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Manga reviews: Boys Run the Riot, Gaku; Kuro, Somato; 10 Count, Takarai
Title: Boys Run the Riot
Author: Keito Gaku
Translator: Leo McDonagh
Published: Kodansha USA, 2021 (2020-2021)
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 820 (246+176+192+208)
Total Page Count: 483,360
Text Number: 1707-1710
Read Because: further browsing the library's digital manga offerings, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Review of the series entire. A trans boy begins a fashion brand with the help of a new schoolmate. A lot of this is so earnestly on-issue that it feels underdeveloped. That improves as it goes on, as characters gain more depth and happy endings are sparingly doled out. I care about queer stories a lot! But when it's al(most) all queer issues all the time, stories can feel raw and preachy; it doesn't help that the art is a little raw, too (although I dig that the trans characters looks visibly trans). So this is fine, but never exceeds "it's fine."
Title: Kuro
Author: Somato
Published: 2011-2016
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 385 (128+128+128)
Total Page Count: 484,455
Text Number: 1713-5
Read Because: this Tumblr post compared it to Hobo and Glunkus and everyone knows I love a cryptid cat
Review: In a big manor in a small town, a girl lives alone with her black cat - but Kuro is no typical cat. The bulk of this series is in full color, and many early panels are cute-but-uncanny mini stories; plot builds gradually, expanding the world and filling in the backstory. File this between Girl from the Other Side and the original Professor Layton trilogy: cute, cozy, antiquated; spooky/spoopy and gently sad. I'm less impressed by the ending, which comes quickly and doesn't manage to maintain the magic of the rest of the series. But I really enjoy this: a little gem of a series with a great premise and a lovely atmosphere.
Author: 10 Count
Author: Rihito Takarai
Published: 2013-17
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 1080 (178+178+190+191+164+181)
Total Page Count: 488,450
Text Number: 1727-32
Read Because: found in correlation with a list of dark BL, I think?
Review: This a frustrating read. It has a slow start, less "slow burn" than "tedious introduction to the cast," but gives way to a fantastic premise: a psychotherapist takes an unusual romantic interest in someone with OCD, leveraging his background in psychology to effectively conduct a (delightfully poorly-negotiated) BDSM dynamic build around the love interest's mysophobia. It's inventive and surprisingly dark and recasts tired BL tropes (particularly squeamishness about gay sex) in a fresh new light with a lot of convincing tension.
But, like most BL, the characterization, pacing, and relationship resolution is so routine that all that originality goes to waste. It's not bad, the bits that get me really got me, but this takes a great idea and makes it feel like any other BL.
Author: Keito Gaku
Translator: Leo McDonagh
Published: Kodansha USA, 2021 (2020-2021)
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 820 (246+176+192+208)
Total Page Count: 483,360
Text Number: 1707-1710
Read Because: further browsing the library's digital manga offerings, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Review of the series entire. A trans boy begins a fashion brand with the help of a new schoolmate. A lot of this is so earnestly on-issue that it feels underdeveloped. That improves as it goes on, as characters gain more depth and happy endings are sparingly doled out. I care about queer stories a lot! But when it's al(most) all queer issues all the time, stories can feel raw and preachy; it doesn't help that the art is a little raw, too (although I dig that the trans characters looks visibly trans). So this is fine, but never exceeds "it's fine."
Title: Kuro
Author: Somato
Published: 2011-2016
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 385 (128+128+128)
Total Page Count: 484,455
Text Number: 1713-5
Read Because: this Tumblr post compared it to Hobo and Glunkus and everyone knows I love a cryptid cat
Review: In a big manor in a small town, a girl lives alone with her black cat - but Kuro is no typical cat. The bulk of this series is in full color, and many early panels are cute-but-uncanny mini stories; plot builds gradually, expanding the world and filling in the backstory. File this between Girl from the Other Side and the original Professor Layton trilogy: cute, cozy, antiquated; spooky/spoopy and gently sad. I'm less impressed by the ending, which comes quickly and doesn't manage to maintain the magic of the rest of the series. But I really enjoy this: a little gem of a series with a great premise and a lovely atmosphere.
Author: 10 Count
Author: Rihito Takarai
Published: 2013-17
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 1080 (178+178+190+191+164+181)
Total Page Count: 488,450
Text Number: 1727-32
Read Because: found in correlation with a list of dark BL, I think?
Review: This a frustrating read. It has a slow start, less "slow burn" than "tedious introduction to the cast," but gives way to a fantastic premise: a psychotherapist takes an unusual romantic interest in someone with OCD, leveraging his background in psychology to effectively conduct a (delightfully poorly-negotiated) BDSM dynamic build around the love interest's mysophobia. It's inventive and surprisingly dark and recasts tired BL tropes (particularly squeamishness about gay sex) in a fresh new light with a lot of convincing tension.
But, like most BL, the characterization, pacing, and relationship resolution is so routine that all that originality goes to waste. It's not bad, the bits that get me really got me, but this takes a great idea and makes it feel like any other BL.