Scanlation Get: Animal X - Aragami no Ichizoku

This week is a title I just discovered not to long ago myself, a title from 1990, called Animal X by Ami Sugimoto.  This series has three parts, the first part subtitled 'Aragami no Ichizoku'.  This part is four volumes long and is what I will be covering today.

When we first meet our main character Yuuji is pretty effeminate and pretty much a living doormat.  He's engaged to get married to a his childhood friend.  She has always been the one to take care of him, since he was to wimpy to do anything himself.  Of course he couldn't even ask her to marry him, it's an arranged marriage that they are both fine with.  He works in a science lab where he has been pressured into some strange experiments.  On top of all this some strange teen shows up in his room and wants to mate with him!

This kid is Minato who is not only on the run, he isn't even human.  He is from some dying race of beings known as the Dinosauroid.  He thinks Yuuji is not only of them but a  female one to boot (he can smell it. WTF?).  Head strong and brash he is on the run because he killed some yakuza while visiting the city to see where humans live.  He is also a major dick to Yuuji in the early parts of the manga (luckily this doesn't last to long). 

From here Minato kidnaps Yuuji to take him back to his people to mate with him.  A fate Yuuji is not very happy about but being a doormat he can't seem to stop it.  This doesn't last for long though as the two of them end up on the run as a huge conspiracy of events unfolds around them.  Scientists are after Yuuji and both the yakuza and another clan of dinosauroids are after Minato.  Much of the four volumes are them on the run.  Which is pretty exciting as these types of stories manage to keep tension pretty high though out.

What is interesting is as the story progresses so do our characters.  Yuuji starts to be less of a doormat and much more of a fighting participant in his destiny. Minato matures a lot and starts to be much less of a dick.  They form a fairly believable relationship while on the run.

I was also shocked as this was one of the only manga I have ever read where someone was raped and they are really upset about it.  I'm not joking, this isn't that common.  Most of the time characters just brush it off or even fall in love with the rapist!  (Really, Japan WTF?!)  So, I have to give Animal X points for that, it also ends up being rather important for the plot later.

The best comparison I can come up for this title is Banana Fish.  It is far more sci-fi but they both are pretty hard-boiled shoujo tales.  Both have mostly male casts, and where the main characters are run for a good portion of the story.   Also, the uh... gayness.  (Apparently a really bad ass shoujo title can't be shoujo unless there is an inordinate amount of gayness.)  If you are a dude and read Banana Fish because it is awesome, (that makes you awesome also) then this title really is no worse.

The art in this is also very nice.  It's still a bit 90's but it still holds up very well do to the fact it is very detailed and well crafted.  The art doesn't really look like typical shoujo.   The panels are very solid and well formed.  The characters are detailed and don't fall into the typical bishonen style.  Also the screen tone use is very well done, something I find lacking in a lot of shoujo titles.  The art style really seems like something that would run in the seinen anthology magazine Ikki then in Asuka CL DX.

Hmm, I think that is one of my final thoughts on this title.  If you like the stuff running in Ikki, good chance you would like Animal X also.  It is a well written alternative style manga that is not pretentious.  As I also stated before it holds a lot of similarities to Banana Fish. It is well worth checking out if you liked Banana Fish.

*Note: Most likely I won't be posting anything next week, as I am moving to another state this weekend.  Weeee!

Review: Yokai's Hunger

Today's title is Yokai's Hunger (a.k.a. Yami ni Tooboe, Mune ni Toge) by Naono Bohra.

So, the other week I had gotten into a conversation with my friends and I mentioned I had a favorite Yaoi author. My male friends said that was pretty much akin to having a favorite porn star. My man friends told me you have to watch too much porn to have a favorite porn star. Now, I thought all guys had a favorite porn star. I thought that was part of the guy code like having a pirate and porn name ready just in case it ever comes up in life. Of course there is also the zombie contingency plan, which I’m almost all the male friends I know have one. So I don’t think it’s all that strange, to have a favorite porn star or yaoi author. In truth though, I probably have read too much yaoi manga.

I’ve read so much yaoi in fact that I don’t like a vast quantity of it anymore because the basic yaoi story is just done to death. Take one guy who is masculine by manga shoujo standards and one guy who could be a 14 year old girl with short hair and put them together and angst ensues (ah, if only it could be wacky hijinks). As I’ve gotten older I’ve found this less and less appealing. I like manga that both characters look like adult men (OMG I can’t believe it either!), and have some semblance of a plot. I’m not expecting an epic here but just something more to the story then boy-a meets boy-b angst and butt sex ensues.

Now you know more about me then you probably wanted to know, but I just wanted to give some perspective when it comes to reading my reviews on this subject. Isn’t it tasty? So, who is this fabled favorite yaoi author? It’s Naono Bohra.

Part of what I find about Naono Bohra’s manga is that she does a lot of stories with a plot; she seems to have a bit of a fetish for older men (which in turn has cased me to have a bit of a fetish for older men), and/or having someone with some sort of a disability in her stories.

Now that you heard me blather on about yaoi manga for way to long, here is actual review. Yokai’s Hunger is about a young man name Norito just finishing high school living alone and working as a part-time waiter to survive. Norito has lived a pretty solitary life, why you ask? It seems whenever someone gets close to him, bad things happen to them. Well, as we know since this is a yaoi manga that can’t last long, and one day he runs into a middle aged man called Koma, who turns out to be some sort of demon. Norito is then informed that he and Koma where lovers in a past life and are tied together by a "Sigil Oath". This oath has caused a blood mark on Norito’s chest which causing demons to look for the source of power coming from it. Koma then informs him he no longer has to worry though since he is there to take care of him from now on. Wacky hijinks then ensue! No really! They do! There is a bit of angst here and here but never does the story dwell on it like a lot of yaoi manga does.

Later we get meet some of Koma’s brothers who come to stay with Norito and Koma. There seems to be some in fighting in the family, causing some tension. We start getting into some back ground on the family and how they once fought God. This is where the story gets a bit to muddled for its own good. None of this is explained all that well and ends up being a bit confusing. This ends up being the weakest part of this manga. The strong points I think are a lot of the cute “family” parts at Noritos home where they have some cute hijinks, and get to see the sweet relationship between Norito and Koma.

The art in this book is terrific, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is very well drawn from a technical stand point. While the manga still has some “yaoi proportions” (being incredibly lanky and extra long limbs and fingers), but not nearly as over the top as a lot of other titles in this genre. Also of note all the men in this look like men by anime standards, as in no one familiar with anime would think anyone who wasn’t a girl is a girl. What will freak a lot of people out is her biseinen. She draws a lot of very good looking older men, who look like they are in their late 40’s or 50’s. For those who have a hard time with this thought, just think of bishonen all grown up. I also like her style because it has a lot of strong distinct lines and not wispy like a lot of yaoi and shoujo art tends to be. Her paneling is nice; I’d say better then average but isn’t at the point where it wows me.

Over all this is a great little one volume manga that exceeds in art, and having delightful characters, but gets a little to murky with the story losing some of the momentum it had. Over all I do recommend it to anyone who like yaoi manga and are not freaked out by biseinen. I do hope that some of other works like Three Wolves Mountain, come out in the U.S. I would love to own a copy I could read.

Final Verdict: Be Beautiful