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jukebox_csi) wrote2007-06-12 12:22 pm
jukebox_csi) wrote2007-06-12 12:22 pm
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Review Corner - J-Boys by Biblos
Next up in the reviews is J-Boy. Again, this reviews is posted at Boys on Boys on Film
Type: Manga Anthology
Creator: Multiple mangakas
Released by: Juné
From the back cover: Japan's famous serial magazine hits American shores as J-Boy by Biblos - the first yaoi anthology released in the states. This unique collection of one-shots and spin-offs spotlights new and veteran talents in one massive volume! Featuring work by celebrated creators Naduki Koujima (Our Kingdom), Homerun Ken (Clan of the Nakagamis), Natsuho Shino (Kurashina Sensei's Passion) and Haruka Minami, J-Boy also features the U.S. debut of Kana Mizuki, Kyushu Danji, and many others. Discover a cute pet bunny who finds himself at the bottom of the food chain...a young high school student becoming a "slave to passion"...a vice-chancellor finding the beauty of spiritual names...and a samurai who teaches a dojo the "proper" way to fight. With so much packed into one volume, J-Boy is a great introduction for new yaoi readers and a delicious treat for long-time fans. Let's face it - where else can you find so many bishounen in one place?!!!
I originally decided to add this book to my collection after reading a review elsewhere that gave praise to it and mentioned that many of the stories within were "crack" and hot. If there was one word that I had to use to describe this book, it would be 'cute'. BUT, that's not necessarily a good thing. I found myself having a difficult time actually completing the book, having to take it in spurts in order to get through the whole thing.
The book is 350+ pages long, with a few ad pages for other books sprinkled throughout. Since it is also more expensive than most of the other manga that June' is releasing, it's probably not unreasonable to expect more pages. More pages does not mean longer stories. In fact, there are 19 stories within the book ranging in length from 4 pages to 32 pages. There are also multiple colored pages used within the book. What I mean by this is that one story may be blue ink on white paper, while another may be red ink on red paper. While I thought the multiple colors throughout the book were interesting, it did give a new challenge to my eyes in regards to reading. I found the blue on blue and blue on white pages fairly soothing to read, while all the red and pink paged stories were a strain and forced me to rub my eyes in frustration more than once. The artwork ranged from fluffy to downright disturbing in that if the sexual scene were carried out it might border on shota. The book does have a mature rating, though I was hard pressed to understand it. Perhaps a 16+ rating would have been sufficient. There is not as much sex in the book as I thought based on the review I read prior to buying the book - some stories stop even before the characters kiss. But, the 'mature' scenes that do exist in some of the stories are more implied in my opinion, with the naughty bits blurred or outright missing. Then again, I'm not an expert in regards to how to rate stories, finding a challenge in even labeling fanfiction stories I've read appropriately. Therefore, I yield to the professionals that published this book and try to note in the summaries of each story which ones have scenes that most likely qualified the book for a mature rating.
Story 1 Indecent Encounter by Haruka Minami - Hozumi Fujino is a new junior in high school. He is thrilled to once again meet up with his comrade, Masato, who he hasn't seen since cram school. When he goes to visit Masato at his home, he has the unfortunate luck of running into Masato's older brother and senior at their school, Tohru. Hozumi met Tohru once before at the school during the first-year's physical exams. Tohru was the examiner charged with measuring Hozumi's chest, and during that time he "straight out pinched" Hozumi's nipples. It seems that Tohru has a nipple fetish, and Hozumi's nipples in particular thrill Tohru to no end. This is one of the longer stories in the book, and the bulk of the story deals with Tohru and Hozumi's budding relationship, as well as Tohru's obsession with licking and sucking Hozumi's nipples. The artwork is fairly appealing, as with many of Haruka Minami's works, and there is a sexual scene in this piece (other than nipple sucking) that would attribute to the mature rating; the intimate parts missing/blank/blurred and therefore implied. Blue ink on white paper for this piece makes it fairly easy on the eyes.
