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dracoqueen22This manga was sitting in my Amazon shopping cart for quite some time, because I couldn't quite afford to buy it, even if there was only two volumes. And then, the very lovely ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
azardarkstar bought them for me for Xmas. I heart her!!
So now I finally have an actual, physical copy in my hands and I'm so happy. I have a scanlation, but I prefer to have the actual manga. That way I don't have to zoom in to read the words. *laughs*
Ahem. On to the review.
Mirai no Kioku -- known as Future Lovers in the United States and released by Deux Press -- is a fantastic yaoi manga. It is one of my favorites for several reasons, but the main one? It's one of the few I've ever seen to actually address the issues two men would face when considering spending the rest of their lives together aka family disapproval, work disapproval, the inability to get married, the necessity of keeping things hidden, so on and so forth. It's not so "the world is rosy because we are in love". They have to struggle a bit, and I like that.
But first, I suppose I should introduce you to the manga, yes?
This summary is from the cover of Deux Press' release. Also, the picture is a digital image of the very same cover.
" Kento Kumagaya wishes for the simple things in life: to have a happy family with the ideal housewife, loving kids, and kind grandparents all living together,happily ever after. Fate, however, has other plans. Enter Akira Kazuki, a smart, beautiful and unrestrained gay man who shatters Kento's dream with a single night of wild and passionate homosexual sex. This is a romantic, sweet and funny story between two different people (in more ways than one) who unexpectedly find the same future together."
As I mentioned, the plot is one thing that really sucked me in. Some of the chapters, especially in the second volume, feel a little episodic, more like little snippets of circumstances that show you Kento and Akira's relationship. But they are really well done and instead of being overwhelmed in constant confessions of undying true love, we get nice, realistic expressions of their feelings.
Also, I love sensei's art. It has very bold lines and shading that gives it a more masculine feeling. The uke character, Akira, doesn't look like a girl. In fact, he's quite sexy, especially when he puts on his glasses. He might have longer hair, but he still has a strong jawline, broad shoulders, and he doesn't have overly shapely hips and thighs. I love how Kento has leg hair, that's just awesome to me. You'd think that's such a tiny detail, but I love knowing my men are men, you know?
As a couple, you'll never see anyone as opposite as Kento and Akira. Kento's a straight-laced science teacher who takes care of his grandparents and wants to have a wife, 2.5 kids, and a white picket fence. He's logical, rational, well-behaved. He's traditional in every sense of the word. And then there's Akira. Irresponsible. Carefree. Messy and hip. They are complete opposites, but they play very well off each other. For all of Akira's bitter sarcasm, he's actually rather lonely. And for all that Kento is very restrained, he stubbornly chases after what he wants.
It's the sort of manga that I like to read again and again.
I definitely recommend that you pick it up and read it. I don't think you can get the scanlations anymore because it's licensed. But it's definitely worth a purchase.
I did have one issue, though that's not with the story or the manga-ka, but more or less Deux Press' publishing. For some reason, when they translated a lot of the characters' inner thoughts or commentary, they left the original kanji in as well. It made it look very sloppy and half-finished. The panels started to look crowded as a result, and it wasn't as clean as it could have been. I've seen scanlations that look better. And for $13 a pop, I'd expect better.
Maybe they were trying to be truer to the source material. I'm not sure. But if that were the case, they should have stayed truer to other Japanese traits as well, like name order of the characters. *shrugs* That's just a personal complaint of mine. Others might not mind the lingering kanji. It wouldn't bother me, I don't think, if it didn't crowd the panels so much. Sometimes, they're such a mess of English letters and Japanese kanji that it's hard to follow.
Ah! Also, the oneshots connected to the volumes. They were beautiful, but they were missing that undefinable something that the main storyline had. Perhaps it's just because I wanted to know more about Kento and Akira. Maybe it's just because I prefer a longer storyline. I don't know. But I didn't like them as much. They were still gorgeous to look at though.
