Hanky Panky by Koreaki Kamuro review

Hanky Panky

Author/Artist: Koreaki Kamuro

Publisher: Deux Press

Rating: M – for ages 18 on up

Genre: Yaoi, Drama, Romance, Anthology

Grade: C+

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

Here we have yet another one-shot collection. This time it is in a Deux Press release. Koreaki Kamuro-sensei has created Hanky Panky for our enjoyment.

The first tale, Hanky Panky, is about Manaka. Manaka is a college student but he's living a double life. At night he goes by Itsuki and he and his cousin run a hot host club. To hide his identity he plays up the nerd role during the day. There is one student who treats him with contempt, Masanari Doi. While he and his cousin are interviewing prospective new hosts the last person Itsuki (night name, remember?) wants to see applies for the position. It's Masanari Doi. Now Itsuki has to worry about keeping his identity hidden from this man who now shows interest in him.

In the tale The Truth is… Miki has a huge crush on his friend's brother. Kensho is 26 years old and owns two host clubs. Miki on the other hand seems to be very apathetic towards his life. His only bright spot is meeting up with Kensho on a regular basis. With Lovers, Only Tonight Suzuki gets hammered and wakes up in some stranger's apartment. Yet this stranger seems to know him, he even calls him "Coach". At one time Suzuki coached an elementary school soccer team. Just when he was confident with his coaching abilities one of players, Makio to be exact, started complaining about all kinds of things. This crushed Suzuki's confidence and he quit coaching. Could this man be Makio? We meet Ehara and Saki in A Kiss and Beyond. This is your typical old childhood friends fall for each other. Jealousy arises in regards to their other relationships. One Sweet Position has the typical salaryman feel to it. Kei is attracted to his coworker, Tatsuya. But it seems that Tatsuya is married and has a kid. In A Lovely Punch we return to our lead couple Manaka/Itsuki and Masanari Doi in a crazy situation.

Hanky Panky is a one-shot collection where the stories are short, sweet, and to the point. Which means that the story is slightly rushed so you get to the sex quicker. Then once the sex is over the story rushes to the ending so you can move on to the story which flows the same way. I prefer to have a little plot involved with my smut. It's a tad difficult to get the character development that I prefer when it comes to sex. I'd say that some of the stories were enjoyable but overall it's just OK. The thing that redeems the story is the art. Koreaki Kamuro-sensei has a wonderful eye for detail. The eyes are expressive and the lines are clean. Kamuro-sensei has done a great job with the art for this manga.

Deux Press does a great job when it comes to the licensing and printing of their titles. This volume is done very well. The only beef I have is that the binding that hasn't been scored. Now I have an ugly crease on the cover. I'm sure that this isn't a problem for most manga readers. I just happen to have some weird OCD about it. I know, I'm strange.

This title, Hanky Panky, is not bad but it's not super awesome either. I enjoyed it mostly for the art and some of the stories were compelling but others were lacking something that I just can't put my thumb on. If you enjoy one-shots that truly encompass yaoi (stories that don't have much story, but it has plenty of hot, sweaty, manloving) Hanky Panky may be your answer. But for someone like me I really only liked it for the beautiful art and Kamuro-sensei's style and layout.

***Review Copy provided by Deux Press***
***Reposted with permission from The Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society***