Story 2 We Will Love by Kana Mizuki - Rentaro Uesugi is currently dating Izumi Takamori, much to the chagrin of their classmates since Izumi is the object of everyone's adoration. But Izumi is angry with Rentaro and decides to end things. The reason? Because Rentaro is too formal with Izumi's name. Using honorifics when talking to your boyfriend is appparently not a wise thing to do. Rentaro is not truly aware or understanding of this until the classmates who have previously been jealous of him dating the beautiful Izumi step up to clue him into the errors of his ways. Can Rentaro win back Izumi by telling him the truth of his love? Artwork in this piece is also appealing, with purplish blue ink on white paper. Again, there is a bedroom scene in this story with the risque parts missing/blank.
Story 3 Go! Conflict Management Unit by Tsubaki Mikage - Hazuki Kuriyama has been appointed class president and, with his newfound authority, can finally put an end to that useless group called the Conflict Management Unit. This unit was formed for the purpose of ghost extermination, though sometimes they play around together, too. On the surface, it looks like Hazuki's reasoning for wanting to disband the group is that he just doesn't like them and thinks it's a waste of resources as ghost extermination is ridiculous. In truth, he is in love with the unit leader Mei Nanjo and doesn't want him to involve himself in dangerous affairs. Mei, on the other hand, doesn't want Hazuki anywhere near them for the very same reasons. All the members of the unit have a gift for seeing, reading, or exorcising ghosts, whereas Hazuki has no gifts at all and can't see ghosts. So, when he follows them one day to an "extermination", a vengeful spirit is ready to use the oblivious Hazuki for her own means. Can Mei save him? Artwork is purplish ink on off-white paper, and, again, is appealing in style. This story is fairly light on the rating scale, with only a kiss between the boys.
Story 4 The Pale and Wavering Sketch by Waka Sagami - Is it possible to convey your feelings without putting them into words? That's what the reader will eventually discover through the course of this piece. Hino is an athelete, beloved by all for his physical looks and outgoing personality. He asks the shy artist Hoshino to draw him. The slow dance begins as he pulls Hoshino from his shell. Hoshino has no confidence, feels himself as just another face in the crowd to Hino, but through the time they spend together working on the portrait, Hoshino finally comes to understand exactly who Hino has his eye on and that the super popular athelete is, himself, quite shy when it comes to love. The story is sweet. Artwork is dark bluish ink on off white paper. Rating scale for this story is light, with one scene of a shirtless Hino and a kiss between the boys.
Story 5 The Summer and The Nostalgia by Yukimura - Yoh Yashima is an up and coming artist. Now that his artwork is quite popular, he decides to visit the art teacher that inspired and encouraged him over the phone when he was at his lowest point in life. Unfortunately, when he finally feels he's become worthwhile enough to visit his sensei and show the man just how well he's done in order to make his teacher proud, Yoh discovers that the art teacher is not available. Instead he finds the oldest son, Jun. He stays with Jun, waiting for the father to return, and slowly develops feelings for the other boy. But, after a while, he notices Jun acting odd, and in his efforts to get close to the other boy and find out what's wrong, he discovers the terrible truth about his art teacher. So, who exactly was the owner of the voice over the phone that brought Yoh from the depths of despair all those years ago? Artwork is blue ink on off white paper. The drawn characters are appealing, and adult in look (something that is a point in favor in my opinion). There is a sexual scene in this story that contributes to the mature rating, though the major parts again are blanked out.
Story 6 The Proper Way to Raise a Pet by Ruiko - On the day that Suou was fired from his job, he happened upon a stray kitten and decided to take it home. The kitten turned out to actually be a neko, turning into human form the morning after Suou brought him home. Suou guesses that 'Kuro' was someone's pet that was thrown out, but Kuro will not talk about his old master. Without a job to support even himself, Suou wavers between keeping Kuro and throwing him out, especially when Kuro becomes aroused by the mating call of female cats in the alley. This story skirted the edges of my comfort zone, as Kuro is child-like in appearance when in human form. Thankfully, there is no sex scene in this piece. Artwork is blue ink on off white paper.
Story 7 Pretend Lovers "Secret Slave" by Showoto Aya - Ryo Inami is a disgruntled seventeen year old. One night, while fighting in an alley, he bumps into Sakura, who is one of three butler brothers for Ryo's best friend, Minato, as well as the owner of a store. In the process, he breaks an expensive vase that Sakura's customer is holding, and must become Sakura's slave in order to pay for the vase. Sakura decides that Ryo will live in the mansion where Minato resides, but Ryo is not happy with this arrangement has he previously had feelings for his best friend though Minato only has eyes for the older butler brother. To make matters worse, Sakura wants Ryo to pretend to be his lover. But, what are Sakura's true reasons for demanding this arrangement? Artwork is purplish ink on off white paper. The rating is high in this one, contributing to the mature rating, though again the naughty bits are implied.
