Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki: Kodaka Kazuma

By Nora Jemison

Publisher: Biblos

Serialized in: BeXBoy (5 compilation volumes available as of July, 1998)

Amid all of the dark, angst-ridden tales of anguish and lust that seem to populate so much of yaoi and shounen ai, it's often nice to see a series that manages to stay consistently on the lighter side of things.

Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki ("Equation of a Degenerate Teacher") is one such tale, brought to us by the creator of Kizuna, Sebiro no Housekeeper, Kimera, and a few other well-known standards of the genre.

The series has all of the trademark Kodaka trappings: clean, proportional, and eye-pleasing art; gorgeous bishounen, biseinen, and even macho-types; fashions that make one wonder how much teachers get paid in Japan; minimal plot and high character development. There is some angst, but it surfaces only occasionally. While it's low on sex, it's high on romance (particularly romantic comedy). It's set in Japan for the most part, with occasional side-trips to Norway and other exotic locales; however, most of the story takes place in the high school where most of the main characters are either students or staff. While there is no overall plot, there are a number of short story arcs that are usually resolved within a few chapters. But rather than try and give a synopsis of all of these short plots, I'll just describe instead the five main characters and their central conflicts, which really form the basis of the storyline.

Shibata Masayoshi:

The "degenerate teacher" of the title, Masayoshi is one of the few yaoi characters I've seen who straddles the seme-uke line well. He's taller than the ukes of the series and shorter than uber-seme Tooru, androgynously handsome, and veers in personality from roguishly macho to painfully vulnerable. When we first meet him, he's terrorizing both the students and the establishment in his high school with his over-the-top, wild behavior: in book 1 alone he nearly runs down several students showing off his flashy sports car, traumatizes a new student in his class, and joins in a school basketball game when the team isn't doing well (after tying up the coach).

He's the class clown, bully, and psycho, no older in spirit than the students he teaches, and frightening because he's the guy in charge. We find out over the course of the story that he and his elder brother Masami are half-Japanese and half-Norweigan, raised in Norway before moving to Japan. We also discover that Masayoshi's arrogance and crudeness cover deep vulnerabilities. He has an uneasy relationship with his father, whom he at one point blamed for his mother's death. He's uncomfortable with his mixed heritage; he has natural blond hair and green eyes, which caused problems for him when he first moved to Japan, and he now dyes his hair dark because of this. As tough as he is, he's also borderline uke-pretty, and so perhaps some of his macho behavior is an attempt to compensate for his looks (with good reason; shortly after moving to Japan as a teen, he was almost gang-raped). Making matters worse is the fact that he hides a forbidden incestuous love for Masami. It's partly this that keeps him at Tooru's throat, and at arms' length from Arisawa. There are very subtle hints of possible attraction between him and Tooru, but it's hard to say; Kodaka made fun of the possibility in one of the gag strips that she runs alongside KKH, but it's impossible to tell if this will ever be more than a hint.

Shibata Masami

The elder of the two Shibata brothers, Masami inherited his mother's looks and gentle demeanor and is classic uke: he's domestic, sweet, and pretty, and is as polite and well-mannered as Masayoshi is crude. Masami was Masayoshi's protector when they were children, and now that they're grown up Masayoshi tries to return the favor---which very often causes problems for Masami's relationship with Tooru. It's never quite clear what Masami does for a living (or at least, I haven't translated that part yet)---he is sometimes shown giving educational presentations on safe sex, and was once a teacher as well. Masami is the kind of guy that everybody likes (or loves). He's deeply in love with Tooru, but because he's a such proper young man, he wants everything to be "right" before they make love, which means getting his father's tacit approval of the pairing---something that seems distinctly unlikely given their father's macho temperament. He's also aware of Masayoshi's feelings for him, and although he never speaks of it, this may be another reason why he hesitates to consummate his relationship with Tooru. His virginity has nothing to do with inhibition, however; some of KKH's best almost-sex scenes are between him and Tooru.

Atsushi Arisawa

When Arisawa was a small child, he fell hopelessly in love with an older boy who acted as babysitter, big brother, and friend to him---a boy who turned out to be the young Shibata Masami. Arisawa never forgot him, and as soon as he reached high school age, he transferred to the school where "Shibata-sensei" (or as he dreamily preferred, his "Ma-chan") worked, hoping to find him and confess his love. He found Shibata-sensei, all right---Masayoshi, who terrorized the boy on his first day of school and for several weeks after. The first mini-plot of KKH revolves around Arisawa's efforts to find his Ma-chan, and his disillusionment when he finally finds Masami and realizes that Masami is unattainable (mostly because of Tooru, but also probably because they're both ukes). Arisawa doesn't stay depressed for long, however, because he quickly transfers his affections to Masayoshi after Masayoshi attempts to cheer him up, and the tables are turned as Arisawa relentlessly pursues his reluctant sensei---and is in turn pursued by the equally relentless Inagaki. Arisawa is sweet, shy (except when he's going after Masayoshi), naive, and a hopeless romantic. He spends most of his time mooning starry-eyed over whoever has captured his interest at the moment, and can floor anybody with one bat of his big, dark, puppy-dog eyes. He's more than just a pretty face, though; he seems to be the only person besides Masami who knows about and understands Masayoshi's feelings for his brother, and in recent volumes he's been very serious and compassionate with his sensei about this. It's beginning to look as if Arisawa just might get his man.

