Shi ga Futari o Wakatsu Made Until Death Do Us Part 死がふたりを分かつまで

Shi ga Futari o Wakatsu Made

I just started to read Shi ga Futari o Wakatsu Made Until Death Do Us Part 死がふたりを分かつまで by TAKASHIGE Hiroshi たかしげ　宙 and DOUBLE-S 송　지형 and published in the US by Yen Press originally published in Japan in Young GanGan (Square Enix).  This is a seinen sf battle drama with a romantic subplot that is a fascinating read.

About a young psychic girl and a blind swordsman, with a back up group with contention within over the blind swordsman and plenty of enemies, including a small African country.  Throw in loads of yakuza and proficient police detective.  Plenty of action for those who need their action fix, and with a satisfying story for those that need a good story; plus the females in the story (although not many, are main characters) are very strong in many ways.

20 volumes and ongoing in Japan, and Yen Press is publishing as bunkobon and has 4 out so far with volume 5 due out in December.  One would like a faster release of the bunkobons since the story is riveting.

The Betrayal knows my Name Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru 裏切りは僕の名前を知っている

betrayal-knows-my-name by hitominokotae17
Thank you hitominokotae17 for the use of your fan art
http://browse.deviantart.com/art/betrayal-knows-my-name-365433333

Thank you YaelRukia for the use of your fan art: Render- Hotsuma,Shusei,Yuki y Luka
http://yaelrukia.deviantart.com/art/Render-Hotsuma-Shusei-Yuki-y-Luka-373094204
http://yaelrukia.deviantart.com/
Thank you YaelRukia

Thank you ShadowofChaos666 for the use of your fan art: Luka and Luze
http://shadowofchaos666.deviantart.com/art/Luka-and-Luze-370981481
http://shadowofchaos666.deviantart.com/

Thank you hitominokotae17, YaelRukia, & ShadowofChaos666 for the use of your fan art:

http://browse.deviantart.com/art/betrayal-knows-my-name-365433333

http://browse.deviantart.com/art/Render-Hotsuma-Shusei-Yuki-y-Luka-373094204

http://browse.deviantart.com/art/Luka-and-Luze-370981481

The Betrayal knows my Name Uragiri wa Boku no Namae o Shitteiru         裏切りは僕の名前を知っている by ODAGIRI Hotaru 小田切ほたる is a great shojo/shonen-ai manga that can probably go head to head with any shonen battle manga.

This Asuka series is shojo in the way the relationships are portrayed with an extremely slow pace to it due to the substantial material and the way the battle scenes are drawn are shojo style too; otherwise you would think this battle story good enough to be in Jump.  In fact, in Asuka that has several famous battle mangas for girls, this one is better written for the female population than many of the more popular titles that feel like shonen dressed up with bishies.  Also, remember, shonen-ai is a legitimate form of shojo manga (why are some fans bickering over if it’s one or the other – shonen-ai is shojo – started in shojo (Heart of Thomas Thomas no Shinzou トーマの心臓 – see blog from 21 March 2013) and is a staple of many shojo magazines still.

This slow supernatural, fantasy and mystery battle shonen-ai story takes 8 volumes just to set up the main characters and story.  This is non-romantic shonen-ai, leaving you wanting more.  There is a break during volume 9 to a lighter, comedic, almost like a side story that takes up the whole volume.  Then back to the darker, serious story in volume 10.

I do miss Sodom in volume 9.  And, in general, there is not enough of Yuki and Luka, we really want more interaction between the two.  Maybe because, according to ODAGIRI Hotaru 小田切ほたる Luka is hard to draw, or at least very time consuming.

There are at least 11 volumes out in Japan, and the 11th (volume 6 in the US, as the first 10 volumes have been released in bunkoban format, the equivalent of 2 tankobons each, volume 6 is the same as volume 11 in Japan and is therefore a tankobon).  The volumes have taken a while to come out in Japan too, as the author suffers from tendinitis; however, she states that she’s picking up the pace and the story’s pace also.

There are also 24 episodes of anime; however, I’ve not seen the anime and don’t know how close it actually is to the manga.

ODAGIRI Hotaru 小田切ほたる does write about it being performed in 3 plays and that there are DVDs, of at least the first play, and hopefully the others.  It would be great if these would be released in the US.

Also, at least one of the drama CDs has material she wanted in the manga series and wasn’t able to include about Yuki’s past life secrets that belong to the main story.  I hope that they translate it and add as an extra to the books.

Looks like Yen Press understands that they need to get these volumes out fairly quickly so as not to upset the fans; however, they could have them come out a bit quicker – volume 6 should have come out a few months ago to keep the fans really happy.  They’ve also done a better job on translating and proof reading than some of their other series, so maybe learning from that too.

****possible spoiler alert****

I’m one of those people that read the end of a book before reading it (I hate surprises); however, I know that many don’t like spoilers; however, (the author even alluded to it in volume 9) be prepared for a major character calamity in volume 10, and I hope it’s not as bad as I suspect and maybe find out for sure towards the end of September when volume 6  comes out in English in the US.

Looking for good non-romantic BL/shojo/mystery/battle/supernatural story – you may want to give this well written and well drawn manga a try.

YAMAMOTO Kotetsuko 山本小鉄子

YAMAMOTO Kotetsuko 山本小鉄子writes some funny comedies.  I really like her writing (although, her drawings need improving, the characters look much younger than their ages and look too similar, even the women look like the men (at least the faces)). 

Right now I’m enjoying Konya mo Nemurenai 今夜も眠れない , that has a supernatural twist, published in Rutile (Gentousha), and Honto Yajuu     ほんと野獣, a comedic yakuza young master and cop pairing (love the families in that series and other characters besides the couple) from Gush (Kaiousha).

I like her comedy and the personalities of her characters, sweet and kind, and helping, sometimes getting into situations (well, that’s kind of de rigueur for 801, shojo, and josei – well, even shonen and seinen).

I hope that her more popular series are soon released in the US, in the last couple years a few of her books (mostly school life and one or two tankobon series,in ebook form) have been released in the US.

I look forward to more fun series from YAMAMOTO Kotetsuko 山本小鉄子 and hope that she gets more releases in the US. 

BTW, Tierra’s Suggestions for reading/watching has been updated.