written by Sumitomo Morozumi

Shibutami has no luck with girls; he gets dumped regularly. But even with his inability to stay interested in them for very long, he never expects to feel the way he feels when Yoshizumi transfers to his school. Yoshizumi is very good-looking and it is easy for Shibutami to stay interested, but Yoshizumi is also, undeniably, a boy. Like Saika Kunieda’s Future Lovers series (published by Deux), Morozumi’s main two stories (“An Unfading Rose Covered in Mud” and “Merry Family Plan”) are about a guy who thought he was straight and a guy who has never had any doubts about his homosexuality, though Morozumi’s characters are students rather than teachers. Shibutami and Yoshizumi are appealing leads. They are open with each other about their fears—after just enough angst to make the story interesting, of course—and they don’t have any discussions about who is the “girl” or anything silly like that. They are loving, caring, and funny. This volume is Morozumi’s debut collection, which is surprising. Both the writing and the art in the main stories are strong and show evidence of careful work and study and don’t have many of the weaknesses expected from a first outing as a professional.
 
The other stories in the collection aren’t quite as good and it is pretty obvious which one is Morozumi’s earliest piece (or as she says in her author’s note, “…the very first original manga that I managed to draw with professional quality artwork”). That story is “Blue Burial,” an odd tale about a clumsy assistant pilot who finds himself possessed by a ghost. It never quite comes together the way it should, but it is lightly funny. “The Smile Under the Mask” is a very offbeat piece about a high-school boy with a mask fetish. The ending was a little too quirky, but the main characters will make readers laugh. “A Silent Understanding” and its companion, “If You Willingly Dine on Poison, Make Sure You Eat Every Last Bite,” are decent little pieces about a young man, Fuji, who falls for a man named Yoshio. The problem is that Fuji isn’t sure about Yoshio’s true feelings for his childhood friend Yoshinori. Fuji and Yoshio are so adorably dorky together that readers can’t help but feel sorry for Yoshinori, who is stuck trying to handle two idiot friends now rather than just one. Finally there is “We Were Lucky Enough to Be Born as Men,” which is about two young men who are worried about taking the final (anal) plunge. Rather dumb, but in a sweet, smutty way.
 
Morozumi’s art is a delight. Chaotically cute in places, it hints at Lily Hoshino’s work, but with a rough, appealingly unfinished quality that keeps it from seeming too perfect. She has a tendency to stick lots of tiny little panels in where one normal size panel would ordinarily go. Those small rectangles are filled with chibi silliness and are as addicting as a bag full of M&Ms. Readers will find themselves flipping back through the book, revisiting some of their favorites. Screentones are doled out sparingly as Morozumi seems to prefer to shade things on her own or to simply go with line drawings. Netcomics has done a careful translation job, so the stories are clear and easy to follow. Morozumi is a terrific addition to the yaoi world and to the greater manga world and hopefully her work will catch on stateside.
 

-- Snow Wildsmith

Commenting closes after a story has been up for 2 months.