What Makes This Manga Different: Sweet Room Romance

I mention the omniscient lover in a previous post. Sweet Room Romance has a sort of omniscient lover. In truth, thought, Albrecht simply has very good staff. He determines to make Haruto his boyfriend, but that determination originates in his personality, not in "I know best" assumptions. And he is often stymied by Haruto's rather wistful playboy act.

However, what makes the 2-volume series unique isn't the pursuit--though it helps that both men have distinct personalities. What makes it unique is the "hobby."

Granted, in this case, the "hobby" is work. However, for some characters--like Adachi and Kurosawa--work is simply work. They do their best because, well, why not?

For Haruto and Albrecht, however, the hotelier business (as well as travel and interior design) is something they both care about, find interest in. It's a great example of characters bonding over their passions. And it creates opportunities for them to relate to each other.

Consequently, one of the funniest sequences is when Haruto--convinced that Albrecht will be horrified by his choice--takes him to a love hotel in Japan. But Albrecht is fascinated by the "erotic cultural heritage" and starts objectively pondering how the concept of meeting customers' needs could be transferred to fancier settings. 

One of the most touching sequences is when Haruto buys Albrecht cufflinks from the pottery maker who supplies elegant work for the flagship hotel.

I happen to love staying in fancy hotels, when I can afford it. So the series not only works well, I can relate to the protagonists!

Monsters with Lovers--Okay, Vampires Too

On Votaries, I discuss the time-honored tradition of providing the Monster's point of view, a tradition that goes back to the beginning of literature. 

In terms of romance, Monsters sometimes have romantic partners or, rather, romantic interests. In Dracula Tape, Saberhagen uses original Dracula's obsessive interest in Mina to create a real relationship of mutual interest; they worked together in more than one book. Jekyll in Stevenson's book expresses little interest in a romantic partner but just about every adaptation, including movies, gives him that interest. And Grendel's mom--even in the original text--cares for him! (The parent-child relationship with monsters, including Frankenstein's monster, also has a strong tradition.) 

Vampires, of course, have more romantic partners than...veins in a body (seriously: veins are to an extent uncountable). 

I generally find vampire literature, even vampire manga, rather dull. Years ago, when I was still submitting short stories to magazines, I read a "what we are looking for" blurb that stated, "Please don't send us vampire stories!" 

And that was nearly 20 years ago! 

I partly dislike vampire literature because unlike Dracula and Nosferatu, current vampires always seem to belong to cliques/gangs/extended families, and the ensuing politics bore me. The one-on-one stuff is better, but even there, how many angst-y passages about lack of sunlight can one read, sit through? 

That is, I feel about vampire literature the same way I feel about dystopia fiction: I read one or two; isn't that enough? (With dystopia fiction, I read Lord of the Flies; seriously, isn't that enough?) 

However, Demon Under the Waxing Moon by Fumi Tsuyuhisa is worth mentioning because although the demon drinks blood (and sex becomes the substitute, as it does in much vampire erotica), the manga actually has a plot! In addition, the main human character, Minoru, has a distinct personality--and he is generally unafraid of his demon lover. The demon lover also has a rather delightful desire to please his human.  

I will still go for (yet another) office romance first.  

What Makes This Manga Different From Others: Snow Fairy

It's the season for snow in the Northeast! 

Below is a review of a manga that celebrates this time of year in Japan.

* * * 

On the surface, Snow Fairy by Tomo Serizawa is a classic romance plot without frills. It offers an uncomplicated story (which adjective isn't a negative) without frills. 

Despite the simplicity, once read, the manga stays with the reader. It is memorable for several reasons:

1. It takes place in the boondocks, specifically Hakkaido, a nice change from the usual setting of Tokyo. 

Tokyo is to Japan what London is to Britain, which means, there's a very good reason so many stories take place around Tokyo. Still, the boondocks, specifically the boondocks with snow, is a great variation. The characters get snowed in at one point!

The main character's parents died in a car accident. Some extended family members think he should leave the area, but he feels entirely connected to his community. As he states to his lover, "In such a small town, even one person's absence can be a burden."

