Boku no Pet wa Salaryman (My Pet is a Salaryman) by CJ Michalski

僕のペットはサラリーマン (バンブー・コミックス 麗人セレクション) CJMichalski竹書房 2006-06-27 売り上げランキング :Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Yes it’s the anticipated BL review! The reviews I give will be unfortunately biased. So I’ll have to rate it twice, with a H factor and on story. Why is a BL review on a shoujo review blog? Because sometimes (and sometimes badly) the genres overlap. Which wasn’t really how I got my BL addiction. But it’s one of the things I read and enjoy.

H Rating: ★★★☆ 3 and a half  stars – sex in every chapter but no real explicit shots.
Story: ★★★☆ 3 and a half stars
Rating: NC-17 - Oh there’s a lot of sex.
Read it for: The absolutely hilarious one shots which pad the volume to make it worth every yen.

Summary: Nao has always loved his pet dog John, but when John is hit by a car, John’s soul somehow enters the body of the driver Ishizaki, and a ridiculous love triangle ensues. Ishizaki is a section chief of his company, and he doesn’t have time to deal with the innocent grieving Nao. But everytime he sees him, his animal instincts perk up.
Other short stories include Love Warrior, Love Hunter, Oh!Yeah!!Z, and Boys Love.

Koukou Debut by Kawahara Kazune Vol 13

高校デビュー 13 (13) (マーガレットコミックス) 河原 和音 集英社 2008-12-25 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Verdict: ★★★☆ 3 and a half stars

Rating: PG

Read it for: The finale of a long celebrated series. For us it’s the end of the teen romance of our time, for Kawahara Kazune it’s only the start.

Story: Yoh and Haruna have met the biggest barrier to their relationship yet, and it’s become evident that their romance will have to come to an end. However if Yoh sacrifices his dreams, he can stay with Haruna as they wish. But is that really the best decision for them both? In the grand finale of this manga, it goes out with a lesser bang.

Oresama Teacher by Tsubaki Izumi Vol. 1 & 2

俺様ティーチャー 1 (1) (花とゆめCOMICS) 椿いづみ 白泉社 2008-01-18 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

俺様ティーチャー 2 (2) (花とゆめCOMICS) 椿いづみ 白泉社 2008-05-19 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Verdict: ★★★★☆ 4 and a half stars
Rating: PG - Shoujo violence but with barely anything saucy

Read it for:
「男ならさ、そんなチンケなケンカなんかしてないで。ドカッと大きいもん目指しなよ」
“If you’re a guy, you shouldn’t do such uncool fighting. Aim for something huge.”
「トカッて・・・例えば？」
“Something huge… Like?’
「だ・・・大統領になるとか・・・？」
“P-President maybe…?”

Story: Mafuyu just got kicked out of her school, where she is notorious as the area’s #1 yankee leader. In a last act of desperation, her mother enrols her into a school known for taking in kids regardless of their past. There she’s trying her hardest to live straight and by the rules, despite her unfortunate bumpy start with her homeroom teacher Saeki Sensei, she’s coping with fitting in. Even if she’s become classmates with the school’s own #1 delinquent Haysaka, she definitely wont let anyone know her former life as a gangster!

Rikatteba! by Hasegawa Suzu

So I’ve taken a short moment out of my exam preparations for this, being the only time where I get intensely long moments of being by myself and with a computer on hand (and not actually typing furiously to get an assignment in on time, or late). I’ll be leaving the country in less than a month so there’s probably only silence to come.

リカってば! 1 (1) (まんがタイムコミックス) 長谷川 スズ 芳文社 2006-09-07 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Verdict: ★★★★ 4 stars
Rating: PG – It may be josei but there’s no hanky panky
Read it for: Bikini shots!

Summary: “I’m sick of you looking down on me!” Sakura Rika has a rocky history in love with men, suffering the fate of the few females in Japan with a 180 cm frame. Deciding men can’t stand to look up at her, she decides the only way is to find one who can look down (physically that is). It’s a short walk for her Mr Right; she doesn’t even realise her coworker Tsukada Kousaku (aka Minimum Tsukadacchi) has always been madly in love with her (“There are plenty of guys out there who don’t care about height”). In typical office rom com fashion, she’ll never realise and he’ll never confess.

