Author: KAZUMI Maki
Artist: HONAMI Yukine
Publisher: Digital Manga
ISBN:1569709793
Reviewed by ttg
For those following the U.S. releases of yaoi titles, I highly recommend Digital Manga's release of Desire. The story is by yaoi novelist Maki Kazumi, and artist Yukine Honami (of Rin! fame.)
Desire is Kazumi and Honami's title "Yabai Kimochi" which was put out by Chara comics a couple years ago. (There's also a drama CD now, if you're interested in it.) Honami does a lot of work for Chara, and is very popular.
Story-wise, the manga is about two high schoolers who start to move beyond the "just friends" line, but feelings and motivations differ between the two, or at least, that's what they think. That's a pretty crappy summary, but part of the joy of reading the story is finding out how things go. The story-telling is so...realistic. Some of the scenes are so painfully (truthfully) awkward, and it's really easy to sympathize with the main character of Toru. At first you want to shuffle Ryoji into the jerk corner, but you also see how he's struggling to figure things out. And it's because it's so not easy, it makes what eventually happens pretty satisfying.
There's a lot of character growth, there are nice guys who can still act manipulative, and Toru even finds himself being "Ryoji" to another person, which brings him more realization. It's a really solid book. (I even cried at one point. I don't think I've cried while reading a manga in a long time.)
I'll block out the part that really blew me away. The scene close to the end, when Toru finally starts his art project. He's finally come to understand more his feelings, and he starts to paint. "...On the white canvas, I spread blue paint. I draw Ryoji's back...blended in blue. Blue, the water in which he swims. Blue, the color of his bed covers. Blue, the color of the curtain he was waving." And then what happens next...ah, so good. I love this book.
Honami's art is very beautiful. Soft and pencil-y, everytime I see it, I always think the perfect musical score to go with it would be some soft piano notes, and maybe a violin. (Especially with Rin, where sound, like heartbeats, is so important.) Although there is sex in the book, it's not explicit. (No glowing cones. ^^;)
DMP's releases are really nice and big, with a good 'old removable dust-jacket. It's nice to have such a big, easy-to-read book.
In short, I think Desire is one of the best in-English yaoi book's I've seen, but a lot of that is just that the story and art (and translation) is so good. There's a few parts where I thought the wording was a little strange, but overall, it's excellent. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good (and sometimes painful) story.
I think I might try to find DMP's other release, "Only the Ring Finger Knows" today...