Koisuru Boukun.
Jun. 13th, 2010 05:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elwenAs promised, a post devoted to Koisuru Boukun. Let's hope I remember everything I wanted to say.
First of all, I think I have done a 180 from when I started watching Junjou Romantica. At this point, I kind of like Koisuru Boukun more. What makes it 180 is that, at first I really disliked Nowaki x Hiro, but now they're my favorite couple. And Morinaga x Souichi is like Nowaki x Hiro, but amplified. You have the puppy-dog seme and the prickly, not-entirely-willing uke. Also the age reversal (without which I suppose the puppy dog part would be harder to pull off, especially in Japan's social structure).
But I guess what really bugged me about Nowaki x Hiro was Nowaki's tendency to be a doormat. Morinaga is much more likely to fight back and stand up for himself, even though he then lapses into moments of angst and uncertainty when Souichi's not around. And Souichi is much more violent and arrogant and totally self-unaware than Hiro, though I'm not sure which I prefer. (But there were a few moments when Souichi's attitude reminded me of some of the Shuuei x Kouyuu doujinshi I've read. <3 But Kouyuu I think falls somewhere between Hiro and Souichi.)
Storywise, the first, um, lay is utterly lacking in believability. But I guess it works to move them along, given the length of their acquaintance.
BTW, I should mention that I am really excited to see all of this animated. It is going to be hilarious. And hawt.
Koisuru Boukun just has a good blend of everything. There are the LOL moments, and the Souichi being a big softie moments, and of course the hot steamy moments. Also, as I was skimming the raws last night, I noticed that Morinaga is really cute when he has that slightly cowed look on his face (usually accompanied by a welt on his cheek).
Not that things are perfect. Especially after reading some of Challengers, I gather that one of Takanaga-sensei's devices is the seme who can't control himself, especially in the early stages when the uke hasn't even come to terms with his sexuality. Which is a little disturbing in a way, plus I think it shifts the focus too much from the emotional aspects to needing sex all the time. Not that it doesn't sometimes play out in hilarious ways, but, you know. I'm not in it for the sex.
Speaking of Challengers... So Challengers is Takanaga-sensei's debut manga, and it covers the relationship between Souichi's little brother Tomoe and Kurokawa. It's pure shounen-ai so far, and from Takanaga-sensei's comments in the omake comic, it seems that back then she was too shy to even draw their naked butts. How she got from that to Koisuru Boukun... well, I guess that is the corruption that BL works. ^_^;;
Anyhow, Kurokawa x Tomoe holds nothing for me. I hate clueless ditzy characters like Tomoe, and Kurokawa practically has no personality at all. But I have to wade through Challengers to get the background on Morinaga and Souichi, like when they first met and when Morinaga confessed. Kind of unfortunate, how the publishing worked out. They should just republish those chapters somewhere in the Koisuru Boukun volumes. (And then, if she ever carries on with Masaki x Kunihiro...)
But, one good thing about reading Challengers is that Isogai has grown on me a lot. He's also probably the only straight guy left in the entire series. When he showed up in KSB, I didn't know who he was, and the whole arc with him is kind of weird and outrageous. But it makes more sense now. I see him as that shady, quirky, slightly pervy guy that would be voiced by Ishida Akira. XD (Except, of course, he can't be that pervy because he's straight. For realz. Takanaga-sensei says they rejected the love polygons that included him. :P)
But, speaking of Isogai being the only straight guy left, is it just the way of yaoi series to slowly pull in everyone? Like in Junjou Romantica, you start with Usami x Misaki. Then meet Hiro, who used to be in love with Usami, and now hooks up with Nowaki. Then meet Miyagi, who works closely with Hiro, and . . . you get the point. I think Nakamura-sensei is done doing that now, but I hope you see my point.
