Best Reads of the Year - June (Part 2)
Jan. 5th, 2019 08:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vassaladyHOW much time has passed since my last post? I really am not used to this whole journaling thing. I could never pick it up on lj in the mid 2000s, and i can't now, I guess. Alas!
But on to part two of my June reads! (I must get on this more often, or I will still be doing this come June of this year! I read a total of 533 books last year, so a lot to get through even though I'm not talking about every single one.)
Reminder that when I list mangaka's names, I do it very inconsistently bc of how I'm just used to saying their name.
June (Part 2)
I Hear the Sunspot: Theory of Happines by Fumino Yuki. FUMINO-SENSEI, I LOOOVE YOUUUUU. Okay so. SO. This is it, the one where THEY GET TOGETHER. Finally, FINALLY, Taichi will realize his feelings and they will profess their love and it will be a reciprocated BL comic at last! And it was exactly that, but done in a beautiful gorgeous way that involved long periods of time, as Taichi tries to find himself and gives up school, and Kohei deals with his hearing getting worse and realizing that he's NOT cool with just being Taichi's friend but just being hashtag sad about it (let me write a 3k essay about Kohei being selfish and how great it is and how we REALLY see it developing in the next title!) PLUS WE GET MAYA WHO IS SO AMAZING. She's such an ANGRY young woman, who has hearing loss herself, really dislikes Taichi and cockblocks our guys whenever she can, and has no idea how to deal with all her emotions because she's only like, 19. I LOVE HER.
Jackass! by Scarlet Beriko - I've never read a Scarlet Beriko title before Jackass and I REALLY liked it. It was funny and sexy and had a couple couples, and was just really fun. So Keisuke one day accidentally puts on his sister's pantyhose and only finds out at school (bc she'd been wearing his pants the night before and had taken both sets of wear off in one go, so they were nestled), and then his friend Masayuki sees and is INCREDIBLY turned on, and is like, please let me touch your legs, and then they fall in love and sexy times. MEANWHILE we have their mutual friend whose name I cannot remember who is very openly gay and very secretly sleeping with the school nurse is getting picked on by this dude (who CLEARLY has a crush on him) while school nurse is having a moral dilemma of sleeping with a student, so that love triangle gets resolved in the background. This isn't my favorite Scarlet Beriko title (because HER YAKUZA STUFF IS SO GOOD) but I really enjoyed it.
Love Stage!! vol 4-7 by Eiki Eiki and Zaou Taishi - I am SUCH fans of theirs, I will read anything they do. This wraps up the adventures of Izumi and Ryoma as they find true love together amid Izumi starting acting, amnesia, sexually harassing directors, comic artists (YES, THE MANGAKA FOR LALALULU SHOWS UP IN PERSON AND HE IS TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH IZUMI'S FRIEND) and Shougo and Rei continue their romance in the background. Shougo and Rei are my FAVORITES and I NEED to read Back Stage!! because that focuses on them. I also am DELIGHTED that Shougo is based on Eiki Eiki's little brother, the musician DAIGO. I have never listened to his old band Breakerz even in my big japanese music phase, so I am pretty unfamiliar with him, but still, it's pretty fun. Love Stage is a wild ride, funny, and not for everyone, but I loooooooooooooooooooooooooove it.
Hide and Seek by Sakuragi Yaya (vol 1-3) - Complete in 3 volumes, this is a story about a single dad who runs a store and the gay pediatrician he agrees to sleep with largely out of curiosity when said pediatrician admits to being attracted to him. Single Dad isn't a GREAT dad, and his daughter isn't in it much, but I AM STILL A SUCKER FOR KID FIC. PLUS it's Sakuragi Yaya whom I ADORE. So it was a no brainer when I discovered this existed and bought all three volumes on the spot. I loved it. Could have been more family stuff going on, and her mom comes back for her and it's a little sad, but I enjoyed the romance as Dad realized he was really into Doctor.
Shout Out Loud! by Satosumi Takaguchi (vol 1-5) - I reread this this year, and I STILL love it. A 33 year old voice actor discovers he has a 17 year old son, starts working on m/m drama CDs to make more money to support him, is pursued by TWO costars, is trying to build a relationship with his son, and then his son is trying to figure out his identity (as a student, a hockey player, and his sexual identity as he becomes attracted to an older gay hockey player) and deal with how his dad is not at ALL like how he expected his dad to be, and it's really sweet. It's about family and love and identity and it's cool to see all the voice acting stuff, and it's funny, and a little sad at times, and just really excellent.
