What is you opinion about Negai Kanae Tamae?
It's time for the new special read. After having a fluffy "feel good"-story featured by Queen last time, this time around, it is going to be something very, very different from me ... Story Kinukawa Yuusuke is a gay patissier and part-time piano player. Sometimes he plays in a small jazz club at night. He notices one of a group of regulars, a young yakuza guy named Fukami Hikaru glancing his way often and ends up as Fukami's private piano instructor. Friday nights he'll go there and teach Fukami piano. Slowly Yuusuke gets drawn into Fukami's dark and dangerous Yakuza lifestyle. He falls in love, but after traumatic experiences in prison Fukami has ended a homophobe. Yuusuke decides that he wants to be around him though - even if it is just to play piano for him. Review "... what a terrible person he is ... how violent and ruthless he is ..." (Yuusuke, Ch. 1) Negai Kanae Tamae had been sitting on my waiting bench for a long time and I was always reluctant to read it. For one reason it's tagged as drama and I am always afraid to read a manga that could end badly - or even just not happy. I really want happy ends. The couple can struggle, bad things can happen - no problem but I don't like it if the couple I want to be together doesn't get to be together at the end - and I am downright afraid of sad ends with dead characters and tragedy all over. Another reason that made me initially not too keen on this is that the art is not to my taste. I'm sooo glad, that I was brave enough to read it ... and to everyone who is hesitating for the same reasons - get to it!  Negai KT serves one of my favourite kinks - the disturbed personality kink. The Yakuza boss Fukami is an emotionally cold man with the cheerful disposition and social abilities of a potential mass murderer. He's cold, blunt, violent, grumpy and bad tempered - basically he ought to have been admitted to a mental institution in chapter 2. Lucky for me though that the mangaka gave him free reigns and let him act on his mental disturbance to his hearts content. Fukami has been in prison and has been raped there, which left him behind with somewhat more than the normal abhorrence of gays. He's doing drugs and using women with the same consideration that normal people give their toothbrush - my favourite type of guy actually. His character is deep enough to lose your way in the labyrinth of his heart. He's strong, he's hurt, he's scared, he's tattoed, he's beautiful - I can't help but feel for him. While occasionally there's a short scene showing Fukami alone, we are never inside his head, thus the mangaka preserves a big portion of his mysterious side throughout the story. But he's more than just the broken, cold guy, he's also cute at times, funny and can have an infectious smile. It's like underneath the messed-up Fukami there's a second Fukami who shows us what he could be. He has the potential to flip and go berserk, but he also has the potential to make it on the "good side". "Where did it all go wrong? Why is he living in that kind of world?" (Yuusuke, ch. 7) Yuusuke on the other side is a gay who's out of the closet more or less. We see most of the story from his side. He is the only one who's thoughts we can read over the storyline. Apart from being gay and falling seemingly at random for a yakuza in his audience he seems pretty much your average guy - the man who lives down your road, the guy who works at the shop you visit. He's a good guy, well-meaning and has a caring, playful disposition and a likeable character. His seeming mediocrity and friendliness make it easy to connect with him or to put yourself in his shoes. Yuusuke sheds part of this averageness, he grows within the story and reveals sides to his character that he himself had not thought could be actually part of him. So he's very loyal and can be surprisingly gutsy - definitely not a weak character.  The main characters are not the only ones who are deep and well-thought. There's side characters who also warrant our attention like the seemingly bad guy Arishima, like Fukami's underling Kudo (who even gets his very own sequel-ish story in chapter 2 of Seishun no Yamai wa or like the woman "Yuki". "Looks like for me it has to be your sucky piano - take the responsibility" (Fukami, Vol1, ch.1) Actually the art is not really my thing, it's mediocre, sometimes even wooden or flat and has an outdated feeling. There's one happy exception: Fukami. Fukami is a very good character - even in the design, he looks attractive and you get to understand why people feel attracted to him despite his disagreeable character. Other than that I can't really find anything