Feverish by Takaaki Kusaka review

Feverish

Author/Artist: Takaaki Kusaka

Publisher: Juné

Rating: M – 18 and up

Genre: Yaoi, Drama, Romance

Grade: A

In Feverish we have two tales that are loosely related. The first story has a bit more humor than the second does, but they both are excellent tales.

Singles and Persons star Chihiro and Kensei. Chihiro has been chasing after for Kensei years. Seriously, this dude is like a stalker. Chihiro's father is the manager of the apartment that both Chihiro and Kensei live in. Chihiro is constantly breaking in and trying to make the moves on Kensei. Kensei doesn't hate Chihiro, but their relationship is pretty ambiguous (with the exception of Chihiro giving Kensei blow jobs all the time). After giving Kensei a pricey birthday gift, Chihiro goes to the bar that Kensei works at with some friends. A scuffle breaks out between Kensei, Chihiro and one of Chihiro's friends. Was this how Chihiro figured things would go?

Feather Hands takes up the majority of the volume. Yoh Ootsuki is a model. He's also a bit thick and has little tact. But he has an eye for silver jewelry. His stylist gets him a job working with exquisite silver pieces. Yoh is immediately taken by the beautiful jewelry and insists on getting some for himself. The artisan is quite picky on who he sells to and Yoh's stylist lets him know that his chances for getting his mitts on some of this silver is very slim. The stylist takes pity on Yoh and gives him the address of the place where he can meet the creator himself.

Yoh shows up at the bar and meets the bar owner. Supposedly the bar owner and the silversmith are one in the same and is male, but Yoh is thick remember? Yoh starts hitting on Ari, the owner, thinking that he is a she. After months of embarrassing himself in front of Ari, Yoh catches on that Ari is indeed male and the silversmith. But Yoh is in too deep by this point.

I found myself enraptured by this work by Takaaki Kusaka-sensei. I found both stories to be quite enjoyable for different reasons. They both deal with persistent men, but the Chihiro-Kensei story had a little more humor. I find Kusaka-sensei's art style is very lovely. Her men are all extraordinarily handsome. But the thing I loved most of all was sensei's chibi renderings. They are just too adorable. I would really like to see more of Kusaka-sensei's work published over here. I've checked out many of her (?) manga titles through the scans you can find on line and I've loved them all. PLEASE BRING MORE FROM KUSAKA-SENSEI TO OUR SHORES! Good job, Juné!

***Review Copy purchased at Borders***