ISBN-13: 9781569707234
Language: English
Direction: Right to Left
Pages: 208
by: Maguro Wasabi
Publisher: June
Type: One-Shot
Genre: Drama, Romance, Supernatural, Yaoi
Synopsis:Sakuya is a noble vampire and a master of seduction, but there’s one detail that truly sets him apart from his neck-biting brethren…he no longer craves blood! Sadly, the lone object of his lusty affections — the elusive dhampir Atsumi — loves to bait his prey and run away. Is Sakuya’s loss of appetite really a matter of the heart? When the hunter and the hunted decide to make love and war, there’s no telling how the tug-of-war will end!
Character Musings:
Sakuya, our love struck vampire who can’t drink humans blood. He’s violent, moody, and determined. Except where Atsumi is concerned. I do like the way his personality was drawn out in the volume, and while it’s true there’s nothing new to him, he was a good lead.
Atsumi, the man that neutered Sakuya. He’s equally as determined, manipulative and loves to torment Sakuya. Again we have nothing new in the personality of the character, and while I don’t like certain aspects of it, he did make a good counter to Sakuya.
General Musings:
While I liked the general story I was disappointed with the way things flowed out. In fact at one point the story appears to end, then seems to go back in time again. Rather frustrating and makes it hard to follow.
For me this volume fails on so many levels. The basic story is a pretty interesting one, and could have been made into an interesting story. It has everything a good story needed, including well placed humour and well defined supporting characters.
Sadly the story sort of just meanders through without any sort of destination in mind.
One of the bits that really got to me was the way that Atsumi was brought back in to the story. It’s established that Sakuya has spent a fortune looking for him, as well as having the ‘Kin’ looking as well, all to no avail. Then to just have him walk into the place with ‘Yo’ attitude really didn’t work well for me.
Then later on we have another scene where Sakuya leaves the hotel and leaves a note for Atsumi, basically telling him it’s his time to hunt and find him. This would have been a great plot development, except suddenly everyone’s back in the hotel and right back where we started, and I’m left scratching my head wondering what the hell is going on.
Up to this point the story had been pretty much a rolling comedy, but then Maguro tries to inject some serious aspects with Hellsing. Honestly I found this weird, the sudden change really just didn’t work right. Also the comedy aspects of Hellsing just didn’t come off right.
Of course when it comes to Yaoi the corner stone is usually the sex scenes, and sadly these are disappointing as well. We do get a few scenes, but they’re quick and have an almost after thought feel to them. What’s more I didn’t feel anything from them, no passion, no love or anything. It was nothing but flat sex, and rather disappointing at that.
This story could have been a great one if it was more than a one shot though. Sakuya and Atsumi have a great bit of chemistry, and if their relationship had been allowed to grow a bit more slowly it would have become a great yaoi comedy.
Publisher Musings:
This comes from the June imprint of DMP, and the overall formatting has no issues. The translation flows well and doesn’t get bogged down, nor does it feel fake. The font’s used through out the volume were a good choice, with none really hard to see. Sadly they removed the honorific’s as well, which is a bummer.
All told, while the characters are likeable and have a load of potential, the volume never really delivers and ends rather disappointingly.
