NightS

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Every now and then we come across mangas that are simply breathtaking. May it be because of its scenic art or of its impressive storyline or maybe it just captured your curiosity. Many of the shounen ai mangas I have stumbled upon gave me a fresh impression due to its cover. Unfortunately, some failed to captive my interest and leaving me disappointed. There are also titles that were roses beneath the thorns. Making the most out of its small spaces and justifies that a good manga doesn’t have to show an impressive cover and bishounens.

Loving Doushitemo Furetakunai’s style and plot, I searched more about its ... author and expected to see a lot of works from her, and yes, I saw a few. There were a handful of one shots and series. Randomly picked on what to read first and was in awe after seeing them. Though a lot were good, but only one stood out.

Kanjou Spectrum.

Usually, for a common yaoi fan, a hot sensual scene is something to be anticipated. Which of course, can be one of its forte. But Yoneda Kou doesn’t use this as her work’s strongest points. She focuses more on the depths of her characters and encourages its readers to enjoy a shounen ai read even without a smutty scene.

I didn’t expect less of the storyline, again, it was clean and contemplative regardless of the cliché plot. For a one shot, the content was overflowing. It ended smoothly, leaving it up to the readers what happens next.

Yoneda once again, used her same style of art in this one. Though it may seem to be some sort of uniqueness, the characters weren’t too distinguishable. The delivery of the characters and their emotions were too dull and unstimulating. Which I think needs more improvement. However, she uses more dialogues to ease this up.

Now, for the final remark. This one shot will certainly appease Yoneda Kou fans and those who want more masculine ukes and pensive plots. I’m bringing my hopes up to see more Yoneda style works or something that maybe even better.

This oneshot's story isn't unique or groundbreaking (Yakuza), but it's still nice/romantic and with a surprise at the end. The art is really good as it is always by Yoneda Kou, and there a even some colored pages at the beginning. The characters are well-thought-out which is really nice, because when you do a 50-page yaoi oneshot you could do without complex characters. But Yoneda Kou gave the story and the characters a lot of thought and it make this oneshot much more enjoyable.
So yeah, it's nice, cute and short and it leave you with a happy feeling after reading.

I am now beginning to understand the hype surrounding Kou Yoneda's work. I thoroughly enjoyed this manga. The art was wonderful, I liked how fleshed out the characters were. The story was interesting and kept me reading without taking too many breaks.

My main problem was the time jumps. I'm the type of person who finds it hard to keep track of time jumps, so occasionally I'd have to go back a few pages to figure out where in the timeline we were. But other than that, this manga was great! I wish there was more to it.

Can't wait to get my hands on ... Kou Yoneda's other work!

This collection is so strange. I have read all stories separately, and I liked them all, but it´s strange to see them all compiled into one volume, because they are very different in nature.

-"NightS" involves the yakuza and a free-lance transporter.
-"Kanjou Spectrum" is a shounen-ai story between two highschool students.
-"Reply" is a charming love story between a car salesman and a mechanic that work for the same company.

I don´t know if the stories are that original. Doesn´t matter, really. The thing is Yoneda Kou´s work does not stand out because of the plot, but rather thanks to her characters, which are great. They all have ... strong personalities, not only the semes, but also the ukes, who don´t behave like cry-babies and don´t go acting all tsundere. Nor do the semes go acting all-mighty, violent and manipulative.

I think the dialogs are her strongest point. I´ve already mentioned this in another review. I think her dialogs may be the best I´ve read, not only in yaoi manga but in general. They are full of irony, play of words, sarcasm. They flow naturally. She does not resort to the usual clichés, she doesn´t go over the top with words. Perfect dialogs.

I love the art. It’s very realistic. The characters are down to earth, not only as regards their development, but also their looks. The ukes don´t look like girls. The semes aren´t overworked. The H scenes in "NightS" (the first story) are a little more explicit than the ones in "Reply" or in other works by her, such as "Iro no Aru Sekai" or "Crows ZERO". But they are still closer to being erotic, rather than pornographic.

There is one thing I would like to applaud as regards the plot in all three stories. That is, the way in which all three relationships develop is believable... I generally don´t like it when the story involves heterosexual adults that suddenly and naturally fall in love with another man, without even questioning themselves or having some kind of inner conflict with their change of tastes. They usually solve the problem with a "thought bubble" that reads something like "Why have I just found him cute? No, no! What is happening to me?" And on the next page he has already come to terms with everything and suddenly accepts the fact that he has fallen in love with a man... or even more, he may even come to a conclusion such as: "I´m not gay... I just fell in love with you, because it´s you". Not credible at all.

But none of this happens here. In the first story this is not even a matter in question. We aren´t told about the previous sexuality of the characters... there is just chemistry between them, and that´s it. Furthermore, none of them looks naive and inexperienced in the matter. The second story is about teenagers who are, by definition, at the age where they define their preferences, and I think the manga reflects in a way this "awakening" to sexuality. The third story does involve heterosexual characters that fall in love with each other... but they both have a rough time accepting and admitting it. They even stop seeing each other for a while.

This natural flow of events in her manga, which makes her stories credible, goes with her realistic portrayal of the characters and the spontaneity of her dialogs. And I think that´s what makes her work stand out.