Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Don't Say Any More, Darling by Fumi Yoshinaga review

Don't Say Any More, Darling

Author/Artist: Fumi Yoshinaga

Publisher: Juné

Rating: M – 18 and up

Genre: Yaoi, Drama

Grade: D-

I know that I've said in the past that I'm not a huge fan of Fumi Yoshinaga-sensei but I continue to read her work because of her storytelling prowess. If I had started reading her works with Don't Say Any More, Darling I would have stopped there. It is an anthology of one shot stories.

Don't Say Any More, Darling – Tadashi is a starving lyricist. The only thing keeping Tadashi alive is Kouhei, his best friend since high school. As soon as Kouhei's parents start getting on his case in regards to marriage he starts to question his relationship with his gay best friend.

My Eternal Sweetheart – Arthur has a disease that won't allow him to have contact with the outside world. His brother creates androids to take care of him. Arthur is a teenager and is curious about sex. He asks for a sex android, a male one. It turns out that Arthur is gay.

Fairyland – Kaoru has been bullied for a long time and just wishes that the bullying to stop. Soon, everyone turns to sand.

One May Day – An older gentleman gets married for a second time to a woman he met in a small restaurant.

Pianist – A young man wanted to be a world class pianist. Now that he's older he's unfulfilled in life and wants to throw it all away.

This was a very disappointing anthology. Normally with Yoshinaga-sensei I am riveted to the spot because of her amazing ability to craft a beautiful story. In this case, however, I kept reading hoping that it would get better. It didn't. I know that there are many of her fans out there that will probably want to put my head on a chopping block, but I stand by my opinion. Her art has never floored me (I like her chibi renderings though). The stories lacked substance and weren't all that interesting. Don't Say Any More, Darling would have been better if it were longer, but sensei chose to craft it as a short story. I have no problem with slice of life stories and Yoshinaga-sensei can make them very interesting but in this case she failed.

In some weird twist of events the only reason I didn't give this a failing grade is the art. Weird, I know. If you like Yoshinaga-sensei you might enjoy this volume, but if you are like me and only enjoy her storytelling abilities, steer clear.

***Review Copy purchased through Yaoi Club***

2 comments:

Suzu said...

*tries not to chop of your head* ;)
I liked DSAD a lot actually, the only title by Yoshinaga-san that I didn't really enjoy was Truly kindly, the first story was a sick mess. ^^' Did you read lovers in the night? That one really is funny and sweet imho. ^^

Kris said...

I've read almost all of Yoshinaga-sensei's work that has been published through Juné/DMP (I haven't read Garden Dreams). With the titles that BLU has published I haven't read. It looks like I'll have to check out Lovers in the Night!