Manga/anime ramblings and recs, part 1

[geri_chan]

lore made this wonderful post on coming out of the yaoi closet, so although most of my Friends list are HP slashers, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite yaoi titles, and non-yaoi titles that have slashy potential.

EDIT: Oops, just realized that I forgot to warn that there are a few minor spoilers below the cut, but I try not to reveal any big surprises, and I'm not giving away anything that hasn't already been officially published in the US.

My all-time favorite probably has to be Passion, a sweet and angsty story about a high school student, Hikaru, who is in love with one of his teachers. It almost turned me off with a scene of apparent rape in the beginning that is uncharacteristic with the otherwise sweet nature of Hikaru and the overall tone of the story. Still, since I'd already paid for the book, I kept reading, and decided that I liked it well enough to overlook it. Also, the fact that the teacher, Shima, later manages to fight off the advances of one his colleagues even though he couldn't fight off Hikaru's made me think that maybe the rape wasn't exactly what it appeared to be, and vol. 2 confirmed my suspicions. I still found it a bit hinky, but I loved the story enough to let it slide, and as lore mentioned, rape/dub-con seems to be an unfortunate trope in yaoi, so you're almost certainly going to come across it if you read a lot of yaoi.

It's funny, as I told lore, that I don't like teacher/student relationships in Harry Potter, but I can tolerate it in yaoi. Maybe because the teachers in HP are old enough to be the kids' parents, while the teacher/student manga titles I read generally involve an older student (usually a senior) and a young (early 20s) teacher, so the age difference isn't as great, and somehow if it's the student who is pursuing the teacher rather than the other way around, it doesn't seem as bad to me, although obviously it's not something I would condone in real life.

Empty Heart, published by the now defunct DramaQueen, is another teacher/student favorite of mine. High school senior Takumi is in love with his teacher, Usami, who also happens to be his older brother's best friend. Usami suffers from unrequited love for the brother, who looks almost exactly like Takumi, so Takumi offers himself as a substitute lover, thinking that he'll be happy just to be with Usami. Of course the affair quickly turns bittersweet, as Takumi finds that he wants Usami to love him for himself and not just as a stand-in for his brother, and this story has many of the elements that appeal to me in Snupin, of angst caused by misunderstandings and apparently unrequited love. I hope I'm not spoiling too much to say that it ends happily, though--I'm a sucker for happy endings, and I rarely rec anything that ends tragically.

Only the Ring Finger Knows is another favorite, although it's more Boy Love (BL) than yaoi, as it doesn't have explicit sex. It's a sweet romance between two high school boys that starts with a misunderstanding when they accidentally wind up with each other's rings after washing hands in the bathroom. They discover that they have rings that are identical except for size--and it's a custom in the school for couples to wear matching rings. Does this mean that these two are fated to be together? Well, seeing as how this is a BL title... ;) DMP/June also published the novels in English, which is nice, since they tell us what happens to the characters after the manga ends. They are slightly more explicit than the manga, but the sex scenes (I think there were only 2 spread across the 3 novels) are described in very vague and overly-flowery language. Other than that, though, I thought the stories were well-written and give the reader a nice picture of the couple's developing relationship. The manga was probably the first yaoi/BL title I picked up in English, or at least one of the first, so it has a special place in my heart.

A couple more BL faves: You and Harujion, a sweetly chaste love story about a lawyer who takes in a teenage orphan for reasons that do not become clear until the end of the story. Chaste, because even after they finally realize that they love each other, the lawyer, Senoh, is too moral to have a relationship with Haru until he becomes an adult, which is a relief, because it probably would have been a little too creepy for my taste if they immediately hopped into bed. But the love story is still very tender and satisfying even without any smex. ;)

And also, Dost Thou Know, about two rival kendo (Japanese fencing) students. They struggle with their feelings for each other, as Tsurugi in particular does not want to give his rival an edge over him when they compete. The tension between them as both rivals and potential lovers is nice, and there is a sweet subplot involving their younger brothers, who also seem to have feelings for each other. It's a pity that there is nothing more explicit than a couple of kisses, but the story is wonderfully written and is one of my favorite DMP/June titles. Plus, it gets buku bonus points for having gorgeous illustrations of Tsurugi in a kimono, and kendo practitioners traditionally wear kimono and hakama (loose, skirt-like trousers), and guys in kimono is one of my favorite things! There is one especially beautifully drawn scene where the little brothers see the reflection of the older brothers kissing in the water of a river.

lore already mentioned Fake, Embracing Love, Little Butterfly, and The Sky Over My Spectacles, so I won't go into detail about those, other than to say that they are more of my favorites and on my "highly recommended" list.