good or even outstanding to say about the artwork other than that I have seen far worse and that it is very straight forward. It did not matter so much to me, it was the story and the characters that drew me in here. Nishida Higashi's mangas almost always apply to our club rules. She creates yaoi with men, her characters are strong, sometimes like here the uke is even stronger than the seme. She spins great tales of love and fate, she makes characters that can compell you ... but she isn't exactly the worlds greatest artist. I still came to love her and count her amongst my auto-read mangakas, because her stories are just too good to miss. "Everything looks different from before. Everything has changed. And I ... have done something irreversible." (Yuusuke, Ch. 10) There's sex in Kanae NT, this is definitely yaoi - don't doubt it, even if you have to wait for it. But don't be too surprised that a lot of the sex you see in this series involves the kind between a man and a woman (or two). Fukami constantly wants to emphasize how very straight he is, he even listens to his underling Kudo's business reports while having sex with a woman and after he's finished he kindly offers her to a red-faced, sweating Kudo. There's also sex between men in NKT, some of that of the non-consensual variety. And even the gay sex between the main couple is no happy sex, but feels dark, more like an obsession, not like something they enjoy, more like an act of desperation or need. Oh ... and this is a manga were you can't be sure about who's uke and who's seme ... or if you are sure of it maybe you'll be shocked (or maybe you guessed right) ... the roles definitely don't fulfill the usual stereotypes of the genre. And Negai KT has in my opinion one of the un-girliest uke ever! "Can you please stop things like trying to silence me by glaring at me?" (Yuusuke,ch.2) The story is dark and has painful moments, but there's lots more to it than just drama and angst. It has adventure, romance, slice-of-life ….. and even short glimpses of comedy (like Fukami in the supermarket or when he visits Sano in hospital). The plot is captivating and absolutely not foreseeable. You don't know what will happen. You don't know how the story will go or even end.  And the end? "I will always be playing piano beside you. If you just understand that - nothing else matters." (Yuusuke, Chapter 14) Manga Classification: average level of explicit scenes, ultra-manly uke On Lists: Showbiz list, Yakuza list Original story and Artwork by Nishida Higashi, Coloured club graphics by zetsuboushita (thanks, zetsu! :-)), review by Geisha_X |
Queen2408Sep 9, 2010 6:21 PM
| Arg, I love Nishida Higashi. She’s on my top-tier auto-devour list as well. I think more people need to read her stuff. I guess the art is a turn off and keeps people away? I do disagree about her art—I think she’s a fantastic artist. It’s not what we normally expect in the BL world, which makes me love her more. Negai Kanae Tamae is a bit older work I suppose, but the art in Don’t Cry My Baby, Love Story, and Life, Love all struck me. It matches her writing and I have a hard time imagining her characters looking differently. But I also think not simple was incredibly well-drawn (I'm no artist, but I can sense talented style and composition at times) and that seems to be polarizing as well. It’s been a while since I read Negai Kanae Tamae, so I don’t remember the specifics, but I also share the disturbed personality kink when it’s done well (very rarely). And it was done very well here. Yeah, one of the non-girliest ukes ever.. I wonder who would win that title? He'd be up there! I love the bodyguard and his side story in Seishun no Yamai wa, but yeah.. that "drama" tag with Nishida Higashi makes me waver a bit. Ah, now I want to read more of her stuff.. she has quite a nice back catalog of works. |
shinkeikakuMay 25, 2010 1:31 PM
| Oh this is story is so great but so sad too...Really an outstanding piece of work. This was my very first read from the mangaka, I had been running away for her works because the covers looked so rough! the art wasn't to my liking. I am so glad I read this, thanks to that I don't miss a work from her right now. And all of them are good! I still haven't read something similar to this one. Nishida Higashi truly has a gift for disturbed personalities (remembering Tenshi no Uta). I actually came to love the art pretty quickly, men that look like men!! Besides I love her funny faces and almost chibi moments. She knows how to create cute things alongside really sad/disturbing ones. Intense, yep, that's the perfect word for this piece. Great review Geisha, you almost gave something away there hehe |
