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mini reviews (abe akane)
this mangaka is new to me, though her first two published tankoubon date back to 2005 and 2006; but nobody scanlated them. i think i might buy them though, but am a bit on the fence about it.
ABE Akane:
制服のためのラブソング
Seifuku no tame no Love Song (1 volume manga; licensed in english as Hard Rock by Juné)
summary (from mangaupdates):
Sex, drugs and rock 'n roll? Not in the case of THIS rock band. For Shouri, Nozomu, Ai and Yumeji, it's more apt to say that their lives are full of angst, confusion, and uncomfortable romantic feelings towards each other.
When temperamental lead vocalist Shouri says he’s leaving the band, it marks the end of their playing together. Suddenly, it seems they need to go their separate paths. Shouri jokingly states he wants to be an F1 race car driver. Nozomu is busy trying to get into Tokyo University. Ai wants to go to the US to be a pro musician and Yumeiji, well, he's mainly confused.
With the four set to separate, where does this leave the budding love affairs? Nozomu has a crush on Ai, and Yumeji sees his ex-girlfriend in Shouri.
it has a good setup, and interesting characters -- and then it doesn't quite live up to expectations. there's not enough internal dialogue for my taste, so i am left guessing at what the characters feel; especially when it comes to love. and so nothing really involves me enough emotionally to feel for the characters. kinda odd too that this is a story about a group of band members, but we never see them play as a band, and really, there's only one short scene where somebody actually plays an instrument. that makes it seem like music isn’t actually that important to them, when it clearly is.
rating: 7 / 10.0
ABE Akane:
好きというのになぜかしら
Suki toiunoni naze kashira (1 volume manga)
summary:
The story of restaurant owner Takehisa and the chef Yuuichi, who first appeared in the prequel Ubawareru koto marugoto zenbu. Coincidentally Yuuichi met his ex-boyfriend Kiyohito outside the restaurant. Since then, Kiyohito has kept following Yuuichi, trying to convince him to get back together. And Takehisa doesn’t get angry, but seems rather nonchalant about it and tells Kiyohito to go right ahead. Not surprising, this really gets to Yuuichi. Doesn’t Takehisa care whether he stays or leaves? Also includes the conclusion of Takao and Yoshinaga from the prequel.
i don't like takehisa, which means i don't like that relationship. i do see why he does what he does, but IMO that's an incredibly juvenile and cruel way to go about getting your non-expressive partner to say “i love you” -- and it doesn't even get him what he wants (no surprise there). maybe that's the lesson here, but i don't know whether it got learned. that's been the case with all 3 of abe's manga i've read; i am not sure exactly what the characters get out of their experiences. takao sure hasn't learned his lesson yet, despite having had it repeated several times.
his tit fetish is beyond annoying, but then yoshinaga blows up about something totally unrelated. well, that's life; one last straw can break the camel's back. i am not sure i am happy with the treatment here though. yuuichi says some hurtful but true words to takao, but frankly, i don't know whether takao took those to heart; his reaction is always to cry and say “sorry” no matter whether he gets it or not. maybe seeing yoshinaga in that state will do it. again, same problem as above, and with seifuku no tame no love song; i don't hear enough inner dialogue or some clear expression in the art that the characters have gotten the message and have grown.
neither of these two have particularly hot sex. still, quite a bit above average for BL.
rating: 8 / 10.0
ABE Akane:
制服のためのラブソング
Seifuku no tame no Love Song (1 volume manga; licensed in english as Hard Rock by Juné)
summary (from mangaupdates):
Sex, drugs and rock 'n roll? Not in the case of THIS rock band. For Shouri, Nozomu, Ai and Yumeji, it's more apt to say that their lives are full of angst, confusion, and uncomfortable romantic feelings towards each other.
When temperamental lead vocalist Shouri says he’s leaving the band, it marks the end of their playing together. Suddenly, it seems they need to go their separate paths. Shouri jokingly states he wants to be an F1 race car driver. Nozomu is busy trying to get into Tokyo University. Ai wants to go to the US to be a pro musician and Yumeiji, well, he's mainly confused.
With the four set to separate, where does this leave the budding love affairs? Nozomu has a crush on Ai, and Yumeji sees his ex-girlfriend in Shouri.
it has a good setup, and interesting characters -- and then it doesn't quite live up to expectations. there's not enough internal dialogue for my taste, so i am left guessing at what the characters feel; especially when it comes to love. and so nothing really involves me enough emotionally to feel for the characters. kinda odd too that this is a story about a group of band members, but we never see them play as a band, and really, there's only one short scene where somebody actually plays an instrument. that makes it seem like music isn’t actually that important to them, when it clearly is.
rating: 7 / 10.0
ABE Akane:
好きというのになぜかしら
Suki toiunoni naze kashira (1 volume manga)
summary:
The story of restaurant owner Takehisa and the chef Yuuichi, who first appeared in the prequel Ubawareru koto marugoto zenbu. Coincidentally Yuuichi met his ex-boyfriend Kiyohito outside the restaurant. Since then, Kiyohito has kept following Yuuichi, trying to convince him to get back together. And Takehisa doesn’t get angry, but seems rather nonchalant about it and tells Kiyohito to go right ahead. Not surprising, this really gets to Yuuichi. Doesn’t Takehisa care whether he stays or leaves? Also includes the conclusion of Takao and Yoshinaga from the prequel.
i don't like takehisa, which means i don't like that relationship. i do see why he does what he does, but IMO that's an incredibly juvenile and cruel way to go about getting your non-expressive partner to say “i love you” -- and it doesn't even get him what he wants (no surprise there). maybe that's the lesson here, but i don't know whether it got learned. that's been the case with all 3 of abe's manga i've read; i am not sure exactly what the characters get out of their experiences. takao sure hasn't learned his lesson yet, despite having had it repeated several times.
his tit fetish is beyond annoying, but then yoshinaga blows up about something totally unrelated. well, that's life; one last straw can break the camel's back. i am not sure i am happy with the treatment here though. yuuichi says some hurtful but true words to takao, but frankly, i don't know whether takao took those to heart; his reaction is always to cry and say “sorry” no matter whether he gets it or not. maybe seeing yoshinaga in that state will do it. again, same problem as above, and with seifuku no tame no love song; i don't hear enough inner dialogue or some clear expression in the art that the characters have gotten the message and have grown.
neither of these two have particularly hot sex. still, quite a bit above average for BL.
rating: 8 / 10.0