Story 8 Getting Along by Nanao Okuda - Yuuga is a bunny that has come to live in replacement of a beautiful cat that has passed away. Among the other pets he must learn to live with are Kai, a doberman, and Natsu, the beautiful cat's grandson. This is, perhaps, the shortest story in the book at only four pages in length. Artwork is dark blue ink on a off-white/blue tint paper. Though there is a nude profile shot of the former beautiful cat, the rating of this one would not be high in my opinion.
Story 9 We Have a Hero in Our Hearts by Terako Tsukimoto - Seiji invites his friends to watch a hero's collection DVD for the weekend, but only Tsubu comes. Tsubu was Seiji's hero when they were kids because he saved Seiji from a group of kids and befriended Seiji who was new and a mixed-blood. This short story follows Seiji's reflection on how he met his friend as well as both their feelings. The artwork was not pretty in this one. It seemed that many panels were not 'finished' with the inking, some lines faded. It's blue ink on lightly blue tinted paper. There is one kiss, making the rating of this one fairly light.
Story 10 Spiteful Cooking by Naduki Koujima - Professor Kusumi wakes up in the dorms with no recollection of the previous night. He had been at his sister's wedding reception and managed to drink himself stupid. When Hayashi walks in with a glass of water for the professor, Kusumi is immediately angry since Hayashi has already graduated and shouldn't be in the dorms. But, Hayashi has always said he would take care of the professor, even though he now only gets to see the professor on the weekends. The two must hash out their repressed feelings; Professor Kusumi's loneliness as well as sadness over not being able to eat Hayashi's cooking as often, and Hayashi's decision to make box lunches for the professor as long as the professor pays with his body. This story begins the sections containing red ink on white/off-white/light red tinted pages and, thus, the stories that are harder to read for the coloring. Rating for this story is light; there isn't even a kiss in this story that I recall.
Story 11 Neko Samurai-Ocean of Barrier by Kyushu Danji - Yamato Ifukube is a samarai approaching thirty and searching for his ideal tachi; a person who is leading and giving in a sexual relationship. He has decided to give his virginity to a man from Kyushu, but they won't allow him or his sidekick Mankikumaru in the gates because he has no passport. Izumi Kirishima offers to help in exchange for Yamato teaching swordsmanship in his dojo to help his students win the tournament against the rival dojo in town. Yamato's techniques are a bit perverted as the goal is to teach the men to love themselves, train their spirits, and see the precious shafts of young men. But, there is more to the rival between the Kirishima dojo and the Akama dojo led by Kanjiro Akama than even Yamato realizes. This story did manage to pull some chuckles from me as I read, even with the red ink on white paper making my eyes strain. This story does have sexual scenes, imagery and innuendo, although the actual naughty bits are not there.
Story 12 The Troubles of Kurashina Sensei by Natsuho Shino - This is a side story from the manga Kurashina Sensei's Passion. Kurashina bumps into his student Asano at the bookstore, and is gently scolded by the student for not paying attention to possible dangers around him. Somehow Kurashina always has bad timing with this guy. Kurashina manages to rope Asano into carrying all his purchases while they visit a local pet store, where Asano learns that his sensei has a love of animals. This endears Kurashina to Asano even more, and the student can't stop himself from asking his sensei on a date. But what happens when some of his fellow classmates find out? Though the artwork in this one is appealing, the highschool student looking even more adult than the teacher, the ink is red on lightly red tinted paper which is an eyestrain. Rating for this story is light, with not so much as even a kiss.
Story 13 Thief x Thief by Homerun Ken - This story also appears in the manga Clan of the Nakagamis, so I'll therefore skip over retelling a brief summary of it as there is a review for that manga already. The artwork is dark red ink on red tinted paper and hurts my eyes. Since it was a piece I had read in the other book, I by-passed it completely. Rating is light.
