Canis -Dear Mr. Rain- by Zakk

Canis -Dear Mr. Rain-

The Edge Comix lineup adds yet another striking cover with the release of Canis -Dear Mr. Rain-. Similar to Tokyo Shinjuu, this manga is the first tankoubon release of a new artist, Zakk. The manga is about two very different people, their pasts, and how their futures will intertwine.

Additions to the Fantasy BL Manga List

I originally meant to update my fantasy/supernatural BL manga list on a more regular basis. Oops. Well, you have to start somewhere. I thought of covering Mauri to Ryuu more extensively, but decided against it. However, it’s still worth a short recommendation, so here’s a few additional fantasy BL manga that I particularly enjoyed.

Mauri to Ryuu by Moto Haruhira
This collection of short stories features wandering gods who enrich the land. During their travels, they observe humans and sometimes fall in love. If that affection is returned, the gods take the human form of the one who loves them. The tone is simple and warm. At least until mpreg is clumsily shoe-horned into the last 2-3 panels or at most few pages of several stories. Or that the act of sex is there solely for baby-making purposes since the gods have more animalistic instincts or something. That was chilling. Ignoring that, overall, I enjoyed the work. My favorite story was about a small bird whose song calls forth the spring season. He meets a taciturn hunter who saves him from his captors. The hunter continues to protect him while he sings and leaves a trail of flowers and spring in their wake.

Tenkousei Jinno Murasaki by Tanaka Suzuki
With a single punch of his left hand, Jinnai Midori can purify all evil and malciousness from people. Even the nastiest delinquent becomes a honest person after one hit. However, it doesn’t seem to work on the new transfer student, Jinno Murasaki. There’s something really off about the guy: he’s kinda creepy, really strong, seems dangerous, and is oddly obsessed with Midori.

The manga is all about the two and the supernatural trouble that finds them. Jinno follows Midori around like a protective puppy, including the part where he tears up anyone who threatens Midori into bloody shreds. Jinno is the vaguely threatening, strong, self-appointed boyfriend Midori never asked for but gets stalked by anyway. The manga has a horror feel to it, with dark, violent encounters with supernatural beings that possess people. Shit really hits the fan in the surreal last volume of the manga: everything goes batshit insane, many characters die (slowly and while being tormented), Jinno goes full yandere.. so yeah, typical Tanaka Suzuki fun. I really liked the end. I would have never guessed the last volume would have gone in that direction based on the beginning.

Konya mo Nemurenai by Yamamoto Kotetsuko
In a desperate moment, college student Rikiya calls for help and accidentally summons a demon. Since Rikiya has no immediate wish for the demon to grant, Endo decides to stick around in the human world and many comical shenanigans follow. Endo is an impish, arrogant short guy, yet he can be supportive and insightful at times. The romantic aspect is not abrupt and allowed time to develop. This work is a good example of Yamamoto Kotetsuko’s ability to make cute and charismatic characters.

Shinseigokumon by Kuku Hayate
This is a collection of short stories with two of them having fantasy/supernatural themes. The title oneshot is about the guardians at the gate which separates the worlds of the living and the dead. There’s a black bull guardian and a white horse guardian who watch over opposite sides of the gate. While they work together, they can never be in contact with each other for long since the worlds must remain separated. It’s a short story with great character designs you’d expect from Kuku Hayate.

There’s more nice character designs in another oneshot, Foehn phenomena. It’s about a mountain spirit and a wind spirit. The wind guy is pretty pissed at the mountain guy for being all big and blocking his winds. Being a mountain, he tends to lay around and not move, after all. Soon enough, they get all friendly. Oh and those hot, dry Foehn winds? It comes from the two having sex up in the mountains, making the people who live below suffer the heat, ha.

Onigari no Mori de by Miyamoto Kano
Misono Kazuki wants to write a supernatural novel, but lacks the experience and imagination to make it very compelling. So he visits an old shrine to gather some ideas and ends up getting far more than that! Kazuki discovers a parallel world where a natural disaster poisoned large areas of the world, creating a very different world from our modern Japan. After that incident, their two worlds became connected through certain holes. These gates happen to be guarded by really hot guys. The two sides form a tentative alliance to stabilize the gates and their worlds. As expected from Miyamoto Kano, the art is beautiful and detailed with strong character designs and lots of attention given to the backgrounds to develop the surrounding environments and atmosphere of the manga.