Tea for Two by Sakuragi Yaya (vol 1-4) - So I had NEVER 3 or 4 so this was super exciting! Tea for Two is what made me fall in love with Sakuragi-sensei. So this is about two high school boys, one who prefers sports over tea and one whose life is dedicated to tea as the heir to a tea ceremony master. This starts out a bit nonconny, but Tokumaru falls in love with Hasune pretty fast. There's a side couple I REALLY enjoy because their relationship is ambiguous and complicated a lot of the time (a porn illustrator and a traditional Japanese sweets maker), but what I REALLY REALLY love is the relationship between Tokumaru's and Hasune's little sisters. It's not romantic, they aren't in it very much, Hasune's sister really wants to be Tokumaru's sister's friend, but she's even WORSE at expressing herself than Hasune, so T's sister takes it the wrong way and sees her as a major rival. Clearly in the fanfic I will never write, they fall in love. In the yuri manga that will never exist that I dream of, they fall in love. I WANT THIS, why can't I have it? *sobs*
Kingyo Used Books by Yoshizaki Seimu - Viz only released the first four volumes of this which is SO unfortunate. It's all these stories about how manga brings people happiness and together, with a fun cast of characters, and it's like... YES. I LOVE COMICS SO MUCH. THEY ARE SO GOOD. THESE ARE MY FEELINGS TOO. And it's hilarious that there's a guy who HATES manga but loves bandes-desinees. Anyway. I wish there was more available, because it was really heartwarming to see such a love of comics. I would LOVE to be able to be in that basement with SHELVES AND SHELVES of comics. Alas. I must squeeze all my comics into my childhood bedroom.
NightS by Yoneda Kou - This is a collection of three stories, the first dealing with smuggling, the second with hs boys misunderstanding, and the third (and the longest) about two employees of a car dealership (salesman/mechanic). WOW. These are SO GOOD. No WONDER everyone like Yoneda Kou. The art is attractive, the stories are lovely, just, this is a really, really excellent collection. Very recommended.
The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen - WHAT, a NOVEL? Well, I figured I'd round out part 2 with a NON-MANGA read, which was this. It was kind of weird?? But I still liked it. What I really REALLY loved is that our heroine is EXPLICITLY AN ATHEIST. It's so RARE to see that. Sometimes you get hand waving, sometimes it's just not mentioned, but so rarely do you get, "I'm an atheist." AHHH <3 Also I didn't realize that this is like... set in a post apocalyptic world, but one that's recovered enough to have a solid, established society with lots of history, and you only get a glance here and there of our world (the BOOKS she has of the before times, AHAHA, what a selection.) Think Basara. I haven't read the other books in this series, and I'm not rushing to, but I did quite like this.
--
And that's it! Phew! It got pretty long, and Part 3 is going to be probably just as long, but AFTER THAT, we move on to July! Yay!
Also while working on this, I might do a "Things that weren't best reads of the year for me but I really want to talk about some aspect of them, and maybe not totally positively" list at the end. There will probably only be a few on there, but I realized I had stuff I really wanted to say on one comic, and I have no where to say those things.
But on to part two of my June reads! (I must get on this more often, or I will still be doing this come June of this year! I read a total of 533 books last year, so a lot to get through even though I'm not talking about every single one.)
Reminder that when I list mangaka's names, I do it very inconsistently bc of how I'm just used to saying their name.
June (Part 2)
I Hear the Sunspot: Theory of Happines by Fumino Yuki. FUMINO-SENSEI, I LOOOVE YOUUUUU. Okay so. SO. This is it, the one where THEY GET TOGETHER. Finally, FINALLY, Taichi will realize his feelings and they will profess their love and it will be a reciprocated BL comic at last! And it was exactly that, but done in a beautiful gorgeous way that involved long periods of time, as Taichi tries to find himself and gives up school, and Kohei deals with his hearing getting worse and realizing that he's NOT cool with just being Taichi's friend but just being hashtag sad about it (let me write a 3k essay about Kohei being selfish and how great it is and how we REALLY see it developing in the next title!) PLUS WE GET MAYA WHO IS SO AMAZING. She's such an ANGRY young woman, who has hearing loss herself, really dislikes Taichi and cockblocks our guys whenever she can, and has no idea how to deal with all her emotions because she's only like, 19. I LOVE HER.
Jackass! by Scarlet Beriko - I've never read a Scarlet Beriko title before Jackass and I REALLY liked it. It was funny and sexy and had a couple couples, and was just really fun. So Keisuke one day accidentally puts on his sister's pantyhose and only finds out at school (bc she'd been wearing his pants the night before and had taken both sets of wear off in one go, so they were nestled), and then his friend Masayuki sees and is INCREDIBLY turned on, and is like, please let me touch your legs, and then they fall in love and sexy times. MEANWHILE we have their mutual friend whose name I cannot remember who is very openly gay and very secretly sleeping with the school nurse is getting picked on by this dude (who CLEARLY has a crush on him) while school nurse is having a moral dilemma of sleeping with a student, so that love triangle gets resolved in the background. This isn't my favorite Scarlet Beriko title (because HER YAKUZA STUFF IS SO GOOD) but I really enjoyed it.