Gakuen Ouji (Academy Prince) by Yuzuki Jun Vol. 5

学園王子 5 (5) (講談社コミックスデラックス)
	柚月 純 講談社 2008-08-11 売り上げランキング : おすすめ平均 女生徒と書いて、ケダモノと読む Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

After this I was so tempted to write a sparkly bubbly review constantly screaming 『学園王子最高！！！！』 I still haven’t felt right since then. But also SPOILERS ARE IN THIS POST SO DON’T READ AFTER THE CUT IF YOU DON’T WANT A BAD STORY TELLER TO TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENS.

Verdict: ★★★★ 4 stars
Rating: NC-17 – Clearly to be read by the kind of sexually fustrated females that are depicted in this series
Read it for: Damn Yuzuki and her cliffhangers! If there’s any new series you’re thinking of picking up – make this a priority.

Story: Rise’s dreamt of a quiet life and for her to get through school without problems – but it won’t seem that way in her school, Joshi High an all female turned co-ed private school. But the new student Azuki’s only got one thing on his mind, not to be raped by the sex hungry population of his new high school. And he’ll even drag his new unwilling participant Rise if he has to.

Tsukushite Agemasu – Maid in Love (I will serve you) by Tohma Rei

つくしてあげます (フラワーコミックス) 藤間 麗 小学館 2007-11-26 売り上げランキング : おすすめ平均 Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Verdict: ★★★　3 stars
Rating: PG – Itsuki can get a little handsy and not for the faint of heart at times
Read it for: A gender bender with a twist and the fact that the artist writes in her bio “I want a car, but I want a [kids] panda car more”
Also in the volume: Hanabi No Owaru Koro (While the fireworks ended), Boku no Hysteric Girl (My Hysteric Girl)

Story: Yuzuko’s a positive, always charming girl with the horrible habit of verbal diarhoea. Just when she’s done it again and insults someone, she’s saved by a drop dead gorgeous maid from a maid cafe. Little does she know (though the readers are more clued in than this poor girl) that the maid is none other than the high school hottie Itsuki – who’s only doing it as the #1 most popular maid at his father’s Maid & Butler cafe. It’s really a story about (duh) love and some pretty good maid costumes if I may say so.

Triple Kiss by Shimaki Ako

トリプルKISS 1 (1) (フラワーコミックス) 嶋木 あこ 小学館 2008-02 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

トリプルKISS 2 (2) (フラワーコミックス) 嶋木 あこ 小学館 2008-06-26 売り上げランキング : Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Verdict: ★★★★　4 stars
Rating: PG – Teeters on the racier side of high school teen love.
Read it for: Shimaki Ako at her finest; funny, smart and totally heart thumping.

Story: Ninomiya Yukino has always upheld her promise to the boy she always played with as a child; to be a good person. But she finds herself being tested when she’s suddenly in charge of showing around the new guy in school whom everyone has condemned as plain ugly. Little do they know his unfortunate fringe is hiding his bikei (pretty boy) goodness. So what’s a girl to do? If everyone knew about him, she’d never be able to have him to herself – but she knows her jealousy will only make her break her lifelong promise. Not to mention there’s another ikemen on the scene who’s tugging at the threads in her memory!

Watashi no + Okusuri (My + Medicine) by Takamiya Satoru

わたしの+おくすり (ちゅちゅコミックス)
	高宮 智 小学館 2006-11-29 売り上げランキング : おすすめ平均 魔女はお薬で魔法を使う 前作よりもよくなってます！ Amazonで詳しく見る by G-Tools

Verdict: ★★★☆　3 and a half stars
Rating: G – Only offensive to your elderly grandmother who finds unmarried kissing unholy
Read it for: Endless キャキャ and the tsundere kissing demon!

Story: Inori is a witch in training, being a straightlaced girl she’s on her way to graduating into being a fully fledged witch. Her graduating exam turns out to be preparing a “love potion” that can make her homestay brother Aoi fall in love with her. Unfortunately she doesn’t know the first thing about love, and he knows every part about her plan – not to mention he has magic tricks up his sleeves too