2. The characters don't automatically assume that separation means a lack of love. 

I recently watched the Thai drama, The Boss and the Babe, which I enjoyed, but I got irritated by the idea that a few weeks--even months--separation somehow meant that the characters didn't really love each other or that other people were unfairly separating them or whatever. Just wait until the internship is over! 

I went along with the premise since it was intelligently tied to other factors, including Cher's deep-rooted tendency to put on a "clown's" face for others rather than to admit to any negative feelings. 

But. Still. 

The wonderful aspect of Snow Fairy is that Narumi and Haruki's relationship will not falter should Narumi take another journey for his photography. They both have lives that absorb them. They can survive separation, especially since Haruki offers a home base. 

A grown-up relationship!

3. The outdoor/indoor scenes are lovely. 

Growing up, one of my favorite experiences was drying off/warming up after being outside: swimming in a pond during the summer or playing in the snow during the winter. Of course, one had to go outside to come back in and dry off/warm up, so going outside was pleasurable too. 

Snow Fairy captures that sensation: the wonder of being out in crisp, cold air surrounded by heaps of snow and the coziness of coming inside to a warm room and lots of blankets. 

What Makes This Manga Different From the Others: Dashing Zaddy and Icy Protege

Dashing Zaddy and Icy Protege is one of those series I picked up at Books-a-Million. I visit Books-a-Million for its stunning and expanding manga section. And I have been pleasantly surprised by a few volumes I chanced across (rather than volumes I went to BAM on purpose to find). Dashing Zaddy is one of them. 

I like it for several reasons: 

(1) The older "December" Zaddy character actually looks older. So many times with manga, the only reason I know one character is older than the other is because the "script" tells me (similar to BL Thai series on Viki, in which the "older" character is almost always taller despite the character looking much younger). 

But Takanashi of Dashing Zaddy actually looks older--while still being charismatic and attractive. He has a kind of Elvin quality that makes him sparkle on the page. In many ways, his age enhances this otherworldly quality: he is a lively 40-year-old and appears that way. 

(2) The characters have a background. Quite often with manga series in office environments, the characters MIGHT have a background from high school (where they were rivals) but there's no substance to the background. But Hiwatari from Dashing Zaddy has an entire foundation of memories which fuel his affection and attraction for Takanashi. 

(3) The characters are different from each other. As I have mentioned multiple times on this blog, the best romances bring together complementary characters, and they retain their differences throughout the romance. 

They don't have to be the odd-couple: the slob and neat freak come with a separate set of issues. But they are more enchanting if they work off of each other rather than mirroring each other. 

Takanashi is an extrovert, a people-person manager. In contrast, Hiwatari has a "straight-arrow," somewhat blunt personality that masks a deeply romantic nature. In fact, the underlying mindsets here are quite clever. Takanashi, while being more people-aware, is more relationship-cautious. He's the kind of guy who has to figure out whom he loves. Hiwatari is the kind of guy who knows whom he loves and needs to bring the knowledge out of the clouds and into reality. A dreamer-realist and a realist-romantic: those combinations are more common than you might think!  

(4) Because the characters are different and reasonably complex, the story is not just about the relationship. There's nothing wrong with the relationship being the primary focus but endless pages of people being cutesy can get rather dull (one reason I love romance-mysteries so much is that the couple solve crimes: the focus is the couple, but the couple actually gets to do stuff). 

In Dashing Zaddy, the workplace is more than a staging area for dates and sex. The characters have to function in society: might as well show them carrying out those functions! (The underlying politics of New Employee/New Recruit also come to mind.)  

Dashing Zaddy and Icy Protege is a wonderful series that I am still enjoying!  

 

What Makes This Manga Stand Out: Workplace Romance in On and Off

There are many many BL series now in which work peers fall in love. Sometimes, the couple joined the company around the same time. Sometimes, they are rivals from high school or college. Sometimes, they work in the same department. Sometimes, one becomes a superior. And so on. 

I am not opposed to the same plot concept being used and reused. I admit I don't have much tolerance for endless vampire stories. But even there, I think there are exceptions, tales that are unique. 

By "unique," I don't mean avant-garde or "rule-breaking." 

I want story, not some stream-of-consciousness experiment. 

"Unique," for me, refers to a story that is memorable and engaging. It is different for HOW it handles material, not for trying (impossibly) to invent new material.

