College student Ayame’s boyfriend is the handsome police detective Koichi. After what seemed like a destined meeting, Ayame and Koichi are a couple who want nothing but a lovey-dovey relationship with plenty of hot sex to spice it up. However, having a police detective for a boyfriend naturally implies that constant troubles won’t be far behind. Between battling injustices in society and indulging in sexual passions in bed, there is never a dull moment in their relationship. Though wanting some peaceful time together is understandable, can you really complain when you have to settle for hot and spicy sex? By Takane Yonetai Publisher: Aurora (LuvLuv) Age Rating: 18+ Genre: Romance Price: $10.95 Make Love and Peace reminds me very much of Cotton Candy. It’s light and fluffy, and fun while it lasts, but I wouldn’t want to eat it all the time. The plot of this series is pretty light. It’s a slice of life that shows the ups and downs of the relationship between a college freshman and a cop with lots of sex scenes thrown in for no real apparent reason other than to titillate. The actual plot and execution isn’t bad. College freshman Ayame is dating police…
This is a collection of five romantic, hot and sexy stories about modern women and the men they love. All of the stories depict romantic and physical relationships with nothing held back. The title story is about a relationship between young teacher Mika Tsukahara and Naokazu Kuga, an 18-year-old student at her school. Some say forbidden fruit is the sweetest! They’re neighbors too, and can’t control their attraction to each other. Love thy neighbor! From Luv Luv with love! By Kanae Hazuki Publisher: Aurora (LuvLuv) Age Rating: 18+ Genre: Romance Price: $10.95 Voices of Love is a collection of 5 different stories with very different leads but all with a happy ending for the women. Even though these are ladies comics, not all of the stories are told from their perspective, adding to the variety. The first story is also the title story, “Voices of Love”. It’s about a young teacher and her next-door neighbor/student. They seem complete opposites, as she the responsible type, and he is more reckless, especially with is relationships. They have tentative relationship that is cemented when she is assaulted by a fellow teacher. The story was told well enough, but I don’t care for the…
“You won’t last one step on that catwalk. And do you know why? Because you can’t see your true self.” By Chihiro Tamaki Publisher: Aurora Publishing Age Rating: OT/Older teen/16+ Genre: Josei/drama Price: $10.95 (or $5 direct from Aurora’s website) Of the four key manga demographics — shoujo for girls, shounen for boys, seinen for men, and josei for women — josei is the least well represented in the English-language market. You could fit the titles of all the josei manga available in English on one side of a postcard, and still have plenty of room for the address — so every new addition to the list is worth a look, and Walkin’ Butterfly is worth a lot more than that. The heroine of Walkin’ Butterfly is more of a scorpion than a butterfly, at least at first. High school dropout Michiko Torayasu has always been tall, and at 19 she’s 6’0″ and sick to death of being stared at and teased. She’s so tall that no boy will go out with her, and all the rejection and mockery has given her a fiery temper and a desperate sense of being freakish and outside everything, “like a monster built by…
Music has always been a powerful source of stimulation. Kyoichiro is a hot new pianist known as “The Conjurer of Melody” who possesses an extremely arrogant “bow before my greatness” attitude. So it’s no wonder that Kazune, Kyoichiro’s manager and lover, can’t help but feel she is nothing more than his erotic plaything. Will she be able to prove to Kyoichiro rhar she is more than just an instrument of pleasure? OR will she continue to be swayed by his intense melodies of desire? An erotic romance that will stimulate your senses with the rhythm of passion! By Rin Tanaka Publisher: Aurora Publishing – LuvLuv Genre: Romance/Josei Age Rating: M/Mature/18+ Price: $10.95 Arrogance that matches his musical talents, Kyoichiro is a popular pianist in this sensual tale of romance. Kazune, the ever doting girlfriend, has to manage both Kyochiro’s professional career and her adoration for a man who at first seemed to care more about making beautiful sounds in the bedroom than making the beautiful maiden truly happy. For me this was a great transitional title from the sometimes overly sappy shojo titles to a much more mature series that is geared more towards women. Within the first volume one…
“I used to sell myself. I’d do whatever anyone wanted for money. And that’s normal for me! This guy you just slept with here… he’s disgusting!” By Kazuna Uchida Publisher: Aurora Publishing – Deux Press Genre: BL/yaoi Rating: 18+/M/Mature Price: $12.95 The BL genre is relatively new, having first come into existence in the 1970s with pioneering works by artists such as Moto Hagio and Keiko Takemiya, but not really taking a stable form until the 80s; this is how Deux Press can get away with calling I Shall Never Return “early yaoi” even though it’s less than 20 years old. For all that the 90s are more recent than the 70s, though, there’s definitely something distinct about I Shall Never Return that sets it apart from more recent BL series. Both the art style and the content bear the marks of the era in which the book was created. They don’t make ’em like this any more. The story concerns the tumultuous relationship between Ritsuro the glasses-wearing neat-freak and Ken the smouldering bad boy; they’re friends in childhood, but when Ken turns thirteen, his parents get divorced and he starts going off the rails, and Ritsuro tries to “console”…
“And then you didn’t bring me my tea! Do you know how disappointing that was?” By: Hisami Shimada Publisher: Aurora/Deux Genre: BL/yaoi Age rating: M/mature/18+ Price: $12.95 Usually I cringe when I see a character in drag on the front cover of a BL book. All too often it means the character’s going to be humiliated by being forced to wear drag (as if dressing like a woman were an inherently shameful thing), or that he’s going to be “feminised” in a way that has more to do with stereotypes of femininity than actual female traits. So I was pleasantly surprised to open up Maid in Heaven and find that main character Midori wears a maid’s outfit because… he’s a maid, and the outfit’s a practical one to wear while he’s working. It isn’t treated in a fetishistic way at all… at least, not at first. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The story: Midori is the grandson of Akane, an experienced maid to the rich Kosaka family. Akane falls ill, and Midori takes her place in the household, only to find that Asagi, the master of the house, is not only cold and bossy, but is only 18 —…