breath vol. 1 by Chifumi Ochi review

breath vol. 1

Author/Artist: Chifumi Ochi

Publisher: Yaoi Generation

Rating: M – 18 and up

Genre: Yaoi, Drama

Grade: B

One evening while hanging out in his favorite gay bar Yanagi meets the man of his dreams. The man is simply gorgeous and is totally wasted so he doesn't resist any of Yanagi's come ons. The two hit a love hotel for a night of hot, sweaty, fluid-filled, passionate sex. It turns out that the mystery man is ultra sensitive and is still a virgin, which turns Yanagi on even more. When morning comes and sobriety has set in the sexy mystery man seems to be someone completely different than the sexy man from the night before. This man is disgusted with what happened and books out of the room before Yanagi was even dressed, leaving behind his jacket.

Yanagi is pretty torked at this point and tries to distract himself. The man who stood him up the night he met our mystery man has some free time and wants to spend it with Yanagi. A revelation is in store for Yanagi while he is at Ten's (his friend) house. It seems that Ten (aka Takashi) has a twin brother, Arata. Shock and surprise all around when we meet Arata. It's the mystery man from the other night! Arata sees the events of the other night completely different. He'd had a crappy day at work and afterwards he had to listen to his coworkers complain and bash him (he was headed to the loo). To drown his sorrows he hit the nearest bar and drank until he couldn't remember. He first started coming to his senses during the passionate lovemaking session but it wasn't until it was all over that he finally realized what he'd done, and of course we know he flipped out. You see, Ten is cool and confident and everyone loves him and Arata can't help but compare himself to his brother (boy, can I relate or what!). Arata is the complete opposite he's quiet, shy, and really quite the introvert.

Yanagi seizes this opportunity. As a way to get near Arata he uses the jacket that Arata left behind to gain entry into Arata and Ten's apartment. He then decides to blackmail Arata into a sexual relationship, but will it continue in this fashion?

This title is Yaoi Generation's debut release. They announced themselves at this year's YaoiCon in San Francisco. I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for sending this review copy to me, I'm honored to work with them! breath is going to be an interesting story, I can tell. It is a series of five volumes so the intensity has just started. Honestly I have no idea how this story is going to pan out. I am one who enjoys a happily ever after and I really hope that will be the case. But since we are still at the beginning I am anxiously awaiting the next volume. Each character is very interesting. Yanagi seems to be a cold-hearted snake but he seems to possess some sort of conscience. Arata is your typical shy guy but you can't help but wonder, is he developing feelings for Yanagi? This is a very angst filled manga. It doesn’t start out as a blackmailing, forcing someone to sleep with you story, but it does develop into that. I just wanted to make you all aware of that.

I found myself sucked into the story immediately thanks to Chifumi Ochi-sensei's art. You may be already familiar with Ochi-sensei's work thanks to NETCOMICS. They published her Honey Senior, Darling Junior series. Her art is detailed and beautiful, clean and uncluttered. It is very pleasing to the eye. Not only is it beautiful in the artwork but the publishing is genius. All you other yaoi publishers on the scene better watch out because this is one high quality release. In looking at it, it is very similar to what you would get from Broccoli/Boysenberry Books. It's a bit smaller that your typical manga but it features a stunning full color front page, heavy brilliant white paper which causes the images to just leap off the page, and ink that doesn’t rub off onto your hands. Since Boysenberry is going out of business Yaoi Gen is going to fill that spot nicely. Banzai, Banzai, Banzai! The price point for one of their releases is $12.99, which falls into the typical price for a yaoi title. With the quality that you get it is well worth it.

I'm looking forward to working with Yaoi Generation in the future. If all of their releases from here on out are going to be like this first one, I can't help but be excited for their future!


***Review Copy provided by Yaoi Generation***