| I've read this before, and I think I remember the seme being the guy with the weird tastes in food. :D I better get back to rereading it! The review made me remember how good it was. *nods* I'll also try the mangaka's other stuff. |
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| This title was my introduction to this mangaka, and though I've read it a good while ago, it's definitely a story that has stuck in my mind. I actually liked the ending, vague as it may be, I found it unique and a perfect finish to the story. |
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shinkeikaku said: Arg, I love Nishida Higashi. She’s on my top-tier auto-devour list as well. I think more people need to read her stuff. I guess the art is a turn off and keeps people away? I do disagree about her art—I think she’s a fantastic artist. It’s not what we normally expect in the BL world, which makes me love her more. Negai Kanae Tamae is a bit older work I suppose, but the art in Don’t Cry My Baby, Love Story, and Life, Love all struck me. It matches her writing and I have a hard time imagining her characters looking differently. But I also think not simple was incredibly well-drawn (I'm no artist, but I can sense talented style and composition at times) and that seems to be polarizing as well. It’s been a while since I read Negai Kanae Tamae, so I don’t remember the specifics, but I also share the disturbed personality kink when it’s done well (very rarely). And it was done very well here. Yep, One of the reasons why I picked this is that I thought it deserved more attention. I haven't read everything by Nishida yet, but I liked everything I read, she really has stories to tell. I'm glad that you are fighting for her art - I guess in the end it's a matter of taste ... and it's just not mine... but I can see that there must be other people who would feel as you do. za3bola said: I love this magaka's work, I think I've read all her mangas to date (well ones that I could access anyway). But true to her style she leaves us hanging with an open ended ending for this manga!! She's such a tease.... Apart from that I loved the story- it was so sad and cute and intense and sweet-an overall great yaoi read. Z I was expecting far worse things for the end, so it came as a more pleasant surprise. Maybe it is a bit surprising but I think the end fits the story very well - it wouldn't have suited this kind of story to have the couple married, kissing, lovey-dovey and pushing a twin-pram.... Queen2408 said: Oh this is story is so great but so sad too...Really an outstanding piece of work. This was my very first read from the mangaka, I had been running away for her works because the covers looked so rough! the art wasn't to my liking. I am so glad I read this, thanks to that I don't miss a work from her right now. And all of them are good! I still haven't read something similar to this one. Nishida Higashi truly has a gift for disturbed personalities (remembering Tenshi no Uta). I actually came to love the art pretty quickly, men that look like men!! Besides I love her funny faces and almost chibi moments. She knows how to create cute things alongside really sad/disturbing ones. Intense, yep, that's the perfect word for this piece. Great review Geisha, you almost gave something away there hehe Maybe she is on my auto-read list because of said disturbed-personality-fetish? ;-) neko11lover said: I've read this before, and I think I remember the seme being the guy with the weird tastes in food. :D I better get back to rereading it! The review made me remember how good it was. *nods* I'll also try the mangaka's other stuff. Hm? Weird tastes in food? I thought the uke has a weirder taste in food. Actually I was really laughing when they were in the supermarket and Fukami picked strange-looking fruits. za3bola said: I actually really loved this story but because I am the happily ever after type of gal and this was my first taste of this magaka's work, I was left with this feeling of despair due to the abrupt ending. I have learned to expect it now and prepare for it but I feel that I need to discuss the ending for this manga so that I could get some kind of closure. The sex scenes were really something, there was so much emotion going on in my mind and also the character's. Fukami was struggling to accept himself, and always muffled his voice when he came, I really wished that we got to see him actually enjoying the sex in the end. And that last sex scene when Yuusuke was washing him, OMG I nearly broke down in tears. But I wanted more of that.... I wanted to see them interact in this very profound intimate manner more, I wanted