Story 14 Our Relationship by Naduki Koujima - This is a side story from the manga Our Kingdom and delves into the secret behind the relationship between Hiyori and Tamaki. It is based on the fact that when they were younger, Hiyori thought Tamaki was a girl. After Hiyori was forced to move away, he kept in touch with Tamaki through love letters for nine years, all during which Tamaki continued to let Hiyori believe he was a girl. Naturally, when Hiyori finally manages to find a way to return to Tamaki, he feels that Tamaki stepped all over his pure love. Can Tamaki convince Hiyori that he returns those feelings? If you are a fan of Our Kingdom, you'll probably enjoy the artwork of this one. Red ink on lightly red tinted paper makes for a difficult read, though. Rating for this piece is light, with only a kiss to heat things up.
Story 15 Loving Boys Boarding School by Kyushu Danji - After several preceeding stories done in red, it was a relief to move back to blue ink on white paper. Arita Kayama, self-proclaimed martial artist, temporarily takes over as school chancellor while his father is on medical leave. On his first day, he learns from student body president Misaki Kotani that the students all have spiritual names as a way of expressing their true nature. Misaki's spiritual name is 'public toilet', as he is open for public use mostly for semen excretions. This, of course, is more than Arita can tolerate when he realizes that all the boys have spiritual names of a similar nature as they publicly fornicate with each other. He is told that everything is by the chancellor's academic principles regarding the restriction of male-female pre-marital sex related material since females are too distracting and make men weak. By removing anything of this nature from the student environment, the students developed "an animal-like physical desire set on overdrive." Arita decides to abolish the practice of spiritual names and physical contact among students, but the result on the health of the student body is repression. It is up to the student body president to show Arita the errors of his ways. There are sexual scenes in this story that contribute to the mature rating, but again the parts are blurred or missing.
Story 16 Here in Magic Land by Hirono Suzuhara - This story is yet another cat boy story within the book, as if there weren't already too many of those. It is done in the form of vertical comic strips, two strips to a page, that are snippet stories revolving around the great perverted wizard Al, his cute cat apprentice Shiro that everyone including Al wants a piece of, Shiro's brother Tora who has a hate relationship with Al, and Al's butler Kett who is Tora's love. There are also two classmates of Shiro that are constantly trying to undress the apprentice. Artwork is bluish ink on pink paper, and such a pain to read that I thought I might develop spots in my eyes from the strain. Rating is light; there may have been a hug or two.
Story 17 Rabbit Ear Kindergarten by Yogorota Kame - This was another story that edged towards the boundaries of comfort for me. It's basically a group of kindergarten rabbits being supervised by two older rabbit boys. One of the kindergarten rabbits, Roppu, just can't seem to eat his carrot lunch. He doesn't appear to like carrots, but wants to try to eat it because his teacher Mr. Mimi likes students that eat everything on their plate. So when Mr. Mimi tells Roppu that he'll do any one thing asked if Roppu will finish the carrots, Roppu blushes and does his best to finish. But Mr. Mimi's co-teacher, who is also apparently his lover, is skeptical since he also used the same technique to overcome a hatred for carrots. So, he presents the problem to his lover. What will Mr. Mimi do if Roppu asks for a kiss? The artwork is blue ink on pink paper. My thoughts on that in regards to eye strain have already been mentioned. Thank goodness the rating of this one is light, with only a couple of kisses.
Story 18 Shadows of the Forest by the Quiet Lakeside by Sakyo Yozakura - Again, a cat boy story where a man, Yanagi, and his cat, Koro, live in a cabin by a lake in the mountains. They, by chance, became a family, doing everything together from tending the garden to going into town to buy more cigarettes for Yanagi. And at night, Koro snuggles up to his human as they drift off to sleep. Excuse me while I roll my eyes. Blue ink on pink paper, with a rating that is light with only a chaste forehead kiss.
Story 19 Here in Magic Land by Hirno Suzuhara - This piece seemed more of a continuation of story 16, with a revisit to watch the antics of perverted wizard Al, his apprentice Shiro, Shiro's brother Tora and butler Kett. Blue ink on pink paper, and a rating a little higher than their previous chapters as there is an almost obscure bath tub scene and a view of Shiro's nude behind.
Though some of the stories in the book were entertaining, in general I was not impressed and was rather bored with the book. The chapters towards the end that were done on red/pink paper, along with a general lack of interest in those stories, made trudging through the last few chapters of the book very challenging. I don't think I would purchase a second volume of J-Boys if one ever came about, though that's doubtful with the Biblos bankruptcy.
