Yokan by Makoto Tateno
Publisher: DMP June
Price: $12.95 (print); $7.95 (ebook)
Genre: Drama, Romance, Yaoi
Themes: Musicians, Idols, Showbiz
Rating: Mature 18+
Volumes: 2 Volumes
ISBN: 978-1-56970-160-7 (Vol 1 – Premonition); 978-1-56970-161-4 (Vol 2 – Noise)
Note: Picture taken with my iPhone from my manga library.
Basic Premise:
YOKAN
Charon the ferryman on the River Styx. Nun, a word meaning Death. These are also the names of two bands whose lead singers are about to clash. Akira used to think of music as his own form of masturbation. He didn’t about anyone’s pleasure but his own and that took his band to the top. Then one day he heard Hiroya Sunaga singing and everything changed. Akira wants Hiroya. Akira wants Hiroya’s voice. Akira will drag Hiroya kicking and screaming back into the limelight, but Akira will have to pay the price for dragging Hiroya back into his own personal hell.
SINSEMILLA
Kazumi is straight and a playboy. He won’t give Seiji a second glance until a mysterious pill and a shared erotic dream brings Kazumi to Seiji’s door for fulfillment. When their bodies are sated, Seiji is sad to see it all end… or has it?
Sex Shown:
Rape, kissing, pressed bodies, groping, suggestive positions
Review:
This is a heavy manga, but I loved it. Tateno-sensei is one of my favorites for a reason and this manga series reaffirmed that. Akira and Hiroya are two very powerful personalities that cannot be denied. It’s hard to tell where envy and hatred ends and where love and adoration begins… for both of them and the reader. But that mixed emotion is what makes this manga so powerful.
I almost wish I could hear the music. But then I’m glad I can’t because that allows me to make up something powerful in my own imagination.
Kazumi and Seiji are a little sad because of how their relationship started. But it was that little nudge that brought them together and made Kazumi realize that he loves Seiji after all.
Of the two couples, of course I loved Akira and Hiroya. I especially loved how Akira’s bandmates just can’t deny him when he makes a request and then bats his eyes at them. They’re no match for his charms, but each of them loves Akira in their own way.
Any Tateno-sensei fan should be reading this one.