Doukyuusei
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I tend to stay away from BL manga, primarily because of that completely ridiculous notion that I should apparently find guy-on-guy rape titillating. So when I stumbled upon a manga that contained yaoi but, to my knowledge, none of that garbage, I naturally became quite excited and couldn't help but jump straight into it. Doukyuusei is a shounen-ai manga (or yaoi, if you prefer to call it that way, as I do; there isn't any sexual content, for your information, although there are some kiss scenes) by Nakamura Asumiko. The story follows Kusakabe Hikaru and his meeting with Sajou Rihito at the all boys' school ... they attend together, and the development of their relationship.

The main issue with Doukyuusei's first chapter is that we are thrust right into the story. This leaves us feeling disoriented with the setting and the characters. We aren't even sure who the main characters are at first and who is narrating the story, nor are we given an introduction to tell us what our primary protagonist's name is. What makes things even more confusing is the odd way the dialogue is organized. It is quite difficult to discern who is talking and following conversations is nearly impossible the first time around. The panels are quite haphazard and it definitely isn't a manga for the type of reader who doesn't think, not because of its deep subject matter (it's quite simple, really) but because of the abstract way it is constructed. Time leaps are pretty poorly written, and, overall, piecing out how events take place is more a matter of figuring it out from characters' conversations than actually seeing them happen.

Well, that all sounds pretty negative so far. And I even gave Doukyuusei a pretty good score. Is there anything positive to say about a manga that is more abstract (and not in a good way) than anything in its method of storytelling? The good news is that the majority of the issues I've outlined are mainly in the first chapter. The subsequent instalments are far more comprehensive and pleasing to read. Perhaps the author was trying out a new style, or perhaps I got used to the way the manga was written. Either way, I very much liked reading Doukyuusei, flaws and all.

It doesn't really have an over-arching plot, aside from the unfolding of Sajou and Kusakabe's love affair. It is a slice of life told mainly from either of their viewpoints, with a one time dip into the mental processes of Hara, their music teacher. That doesn't change the fact that Doukyuusei is absolutely, incorrigibly, completely adorable. It's a very light manga, and while there is the occasional teasing of deeper psychological issues, it's mainly fluff and the perils of growing up and figuring out what you want to do that the manga focuses on. Despite not being particularly jaw-dropping or amazing, it's definitely a stellar manga for a genre rife with cliches and general unpleasantness.

The characters are very much human, both likeable and irritating at various moments. We may not learn a lot about them and there may not be a lot as far as development goes, but they feel realistic. Reading the manga, we discover their quirks and thoughts and personalities, even if their backgrounds are only revealed little by little. Neither Sajou nor Kusakabe feel typical to me, so I don't think they're all too cliched. They may seem like your standard yaoi leads to those who are more seasoned with the genre, however. Kusakabe is a fairly happy-go-lucky student who is a part of a band. Sajou is a serious, studious young man who consistently has quite good grades. The only problem is that he's pretty bad at singing. This is the aspect that draws our two main characters together, just by chance.

Since Doukyuusei is a romance, it is important to know that their relationship rolls along at a pretty even pace. It doesn't seem forced, nor does it play out as simple pandering. It's a quiet sort of relationship shoved forward by raging hormones. The characters are pretty comfortable with the relationship as is, even if Sajou is quite endearingly awkward about it. It makes sense given his natural inclination toward introversion, after all, and it's not as if he's completely against his relationship with his classmate. He might be an awkward turtle, but the romance is consensual, a nice change for the subject matter.

This brings us to the art. Nakamura Asumiko's drawing style is highly stylized and original, and almost immediately recognizable. It is pretty, but somewhat difficult to get used to at first. While not necessarily detailed, there is a certain artistry to the wispy, pencil-like strokes that make up the drawings of her characters. The backgrounds, however, are rather lacklustre in comparison. Sparse and only vaguely detailed, if even that, the cream of the crop is definitely Nakamura's character designs, which are fluid and original.

Doukyuusei is a short yaoi manga well worth your time, even if you're not usually into the genre. As I mentioned before, it doesn't have any themes of molestation or abuse between Sajou and Kusakabe, and it is definitely a fresh, welcome addition to the genre.

I read the manga and it was pretty bad. The story moved on way too quickly. The main characters and their relationship didn't get the time to properly develop or even be properly introduced. As soon as something started to "calm down", something new and bigger would happen right away. I really missed more of the peaceful and cute scenes that would allow us to really get to know the characters, story and setting better. Some of the scenes were very unique and interesting. But the moments could always somehow be easily ruined. Not all of them were though, luckily.
Overall it was an adorable story ... with an adorable little pairing, all I wanted was to get time to understand what was currently going on before the plot just moved on. This manga made me smile, laugh and groan in frustration.

I liked the artstyle. Sometimes it could be viewed as a little sloppy, but I still thought that it was very artistic.

If you're only planning to read this manga so you can watch the movie afterwards, I recommend skipping the manga and dive right into the movie. They don't really change anything about the story, if anything they improved it. They stretched all of the short moments out all the way and spent their time well, which is great. I did really like the idea of this story, but the way it was told in this manga bugged me a lot. It surprised me how the movie creators changed everything that nagged me and made it better. The movie is probably my personal favorite now.

"I don't know about you at all. We don't know about each other at all!"
- The finale of Doukyuusei. Also, a perfect way to describe the relationship between the characters.

I quite liked some works by Nakamura Asumiko. This isn’t one of them. It’s just another of many examples of BL genre setting the expectations so low, any not completely awful story seems like a masterpiece in comparison.

What are the personalities of the characters? Why do they like each other? What is the point of the story? Such questions are left unanswered. It’s just two completely unrelated boys that both meet and kiss within the ... first 20 pages of the manga and some attempt at romance triangle is introduced as a cheap device for the characters to realize they like the otter character - double cheap because this is actually used for both of the main characters. They become a couple, I guess. The end. It's not a realistic romance - it's a harlequin novel-tier romance, just non-hetero.

Now you don’t even need to read this, as that’s all there is to it. You’re welcome. The art is okay I guess, but the author can do better. Check out Copernicus' Breath or Utsubora instead.