Now take Challengers/KSB: you start with Kurokawa x Tomoe. Then meet Tomoe's overprotective older brother Souichi, who is totally homophobic out of hate for Kurokawa who corrupted Tomoe. But he has his own stalker/puppy-dog admirer in Morinaga. And then, meet Masaki, whom Morinaga used to date but was really in love with his older brother Kunihiro who was oblivious and said mean, homophobic things when he saw them together. (At this point my head starts to spin from the parallels-yet-not-parallels between KSB and Junjou Romantica. What with Usami starting out in love with Misaki's older brother. Except Misaki's brother stays happily oblivious forever and Usami moves on.) And, totally out of left field, Kunihiro and Masaki are reunited, in yet another completely unbelievable setup that nonetheless works well to move them along. And Masaki turns out to be reversible! [And also really hawt. Have I mentioned that I really like Takanaga-sensei's character designs? And they're so varied. I thinkhack mangaka like Shinjou Mayu and Yamane Ayano have broken me with their recycling of character designs. I should not be finding it refreshing when everyone looks different.]
Anyways, yeah, the Masaki side story was totally unexpected but I confess it had my fangirl heart thumping. I really want Masaki to reunite with Morinaga, so they can sort things out. I mean, at this point it seems like both have come to terms, and nothing would really be gained, but I just want them to see each other and know that the other knows. I like sappy resolutions like that, okay? Also, I want a continuation of the sidestory, of course, between Masaki and Kunihiro. I think that would be an interesting dynamic to work out, especially with Masaki being reversible.
As an aside, there was one thing in KSB that was kind of painful without any intent from the author. So as I mentioned, Souichi starts off rabidly homophobic, and the manga actually begins with him ranting to Morinaga in outrage about San Francisco legalizing gay marriage. [In the scanlations I read, they said Los Angeles. I suspect the translators were relying on Chinese raws and geography somehow got garbled in the process.] Souichi frantically calls Tomoe, which actually ends up prompting Kurokawa to propose. Then their being married pops up randomly throughout the series. ...sigh. I guess they will continue on in the happy alternate reality in which Prop 8 never happened. T_T
Ummm, so I think that was all I wanted to say. If you made it all the way through that, you are amazingand should come with me to Yaoi-Con.
First of all, I think I have done a 180 from when I started watching Junjou Romantica. At this point, I kind of like Koisuru Boukun more. What makes it 180 is that, at first I really disliked Nowaki x Hiro, but now they're my favorite couple. And Morinaga x Souichi is like Nowaki x Hiro, but amplified. You have the puppy-dog seme and the prickly, not-entirely-willing uke. Also the age reversal (without which I suppose the puppy dog part would be harder to pull off, especially in Japan's social structure).
But I guess what really bugged me about Nowaki x Hiro was Nowaki's tendency to be a doormat. Morinaga is much more likely to fight back and stand up for himself, even though he then lapses into moments of angst and uncertainty when Souichi's not around. And Souichi is much more violent and arrogant and totally self-unaware than Hiro, though I'm not sure which I prefer. (But there were a few moments when Souichi's attitude reminded me of some of the Shuuei x Kouyuu doujinshi I've read. <3 But Kouyuu I think falls somewhere between Hiro and Souichi.)
Storywise, the first, um, lay is utterly lacking in believability. But I guess it works to move them along, given the length of their acquaintance.
BTW, I should mention that I am really excited to see all of this animated. It is going to be hilarious. And hawt.
Koisuru Boukun just has a good blend of everything. There are the LOL moments, and the Souichi being a big softie moments, and of course the hot steamy moments. Also, as I was skimming the raws last night, I noticed that Morinaga is really cute when he has that slightly cowed look on his face (usually accompanied by a welt on his cheek).
Not that things are perfect. Especially after reading some of Challengers, I gather that one of Takanaga-sensei's devices is the seme who can't control himself, especially in the early stages when the uke hasn't even come to terms with his sexuality. Which is a little disturbing in a way, plus I think it shifts the focus too much from the emotional aspects to needing sex all the time. Not that it doesn't sometimes play out in hilarious ways, but, you know. I'm not in it for the sex.
