Ikoku Irokoi Romantan

[6/10]

Genre: Yaoi, Ramance

Ranmaru is the young successor of the Omi clan who is stuck having to marry the daughter of a rival yakuza clan. However while on his wedding cruise he meets the charming ship’s captain, Albert. Albert has an odd fascination with Japanese culture and is attracted to the kimono-clad Ranmaru at first sight. He shows up to help Ranmaru in a few shifty situations, and in turn Ranmaru finds himself becoming more interested in the mysterious Al.

Nice character designs (probably the best I’ve seen in a bl anime) and Kaoru is a strong and likeable person for a female character in a yaoi show, considering female characters in shounen-ai tend to be annoying and often the antagonist, plus she had a surprising amount of airtime. She complains but not without good reason. I’d be pretty annoyed if I were forced into marrying an uninterested man too. Despite this she seems to chatise and worry over him like an older sister. Actually from the first half of the first ep, it looks more like a shoujo show. I’d love to have seen Kaoru and Ranmaru end up together though they’d be an extremely stubborn pair full of spit-fiery agruments. Story-wise it’s nothing unique, and gets a little slow-moving at times but at least there’s development in the characters and plot and it not all ‘I want you let’s have lots of sex!’. And and… What’s with the Ranmaru man-panty flashes… once or twice is okay, but that was overdoing it =.= Albert seemed rather extra. It was a little disappointing to see headstrong Ranmaru from the beginning becoming totally submissive to Albert… granted he was intoxicated but still… Al would’ve made a more convincing Italian if he had darker looks, here he looked American. And how knight in shining armour was he? Otherwise Albert had a very cardboard seme role, a little bland at times.

Papa to Kiss in the Dark

[5.5/10]

Genre: Yaoi, Romance

Mira lives with Kyousuke, his young and popular actor papa who does things with him that papas aren’t supposed to be doing. When Mira starts high-school, he gathers alot of unwanted attention from his peers, especially his old childhood friend who reveals that he has been habouring affections towards him, but despite his growing reciprocal feelings, Mira is conflicted over his feelings for Kyousuke. Mira also comes to find out some startling truths about his origins~

I’m probably being a bit lenient with this rating. Mainly because I did like Kyousuke’s character despite his shota inclinations. His character design just looked a whole lot like an older version of Tamaki from Ouran Host Club, and personality wise he was charming and likeable on the whole. Mira really irked me because he was so whiny and Mary-Sue-ish (aka all the boys want him even though he has a huge father-complex and angsts most of the time). I found the romance factor unbelievable as Mira displayed quite a bit of resentment towards Kyousuke in the beginning and suddenly it was just all lovey and mushy. But at least it had some plot and the sakura tree scene at the end was quite pretty.

In terms of a yaoi anime with a similar theme, I prefer Kirepapa.

Takumi-kun series: Soshite Harukaze Ni Sasayaite

[Rating: 5.5/10]

Genre: Shounen-ai, Romance

In an all-boys school hidden deep in the mountains, Takumi, a boy who has a phobia for human contact due to a past psychological trauma, meets Gii, a rich American student who is assigned as his roomate. Gii slowly gets Takumi to open up and take up the violin again, which the latter had stopped playing a few years ago.

Despite being a boys love story, there is nothing explicit shown, and overall I would even say that it is Fluffy. The romance between the two boys is sweet and innocent, especially with concerns to Takumi; and although Gii is supposedly a playboy they don’t really show any instances of this. I’m not sure of how it is in the manga though. Colours in the show are very soft and light, and it was almost like watching a shoujo romance lol. The story was more about Takumi slowly opening up to Gii and realizing that his feelings. The flashback scenes on their first meeting and moments were a little confusing although I got the gist of it, but the transition could’ve been better. Also the violin playing moments could use a bit more work… even though the actors may not be able to play the instruments, it was quite obvious they were just miming the actions. I’d close one eye on this but comparing it to a drama like Nodame Cantabile (a drama about a music college), they could’ve been more convincing. Another word I would use to describe the film is simple. Simple set, simple costumes and props and simple but nice background music – which achieve its purpose I guess, and I don’t think many shounen-ai drama get a huge budget as this is pretty similar for other dramas/movies in the genre which I’ve seen. Although one might say that the simplicity might be a directional preference for this kind of show. I’m not sure about that…

[Rating: 9/10]

Genre: Shounen-Ai, Comedy

The main story follows the misadventures of Misaki, a high-school student as he ends up living with Akihiko Usami, a famous novelist who is a longtime friend of his elder brother’s when said brother gets married. To Misaki’s  horror, Usagi starts to develop a more than friendly liking towards him. Hilarity ensues as well as some romancing ensues! Also, there are two other stories revoloving around ‘forbidden’ relationships of some sort. The stories arcs are entitled Junjou Romanticist, Egoist and Terrorist.

My review will be focused on the second season since it has been awhile since I saw the first one. Though I just read the earlier manga volumes which I pretty much the same, let’s just close one eye to that first~

So in the second season Misaki finds himself in deeper water than he can thread with the unexpected appearance of Usagi’s elder brother and father. His true feelings for Usagi get put to the test and as he comes to realize that he is falling in love with Usagi. While Junjou’s plot is pretty formulaic, one great thing about the series is that it’s one of the few shounen-ai (boys love) stories that is not overly angsty and ends with someone dying. It is rather lighthearted and heartwarming actually, to see the three relationships develop. You’ll find yourself rooting for one of the pairs at least. My favourite story is the relationship between Hiroki Kamijo and Nowaki Kusama~ Hiroki was just adorable and Nowaki is a very likeable character, their story was more believable and realistic than the other two, and they had great chemistry that didn’t seem forced. Miyagi and Shinobu was a little squicky I’m not really into shota (underaged relationships)… their age gap was even greater than Usagi and Misaki. I do like the main pair except Usagi’s sexual urges got a little overbearing at times… but he’s an awesome character though. It’s hard for me to describe. The manga is much more explicit with sex scenes than the anime, which was rather toned down in comparison. I also like the character designs, and voice acting plesantly suited the characters as well. It’s one of those light-hearted slice-of-life stories that is fun to watch and doesn’t get boring, even for someone like me who isn’t that into shounen-ai series.