Mmm Delicious Yaoi: Fresh Men

College freshman Takayuki Saito faints into the arms of sophomore Hitoshi Sato during their school's entrance ceremony. Not knowing that the reason for his fainting spell was from too much partying, all Sato sees is a fragile boy fresh out of high school who needs looking after. Unfortunately for Sato, it turns out that Saito is "fresh" in more ways than he can handle!
Since my goal for 2011 is to glean through my to be read pile(s) of manga I finally got around to reading this one-shot today. One of the gripes I had was with the names; Saito and Sato. Seriously, for the first chapter I got the names confused, a lot. Thankfully though the two main characters had their own unique physical attributes so I was able to distinguish the two that way.

I really enjoyed the main story but I found the bonus side stories to catch my attention more. I'm adding to my wish list of manga Endless Rain by the same creator, the angst and emotions conveyed in this one-shot was really well executed so I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of her work.

"Like A Love Comedy"

Review: “Like A Love Comedy” by Aki Morimoto (yaoi novel)

Taking place in LA this light “boy’s love” novel makes for a nice and quick read. The author utilized the setting of television production as the main focus of the story as opposed to the budding romance of the two main characters; Biwa and Yamato. Biwa is the struggling screenwriter of the story that is trying to hone his writing skills to someday make it big in the entertainment business. Yamato is the famous actor from Japan trying to get his feet wet in the American entertainment industry. Their passion for American entertainment will be the thread that ties these two different personalities together in the bonds of friendship that will lead to much more.

The characters personal developments in the story did not come into focus till much later in the novel, if it was noticeable to the reader at all. The plot was stoic and predictable from the first page to the last; though if it was any other way I think it would have been an upset to the reader if Biwa and Yamato did not later reunite on American shores.

Though the title may be somewhat deceiving has “comedy” in it that does not mean it was full of slap stick humor. It was more lighthearted and ironic in a way that what Biwa thought of Yamato at first as being arrogant and dreading working as his personal Japanese speaking assistant later (much later) turns into a blossoming relationship between the seemingly unlikely couple.

If you are looking for a yaoi guilty pleasure look elsewhere as this book could be considered PG-13 (or lower) rating. The majority of the plot focused so much on the production sets that it seemed that the minor romance at the end was somewhat forced, without the last chapter it would be hard pressed to categorize this light novel as yaoi. It would be a good read for those that may want to get into the yaoi/ boy’s love genre and want to start off with something that is a light and easy read.