Inagaki Kooji

Inagaki went to the same elementary school as Arisawa, and was captivated as a child by the young Arisawa's kawaiiness and sweetness. Even back then he defended the pretty, passive Arisawa from playground bullies, and in reward chibi-Arisawa gave chibi-Inagaki his first kiss. After years of separation, the teenage Inagaki, now a high-school tough guy, recognizes his childhood sweetheart when Arisawa shows up at his school, and he falls in love all over again. Unfortunately, the feelings aren't mutual. This doesn't stop Inagaki; he's determined to make Arisawa fall in love with him, and he vigorously defends his beloved from anyone who threatens them or their happiness as a couple. So he spends a lot of time beating up Masayoshi in a jealous rage. At times his desire for Arisawa gets very intense and aggressive, but he loves the boy too much to hurt him, so although there is one near-rape scene between the two, it ends when Inagaki realizes that Arisawa's protests are real. Inagaki gradually grows to be less violent in his possessiveness, and more patient in his efforts to get Arisawa to love him. He has a chance, actually, because in recent books Arisawa has begun to realize that he actually enjoys Inagaki's company. Inagaki doesn't like for people to know it, but there's a sweet and fluffycore underneath the juvenile delinquent exterior.

Hagiwara Tooru

Tooru is probably the sweetest and least aggressive seme in all of yaoidom. Although he's been involved with Masami for years, they haven't had sex yet partly because he actually listens to Masami when Masami says no. He can't help it; he's so hopelessly in love with Masami that he practically worships the air his lover breathes, and he cries buckets whenever Masami gets mad at him. They met shortly after Masami and Masayoshi moved to Japan as teenagers, and it was love at first sight---for Tooru and Masami, anyhow. For Tooru and Masayoshi, it was hate at first sight, largely because of Masayoshi's instant and vehement jealousy of Tooru. Aside from his less-than-sane behavior whenever Masami's around, Tooru is a stern but well-liked teacher at the high school, very conscious of his position as a role model; he's as conventional a teacher as Masayoshi is unconventional.

Part of his conflict with Masayoshi stems from Masayoshi's not- relationship with Arisawa-kun, which Tooru considers improper and an attempt by Masayoshi to abuse his status as a teacher. Despite his formality, however, Tooru has quite a few impure thoughts about Masami, and probably holds the current record for the greatest amount of blood loss due to nosebleeds in a series.

I've been trying to figure out why KKH seems to be the black sheep of the Kodaka clan; in Western yaoi/shounen ai fandom there seem to be very few people who've heard of it. It could be because, despite the painfully intense Unresolved Sexual Tension (UST) of the series, there's no actual sex in it---a few sensually pinched nipples, some unseen masturbation, and the occasional steamy groping in a parked car, but that's it (as of kan 4, anyway). Or maybe it's because it's a story that's heavy on comedy with only very subtle angst, often to the exclusion of a coherent plot. But for me, those are the things that make this series so interesting. Don't get me wrong; I love angst and sex as much as the next yaoi fan. But every once in a while, it's nice to take a breather, and this one is a very nice breath of fresh air.

The series progresses by giving us deeper and deeper insight into these characters---taking us into their family lives, showing us their pasts, and taking us closer and closer to romantic resolutions of their situations. Masami eventually reveals his feelings about Tooru to his father (resulting in what's probably one of the funniest coming-out scenes in the genre), and gives Tooru a shy go-ahead to make love with him (although when they try, Masayoshi deliberately interrupts them). Inagaki and Arisawa slowly stop reacting to each other and actually begin to become friends. Masayoshi gradually warms to Arisawa. A whole cast of supporting characters is there to complicate matters even more, including the main characters' eccentric families, psychotic random strangers, and horny cross-dressing friends.

The humor ranges from tongue-in-cheek to slapstick; even without a good understanding of Japanese, many of the sight-gags are easy to comprehend. The whole manga is the same way, with panels laid out in an easy-to-intuit, storyboard fashion---no talking heads here. The UST might get frustrating after a while, for some readers. If you're used to quick resolutions and lots of sex... KKH probably isn't going to be your cup of tea. If, however, you like character development and unbelievably funny and cute romantic comedy, then check it out.