Starting with a Kiss キスアリキ。(Kiss Ariki.)

NITTA Youka 新田祐克  has claimed in the past that she wouldn’t write an yakuza manga nor a manga with a main character with long shiny black hair (not that long) – but she does so in Starting with a Kiss キスアリキ。(Kiss Ariki.), published in English by SubLime (VIZ) and originally published by b-BOY HONEY (Libre Shuppan), b-Boy Kichiku (Libre Shuppan), and Be x Boy GOLD (Libre Shuppan).

BL and yakuza seem to be a good match in many stories and is one of the main sub-genre’s of BL.  However, Starting with a Kiss キスアリキ。(Kiss Ariki.) really has nothing much to add to the genre.  It’s not as dark, gritty nor has the depth of the Finder (View Finder) series by YAMANE Ayano やまねあやの or No Money お金がないっ(Okane ga Nai) by SHINOZAKI Hitoyo 篠崎一夜  & KOUSAKA Tohru 香坂透 , not as interesting as Twittering Birds Never Fly 囀る鳥は羽ばたかない (Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai) by YONEDA Kou ヨネダコウ  or one-shot NightS ナイツ by YONEDA Kou ニトロ攻鉄, not as fun as Like the Beast ほんと野獣 (Honto Yajuu) by YAMAMOTO Kotetsuko 山本小鉄子, and the list of better yakuza stories goes on.  Still it’s a decent read full of plotting, incest, etc., though not exactly all that memorable.

Unfortunately, Sublime (VIZ) isn’t putting out the 3rd and final volume in a timely manner at all – it’s not expected until June 2015!  There were only 3 volumes and they could have been done in a few short months – not almost a year.  3 long months between volume 1 and 2 (too much) and then 7 months to wait to finish the series – are they really caring for their audience?  Will the audience even put up with it by buying the last volume?  I know that I forgot the plot and had to reread the 1st volume before continuing with the 2nd and it had been only 3 months! (I don’t usually have that problem with a series – so it’s just not so memorable for me.) 

Not sure if I’d want to go on with such a long wait – and there is no need as the series was finished before it started to be released in the US in English. VIZ should have released all the volumes within 3-6 months at most (or better yet, as a bunkobon), not the almost a year.  This doesn’t seem to happen with the shonen or seinen series – once again making women the second class citizens.  I also wonder why they’re releasing such a series, even if the author is very popular, as there are much better series that should be published and don’t even seem to be up for consideration.

Heaven’s Memo Pad Kami-sama no Memochou 神様のメモ帳 – anime

One of the delights of this month’s library delivery was Heaven’s Memo Pad Kami-sama no Memochou 神様のメモ帳 It’s the Only NEET Thing to Do.  This is a shonen detective/NEET anime based on a novel series and I hear that there is manga released (3 volumes) in Japan.  Except for some occasional naïvety, it was different from a lot of what I have access to and was a refreshing break.  Only 12 episodes (first episode was double in length), it was a quick watch and fun.

You will find yakuza, gangs, friends, drugs, baseball, gaming, gamblers, rent boy, military otaku, high school and college students, NEETs, ramen, ice cream, etc.  Not too heavy most, but not all, of the time.  Just a pleasant change of pace.  Although shonen, I’d probably read the novels and maybe manga if published in English in the US.

Sexy Voice and Robo セクシーボイスアンドロボ

Sexy Voice and Robo セクシーボイスアンドロボ by KURODA Iou 黒田硫黄  is a seinen bunkobon put out by Ikki (VIZ).  The drawing styles is older and the stories are supposedly based on some true stories with some fictionalized.  This is supposedly on hiatus.  However, it’s been over 10 years on hiatus.

There is a live action tv series based on it that I’ve not seen. 

The stories center around a teenage girl, doing some phone scamming work, a clueless phone customer & robot otaku of hers she gets involved and uses him as an assistant, and an old man (yakuza) who hires her to do some spy/detective work.  The stories are fresh and interesting.

Some of the pages are cut-off, so you can’t read the full speech bubble.  Again, VIZ should have done a better job on proofing the final so pages weren’t cut off.

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.

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.

SUGAR CODE シュガーコード rumored drama on the way

Just another rumor – Sugar Code シュガーコード by

NATSUME Isaku 夏目イサク is getting a drama.