Type: Manga Anthology
Creator: Multiple mangakas
Released by: Juné
From the back cover: Japan's famous serial magazine hits American shores as J-Boy by Biblos - the first yaoi anthology released in the states. This unique collection of one-shots and spin-offs spotlights new and veteran talents in one massive volume! Featuring work by celebrated creators Naduki Koujima (Our Kingdom), Homerun Ken (Clan of the Nakagamis), Natsuho Shino (Kurashina Sensei's Passion) and Haruka Minami, J-Boy also features the U.S. debut of Kana Mizuki, Kyushu Danji, and many others. Discover a cute pet bunny who finds himself at the bottom of the food chain...a young high school student becoming a "slave to passion"...a vice-chancellor finding the beauty of spiritual names...and a samurai who teaches a dojo the "proper" way to fight. With so much packed into one volume, J-Boy is a great introduction for new yaoi readers and a delicious treat for long-time fans. Let's face it - where else can you find so many bishounen in one place?!!!
I originally decided to add this book to my collection after reading a review elsewhere that gave praise to it and mentioned that many of the stories within were "crack" and hot. If there was one word that I had to use to describe this book, it would be 'cute'. BUT, that's not necessarily a good thing. I found myself having a difficult time actually completing the book, having to take it in spurts in order to get through the whole thing.
The book is 350+ pages long, with a few ad pages for other books sprinkled throughout. Since it is also more expensive than most of the other manga that June' is releasing, it's probably not unreasonable to expect more pages. More pages does not mean longer stories. In fact, there are 19 stories within the book ranging in length from 4 pages to 32 pages. There are also multiple colored pages used within the book. What I mean by this is that one story may be blue ink on white paper, while another may be red ink on red paper. While I thought the multiple colors throughout the book were interesting, it did give a new challenge to my eyes in regards to reading. I found the blue on blue and blue on white pages fairly soothing to read, while all the red and pink paged stories were a strain and forced me to rub my eyes in frustration more than once. The artwork ranged from fluffy to downright disturbing in that if the sexual scene were carried out it might border on shota. The book does have a mature rating, though I was hard pressed to understand it. Perhaps a 16+ rating would have been sufficient. There is not as much sex in the book as I thought based on the review I read prior to buying the book - some stories stop even before the characters kiss. But, the 'mature' scenes that do exist in some of the stories are more implied in my opinion, with the naughty bits blurred or outright missing. Then again, I'm not an expert in regards to how to rate stories, finding a challenge in even labeling fanfiction stories I've read appropriately. Therefore, I yield to the professionals that published this book and try to note in the summaries of each story which ones have scenes that most likely qualified the book for a mature rating.
Story 1 Indecent Encounter by Haruka Minami - Hozumi Fujino is a new junior in high school. He is thrilled to once again meet up with his comrade, Masato, who he hasn't seen since cram school. When he goes to visit Masato at his home, he has the unfortunate luck of running into Masato's older brother and senior at their school, Tohru. Hozumi met Tohru once before at the school during the first-year's physical exams. Tohru was the examiner charged with measuring Hozumi's chest, and during that time he "straight out pinched" Hozumi's nipples. It seems that Tohru has a nipple fetish, and Hozumi's nipples in particular thrill Tohru to no end. This is one of the longer stories in the book, and the bulk of the story deals with Tohru and Hozumi's budding relationship, as well as Tohru's obsession with licking and sucking Hozumi's nipples. The artwork is fairly appealing, as with many of Haruka Minami's works, and there is a sexual scene in this piece (other than nipple sucking) that would attribute to the mature rating; the intimate parts missing/blank/blurred and therefore implied. Blue ink on white paper for this piece makes it fairly easy on the eyes.
Story 2 We Will Love by Kana Mizuki - Rentaro Uesugi is currently dating Izumi Takamori, much to the chagrin of their classmates since Izumi is the object of everyone's adoration. But Izumi is angry with Rentaro and decides to end things. The reason? Because Rentaro is too formal with Izumi's name. Using honorifics when talking to your boyfriend is appparently not a wise thing to do. Rentaro is not truly aware or understanding of this until the classmates who have previously been jealous of him dating the beautiful Izumi step up to clue him into the errors of his ways. Can Rentaro win back Izumi by telling him the truth of his love? Artwork in this piece is also appealing, with purplish blue ink on white paper. Again, there is a bedroom scene in this story with the risque parts missing/blank.