Tokyo Shinjuu by Totempole

Tokyo Shinjuu

I saw the bright, stylized covers of Tokyo Shinjuu and its intriguing title (心中 can mean a double/lovers’ suicide) and knew I had to obtain these. I’m glad I did and I was definitely not alone–all the online stores quickly went through their initial stock and were sold out for weeks. Originally released as doujinshi, there are now four tankoubon under the Edge Comix imprint. This entry will be a quick peek into the series, hopefully highlighting what makes it so appealing in the vast sea of BL manga.

BL Fantasy/Supernatural Manga Selections

I’ve been kicking around the idea of a list covering favorite BL fantasy and/or shoujo/BL fantasy manga ever since I started my blog. But I always dismissed it as not very useful. What changed was that I actually felt like reading some new fantasy BL manga. So I peeked at those genre searches on MU/MAL and was met with a cesspool of horrific manga (most of which I already knew about). That’s no good. So installing a filter should prove somewhat useful to fish out any gems you might have missed hidden in that sludge.

Just like my previous lists, this is stuff that I like, so it’s not all inclusive (thank god). It’s a mixed bag: there’s old and new titles, popular and obscure, translated and untranslated. Some are new, possibly passing fancies while others are definitely tinted by rose-colored glasses. But even those titles are part of the experience, so if you skipped one, think about going back to see what it was about. I had to poke my fuzzy memory and ran out of patience while creating this baseline list, so it’s somewhat incomplete. I’ll add to it as I read, discover, and revisit more relevant manga. Particularly that last one–sometimes I just don’t remember titles or if I actually liked them. I’ve also been wanting to renew my hunt for good fantasy BL manga and this will let me record the stuff worth the paper it’s printed on.

So here’s some recommended fantasy/supernatural BL manga in no particular order. Unless I’m modding on MAL, I don’t bother differentiating between the two: if it’s weird shit that can’t happen in real life, it’s fantasy to me. There’s so little high fantasy stuff that it’s a moot point. So you’ll find angels, demons, dragons, magicians, spirits, and supernatural phenomena all listed below. Titles, artists, and a tidbit of information are given for each manga. If one catches your attention, begin your hunt for more information or feel free to ask questions here that Google can’t answer.

Yuujin ga Yuusha by Chocodoughnuts

Yuujin ga Yuusha

Where do RPG heroes go when they die?

Bought on a whim due to a pretty cover and RPG story elements, Yuujin ga Yuusha (My Friend is a Hero) was a satisfyingly adorable manga by Chocodoughnuts. Yes, that is someone’s (tasty) pen name. It’s an enjoyable story for a reader who can appreciate a light-hearted old school JRPG parody.

Oyajina! ~Ryuu to Shinomiya no Baai~ by Hiiragi Nozomu

Oyajina! ~Ryuu to Shinomiya no Baai~

I couldn’t decide what manga I should cover and then the answer became obvious: Oyajina! was one of the reasons I started this blog almost 2 years ago and it’s still unloved. A fandom fail. I don’t get it. Perhaps Docchi mo Docchi will build a considerable Hiiragi Nozomu fanbase and draw more attention? But instead of wallowing in sorrow, I’m going to take another stab at encouraging it so I’m not the only vocal, crazy bitch who loves it. I probably talk about Hiiragi Nozomu too much, but some things just need to be done.

Shiny New Releases: Limiter by Monden Akiko

I ordered a pile of various Monden Akiko manga, including her new BL manga release, Limiter.  I did this before I saw the cover.  The cover is out.  No. regrets.

Okay, so it’s tiny, but it can barely contain that sexy beast on the cover~  It has the catch line “I’ll rewrite your memory.”  Kinda like overwriting a hard drive, but using other hard objects… yeah, I’ll stick to NOT making terrible jokes.

