I really enjoyed Ellie Mamahara's Alley of First Love when it came out last year from Blu Manga, and so I was looking forward to these two new releases. I love her bold artwork. She has a very distinctive style - sharp black and white bold images.
Where I'd like to see more is in the story telling - which is why I gave these two books 4 rather than 5 stars. I do appreciate that she doesn't set her stories in high school or college, having enough of reading yaoi with these particular settings.
Double Cast is about two very different actors. It's a little of Embracing Love...but not with the stellar story telling of Youka Nitta. Actually, the original story was written by Takana Mizuhashi. I liked the main characters but wanted more chemistry and interaction between the two men.
In short, two beguiling men try to outperform one another on stage. Yuki is older, established and relies on his beauty and not his acting talent, until he meets Mitsuru. Mitsuru is young, serious and steals the limelight from the older star. This sends Yuki into a tailspin of self-doubt and self-reflection.
I also liked the secondary character - Kaho - Yuki's girlfriend, a young and adorable actress with more insight than you'd think! She also has a very cute cat, too!
Baseball Heaven is about the Tokyo Elephants, a baseball team having a great season. One reason is their star pitcher, Uno. A rookie, he is friendly to everyone except Ogata, the star shortstop. What's this cold shoulder all about?
When Ogata finds out, he's shocked but little by little is intrigued by the rookie.
I love sports so it was fun reading about a baseball team.
Both stories were an enjoyable read!
18+ Baseball Heaven is published by Blu Manga - http://www.blumanga.com/
16+ Double Cast is published by June (Doki Doki) - http://www.dokidokibooks.com/
3 comments:
Hey, why don't you contact Brigid from Mangablog.net to advertise your reviews?? That way a lot more people would read them and Yaoi would get a boost, too! There's hardly any Yaoi reviews ever advertised on mangablog, you should do it!
I just got Double Cast today (finally!). I think you're right -- the story didn't grab me all that much (although I read it at work and so was constantly being interrupted), but I love her drawing. I'll give it another go.
I like Baseball Heaven well enough, although I didn't think it was quite as edgy as Alley of First Love.
You're right, though -- I think they both get 4s.
Yea, I would have liked to see better story telling for these two books - and felt the first book published by Blu Manga (Alley of First Love) hit a 'homerun' for the story. But I love the distinctive style of her artwork.
Oliver, I will check out mangablog...thx
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