to see them........cuddle!!! And even with the bodyguard's sequel the magaka still insisted on the "I will leave it to your imagination" for Fukami and Yuusuke's story in that when the bodyguard spoke about his boss, it was always vague. The characters where so well developed in her story (as always) to the point that we learned everything about them, what they liked and disliked, their past and present, Fukami's macho yet fragile personality, Yuusuke's warmth and kindness--and so I felt so short changed when it ended the way it did. Nishida Higashi could've easily stretched this story to 30 or 40 chapters but she didn't and that is why I have a love/hate relationship with this manga, it was beautiful but very cruel...... Z That sex scene with the wash cloth was really heart-breaking, that's true! One of my favourite moments. I explained before that the end did not hit me so hard because I had expected a full-scale tragedy, something along "1999 shanghai". When I read it I couldn't imagine how the mangaka would ever be able to pull off a happy end without totally ruining the story, so I thought this end was quite good after all. Yes, a lot of things remain in the readers imagination and it would have been good to see the two of them happy AND IN LOVE for at least once. But they are ... in my imagination. I'm just making it true for myself. dollie_mixtures said: This title was my introduction to this mangaka, and though I've read it a good while ago, it's definitely a story that has stuck in my mind. I actually liked the ending, vague as it may be, I found it unique and a perfect finish to the story. In-total-agree-mode! It's a story that stays on your mind for longer than most, I'd say... thethirdkibeth said: Geisha_X said: For one reason it's tagged as drama and I am always afraid to read a manga that could end badly - or even just not happy. I really want happy ends. That's exactly how i feel. I really prefer happy endings (i'm really tempted to read your spoiler ending to see if it's happy or not, i assume it will be). Your review made it sound really interesting though, it's quite rare to have deep characters or stories, at least i seem to miss most of them. Negai Kanae Tamae will be near the top of my to-read list for sure. Thanks for the lovely review :) Come back here and let us know what you think, pretty please! (I secretly hope you'll like it of course) |
za3bola said: Actually now that I am reliving this manga, I remember that as I was getting towards the end I was thinking "oh no this isn't good" but was relieved to a degree with how things turned out, but I am greedy and alas if only my imagination was as good as her story telling *sigh* Anywho am glad that I finally got that lump of brick off of my chest....thanks for picking this gem for a special read :) Z You know all this talking about happy ends and leaving things to the imagination just now makes me want to see if there is any fanfic for Negai. I wonder? I haven't really looked yet, but that would be a nice desert to this story and help my imagination. Any fanfic writers about? How about it boys and girls? We want to see Fukami happy with Yuusuke but still believable after this story, can anyone bring it on? |
Dasha9x said: Actually, when I first saw this special read, I reread the manga and after that I couldn't stop and started rereading everything that I could find from Nishida Higashi translated to English, just this much I love this mangaka. This one is one of my favourite from her works. Some of you could avoid this for long because of the drama tag, but I avoided it because of the cover. I don't know why, but something about that picture felt disturbing :) But I am glad that I decided to read this at least. I enjoy dramas and I am even searching for such mangas, because I believe that if someone bothers to label something as drama, it has to have a proper story. That, but the main reason may be that I love when there is contrast between comedy and tragedy and I've got plenty of that in this story. When they show how the main characters are happy and silly (the comedy part) and then how they suffer or encounter hardships (the tragedy part), it touches me more (it's like falling down from much more height). And it feels more real too, because life isn't only about happy things. I liked how it portrayed Yuusuke's despair as he was watching how is Fukami breaking down. Well, I think that from early stage we could guess that it won't have a happy ending so when there was something funny, it was such bittersweet feeling. The ending... I like it and I think that even those who wished for their "happily ever after" must be content with it. It's