Story 3 Go! Conflict Management Unit by Tsubaki Mikage - Hazuki Kuriyama has been appointed class president and, with his newfound authority, can finally put an end to that useless group called the Conflict Management Unit. This unit was formed for the purpose of ghost extermination, though sometimes they play around together, too. On the surface, it looks like Hazuki's reasoning for wanting to disband the group is that he just doesn't like them and thinks it's a waste of resources as ghost extermination is ridiculous. In truth, he is in love with the unit leader Mei Nanjo and doesn't want him to involve himself in dangerous affairs. Mei, on the other hand, doesn't want Hazuki anywhere near them for the very same reasons. All the members of the unit have a gift for seeing, reading, or exorcising ghosts, whereas Hazuki has no gifts at all and can't see ghosts. So, when he follows them one day to an "extermination", a vengeful spirit is ready to use the oblivious Hazuki for her own means. Can Mei save him? Artwork is purplish ink on off-white paper, and, again, is appealing in style. This story is fairly light on the rating scale, with only a kiss between the boys.
Story 4 The Pale and Wavering Sketch by Waka Sagami - Is it possible to convey your feelings without putting them into words? That's what the reader will eventually discover through the course of this piece. Hino is an athelete, beloved by all for his physical looks and outgoing personality. He asks the shy artist Hoshino to draw him. The slow dance begins as he pulls Hoshino from his shell. Hoshino has no confidence, feels himself as just another face in the crowd to Hino, but through the time they spend together working on the portrait, Hoshino finally comes to understand exactly who Hino has his eye on and that the super popular athelete is, himself, quite shy when it comes to love. The story is sweet. Artwork is dark bluish ink on off white paper. Rating scale for this story is light, with one scene of a shirtless Hino and a kiss between the boys.
Story 5 The Summer and The Nostalgia by Yukimura - Yoh Yashima is an up and coming artist. Now that his artwork is quite popular, he decides to visit the art teacher that inspired and encouraged him over the phone when he was at his lowest point in life. Unfortunately, when he finally feels he's become worthwhile enough to visit his sensei and show the man just how well he's done in order to make his teacher proud, Yoh discovers that the art teacher is not available. Instead he finds the oldest son, Jun. He stays with Jun, waiting for the father to return, and slowly develops feelings for the other boy. But, after a while, he notices Jun acting odd, and in his efforts to get close to the other boy and find out what's wrong, he discovers the terrible truth about his art teacher. So, who exactly was the owner of the voice over the phone that brought Yoh from the depths of despair all those years ago? Artwork is blue ink on off white paper. The drawn characters are appealing, and adult in look (something that is a point in favor in my opinion). There is a sexual scene in this story that contributes to the mature rating, though the major parts again are blanked out.
Story 6 The Proper Way to Raise a Pet by Ruiko - On the day that Suou was fired from his job, he happened upon a stray kitten and decided to take it home. The kitten turned out to actually be a neko, turning into human form the morning after Suou brought him home. Suou guesses that 'Kuro' was someone's pet that was thrown out, but Kuro will not talk about his old master. Without a job to support even himself, Suou wavers between keeping Kuro and throwing him out, especially when Kuro becomes aroused by the mating call of female cats in the alley. This story skirted the edges of my comfort zone, as Kuro is child-like in appearance when in human form. Thankfully, there is no sex scene in this piece. Artwork is blue ink on off white paper.
Story 7 Pretend Lovers "Secret Slave" by Showoto Aya - Ryo Inami is a disgruntled seventeen year old. One night, while fighting in an alley, he bumps into Sakura, who is one of three butler brothers for Ryo's best friend, Minato, as well as the owner of a store. In the process, he breaks an expensive vase that Sakura's customer is holding, and must become Sakura's slave in order to pay for the vase. Sakura decides that Ryo will live in the mansion where Minato resides, but Ryo is not happy with this arrangement has he previously had feelings for his best friend though Minato only has eyes for the older butler brother. To make matters worse, Sakura wants Ryo to pretend to be his lover. But, what are Sakura's true reasons for demanding this arrangement? Artwork is purplish ink on off white paper. The rating is high in this one, contributing to the mature rating, though again the naughty bits are implied.
