Review Corner: I Want to be Naughty
Dec. 4th, 2007 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jukebox_csiAh Kitty Media...sometimes good, sometimes bad, and sometimes just too damn dark to see.
Title: I Want to be Naughty
Mangaka: Mei Sakuraga
Publisher: Kitty Media/MediaBlasters
From the back cover: The student council has their eye on Towa Aikawa, the school delinquent. He hides out on the rooftop, it's his special illegal place. He finds Mikado Shirahane on the roof one day. He's the hottest, smartest guy in school, and now he's in Towa's Xanadu...why would Towa find himself falling for him? Perhaps it's the passionate kisses and longing looks from the school stud...!?
The first half of the book covers the main story. Towa is considered a delinquent by the student council because he bleaches his hair and wears piercings. In addition, he 'hangs out' with his delinquent friends in empty classrooms, which gives the perception of having a bad attitude. In actuality, he spends a lot of time on the roof with his friend Mikado. Towa is constantly harassed - anonymous threatening notes left for him in his locker, being tripped in the hallways - but he is unaware of a majority of this due to Mikado protecting him. But, Mikado has his own secrets; one of which is his love for Towa. This in itself is hard for Towa to come to terms with. But, it's Mikado's other secret that threatens to tear the two friends apart. And thrown into the mix are the mysterious threats that Towa keeps receiving from someone within the student council. Will it all work out?
The rest of the book is divided among three stories. The first, called "I Want Your Attention", tells the story of a freshman known as 'Mad Dog' because he constantly glowered at everyone around him. In reality, though, Ito is confused as to why everyone runs away from him in fear. The answer becomes clear to Hibiya, who accidentally steps on a contact lens that fell from Ito's eyes. When Ito has to don a pair of glasses in lieu of the missing contact, he turns into a pretty boy. The glowering was caused by the contacts, which were uncomfortable and caused his eyes to tire. Hibiya promises never to run away from Ito, and convinces his would-be lover to wear glasses from now on. But, this plan backfires when Ito suddenly becomes the object of everyone's attention with his new, approachable face. This, in turn, causes depression in Hibiya to the point that he does exactly what he promised he would not - he stays away from Ito. The only way for Ito to get him back is to remove the glasses, but then he can't see. Can the two ever find a common ground in which to repair the rift?
The third story in the book is "I Can't Resist You". Kazunari's memory of his childhood friend Jin was that Jin's hands were large and comforting. After four years apart, Jin returns from the city to find that Kazunari is well on his way to taking his place in the family history by becoming a Haiku master. He always worried about Kazunari while away, considering himself a guardian to his friend. But, there is something more. He goes so far as to bite Kazunari, marking him in order to 'ward off evil' and sending a message to any would-be suitors. When one of Kazunari's former boyfriends sees this mark and forces himself upon Kazunari, Jin manages to save the day and finally confesses his true feelings. But, does Kazunari return those feelings?
The final story, "I Love His Light", is a bittersweet affair between a dojo instructor and a pupil ten years his junior. The pupil, Ukiha, is so attuned to his sensei, that he even knows when Makato has a headache. But, he is only going to be able to stay with his beloved sensei for a month. Despite knowing how the boy feels about him, Makato feels he can't "rob a high school student's future away" and tries to keep things professional between them. Over the course of the month, they dance around each other, and Makato realizes that his feelings are also strong for Ukiha. When the day finally comes for the boy to leave, Makato has to make the decision of whether to stick to his previous reasoning, or expressing his feelings and extracting the promise that Ukiha will someday return.
For presentation, I have to give this book a failing grade. The overall printing in this book is simply atrocious and took away much of the enjoyment I might have otherwise had for the stories. The pages are not clean, suffering from dark screen tones. As a result, there are large black splotches on the pages, some of which bleed into speech bubbles, which make the text incredibly difficult to read, even under a direct lamp. In addition, on some pages, the font used - to indicate a character is muttering - was so tiny, that I had to actually drag out the magnifying glass in order to make out the words.
But, that's not even the worst part. Kitty/Media Blasters is notorious for not translating their sound effects. This, in itself, is terribly frustrating and a policy I truly wish they would change. But, in this book, there are quite a few sound effects that appear within speech bubbles either by themselves or with other actual text. What this results in is a page that looks like it contains only partially translated dialog, as if the translator simply didn't complete the job. The paper used is fairly cheap quality; I kept checking my fingers every few minutes to see if ink had rubbed onto them.
For the most part, all four stories in the book are enjoyable, if mediocre romps. That is, of course, if one can overlook the presentation of the book itself. They are fairly cliché in the realm of boy love, but not so much as to be a tiring rehash of common themes. I never felt like I was trudging through the stories themselves, and actually completed the book in a couple of sittings despite the hardships presented by the printing. For me, I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it, though the stories were easily forgotten from one chapter to the next.