left to our imagination but even so they reveal just enough so we could guess. The art may not be to everyone's likenes, but I think it strangely fits the story. And after reading several stories from her, I got used to it and now I even think it's beautiful and sexy sometimes... well, except for their eyes - sometimes I get the impresion that the characters squint (is it the right word?). Btw, sometimes when I look at Fukami, he reminds me of Sadahiro Mika's works... Is it only me? Yes, the spiky, black hair and devilish eyebrows are a penchant of Sadahiro Mika, many of her characters have that and Fukami fits that style. It's sad if we have to look for dramas in order to find "proper stories", isn't it. Doesn't speak all that well for the genre. I'd love to see more comedies that have good stories. On a totally different note, I'm currently listening to the drama cd to this manga and am now half part through the last of the three CDs (if anyone is looking for these ... you can find them in the aarinfantasy-forum). I'm a bit disappointed by The Yuusuke-Speaker. The voice is good, and mostly he's okay but sometimes he let's Yuusuke appear a lot more ... hm ... clumsy and clown-like ... than I thought of him when reading the manga. It takes some of his dignity away. And also the Yakuza-ben is not easy to understand for me. Seems like a variety of kansai-ben, or like kansai-ben spoken by labradors, not that I have much prior experience with japanese dialects. |
| It's a masterpiece! (your vote) It is one of best manga i've ever read, although art is not to my taste, too. Way to show Fukami struggling with his mental disorder was incredible, reminds me Greek tragedy. Sex scenes was kind of painful for me, i've never feel something like that before, I think in consequence Fukami got even deeper in insanity. For me ending is anxious. I think Yuusuke may have hard times with Hikaru. I feel breath of Fukami's past. Hikaru in the end is even more scary than former one f.e. sharp things gathering. You may call me sadist, but i think that their happiness is not going to last long. I love this manga, love Fukami, feel sorry for Yuusuke and am satisfied with ending. |
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| I've had this on my hard disk ever since you had it featured here, but never got around to reading it until yesterday. I blame the cover art. A black and white picture of Fukami would have been far more appealing than the actual cover - he's so magnetic in how he looks, I agree with Geisha. I ended up loving it, so it's regretful I didn't read this earlier. If I'd read your review earlier, I probably would have read it immediately. I kind of share the same fascination with disturbed personalities as Geisha. I want to analyse their minds, but then like the review says, never revealing what Fukami's thinking just adds to mystery, and thus, fascination with this disturbed person. So I guess Tenshi no Uta is next in my to-read list. I also love how the comedy never felt forced; that's hard to do in a work such as this. Not that I'd particularly mind less comedy and more angst. Kythwena said: I must say I feel the same way, what with all the flashbacks. Sorry Geisha, but I'd probably go in that unhappy direction if I were to write a fanfic. I doubt you'd like it. :)You may call me sadist, but i think that their happiness is not going to last long. |
| That was surprisingly gripping. I'm so glad she decided to go for a more hopeful ending. That time when Kudo was walking with the money scattered and crying to the sky hit me really hard, I don't think I'll be able to type with a composed emotion if it ended otherwise. Gotta love her characters, really. I didn't expect Yuusuke to have that side in him, as I don't expect myself to actually end up having some sympathy for the.. uh what was the old geezer called?... One of the manliest uke I've ever found, agreed on that. Such a refreshing change. I'm usually very open minded in terms of artwork so I didn't mind hers. Athena said: Kythwena said: I must say I feel the same way, what with all the flashbacks. Sorry Geisha, but I'd probably go in that unhappy direction if I were to write a fanfic. I doubt you'd like it. :)You may call me sadist, but i think that their happiness is not going to last long. Ohhww... that's saaad. Sure, agreed that the last moment we had with Fukami seeming to recall his instincts to hurt people might not be a good omen for the future, but he decided not to. I guess that's what matters: that he could control himself. Something to be constantly worked on, but but but... that gives hope right? |
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