I also like Kizuna, which was published by Be Beautiful before they went out of business, although it has the stereotype of the passive, girlish uke (bottom). Still, I liked the way that the relationship between the main characters developed--I think it became more clear as the story went on that they were equals, even though Ranmaru was always the bottom, sticking to that strict top/bottom differentiation that is common in yaoi, and I liked how they dealt with things like wanting to show their commitment to each other while worrying about how Ranmaru's family would react if they found out about the relationship. I also liked the sub-plots involving Kei's yakuza family, although I most definitely did not like the non-con scene in the beginning of the series where Kei's younger brother has sex with Ranmaru while he's drugged. The drugs make him enjoy it, but it's still rape in my mind because he most definitely does not want to cheat on Kei, and all three characters brush off the incident much too easily for my taste, although again, it seems to be one of those yaoi tropes that isn't meant to be taken seriously.

If you like Fake, you'll probably also like Yellow, which involves two characters who aren't cops, but private agents, something like the Get-Backers, and their jobs usually involve stealing drugs away from the bad guys. One partner Goh, is gay, and has the hots for his ostensibly straight partner Taki, which allows for a lot of funny scenes of Taki rejecting Goh's advances, but the series gradually grows more serious as Taki's past returns to haunt him while he struggles to deal with his increasing attraction to Goh. The series is a bit of a tease, as they don't have sex with each other till about the 3rd volume, although they both sleep with various third parties to get information for their jobs. But I very much like the way that the tone of the story changes from humorous to serious as we learn more about the characters.

***

So now, onto titles that are not openly yaoi, but definitely have slashy potential or subtext. At the top of the list is Petshop of Horrors ("Petshop" is written as one word in the original Japanese version, although Tokyopop publishes it as Pet Shop of Horrors.) This is the series that first drew me into fandom--I'd read and watched many manga and anime titles, but this is the first that inspired me to join discussion groups and write fanfic for. I first got hooked by the anime, which now seems to be out of print in the US, although used titles are available on Amazon, and can probably be found elsewhere as well. I got so into the story that I bought the Japanese manga before it was licensed in the US, and taught myself to read kanji so that I could translate it. It was a slow and painstaking process, looking up words one by one in a Japanese-to-English dictionary, and even now, several years later, I'm hardly fluent and still require a dictionary to translate, although I've learned to recognize some commonly used kanji by sight. Looking back now, my fan translations are full of gaps and errors, but it was still worth the effort to at least be able to grasp the basic storyline.

The androgynously beautiful Count D runs a mysterious petshop in L.A.'s Chinatown, where he offers "love, hope, and dreams" to his customers, who have to sign contracts with very specific rules about how to care for their pets. People who break those contracts tend to meet violent and untimely deaths, drawing the attention of young homicide detective Leon Orcot. He starts off determined to prove that the Count is behind the murders, but an odd sort of friendship gradually develops between them, to the point where Leon is willing to leave his young brother Chris in D's care. There's an obvious attraction between the two, although sadly, it never really comes to fruition--which is probably why there is so fanfic pairing these two together. ^_^

There's plenty of comedic material with Leon's brash, aggressive personality, and D's sweet tooth--Leon often brings the Count gifts of fancy pastries, supposedly to try and ply information out of him. And there's plenty of angst, involving Leon's somewhat estranged relationship with his family, and D's even more dysfunctional relationship with his. Also plenty more slashable characters, including D's grandfather (commonly called Sofu D in fandom, as all the Counts past and present are called "D"), a handsome blond vampire named Alex, D's father (Papa D), an FBI agent named Howell, and numerous pets who take human form--at least scene from the perspective of D and a few select humans. In one story, D is romanced by a murderous chef, who later morphs into the orange-haired Tou Tetsu (a mythical Chinese man-eating beast), who then goes by the name T-chan in the US version; it's Tetsu-chan in the original Japanese. He's also sometimes known as Tet-chan in fandom, which is the spelling I use, as a member of the Petshop Yahoo Group said that would be the closest approximation to the pronunciation of his name in Chinese. There's also a kitsune (fox spirit) named Ten-chan, whose human form is that of a handsome teenage boy. Popular pairings other than Leon/D are Alex/Sofu D, Howell/Papa D, Tet-chan/D, Tet-chan/grown-up Chris, and grown-up Chris/Young D. (There is a baby D born towards the end of the 10th book; he and Chris eventually meet 20 years later.) I've also seen a few Tet-chan/Ten-chan fics. There are so many wonderful supporting characters in the series, but it's really the dynamic between Leon and D that keeps me addicted to this series.

