Sometimes an entirely pleasant surprise shows up on Amazon.The pleasant surprise this time: Fake 2 by Sanami Matoh.
The first series of Fake, a set of 7 volumes, came out in North America in 2003-2004. It follows the Law & Order-type adventures/cases of two NYC detectives: Dee and Ryo. The stories tackle mobsters and serial killers and, naturally, each detective's "origins": Dee was brought up in an orphanage that gets bombed (Dee and Ryo investigate); Ryo's parents were killed when he was a teen (Dee and Ryo investigate many years later).
In terms of personality, imagine that Blue Bloods was a manga and tough-talking Danny and contemplative Jamie weren't brothers. And they were bisexual and gay respectively. And in love with each other. But nothing else really changed.
And there you go.
Fake was the first yaoi manga (almost) that I read and collected. Like so many other police procedurals that I've collected/watched and rewatched, I adore it.
The latest Fake stories are sadly only available electronically (not in print). Manga is one genre/form that I absolutely don't think works on Kindle or any digital, non-print medium. Graphic novels need to be handled. As a number of reviewers mention, regarding digital comics in general, the digital versions leave stuff out. Truthfully, as I get older, I can't always make out that tiny tiny print but I like that it is there! Digital manga art is more broadly stylized--less room for clever details/clues.
Interestingly enough, Sanami Matoh's current artistic style does work better when digitized than her original style. I compare the two styles more here in a review of Until the Full Moon.
Fake 2 stories are just as good as those in Fake but much shorter. The characterizations of Dee and Ryo remain stable and delightful. And despite the change in style, Sanami Matoh remains one of the most impressive artists out there when it comes to capturing movement in a static medium.
