Wild Butterfly by Hiroki Kusumoto review

Wild Butterfly

Author/Artist: Hiroki Kusumoto

Publisher: Juné

Rating: YA – for ages 16 and above

Genre: Yaoi, Drama, Horror, Supernatural, Anthology

Grade: C

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

Wild Butterfly by Hiroki Kusumoto is a series of one-shots.
This volume contains stories about all kinds of different things.

We have a tale of a teacher who tries to liberate the minds of his students by teaching things against government norms. There is a story of a Demon Oracle who attacks humans who are close to dying. Another tale is of a guy who seems to travel back in time to meet a man in exile. One story is about a vampire and his lover who doesn’t believe him (the vampire). The final tale is about a protector of the dead and his heroic deed.

This work is published by Juné but there was only one story in it that was a boys love story. That story was Fangs, the tale of the vampire and his lover. The rest of the stories all starred men, but I didn’t catch any BL vibes. It’s entirely possible that there were those vibes but because I’ve been reading a lot of yaoi lately that I’ve been desensitized to the subtle stuff. Who knows? Initially my interest was piqued based on the blurb Juné had on their website. So when I saw it in the envelope of my review materials, I was excited. Now that I’ve read it, what can I say? The only things going for it are the dust jacket and the full color first page of the story. All of the stories were such downers (with the exception of the last story). I don’t mind a serious story every once in a while but this was just too much for me. Plus I’m kind of worn out on one-shots so I would like to read something that is the same story all the way through. The art isn’t too bad but it wasn’t anything outstanding. It’s rated YA which means it’s geared towards audiences 16 and above. Am I glad I read it? Well… it wasn’t bad but I probably wouldn’t have bought it with my own cash. Be sure to thumb through it before you buy to make sure it’s something you’ll enjoy.