Petshop author Matsuri Akino also writes a number of other excellent series, three of which have been/are being published by Tokyopop: Kamen Tantei, a humorous detective story; Pet Shop of Horrors: Tokyo (Shin Petshop of Horrors is the original title), a sequel to the first series, although sadly lacking in Leon, except for a couple of brief cameo appearances; and Genju no Seiza, a fantasy story about a Japanese teenager who is confronted by a host of Guardian Beasts who either believe that he is the reincarnated priest-king of Dhalashar, or a pretender to the throne. The latter try to kill him, while the former try to protect him, while poor Fuuto just wants to be left alone and be a normal kid--something impossible even without the interference of the Guardian Beasts, because he has the ability to see ghosts and read minds. Genju also has one of my all-time favorite Matsuri Akino characters, the sly and mischievous Souki (Sohki in the Tokyopop version), a Kirin (unicorn). Although he looks young and beautiful, we are told that he is actually a "geezer," the oldest and most powerful of the Kirin, who has a very twisted sense of humor, and most of the other Guardian Beasts are terrified of him. He and D are good friends, and D shows up in a cameo in Book 4 of Genju, when Souki takes Fuuto to visit D's shop in Tokyo. You can find pictures of Souki in my LJ Scrapbook.

***

Related to the Petshop series, at least in my fanfic universe, is the Dolls series by Yumiko Kawahara (original title: Plant Dolls). It's very similar to Petshop of Horrors, in that a mysterious shop owner (see my icon) sells exquisite little-girl dolls that are actually a type of plant life, and gives specific instructions to his customers on how they should care for the dolls. However, the consequences for breaking a contract, though unpleasant at times, do not turn out to be fatal. The setting (which appears to be similar to Chinatown) and the human characters are never named; only the names of the dolls are revealed to the reader. Someone on the Petshop Yahoo Group joked that the Dolls shop owner looks like the love child of Count D and Leon: he wears Chinese-style robes and is androgynously beautiful like D, but has blond hair tied back in a ponytail, not unlike Leon. So I decided to run with that idea, and wrote a fanfic called "Daiki" in which I combined the two stories, and had D's and Leon's child grow up to be the Plant Dolls shop owner, whom I named Daiki. And then I slashed Daiki with a handsome dark-haired artist that appears in the first volume of the manga; I named him Raphael, since his name wasn't given in the book. I had great fun portraying D and Leon as parents, and writing about the family from Daiki's birth through adulthood. I also had a sub-plot with Tet-chan falling in love with the adult Chris, and Souki from Genju no Seiza made an appearance at the end of the story. I served as sort of a foil for Sofu D, and I had so much fun writing that scene that I plan to bring him back in a sequel later.

You can find scans of the Dolls characters in my Scrapbook, although their names were invented for my fic, and are not their real names, since, as mentioned above, they don't have any. In some ways, that was good, because I could choose names appropriate for my story, but it got a bit tedious at times, having to invent names for all the minor characters that appear in the manga.

"Daiki" can be found here on my journal, or in my Files folder on the Pet Shop of Horrors Fanfiction Yahoo Group, although you must be a member of the latter to access the files.

***

I'm also very fond of the Saiyuki series, which is based on the same Journey to the West story that Dragonball is, but with much more adult themes, and the main characters are portrayed as bishonen (beautiful) guys. My favorite fan pairing is Hakkai and Gojyo, who often act like they're a married couple. They're good friends, and lived together before they joined Sanzo and Goku and set off on their mission. One of my favorite scenes is in the second Saiyuki Reload series (sorry I forget which volume), when Goku comes home to find that Hakkai has made dinner for him (sitting on the table and neatly covered with plastic wrap), and he apologizes for coming home late, like a husband who's stayed out too late drinking with the guys. ^_^

I also use a picture of Gojyo as my icon for Ash, a werewolf character in my Snupin series (he appears in Aftermaths and Scars). By coincidence, they're a good match, as Ash has long brown hair (though not red as Gojyo's) and a scarred face, not to mention a very messed-up childhood with an abusive parent. I didn't originally picture Gojyo as Ash, but once I chose him as a model, it might have affected my portrayal of him. I can't recall at this point whether I invented Ash's background story before or after I modeled him after Gojyo. Either way, both characters are favorites of mine.