Title: I Want to be Naughty
Mangaka: Mei Sakuraga
Publisher: Kitty Media/MediaBlasters
From the back cover: The student council has their eye on Towa Aikawa, the school delinquent. He hides out on the rooftop, it's his special illegal place. He finds Mikado Shirahane on the roof one day. He's the hottest, smartest guy in school, and now he's in Towa's Xanadu...why would Towa find himself falling for him? Perhaps it's the passionate kisses and longing looks from the school stud...!?
The first half of the book covers the main story. Towa is considered a delinquent by the student council because he bleaches his hair and wears piercings. In addition, he 'hangs out' with his delinquent friends in empty classrooms, which gives the perception of having a bad attitude. In actuality, he spends a lot of time on the roof with his friend Mikado. Towa is constantly harassed - anonymous threatening notes left for him in his locker, being tripped in the hallways - but he is unaware of a majority of this due to Mikado protecting him. But, Mikado has his own secrets; one of which is his love for Towa. This in itself is hard for Towa to come to terms with. But, it's Mikado's other secret that threatens to tear the two friends apart. And thrown into the mix are the mysterious threats that Towa keeps receiving from someone within the student council. Will it all work out?
The rest of the book is divided among three stories. The first, called "I Want Your Attention", tells the story of a freshman known as 'Mad Dog' because he constantly glowered at everyone around him. In reality, though, Ito is confused as to why everyone runs away from him in fear. The answer becomes clear to Hibiya, who accidentally steps on a contact lens that fell from Ito's eyes. When Ito has to don a pair of glasses in lieu of the missing contact, he turns into a pretty boy. The glowering was caused by the contacts, which were uncomfortable and caused his eyes to tire. Hibiya promises never to run away from Ito, and convinces his would-be lover to wear glasses from now on. But, this plan backfires when Ito suddenly becomes the object of everyone's attention with his new, approachable face. This, in turn, causes depression in Hibiya to the point that he does exactly what he promised he would not - he stays away from Ito. The only way for Ito to get him back is to remove the glasses, but then he can't see. Can the two ever find a common ground in which to repair the rift?
The third story in the book is "I Can't Resist You". Kazunari's memory of his childhood friend Jin was that Jin's hands were large and comforting. After four years apart, Jin returns from the city to find that Kazunari is well on his way to taking his place in the family history by becoming a Haiku master. He always worried about Kazunari while away, considering himself a guardian to his friend. But, there is something more. He goes so far as to bite Kazunari, marking him in order to 'ward off evil' and sending a message to any would-be suitors. When one of Kazunari's former boyfriends sees this mark and forces himself upon Kazunari, Jin manages to save the day and finally confesses his true feelings. But, does Kazunari return those feelings?
The final story, "I Love His Light", is a bittersweet affair between a dojo instructor and a pupil ten years his junior. The pupil, Ukiha, is so attuned to his sensei, that he even knows when Makato has a headache. But, he is only going to be able to stay with his beloved sensei for a month. Despite knowing how the boy feels about him, Makato feels he can't "rob a high school student's future away" and tries to keep things professional between them. Over the course of the month, they dance around each other, and Makato realizes that his feelings are also strong for Ukiha. When the day finally comes for the boy to leave, Makato has to make the decision of whether to stick to his previous reasoning, or expressing his feelings and extracting the promise that Ukiha will someday return.
For presentation, I have to give this book a failing grade. The overall printing in this book is simply atrocious and took away much of the enjoyment I might have otherwise had for the stories. The pages are not clean, suffering from dark screen tones. As a result, there are large black splotches on the pages, some of which bleed into speech bubbles, which make the text incredibly difficult to read, even under a direct lamp. In addition, on some pages, the font used - to indicate a character is muttering - was so tiny, that I had to actually drag out the magnifying glass in order to make out the words.
But, that's not even the worst part. Kitty/Media Blasters is notorious for not translating their sound effects. This, in itself, is terribly frustrating and a policy I truly wish they would change. But, in this book, there are quite a few sound effects that appear within speech bubbles either by themselves or with other actual text. What this results in is a page that looks like it contains only partially translated dialog, as if the translator simply didn't complete the job. The paper used is fairly cheap quality; I kept checking my fingers every few minutes to see if ink had rubbed onto them.
For the most part, all four stories in the book are enjoyable, if mediocre romps. That is, of course, if one can overlook the presentation of the book itself. They are fairly cliché in the realm of boy love, but not so much as to be a tiring rehash of common themes. I never felt like I was trudging through the stories themselves, and actually completed the book in a couple of sittings despite the hardships presented by the printing. For me, I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it, though the stories were easily forgotten from one chapter to the next.
