takagi review

One Night Lesson

Author/Artist: Ryo Takagi

Publisher: Juné

Rating: M – 18 and above

Genre: Yaoi, Drama, Comedy, Romance, Anthology

Grade: A+

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

One Night Lesson is a collection of one-shots. Actually, it contains only three one-shots and a brief mixed manga starring all of our boys at the very end.

One Shot may sound like it’s aptly named (it being a one-shot) but actually it’s about photography (tee-hee, fooled you!) Kairi is a talented photographer. His model of choice is Takara. Kairi is trying to get shots of the real Takara, but is really having a difficult time. As it turns out, Takara has fallen in love with Kairi but is worried about his photographer (yes, I mean Kairi) uncovering those emotions. Because Kairi is trying to coax out the real Takara, the two spend virtually all of their time together. They work together; they live together, etc. But what will Kairi do to get the shot he’s looking for?

The next one-shot contains two parts, Half Position and Half Position 2. Ryu Saezaki and Sakura Nogami are rivals in school. Nogami is always number one when it comes to test scores. Saezaki always seems to come in second no matter how hard he studies. It ticks Saezaki off to no end. Of course Nogami doesn’t make it any better, always egging him on. It turns out that Nogami’s father is a high political officer and Sakura is being groomed to be his father’s successor. While headed home after school, Nogami seems to be out of sorts and uses Saezaki to give his father’s security the slip. This new Nogami confuses Saezaki. Nogami says to call him Sakura and tells Saezaki that tomorrow he’ll be waiting in the bathroom for some nookie. What on earth is Nogami’s problem, and how will he deal with this new situation?

Our final one-shot is Fake Lesson. Chihiro Asou has been accepted to a prestigious music school. It just happens to be an all-boys school. Thanks to Chihiro’s friends he enters thinking that everyone is gay (Chihiro is straight). Of course, everyone we see happens to be gay and they all hold a flame to Chihiro’s roommate, Ren Sakurazawa. Not only does Chihiro start school by ticking all of his schoolmates off by rooming with the hottest property on campus but Ren attaches himself to Chihiro like a suction cup (ticking everyone off even more). It turns out that Ren is also straight, but will things stay that way?

Extra Mixed Manga stars all of our beautiful boys in the most hilarious way possible!

For someone who gets tired of one-shots regularly (like me), I have to say I LOVED THIS MANGA! I hope that cleared it up for you. I especially loved Fake Lesson. It’s fairly short, but very hilarious. Of course, all of the stories were great. It was the perfect combination of humor, sex, and story. If you are looking for something with some major depth, you won’t get that with One Night Lesson. But for a great diversion definitely check it out. The art is truly gorgeous and the chibi figures crack me up. Even the Afterword was classic! Ryo Takagi-sensei has made a fan out of me and I hope to see more of her works released here in the States. Juné is a great medium for artists of Takagi-sensei’s caliber. You have a beautiful dust jacket and with the larger trim size you can really enjoy the magnificence of the art. The stories are solid even though they aren’t long which made it an enjoyable collection of one-shots. Very rarely will you find me shouting from the mountaintops about a one-shot collection, but in the case of One Night Lesson the peaks around my house will be echoing with the praise I am heaping upon it!