Story 8 Getting Along by Nanao Okuda - Yuuga is a bunny that has come to live in replacement of a beautiful cat that has passed away. Among the other pets he must learn to live with are Kai, a doberman, and Natsu, the beautiful cat's grandson. This is, perhaps, the shortest story in the book at only four pages in length. Artwork is dark blue ink on a off-white/blue tint paper. Though there is a nude profile shot of the former beautiful cat, the rating of this one would not be high in my opinion.
Story 9 We Have a Hero in Our Hearts by Terako Tsukimoto - Seiji invites his friends to watch a hero's collection DVD for the weekend, but only Tsubu comes. Tsubu was Seiji's hero when they were kids because he saved Seiji from a group of kids and befriended Seiji who was new and a mixed-blood. This short story follows Seiji's reflection on how he met his friend as well as both their feelings. The artwork was not pretty in this one. It seemed that many panels were not 'finished' with the inking, some lines faded. It's blue ink on lightly blue tinted paper. There is one kiss, making the rating of this one fairly light.
Story 10 Spiteful Cooking by Naduki Koujima - Professor Kusumi wakes up in the dorms with no recollection of the previous night. He had been at his sister's wedding reception and managed to drink himself stupid. When Hayashi walks in with a glass of water for the professor, Kusumi is immediately angry since Hayashi has already graduated and shouldn't be in the dorms. But, Hayashi has always said he would take care of the professor, even though he now only gets to see the professor on the weekends. The two must hash out their repressed feelings; Professor Kusumi's loneliness as well as sadness over not being able to eat Hayashi's cooking as often, and Hayashi's decision to make box lunches for the professor as long as the professor pays with his body. This story begins the sections containing red ink on white/off-white/light red tinted pages and, thus, the stories that are harder to read for the coloring. Rating for this story is light; there isn't even a kiss in this story that I recall.
Story 11 Neko Samurai-Ocean of Barrier by Kyushu Danji - Yamato Ifukube is a samarai approaching thirty and searching for his ideal tachi; a person who is leading and giving in a sexual relationship. He has decided to give his virginity to a man from Kyushu, but they won't allow him or his sidekick Mankikumaru in the gates because he has no passport. Izumi Kirishima offers to help in exchange for Yamato teaching swordsmanship in his dojo to help his students win the tournament against the rival dojo in town. Yamato's techniques are a bit perverted as the goal is to teach the men to love themselves, train their spirits, and see the precious shafts of young men. But, there is more to the rival between the Kirishima dojo and the Akama dojo led by Kanjiro Akama than even Yamato realizes. This story did manage to pull some chuckles from me as I read, even with the red ink on white paper making my eyes strain. This story does have sexual scenes, imagery and innuendo, although the actual naughty bits are not there.
Story 12 The Troubles of Kurashina Sensei by Natsuho Shino - This is a side story from the manga Kurashina Sensei's Passion. Kurashina bumps into his student Asano at the bookstore, and is gently scolded by the student for not paying attention to possible dangers around him. Somehow Kurashina always has bad timing with this guy. Kurashina manages to rope Asano into carrying all his purchases while they visit a local pet store, where Asano learns that his sensei has a love of animals. This endears Kurashina to Asano even more, and the student can't stop himself from asking his sensei on a date. But what happens when some of his fellow classmates find out? Though the artwork in this one is appealing, the highschool student looking even more adult than the teacher, the ink is red on lightly red tinted paper which is an eyestrain. Rating for this story is light, with not so much as even a kiss.
Story 13 Thief x Thief by Homerun Ken - This story also appears in the manga Clan of the Nakagamis, so I'll therefore skip over retelling a brief summary of it as there is a review for that manga already. The artwork is dark red ink on red tinted paper and hurts my eyes. Since it was a piece I had read in the other book, I by-passed it completely. Rating is light.