There’s a little blurb about the story.  The police detective Yagi partners with the younger Amemiya.  While there’s some buried feelings between the two, Amemiya is consumed by his desire for revenge on a vicious criminal from his past.  The publisher then bills it as a story where brakes can’t stop the love crisis between two police detectives.  Ha, you can kinda guess how the story is going to play out, but I found that she’s good at writing harsher, more human characters and I think she’ll pull off something worth reading.  It will be released 2/28 under the Hanaoto Comics imprint.  Is it early March yet?  I want all these booooks.

Update to Oyaji BL Manga Primer – The Crack-tastic Oyaji

Since I’m still actively hunting the glorious oyaji scattered throughout BL manga, I figured I should actually update my Oyaji BL Manga Primer. I’ll post new additions separately before editing them into the main entry, so people can easily tell there’s been a change.  I have more oyaji manga on the way as well!

As stated before, these are selected picks that feature an older man.  There’s a short description of the oyaji and the manga itself listed.  It’s not all-inclusive, just manga that I particularly liked and felt worth including.  For now, here’s a few new additions to the list.  As I make new categories, a few things might get shuffled, like Oyajina! in this case.

The Crack-tastic Oyaji

Shachou Momoi-kun by Nishida Higashi
Watanabe is a hard-working, older manager who is targeted by the new company president (who is seemingly there to find a boyfriend more than actually work~). He’s an earnest, kind older man, but also a workaholic demon when necessary. Instantly attracted, Momoi weasels his way into Watanabe’s life. Since Watanabe has lived his life until recently as a straight husband, he isn’t sure how to feel about the situation, despite his growing attachment. Shachou Momoi-kun is a funny gag manga with a few serious moments. It tears down the fourth wall and has a half-naked man dance on top of it (sadly, not the oyaji). There’s also a randomly serious side-story included that has an oyaji vampire. Bonus salarymen oyaji everywhere, as expected from my Oyaji BL Queen (sorry Naono Bohra).

Liechtenstein Hakase no Karei Naru Nichijou by Shingyouji Tsumiko
This is the crack cocaine of weird oyaji BL manga.  Liechtenstein is a brilliant biotech company owner and professor.  He’s also naive and sheltered to the point he doesn’t know how to use public transportation.  This little lamb falls right into the sadistic arms of his younger admirer, Shumiia.  Liechtenstein is subjected to subway molestations, fake proctology exams, elaborate spy setups, and more.. including a random tentacle plant.  This is the only BL manga I own that contains tentacle porn (NSFW, duh), which is more comical than anything, if you believe that.  Being a huge masochist, Liechtenstein didn’t seem to mind much at all~

Oyajina! ~Chinatsu to Tomoe no Baai~ by Hiiragi Nozomu
How you can improve upon the already awesome oyaji character type? Stick teenage girls in older male bodies and watch the ensuing hijinks and budding romance. Fluffy teenage love, but now with more old man facial hair! This is what fangirl dreams are made of. Full entry here. A continuation will be released in February.

Kamikakushi Ryou Kitan by Tojitsuki Hajime

Kamikakushi Ryou Kitan

BL = Bozu Love

I had a rough start with Tojitsuki Hajime.  Several of her earliest manga struck me as very bland, very forgettable.  At some point, either she matured artistically or gained enough freedom to draw whatever she wants (probably a bit of both!) because her recent manga are refreshing additions to BL.  Kamikakushi Ryou Kitan revolves around the supernatural occurrences and tasks undertaken by the resident monks.  This isn’t your average Shinto shrine or priests.  It’s an unremarkable employee dormitory, but the residents have some pretty remarkable (if somewhat random) styles that are heavily influenced by skater, street, and hip-hop cultures.  There’s even some “bozu atama” or shaven heads that you’d associate with monks and/or punks! Kamikakushi Ryou Kitan is a collection of occult stories that feature these modern day monks.

Docchi mo Docchi by Hiiragi Nozomu

Docchi mo Docchi

It’s a battle of pride and willpower for the top!

Docchi mo Docchi (Same Difference) is Hiiragi Nozomu’s newest manga and it contains what she does best:  silly and terribly cute BL.  Docchi mo Docchi is a “seme vs. seme” setup with two strong wills battling for control:  not only against the other guy, but also their own feelings about the situation. Two normally mature, elite businessmen lose their composure while trying to dominate the other, just to prove who’s top dog.  So who will fall first and is he really the loser?