Speaking of Challengers... So Challengers is Takanaga-sensei's debut manga, and it covers the relationship between Souichi's little brother Tomoe and Kurokawa. It's pure shounen-ai so far, and from Takanaga-sensei's comments in the omake comic, it seems that back then she was too shy to even draw their naked butts. How she got from that to Koisuru Boukun... well, I guess that is the corruption that BL works. ^_^;;
Anyhow, Kurokawa x Tomoe holds nothing for me. I hate clueless ditzy characters like Tomoe, and Kurokawa practically has no personality at all. But I have to wade through Challengers to get the background on Morinaga and Souichi, like when they first met and when Morinaga confessed. Kind of unfortunate, how the publishing worked out. They should just republish those chapters somewhere in the Koisuru Boukun volumes. (And then, if she ever carries on with Masaki x Kunihiro...)
But, one good thing about reading Challengers is that Isogai has grown on me a lot. He's also probably the only straight guy left in the entire series. When he showed up in KSB, I didn't know who he was, and the whole arc with him is kind of weird and outrageous. But it makes more sense now. I see him as that shady, quirky, slightly pervy guy that would be voiced by Ishida Akira. XD (Except, of course, he can't be that pervy because he's straight. For realz. Takanaga-sensei says they rejected the love polygons that included him. :P)
But, speaking of Isogai being the only straight guy left, is it just the way of yaoi series to slowly pull in everyone? Like in Junjou Romantica, you start with Usami x Misaki. Then meet Hiro, who used to be in love with Usami, and now hooks up with Nowaki. Then meet Miyagi, who works closely with Hiro, and . . . you get the point. I think Nakamura-sensei is done doing that now, but I hope you see my point.
Now take Challengers/KSB: you start with Kurokawa x Tomoe. Then meet Tomoe's overprotective older brother Souichi, who is totally homophobic out of hate for Kurokawa who corrupted Tomoe. But he has his own stalker/puppy-dog admirer in Morinaga. And then, meet Masaki, whom Morinaga used to date but was really in love with his older brother Kunihiro who was oblivious and said mean, homophobic things when he saw them together. (At this point my head starts to spin from the parallels-yet-not-parallels between KSB and Junjou Romantica. What with Usami starting out in love with Misaki's older brother. Except Misaki's brother stays happily oblivious forever and Usami moves on.) And, totally out of left field, Kunihiro and Masaki are reunited, in yet another completely unbelievable setup that nonetheless works well to move them along. And Masaki turns out to be reversible! [And also really hawt. Have I mentioned that I really like Takanaga-sensei's character designs? And they're so varied. I think
Anyways, yeah, the Masaki side story was totally unexpected but I confess it had my fangirl heart thumping. I really want Masaki to reunite with Morinaga, so they can sort things out. I mean, at this point it seems like both have come to terms, and nothing would really be gained, but I just want them to see each other and know that the other knows. I like sappy resolutions like that, okay? Also, I want a continuation of the sidestory, of course, between Masaki and Kunihiro. I think that would be an interesting dynamic to work out, especially with Masaki being reversible.
As an aside, there was one thing in KSB that was kind of painful without any intent from the author. So as I mentioned, Souichi starts off rabidly homophobic, and the manga actually begins with him ranting to Morinaga in outrage about San Francisco legalizing gay marriage. [In the scanlations I read, they said Los Angeles. I suspect the translators were relying on Chinese raws and geography somehow got garbled in the process.] Souichi frantically calls Tomoe, which actually ends up prompting Kurokawa to propose. Then their being married pops up randomly throughout the series. ...sigh. I guess they will continue on in the happy alternate reality in which Prop 8 never happened. T_T
Ummm, so I think that was all I wanted to say. If you made it all the way through that, you are amazing
no subject
Date: 2010-06-14 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-16 03:27 am (UTC)Well, Morinaga and Souichi are in grad school (in Challengers, Morinaga is still in undergrad), but I guess they're not close enough to graduation to be working on a thesis yet... >_>;;
no subject
Date: 2010-06-25 01:17 am (UTC)Also, I fangirl Isogai to pieces ^^