Kiss After - Miyamoto Kano

Art:

Exactly like the prequel, Kiss.

Story:

The story follows directly after the events in Kiss. Sakai goes to Ryuu’s house to confess his feelings.

Characters:

Utsumi Ryuu - A Japanese boy haunted by his past. He speaks in Kansai accent because he originally came from Osaka.

Sakai - Ryuu's classmate in his new school. He harbors feelings for Ryuu.

Review:

Like Kiss, it is also too short with just 12 pages including the title page. That said, nothing much happened but there’s a brief non-explicit smut in it and it also gives the readers a better view of Ryuu and Sakai’s relationship.

Kiss - Miyamoto Kano

Art:

Again, the usual. Fairly good but the characters are not exactly the bishie type.

Story:

Following the chronological order of the Rules universe, this story follows sometime after the events in Ocean's Cage, Sky's Door. Ryuu got himself a friend in his new school named Sakai and the story features what happened when Ryuu told him that he had to transfer schools again.

Characters:

Utsumi Ryuu - A Japanese boy haunted by his past. He speaks in Kansai accent because he originally came from Osaka.

Compared to the Ryuu from Ocean's Cage, Sky's Door, the Ryuu here is undeniably more mature and even if he still has the quiet aura around him, his character seemed a lot stronger.

Sakai - Ryuu's classmate in his new school. He harbors feelings for Ryuu.

Review:

It's too short, spanning for just 15 pages including the title page and the author's notes. It's good to have a glimpse of Ryuu's life though shortly before he meets Hitomi and Hikaru.

Ocean's Cage, Sky's Door (Please - Chapter 5) - Miyamoto Kano

Art:

The usual. If you're familiar with Miyamoto Kano's works, it shouldn't be hard to identify that this story is hers. The characters aren't exactly the bishie type but still, the art is fairly good in my opinion.

Story:

It serves as an introduction to the Rules universe. Ryuu was sixteen and just transferred to a new school and later on met an older American guy named Stefan. They got along after meeting near the beach through Stefan's dog. Ryuu then started coming over to Stefan's house and it isn't hard to figure that Stefan's interested in him. The story progresses with Ryuu struggling with his past and his developing relationship with Stefan.

Characters:

Ryuu - A sixteen year-old Japanese boy haunted by something that happened a year ago. He speaks in Kansai accent because he originally came from Osaka.

Stefan - A retired American homosexual soldier who developed an interest in Ryuu after seeing him several times near the beach. He owns a friendly dog named Lad.

Review:

This contains spoilers. You've been warned.

Uhm.. I'm writing this after reading it the second time. I read it a long time ago and I'm not really sure if I read it before the other stories in Rules.

Anyway, it was good. It gives me the feeling I always have when reading Miyamoto Kano's works. Idk.. Reading her works makes me feel like I'm really reading someone's life story. I mean, unlike some yaoi mangas where everything is fluffy and all or just smutty.. I like the bitter sweet feeling I get whenever I read her works.

Okay, back to the story (I'm so sorry for spazzing about her. This is the first story I'm reviewing for her so yeah.. forgive me. XD). There wasn't really special about their meeting. It was even kinda cliché, I guess. But the angst in the story is good. There was a brief not-so-graphic smut and the end was kinda sad since they had to go on their separate ways. Honestly though, I really don't think their relationship would've worked out even if Ryuu decided to go with Stefan in America. He's too young. And it wasn't like the only thing that was bothering him was what people were saying whenever they found out about what he did. It was more of him feeling guilty for having killed someone so running away wouldn't have done any good for him. Well, maybe it would've if their relationship was strong enough but.. as I said, he's too young for that kind of love in my opinion. I like how the story included some family aspect. I kinda adore Ryuu's relationship with his dad. It wasn't perfect but you know they really care for each other.

