Saturday, April 20, 2013

Shisei no Otoko


By Aniya Yuiji

There are many forms of love and a lot of ways to show it. We often have to choose which is which, to do your duty or to escape from reality. In this manga, Shisei no otoko, the story of love was portrayed in different form. A love that chose to save it by doing the rightful duty and a love that was cornered and was left with no choice but to run away. It pains to know love that doesn't always have a happy conclusion. There are a lot of trials that would go right through it and ruin the fragile thing into pieces. Shisei no otoko by Aniya Yuiji-sensei depicted the inevitable tragedies that hinders the love between people who were so trapped into the reality of their role. A cop and a yakuza, a master and a faithful dog, living in a world with full of unwanted veracity.

Upon reading this manga, at first you wouldn't notice how deep the story is. With its beautiful, artistic strokes distinct in its own style, you would have thought that all is well. But then as the story progresses, and you get halfway confused and halfway amused, the revelation would sink in painfully in your mind. I felt very sorry for all four of them. One was left to dream of happy expectations and lovely feelings while the other one has to live with a heavy burden upon him. It was really a very beautifully sad love for the four of them but the feeling it brought down my throat to my chest was like peaceful melancholy. It didn’t made me cry but the the heartfelt emotion was there. i really like the story and even though I had hoped for a happy ending, love isn’t just as easy as that.  








Summary:




From Nakama:

Three men bearing tattoos are Peony Katagi, Buttercup Mutou, and Mad Shark Nogami. They are all involved in some way with mystery man Kubota. Is there salvation for these men who live on the underside of society?

In the final part of the tattoo series, "Everyone's Song," forty-two pages drawn specifically for the occasion, all the stories come to a conclusion.

Two extra stories are included in this collection. In ‘Spring Love’, the object of a man's one-sided love turns into a vengeful spirit every night and visits him. "Dream's Guidance" has also been added to this special collection.

Genre(s) Drama, Mature, Supernatural, Tragedy, Yaoi


Monday, April 15, 2013

New York New York manga




Okay, let me just say this first. This contains some spoiler so be warned and if you don’t want to be spoiled, just read the first paragraph. The plot of the story was really good, it showed the point of view of the society of how Taboo homosexuality was during the early days, as well as the characters involved and their inner private point of view of themselves. In this manga, “New York New York” by Marimo Nagawa-sensei, Kain was a closet gay and was afraid of being discovered because of circumstances like bigotry, which we couldn’t deny that is still present at this modern period. His struggles and indecisiveness was shown descriptively and the changes afterwards after meeting Mel took a great part in reforming his beliefs and feelings towards himself. I believe that his strong emotions led him to weigh which was more important to him and made him the person he became. Sensei made a very nice elaboration expressing the step by step actions the character made in reaching the person who could proudly say and admit his sexuality. The art was good and I was really satisfied with it because I believe that it fit perfectly to the setting and the characters. I strongly recommend that you read it guys.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written something about the mangas that I’m reading. There’s been a lot that happened and I’ve been very busy but anyway. At first I didn’t thought I would come to write something about the manga I’ve just finished reading. The title is “New York New York”. When I had put it into my bookmarks or let’s say when I found it and saw that it was labeled as tragedy I got the feeling that I didn’t want to read it for a while so it took me a little more time to have the courage to read it. I’m really easily drawn to angst but even though it’s like that, I still avoid reading them sometimes but I always ended up reading them anyway. While reading NYNY, I thought “ah—I have to prepare myself. I need not to attach myself to the character too much because this manga has a tragic end”. But then while reading it, I just couldn’t stop myself feeling affection towards the characters. The feelings they have for each other and the strong desire and hope during the trials they were passing through was really great that I always thought that it was such a waste for it to have a tragic end. I had already braced myself for the tragic end but then as I continued to read the story and got out of that particular dangerous and scary scene, I thought, “Maybe it was labeled as tragedy because there were a lot of killings”. I was really happy that there weren’t something like Kain dying or Mel dying in that traumatic events. When I was reaching the end, the story took turn and it made me happy of the development of it. They were very happy despite the traumatic past that had happened. But what really moved me was the great love they had for each other; that despite what they had been through, they were able to stay together and be truthful to each other. I love the character of Kain, strong and willful. I love Mel’s gentleness and the way he looked the future with a smile and was able to cope up with everything. Really, but what moved me to tears was the end of the story where, at their old age, they were still as lovely as the newlyweds they were, loving and tender to each other, that despite one leaving, one was able to accept and continue life. I love it so much. Especially the last scene where they were both reunited, I couldn’t control my emotions I cried so much because I was sad yet happy at the same time. Now I’m really happy that I read New York New York. It was an amazing experience and it has been a long time since the last time I cried over a manga (a few days ago, I cried over a novel tho it wasn’t as bad as this time). So anybody out there, I’d recommend your read New York New York as well and witness such an amazing story about homosexuality, murder, acceptance, hope and specially, a love so strong it could  conquer even as dangerous as life and death. 



summary from mangatraders:

Kain Walker is an admired and appreciated policeman of New York of all his colleagues. By fright at disappointing his fellows and also being discovered, Kain hides that he is gay and refrains from any coherent relation... until the day when his way crosses that of Mel Frederics, a calm and soft young man at the dark past. A meeting which is going to confuse their life.

Genre: Action, Drama, Psychological, Slice of Life, Tragedy, Yaoi