***

And of course all the series by CLAMP are full of slashy goodness! ^_^ Just about every series of theirs that I've read has at least one male couple where an attraction is implied, some more overtly than others. Tokyo Babylon was one of the earliest CLAMP series that I watched and read (both the anime and manga), and the sister of the main character Subaru, keeps playfully trying to set him up with their older friend Seishirou. Their relationship eventually turns tragic as the end of Tokyo Babylon leads into the X/1999 series.

Another CLAMP favorite of mine is XXXholic, where the excitable, irritable Watanuki and the stoic Doumeki seem like an obvious opposites-attract couple. Although much of their interaction is comical, their friendship does grow in a serious manner, as Doumeki shows through his actions, if not necessarily his words, that he cares about Watanuki, and Watanuki, who is not very good at dealing with people, learns to accept and value Doumeki's friendship.

The interelated series Tsubasa has another of my favorite unofficial CLAMP couples: Fai and Kurogane, who have a rather D-and-Leon quality about them, in that Fai keeps up a serene, smiling expression that is obviously a mask, and often angers the brash and hot-tempered Kurogane. And yet, like Leon, Kurogane learns to care about Fai, who like D, tries (and fails) to keep himself emotionally distant from his irritable friend.

***

Another series I'm fond of is the humorous Ouran High School Host Club. The main character, Haruhi, is a girl who ends up posing as guy to pay off a debt by working in the host club of an exclusive high school. (A host bar is like a hostess bar with the genders reversed, where women pay handsome male hosts to wait on them, serve them drinks, and flatter them. Though since this is a high school club run as an extracurricular activity, the Ouran club serves only non-alcoholic beverages like tea.) The host club is, of course, filled with good-looking guys, but strangely, I don't find myself inclined to slash any of them. I do, however see potential in the young heir to a yakuza family, Kasanoda, who is a shy and kind-hearted boy with an unfortunately demonic-looking face that terrifies everyone he meets. (Actually, he's kind of cute, he just always looks angry even when he's not.) He's a gangster with a heart of gold: he cries during touching movies; rescues stray animals; and anonymously sends cake and gifts to his henchmen on their birthdays and Christmas. (They know the gifts are from him, but out of affection for their boss, they play along and pretend to be surprised.) He gets introduced around vol. 8, in a story that explains why his young employee Tetsuya is so devoted to him, even though he can't help being scared of his master's face. (Basically, he ran away from a rival yakuza family and was rescued like one of Kasanoda's stray cats or dog's.) It's really sweet how they both blush towards the end of that scene--I mean, how can you not slash them? Kasanoda does develop a crush on Haruhi when he discovers that she's a girl, but it's likely to go unrequited, since there are already two guys in the host club who are in love with her, and it seems likely that if she ended up with anyone, it would probably be Tamaki, the kind-hearted though not very bright president of the host club. So there's still plenty of room for Kasanoda to eventually end up with Tetsuya. ^_^

Oh, and I do love Nekozawa, the president of the school's Black Magic Club, who's creepy in a funny way, and always skulks around in a hooded cloak and loves the darkness--he can't physically bear sunlight or even just bright lights indoors. He's one of my favorite characters, and he's quite handsome under his hood, although I don't really slash him with anyone. He seems to have a special fondness for Tamaki--who's scared of him because he believes that Nekozawa really can cast curses--but that seems to be because Tamaki is the kind of "Prince" that Nekozawa's little sister Kirimi admires. And Tamaki is so obviously in love with Haruhi (even though he isn't yet aware of it himself), that I can't really see him being with anyone else. It's funny how there are some canon pairings I can ignore (like Tonks and Lupin!) and others that I can't. I guess it just depends on whether it feels "right" to me or not.

This was cross-posted at IJ a couple of days ago. Still haven't gotten around to part 2, as I've been more busy than expected with RL, but hopefully will get around to it in the next day or two. The next part will be less of a rec and more about how plot bunnies run amok in my brain when I try to figure out how an ongoing series will (or should) turn out...though I usually end up being completely wrong, thus making all my bunnies severely AU. ^_^