In the work romance genre, On or Off stands out. No Love Zone, despite also being a full-color manhwa, strikes me as a bit samey and forgettable (No Love Zone is only recently gaining something like a plot: in Volume 3!). 

What makes On or Off unique is not only that the characters have an actual task/account/app to complete (getting that work completed underpins the volumes so far)--the characters also retain core characterizations. 

As I mention in the post on Semantic Error, a good romance keeps the characters' individual oddities even as they fall in love. The characters don't abruptly turn either coy or flawlessly understanding and affectionate. They continue to be idiosyncratic.

In On or Off, Kang keeps his poignant awareness that romance requires negotiation. He misreads Ahn more than once; unusually for an alpha character, he not only takes responsibility for his miscalculations, he studies his lover, whom he finds endlessly surprising. His older age (by about 15 years) aligns with his ability to assess how he and Ahn can find middle ground. 

Meanwhile, dedicated, hardworking, charismatic yet guileless Ahn goes at everything in his impulsive yet tactful way (as when he covers for Mina's bluntness). With Kang, he is straightforward yet abashed. Being in love enhances those qualities!

Ahn and Kang don't transform into blokes who react in the "proper" romantic ways. Rather, they react to their relationship as distinct individuals. 

 

What Makes This Manga Different: The Flower That Seems to Truly Dance

A while back, I read a wish by a reviewer that more BL series had historical settings. I have to agree! 

I do understand the difficulty regarding historical settings with live-action. Unless they produce characters who look like they are wrapped in bedsheets, they cost. My Roommate is a Detective is so marvelous to a large degree because it is so incredibly beautiful, nearly lush in its settings, clothing, props, and music. The acting is good too. The storylines vary considerably--but the look: oh, my! 

Manga can take more chances--yet a great deal of manga is nevertheless contemporary or fantastical. Blue Morning is a notable exception as is Gorgeous Carat and Black Sun. Maiden Rose is technically fantasy but is actually circa WWI Japan and Europe. 

The Flower That Seems to Truly Dance by Saki Tsukahara is another nice exception. It takes place during World War II. The protagonist, Soutarou Kuramoto, meets a young man, Haruomi Asuma, who is an onnagata, especially renowned for his dancing.  The story runs from 1941 to the end of the war. It involves fire from a bombing and a meeting in a hospital--and great clothes, of course. 

The theme is not too heavy-handed. It is implied that the war has changed expectations and goals: traditions continue through art, aesthetics, while traditional familial expectations have a lessening hold. It is a theme that Agatha Christie tackles in her mysteries: the cozy English village looks the same but in truth, it will never be quite the same again.

What Makes This Manga Different: On or Off, Volume 1 by A1

For one, as manhwa, it reads from left to right.

For another, all the pages are in color!

Otherwise, the story appears to be standard fare: young man at a company encounters and falls for the Darcy-like tough, fair, tall, stern head boss. 

What makes the manga so delightful is that the young man, Ahn Yiyoung, is the de facto head of a group of misfit programmers. At least, one of the misfits is a programmer. The other misfits are a designer and a business planner. 

They create an app in a garage and win a contract (after various misunderstandings). The company offers to set them up in a room, which turns out to be a dingy closet with non-working light bulbs. In one of the funniest scenes, the team considers removing itself to another garage until Ahn points out that if they move into a new space, they will have to return all the tech goodies they got with the money they would have spent on rent. 

The boss of the company at first dismisses Ahn but grows to appreciate his role in the group. He was brought on as a salesman but is now the guy who keeps everyone on the right page and communicates their ideas to the outside world. 

And this person is very important. As Joel Sposky points out in an article I like to read to my English 100 students:

The difference between a tolerable programmer and a great programmer is not how many programming languages they know, and it's not whether they prefer Python or Java. It's whether they can communicate their ideas. By persuading other people, they get leverage. By writing clear comments and technical specs, they let other programmers understand their code, which means other programmers can use and work with their code instead of rewriting it. Absent this, their code is worthless. 

The same could be said for the person who organizes the team and makes sure that they aren't simply playing with their new tech toys--they do have to earn money, so they can eat...and buy more tech toys! 

In or Out understands this basic truth.