Ranked #2695

Ikenai Otoko (Manga)

First off, I loved the character interactions. Hot yaoi scenes presented directly next to laugh-out-loud comedic moment. A carefree, joking atmosphere Ukes that are tall, well muscled, and have signs of hair on their bodies, a short, pretty boy seme - combinations that are practically unheard of in most yaoi. It was refreshing to see. Also, despite the explicit nature of the manga, there are definitely sweet moments between the characters, especially during the story of Shino and Josh.

I like the art, though it's not outstanding. If I had to categorise it, I'd say it leans to the intricate side of shounen-style, rather than shoujo like many shounen-ai stories. Screentones and backgrounds are used well, though faces are usually fairly simple, with minimal shadow. Realistic anatomy is where the mangaka really succeeds. The characters aren't overly muscled, but you can certainly tell they're men, and it makes the sex scenes all the more impressive. And let me say, they're damn hot to start with - the pacing, the expressions, the scenarios.

The story concept itself is entertaining. Like most one-volume yaoi, that's not exactly the focus. However, it's something I had never seen before. The fact that the main character is far from perfect in bed is a rather entertaining change from the norm in mangas. And his struggle coming to terms with his seme/uke orientation at least adds a good dash of conflict to it.

Be aware that this is not a very relationship-based yaoi. Most of it is sex minus romantic feeling - it is based around a group making adult videos, after all. But it isn't composed entirely of smut. As I mentioned, it has a definite comedy element and entertaining characters. Overall I was very impressed, and I'll probably be rereading it. read more