Story 14 Our Relationship by Naduki Koujima - This is a side story from the manga Our Kingdom and delves into the secret behind the relationship between Hiyori and Tamaki. It is based on the fact that when they were younger, Hiyori thought Tamaki was a girl. After Hiyori was forced to move away, he kept in touch with Tamaki through love letters for nine years, all during which Tamaki continued to let Hiyori believe he was a girl. Naturally, when Hiyori finally manages to find a way to return to Tamaki, he feels that Tamaki stepped all over his pure love. Can Tamaki convince Hiyori that he returns those feelings? If you are a fan of Our Kingdom, you'll probably enjoy the artwork of this one. Red ink on lightly red tinted paper makes for a difficult read, though. Rating for this piece is light, with only a kiss to heat things up.
Story 15 Loving Boys Boarding School by Kyushu Danji - After several preceeding stories done in red, it was a relief to move back to blue ink on white paper. Arita Kayama, self-proclaimed martial artist, temporarily takes over as school chancellor while his father is on medical leave. On his first day, he learns from student body president Misaki Kotani that the students all have spiritual names as a way of expressing their true nature. Misaki's spiritual name is 'public toilet', as he is open for public use mostly for semen excretions. This, of course, is more than Arita can tolerate when he realizes that all the boys have spiritual names of a similar nature as they publicly fornicate with each other. He is told that everything is by the chancellor's academic principles regarding the restriction of male-female pre-marital sex related material since females are too distracting and make men weak. By removing anything of this nature from the student environment, the students developed "an animal-like physical desire set on overdrive." Arita decides to abolish the practice of spiritual names and physical contact among students, but the result on the health of the student body is repression. It is up to the student body president to show Arita the errors of his ways. There are sexual scenes in this story that contribute to the mature rating, but again the parts are blurred or missing.
Story 16 Here in Magic Land by Hirono Suzuhara - This story is yet another cat boy story within the book, as if there weren't already too many of those. It is done in the form of vertical comic strips, two strips to a page, that are snippet stories revolving around the great perverted wizard Al, his cute cat apprentice Shiro that everyone including Al wants a piece of, Shiro's brother Tora who has a hate relationship with Al, and Al's butler Kett who is Tora's love. There are also two classmates of Shiro that are constantly trying to undress the apprentice. Artwork is bluish ink on pink paper, and such a pain to read that I thought I might develop spots in my eyes from the strain. Rating is light; there may have been a hug or two.
Story 17 Rabbit Ear Kindergarten by Yogorota Kame - This was another story that edged towards the boundaries of comfort for me. It's basically a group of kindergarten rabbits being supervised by two older rabbit boys. One of the kindergarten rabbits, Roppu, just can't seem to eat his carrot lunch. He doesn't appear to like carrots, but wants to try to eat it because his teacher Mr. Mimi likes students that eat everything on their plate. So when Mr. Mimi tells Roppu that he'll do any one thing asked if Roppu will finish the carrots, Roppu blushes and does his best to finish. But Mr. Mimi's co-teacher, who is also apparently his lover, is skeptical since he also used the same technique to overcome a hatred for carrots. So, he presents the problem to his lover. What will Mr. Mimi do if Roppu asks for a kiss? The artwork is blue ink on pink paper. My thoughts on that in regards to eye strain have already been mentioned. Thank goodness the rating of this one is light, with only a couple of kisses.
Story 18 Shadows of the Forest by the Quiet Lakeside by Sakyo Yozakura - Again, a cat boy story where a man, Yanagi, and his cat, Koro, live in a cabin by a lake in the mountains. They, by chance, became a family, doing everything together from tending the garden to going into town to buy more cigarettes for Yanagi. And at night, Koro snuggles up to his human as they drift off to sleep. Excuse me while I roll my eyes. Blue ink on pink paper, with a rating that is light with only a chaste forehead kiss.
Story 19 Here in Magic Land by Hirno Suzuhara - This piece seemed more of a continuation of story 16, with a revisit to watch the antics of perverted wizard Al, his apprentice Shiro, Shiro's brother Tora and butler Kett. Blue ink on pink paper, and a rating a little higher than their previous chapters as there is an almost obscure bath tub scene and a view of Shiro's nude behind.
Though some of the stories in the book were entertaining, in general I was not impressed and was rather bored with the book. The chapters towards the end that were done on red/pink paper, along with a general lack of interest in those stories, made trudging through the last few chapters of the book very challenging. I don't think I would purchase a second volume of J-Boys if one ever came about, though that's doubtful with the Biblos bankruptcy.