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i'm a big fan of takaku's art and really enjoyed her work in passion and kissing. the typical yaoi insecurity forms the basis for much of the conflict, but near the end in the bonus shorts there's a bit more humor thrown in which is nice. here the story (by takaku) is more shallow, but it's nice to see two adults for a change instead of the more prevalent sensei/student and student/student stories. i still really like her artwork, which includes a lot of closeups and expressive faces. all in all you may not want to get this if you're looking for a lot of plot or drama, but if you're a fan of the artist you'll prob. enjoy this as much as i did.
The art is, therefore, superb, with good details, clear lines and characters that look different enough that you easily tell them apart. As for "adult" scenes (let's face it, we all want to know), there was more than one and I wasn't disappointed in them. The mangaka, Takaku Shouko, is the same artist who did the PASSION series and KISSING with other authors. I did a little research, just to cover myself, but now I'm glad I did. Eek. I closed this book and felt good about having purchased it. Not too confusing once I got over the initial "whoa, this is different". This is the first time I've read a BL manga story told in this way, but I thought it worked out well, for the most part.
My only research note is that I was curious about the secondary couple in the volume, and it turns out that they had a short story in a volume of one-shots (FROM YESTERDAY) that hasn't been released in English at the time I am writing this. The story is interesting and the mostly emotional plot lands on various highs and lows throughout the story. It's rough doing the first review. Also, there were a few romantic moments that stood out compared to the average BL title. This seems to be the mangaka's first English-language solo title, but I think her writing easily matches up to the standard of her art. The story of the main couple is told mostly in flashback, after an opening sequence, so the reader is assured of the outcome from the start. You don't need to have read the short story to understand the plot in this book, but knowing it exists does explain the matter-of-fact air around the second couple. Rare enough these days, so I recommend it.
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