You, Me & Yaoi: Cut #3

Affair

By: Shiuko Kano

Rating: 3 out of 5

 Blurb: Affair is a collection of short stories from a manga-ka whose men ooze testosterone. Shuiko Kano has never been shy about portraying real adult relationships and while Affair is a bit more subtle than her usual fair, it is by no means an exception.

Yoshiyuki and Haruomi, teammates on a high school baseball team, discover their feelings for each other years after their golden days. Will a chance reunion blossom into an unexpected love? Kyouichi and Hijiri find out that there are things thicker than blood ties in the world of the yakuza. Will these two yakuza sons discover that they have more in common than underworld business dealings? Takei and Hirose put their luck to the test in a mahjong game that will decide that fate of their jobs. But is there more than just money on the line? Yagi's driver's education teacher, Tamiya, seems to have more on his mind than just the usual student-teacher relationship... Is Yagi above showing a little skin to pass his test?

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3 1/2 Pants Off

Thoughts: This manga is a series of one-shots (short stories), and I tend to hate one-shots not because they suck but because sometimes they are so good they need a freaking book to themselves. So is the case with this manga, too much angst and not enough story to make it work. Short stories should be fun, sweet, and smutty and things get solved. When there’s an intense story line, everything just feels too rushed and makes no freaking sense.

The first story Affair that is my favourite in the whole manga, deals with high school lovers who reunite after quite sometime. This story also contains my biggest peeve. Things usually get over looked in yaoi very easily, like cheating and overall douche bagginess. I can’t let this slide though, if there is sex going on in my bed then it better me who’s having it.  That deserves a drop kick of epic proportions.

My Dear Mad Dog is the story that should have been longer. There is just too much going on, all that angst and not enough pages for it. It does have my fave drawing in the whole entire book. Believe it took a lot for them to get there (check the end of post).

One Lucky Guy and Love Machine are sweet and fluffy goodness, with some slight angst and all the boy drama you can think of.  The sex isn’t overly explicit; you see what you need to.

Overall, I liked it and loved the epilogue at the end that’s a short follow up to the first story. The art is good, and Kano draws some beautiful males.

I Love This!!