24 Jikan Kiss Dekinai - Umezawa Hana

The first yaoi manga I read. Guess why? Haha. Well, I wanted to try reading yaoi so I made Manga Fox list all the manga of that genre available on the site and yeah.. since it lists the result in alphabetical order, 24 Jikan was one of those on top and the art it pretty so I tried it and the rest is history. lol. xD But really, when I just started reading yaoi I was so overwhelmed by the love between the characters. Maybe because I started with the lighter ones so I was like 'Woah. How can they be so in love?' or something like that. It was too long ago so I can't really remember anymore.

Back to topic, I've read this manga for at least three or four times already but I still find it interesting. There's nothing really special about it though, to be honest. But the art is extremely pretty. :D The smut is a bit graphic I guess.. There are 3 chapters; the last one is a oneshot with the title 'Even if you are not here'.

The first story (24 Jikan) is about a shy math teacher (uke) in a relationship with one of his students (seme). The teacher is really passionate with his job while the student is some sort of a delinquent. The younger boy is very open about his feelings unlike the uke, though it's easy to see that he likes the seme too. The uke is the usual nice, clueless type while the seme is the typical manly, hot-tempered type.

In terms of the plot, I can say that the oneshot (Even if..) is a lot better than the main story. It's rather long for a oneshot. Actually I think it's almost as long as the main story which covers the first two chapters. It's about a transfer student (seme) who got curious about a guy from his new school (uke) because of the rumors about him. It was said that the boy makes out with anyone who asks him as long as they do it at school. I like the angst near the end when the seme finds out the reason about the 'at school only' thing of the uke.

Even if there is no place to return to, it would be okay as long as we stay together.. from today til forever.

After being lied to, being hurt, and very unwillingly tossed aside, despite all that.. I still like him.

A scene from Even if you are not here.

A scene from 24 Jikan Kiss Dekinai.

Ano Kado wo Magatta Tokoro - Kawai Touko

Another favorite of mine from Kawai Touko. It's about two boys who accidentally bumped into each other in an intersection which then lead them to a relationship where they seek refuge with each other while knowing nothing about themselves besides their 'wounds'.

As quoted from the story, here's how one of the main characters defined their relationship:

We aren't friends and we aren't lovers. We aren't sex friends either. (But we do have sex.) Our relationship's hard to describe.

Maybe the plot seem too common with the addition that one of the boys turned out to be a teacher of the other after the first chapter but still.. Idk. There's something special in it that makes it beautiful (at least for me).

The focus of the story was about how the older guy (uke) wanted to end their relationship after knowing that the younger one (seme) lied about his age and that he was in fact still in high school. However, the younger didn't want to do so as he was already in love with his uke. It started to get a bit angsty in that part but it was lovely. I won't get into details anymore (even though i'm itching to lol. xD) since I don't want to spoil everything in case those who read this become interested.

Ano Kado has 5 chapters plus a 10 page extra. It has angst, crack (lots of it), fluff and yeah.. smut. But it isn't that graphic. Well, there are still some parts I guess but unlike Bónd(z) this one focuses more on the lighter side of romance. I think what I like most in this manga are the characters. I like how the uke is bossy (sometimes even scary) but at the same he also seems to be fragile. The seme is sweet and childish yet he still he gives off a cool aura in him.

If you can't love me.. stop being nice to me..

Hey, Kiriya-san.. Hurry up and fall in love with me.. okay?

Here are some cute scenes from the manga. lol. xD

Bónd(z) - Kawai Touko

One of my favorites. It's a oneshot from Kawai Touko included in a volume of the same title. It's about two friends who slept together one night when they got drunk. Neither of them was gay and they both have girlfriends so they decided to 'take it to their graves as something that happened from drunken youthful impetuousness'. However they soon find themselves yearning for the 'pleasure' they had that night which led them to finding the 'limits of desire'.

It's rather graphic so I won't recommend it to underage readers (lol. xD). But yeah.. The main theme is about pleasure/desire but trust me, there's a lot more into it and this manga is really beautiful.

Uhm.. here are some [random] lines I got from it:

Was there a limit to human desire? If there was no such thing as a limit to desire.. Where were we going to end up?

We hadn't realized yet that we were drowning in a closed up world with just the two us.

I understood for the first time that it was love.. when i heard the sound of the door close.

The last one is my fave. Haha. :D