All in all, I say: Go! Buy! You won't regret it! *grins*
azardarkstar bought them for me for Xmas. I heart her!!So now I finally have an actual, physical copy in my hands and I'm so happy. I have a scanlation, but I prefer to have the actual manga. That way I don't have to zoom in to read the words. *laughs*
Ahem. On to the review.
Mirai no Kioku -- known as Future Lovers in the United States and released by Deux Press -- is a fantastic yaoi manga. It is one of my favorites for several reasons, but the main one? It's one of the few I've ever seen to actually address the issues two men would face when considering spending the rest of their lives together aka family disapproval, work disapproval, the inability to get married, the necessity of keeping things hidden, so on and so forth. It's not so "the world is rosy because we are in love". They have to struggle a bit, and I like that.
But first, I suppose I should introduce you to the manga, yes?
This summary is from the cover of Deux Press' release. Also, the picture is a digital image of the very same cover.
" Kento Kumagaya wishes for the simple things in life: to have a happy family with the ideal housewife, loving kids, and kind grandparents all living together,happily ever after. Fate, however, has other plans. Enter Akira Kazuki, a smart, beautiful and unrestrained gay man who shatters Kento's dream with a single night of wild and passionate homosexual sex. This is a romantic, sweet and funny story between two different people (in more ways than one) who unexpectedly find the same future together."
As I mentioned, the plot is one thing that really sucked me in. Some of the chapters, especially in the second volume, feel a little episodic, more like little snippets of circumstances that show you Kento and Akira's relationship. But they are really well done and instead of being overwhelmed in constant confessions of undying true love, we get nice, realistic expressions of their feelings.
Also, I love sensei's art. It has very bold lines and shading that gives it a more masculine feeling. The uke character, Akira, doesn't look like a girl. In fact, he's quite sexy, especially when he puts on his glasses. He might have longer hair, but he still has a strong jawline, broad shoulders, and he doesn't have overly shapely hips and thighs. I love how Kento has leg hair, that's just awesome to me. You'd think that's such a tiny detail, but I love knowing my men are men, you know?
As a couple, you'll never see anyone as opposite as Kento and Akira. Kento's a straight-laced science teacher who takes care of his grandparents and wants to have a wife, 2.5 kids, and a white picket fence. He's logical, rational, well-behaved. He's traditional in every sense of the word. And then there's Akira. Irresponsible. Carefree. Messy and hip. They are complete opposites, but they play very well off each other. For all of Akira's bitter sarcasm, he's actually rather lonely. And for all that Kento is very restrained, he stubbornly chases after what he wants.
It's the sort of manga that I like to read again and again.
I definitely recommend that you pick it up and read it. I don't think you can get the scanlations anymore because it's licensed. But it's definitely worth a purchase.
I did have one issue, though that's not with the story or the manga-ka, but more or less Deux Press' publishing. For some reason, when they translated a lot of the characters' inner thoughts or commentary, they left the original kanji in as well. It made it look very sloppy and half-finished. The panels started to look crowded as a result, and it wasn't as clean as it could have been. I've seen scanlations that look better. And for $13 a pop, I'd expect better.
Maybe they were trying to be truer to the source material. I'm not sure. But if that were the case, they should have stayed truer to other Japanese traits as well, like name order of the characters. *shrugs* That's just a personal complaint of mine. Others might not mind the lingering kanji. It wouldn't bother me, I don't think, if it didn't crowd the panels so much. Sometimes, they're such a mess of English letters and Japanese kanji that it's hard to follow.
Ah! Also, the oneshots connected to the volumes. They were beautiful, but they were missing that undefinable something that the main storyline had. Perhaps it's just because I wanted to know more about Kento and Akira. Maybe it's just because I prefer a longer storyline. I don't know. But I didn't like them as much. They were still gorgeous to look at though.
All in all, I say: Go! Buy! You won't regret it! *grins*
