Customer Reviews

The Art Of Loving (Yaoi)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is not your typical "happy feel" Yaoi. The story is about obsession and it is dark, poignant and a trifle disturbing. As the story progresses, one has the impression the 2 protagonists are spiraling towards an abyss from which they may not recover. It is suppose to be a 2 volumes story but after surfing Junemanga.com (DMP new Yaoi website) we may not see the 2nd volume this year. Frustrating as Volume 1 does end with a cliff hanger. The story starts really well, introducing us to the intriguing relationship between Yutaka and Tohno. From there we have flashbacks as to how it all started from the time both are just school mates. The plot is fast paced and keeps me turning the pages until the cliff hanger at the end. Both boys are appealing characters but not everyone may like Yutaka, the darker character. Eiki Eiki is one talented mangaka and I appreciate her non adherence to the usual stereotype Yaoi.

"The Art of Loving" is by the famous author Eiki Eiki and has only 2 volumes.
The main characters in this manga are Yutaka and Tohno. And it is set in the future (when they are around 25) in the beginning but switches back to the past when they were in High School (around 17-18).
In the beginning we are introduced to Tohno who is picking up women at a bar, on his way home he meets Yutaka and dumps the woman to spend the night with the `only person he'll love' as he sees everyone else he's with as physical relationship not emotional.
Afterwards, Yutaka relives his past when he first met the man of his desire.
As a young man, Yutaka relied on a certain `release' to keep him in order, he was in the top 3 of his year and an elite student but he hid behind this and his heritage to the Fujiwara name. Underneath he smokes and doesn't care much for anything but won't let anyone know. One day, a new student, Tohno, arrives and changes his life. Yutaka begins to realize he has no feelings for women and begins to `release' himself to the thought of his newfound friend. As Tohno begins to get accepted at school, he seems to `leave' Yutaka, which he cannot take and begins to fail at his exams and drops to the 60s. Tohno wants to help but Yutaka wants him nowhere near him.
After an accident, this however changes when Yutaka gets the chance to have the object of his desire living near him, which he takes and confesses that he wants him.
End of Manga.
Overall this Manga was a nice change from some of DMP's choices. The art is lovely and the curly hair of Tohno is a quiet appealing change - most characters in Manga have straight or spiky hair.
I recommend this to Yaoi Fans, though there aren't many romp scenes, there are a lot of masturbation ones featuring Yutaka figuring out whom he is.

The story is very realistic and some of us can clearly relate to the main character Yutaka. The story is straight forward, easy to understand but makes the manga an extremely pleasurable read! *nods enthusiastically* The title is nice too and does, in a way, reflect the story.

The artwork is stunning, as always. Eiki Eiki draws beautiful faces and has a good balance of detail. The characters have unique features (like Tohno's blonde curly hair and Yutaka's scary stare) The sex scene(s?) are not too explicit, which isn't a minus in this case ;-)

The character development is good. For the first volume, the characters have a good depth (cant wait for Vol. 2!!! *bounce bounce)

funny, sexy, engaging.
(the humor being a small part, but still present)

the art is gorgeous, and the story really snags you.

i just wish the next volume(s) would come out! i really enjoyed this one. no filler :)

so worth the $. i never regretted a penny.

I would not say that this was the best I have read. It doesn't live up to what other manga I have read. Sure it has lots of angst and some self-pleasuring scenes but other that that it didn't really catch my interest. Also it just seems to end. Is there a sequel? Because if not than you'll be left with a lot of questions. If you can read it at the store than do so but other than that I would save your money.

This was very good. Regreshing. Why? The protagonist is a villain. The faces are lovely to see, too. I feel like there's a whole other story waiting to be told after this volume, but there appears to be none in sight. This seems unfair to me. You hooked me with this one, but won't finish what you started?!

Come on, Eiki. Please give us an in-depth conclusion to this promising manga! I can be patient, but it's already been more than four years since this first volume was published! Until this is consluded with a volume 2, I will not be buying anymore Eiki Eiki manga. After all, if she couldn't finish this then she probably won't always finish any other series she starts.

In sum, it's very good but left hanging with a cliffhanger. I won't give up on TAOL until ... maybe 2012. No sequel by then, and I'm gone for good.

"The Art of Loving" isn't so much about love as it is about lust. One schoolboy desires another, there's an abusive "relationship" and plenty of self-pleasuring. It's more about unhealthy relationships (think of it as a homoerotic The Twilight Saga Collection without sparkly fabulous vampires) than about homosexuality. In a sense, the schoolboys "get away with it" because they're gay. If it were between a boy and a girl, people would castigate this book for its glamorization of abusiveness. But then again, considering Edward and Bella (who also save sex for marriage),maybe not. This yaoi glamorizes game-playing, toying with people's emotions, narcissistic behavior, and that's far worse than the homosexuality issue.

Worth reading but maybe not worth buying...I very much looked forward to owning this book but unrequited love, evil plots for possessing another and poor, unsuspecting ukes is best left up to fan fiction sites, Eiki Eiki... As for the art-okay I'll give you that point, not bad: I like em thin. I think I was displaced by the promise of hard yaoi only to find it was a dash of shota lust and lots (LOTS)of masturbation-overall kind of a disappointing BUY-I recommend to you yaoi lovers that you just borrow this one from a friend.

The sunbursts were erotically thrilling. I bought multiple copies for myself and tried to pass one off on my guy friend Phil, because he's the sensitive type, but he was unsympathetic to what he felt was my exceptionally poor taste.

Not the best, but fun with some kinky scenes in it. The story really didn't do much for me and it was pretty incomplete. But still fun if you like Yaoi.