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juushikaTitle: Zetsuai 1989
Author: Minami Ozaki
Published: 1989-1991
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 955 (192+192+192+188+192)
Total Page Count: 505,325
Text Number: 1796-1800
Read Because: mentioned in this post comparing Hannibal to 90s dark shoujo anime/manga/light novels, which is a normal reason to pick up a manga I think
Review: 2.5 stars. One of the ur-BL manga that I missed as a baby reader: a successful rock star is rescued after a bender by a soccer prodigy, revealing a missed connection from years ago that has since grown into an obsessive, operatic love. This has (more, helped establish) every problematic marker of the genre ("I'm not gay, I just love you" first among them; also a lot of sexual assault); but that's less memorable than: 1) a truly iconic, obsessive love with any number of quotable speeches about its nature; 2) the central role of soccer, frequently rendering high-tension moments in a plot which already overwrought patently ridiculous, as the beloved shoots a shot so hard it breaks the net and the lover's shades; 3) the unresolved, bitter ending—I've read a lot of BL, and prefer my BL weird and dark, but this may be the first "I concede, because I see no other option" conclusion I've encountered, and I'm taken by it.
Oh and: 4) OG fans put up with some truly illegible fan translations.
So: Good? unsurprisingly, no, not really. As bad as its reputation within the Western audience lead me to expect? no; not even the art. Recommended? I enjoyed it as a historical artifact, but, of the ur-BL I've read for the first time as an adult, this was probably the least successful. I'll still read the sequel, though.
Title: Bronze - Zetsuai since 1989
Author: Minami Ozaki
Published: 1992-2006
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 2780 (198+176+176+176+216+192+224+192+192+192+192+208+208+240)
Total Page Count: 519,455
Text Number: 1878-1891
Read Because: continuing the series
Review: I hate to say it, as it's inconsistent, tortured, improbable angst, but this is great. Call Zetsuai 1989 the proof of concept: restrained (by contrast! it's actually ridiculous!), brief, forward-heavy in its speeches on impossible, obsessive love. Bronze - Zetsuai since 1989, meanwhile, is unwieldy but it's all follow-through: the consequences of the protagonists's backgrounds and professions; their relationship not in speeches but as lived experience, marked particularly by an elaboration on rape-as-love tropes. Izumi's choice at the end of the original run is remarkable, and a continuation seems insupportable; this continuation is plagued by every predictable BL flaw, and yet Izumi's relationship with his relationship—functionally heterosexual in a queer romance, craving and courting attention which is retraumatizing and toxic and true—is captivating. It's hot mess material, some plot arcs are flops, and of course it stands unfinished. But Ozaki's willingness to go there (where? everywhere, but particularly following through on dramatic, no-takebacks plot twists) is phenomenal.
Author: Minami Ozaki
Published: 1989-1991
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 955 (192+192+192+188+192)
Total Page Count: 505,325
Text Number: 1796-1800
Read Because: mentioned in this post comparing Hannibal to 90s dark shoujo anime/manga/light novels, which is a normal reason to pick up a manga I think
Review: 2.5 stars. One of the ur-BL manga that I missed as a baby reader: a successful rock star is rescued after a bender by a soccer prodigy, revealing a missed connection from years ago that has since grown into an obsessive, operatic love. This has (more, helped establish) every problematic marker of the genre ("I'm not gay, I just love you" first among them; also a lot of sexual assault); but that's less memorable than: 1) a truly iconic, obsessive love with any number of quotable speeches about its nature; 2) the central role of soccer, frequently rendering high-tension moments in a plot which already overwrought patently ridiculous, as the beloved shoots a shot so hard it breaks the net and the lover's shades; 3) the unresolved, bitter ending—I've read a lot of BL, and prefer my BL weird and dark, but this may be the first "I concede, because I see no other option" conclusion I've encountered, and I'm taken by it.
Oh and: 4) OG fans put up with some truly illegible fan translations.
So: Good? unsurprisingly, no, not really. As bad as its reputation within the Western audience lead me to expect? no; not even the art. Recommended? I enjoyed it as a historical artifact, but, of the ur-BL I've read for the first time as an adult, this was probably the least successful. I'll still read the sequel, though.
Title: Bronze - Zetsuai since 1989
Author: Minami Ozaki
Published: 1992-2006
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 2780 (198+176+176+176+216+192+224+192+192+192+192+208+208+240)
Total Page Count: 519,455
Text Number: 1878-1891
Read Because: continuing the series
Review: I hate to say it, as it's inconsistent, tortured, improbable angst, but this is great. Call Zetsuai 1989 the proof of concept: restrained (by contrast! it's actually ridiculous!), brief, forward-heavy in its speeches on impossible, obsessive love. Bronze - Zetsuai since 1989, meanwhile, is unwieldy but it's all follow-through: the consequences of the protagonists's backgrounds and professions; their relationship not in speeches but as lived experience, marked particularly by an elaboration on rape-as-love tropes. Izumi's choice at the end of the original run is remarkable, and a continuation seems insupportable; this continuation is plagued by every predictable BL flaw, and yet Izumi's relationship with his relationship—functionally heterosexual in a queer romance, craving and courting attention which is retraumatizing and toxic and true—is captivating. It's hot mess material, some plot arcs are flops, and of course it stands unfinished. But Ozaki's willingness to go there (where? everywhere, but particularly following through on dramatic, no-takebacks plot twists) is phenomenal.