Love Stage!! vol 4-7 by Eiki Eiki and Zaou Taishi - I am SUCH fans of theirs, I will read anything they do. This wraps up the adventures of Izumi and Ryoma as they find true love together amid Izumi starting acting, amnesia, sexually harassing directors, comic artists (YES, THE MANGAKA FOR LALALULU SHOWS UP IN PERSON AND HE IS TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH IZUMI'S FRIEND) and Shougo and Rei continue their romance in the background. Shougo and Rei are my FAVORITES and I NEED to read Back Stage!! because that focuses on them. I also am DELIGHTED that Shougo is based on Eiki Eiki's little brother, the musician DAIGO. I have never listened to his old band Breakerz even in my big japanese music phase, so I am pretty unfamiliar with him, but still, it's pretty fun. Love Stage is a wild ride, funny, and not for everyone, but I loooooooooooooooooooooooooove it.
Hide and Seek by Sakuragi Yaya (vol 1-3) - Complete in 3 volumes, this is a story about a single dad who runs a store and the gay pediatrician he agrees to sleep with largely out of curiosity when said pediatrician admits to being attracted to him. Single Dad isn't a GREAT dad, and his daughter isn't in it much, but I AM STILL A SUCKER FOR KID FIC. PLUS it's Sakuragi Yaya whom I ADORE. So it was a no brainer when I discovered this existed and bought all three volumes on the spot. I loved it. Could have been more family stuff going on, and her mom comes back for her and it's a little sad, but I enjoyed the romance as Dad realized he was really into Doctor.
Shout Out Loud! by Satosumi Takaguchi (vol 1-5) - I reread this this year, and I STILL love it. A 33 year old voice actor discovers he has a 17 year old son, starts working on m/m drama CDs to make more money to support him, is pursued by TWO costars, is trying to build a relationship with his son, and then his son is trying to figure out his identity (as a student, a hockey player, and his sexual identity as he becomes attracted to an older gay hockey player) and deal with how his dad is not at ALL like how he expected his dad to be, and it's really sweet. It's about family and love and identity and it's cool to see all the voice acting stuff, and it's funny, and a little sad at times, and just really excellent.
Tea for Two by Sakuragi Yaya (vol 1-4) - So I had NEVER 3 or 4 so this was super exciting! Tea for Two is what made me fall in love with Sakuragi-sensei. So this is about two high school boys, one who prefers sports over tea and one whose life is dedicated to tea as the heir to a tea ceremony master. This starts out a bit nonconny, but Tokumaru falls in love with Hasune pretty fast. There's a side couple I REALLY enjoy because their relationship is ambiguous and complicated a lot of the time (a porn illustrator and a traditional Japanese sweets maker), but what I REALLY REALLY love is the relationship between Tokumaru's and Hasune's little sisters. It's not romantic, they aren't in it very much, Hasune's sister really wants to be Tokumaru's sister's friend, but she's even WORSE at expressing herself than Hasune, so T's sister takes it the wrong way and sees her as a major rival. Clearly in the fanfic I will never write, they fall in love. In the yuri manga that will never exist that I dream of, they fall in love. I WANT THIS, why can't I have it? *sobs*
Kingyo Used Books by Yoshizaki Seimu - Viz only released the first four volumes of this which is SO unfortunate. It's all these stories about how manga brings people happiness and together, with a fun cast of characters, and it's like... YES. I LOVE COMICS SO MUCH. THEY ARE SO GOOD. THESE ARE MY FEELINGS TOO. And it's hilarious that there's a guy who HATES manga but loves bandes-desinees. Anyway. I wish there was more available, because it was really heartwarming to see such a love of comics. I would LOVE to be able to be in that basement with SHELVES AND SHELVES of comics. Alas. I must squeeze all my comics into my childhood bedroom.
NightS by Yoneda Kou - This is a collection of three stories, the first dealing with smuggling, the second with hs boys misunderstanding, and the third (and the longest) about two employees of a car dealership (salesman/mechanic). WOW. These are SO GOOD. No WONDER everyone like Yoneda Kou. The art is attractive, the stories are lovely, just, this is a really, really excellent collection. Very recommended.
The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen - WHAT, a NOVEL? Well, I figured I'd round out part 2 with a NON-MANGA read, which was this. It was kind of weird?? But I still liked it. What I really REALLY loved is that our heroine is EXPLICITLY AN ATHEIST. It's so RARE to see that. Sometimes you get hand waving, sometimes it's just not mentioned, but so rarely do you get, "I'm an atheist." AHHH <3 Also I didn't realize that this is like... set in a post apocalyptic world, but one that's recovered enough to have a solid, established society with lots of history, and you only get a glance here and there of our world (the BOOKS she has of the before times, AHAHA, what a selection.) Think Basara. I haven't read the other books in this series, and I'm not rushing to, but I did quite like this.
--
And that's it! Phew! It got pretty long, and Part 3 is going to be probably just as long, but AFTER THAT, we move on to July! Yay!
Also while working on this, I might do a "Things that weren't best reads of the year for me but I really want to talk about some aspect of them, and maybe not totally positively" list at the end. There will probably only be a few on there, but I realized I had stuff I really wanted to say on one comic, and I have no where to say those things.
