Customer Reviews

Blue Sheep Reverie Volume 2 (Yaoi)

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Volume two starts with the funeral of the recently deceased head of Sarte, which is interrupted by a terrorist attack. While the culprits are being hunted down, speculation abounds about who is to succeed Kagura: his son, Narada, or the strongest man of Sarte, Lahti. Kai, Lahti's loyal subordinate, gets caught up in the troubles as well, and his desire to become strong enough to stand beside Lahti is put to the test. Later, the murder of some high ranking Sarte leaders has all the members of the "Four Kings" concerned, because only one of their own could have accomplished the feat. When suspicion falls on Lahti's sister, Kai's former lover, Kai must search his heart for the strength to accomplish his goals.

I admittedly followed this series years ago before it was licensed (illegally on the internet before importing the Japanese volumes). As such, and while I loved and still love it, I wasn't crazy excited about getting the English volume 2 in my hands, because, honestly, I already knew what happened in the story, and in fact, still know what happens through the currently released chapters in the Japanese magazine it runs in. That being said, I ordered this English volume as soon as it was available, without any intention of reading it right away. Volume 2 was going to go up on the shelf next to volume 1 while I instead waited impatiently for the next Japanese volume to come out to find out what happens next in the story. Well, to make this long story short, I happened to skim through the book on a whim after it arrived and I'm incredibly happy I did because there is a wealth of excitement about this volume, even to someone like me, who'd already read it years ago.

If you flip to the back of the book and read the Postcript first--a guilty pleasure I indulge with Tateno's titles-- she reveals that this series originally ran in another magazine in the early 2000s (it was Bessatsu Hana to Yume, a shojo manga magazine, in case you were wondering) and had allowed the opportunity to continue the series pass until she wrote Steal Moon for Karen Magazine and, thankfully for us, on a whim of her own decided to give our main characters from this series cameos. Also thankfully for us, when she completed Steal Moon her wonderful editor suggested she resurrect this series, which she happily did.

The thing to note about Tateno is her roots in shojo manga. This is important, especially when considering where this particular series got its start. Maria/Bihaan is a prominent character. In fact, she is such a driving force in the series many BL fans don't know what to make of her. She's not a plot device or "romantic rival to be crushed" like analogous characters in other BL titles. Neither is she a cut-and-dry villain to be reviled. She is a very complex woman whose motivations are shrouded in mystery, even to the two men who know her the best.

And Lahti and Kai are also difficult to characterize. Lahti comes off as very cold and unfeeling, but there is clearly a lot of thoughtful emotion behind his choices and actions (something that we'll touch more on in volume 3). But for me, Kai was the character in this volume for whom my entire preconceived notions fell away. I always thought of him the way he behaves in the first half of this book: frustrated at his inability to stand beside Lahti and be useful to him. But it is in the second half of the volume that Kai's true feelings and passions are revealed. I never thought of him as a character "in love," because this is not the way he tries to present himself to the people he desires acceptance from, but he truly is. His desperation to meet Lahti's expectations of him are pushed aside in the second arc of the volume and an independently determined man, one we met at the beginning of volume 1, emerges to make sure what he wants, the true goal for which he stayed in this town, is accomplished. His heart, even in his conflicted state, is strong enough to carry him through, and it's amazing to behold.

And if this still wasn't enough to sell you, there are two steamy love scenes in this volume and a few panels of two others--one even in the opening pages of the book--more than making up for the one luke-warm offering from volume 1. This title is now decidedly BL, and will remain so (almost shockingly as the story progresses) through future volumes.

Finally, to touch a little bit on the localization of volume 2, there continues to be some awkwardness in word choices. "Narada-san" has been localized as "Mr. Narada," even though Narada is his given name ("Kagura" being his family name) and in English this is a very strange way of referring to someone. It works fine in Japanese because honorifics are a natural part of the language, but it probably would have been more appropriate for the English localization to drop the title entirely, or use the generic "sir" or something else in some places to make up for it. Likewise, as in volume 1, there are some awkward phrase choices. For example, in one scene Kai describes Lahti's fighting as like that of a "sharp, deadly sword." Later in the scene, Narada uses the same simile, "Only one who is like a deadly sword- deserves to be at the boss's side." While this is probably a more literal translation, the natural English expression would have been something more like, "sharp blade." Maybe not something jarring for the average reader, but distracting for me, at least.

Despite this however, I'm elated to have picked up this volume and will be elated to pick up the next, hopeful for the ways in which having the English book in my hands will open my eyes to new things in the story. I highly recommend this series to Tateno fans and fans of action-styled BL stories.

This Volume 2 published 2 years later is excellent. This is sci-fi Yaoi at its best, the plot tightly paced and exciting with a depth which is rare in Yaoi. But it is the the complex characters of Lahti, Kai and Bihaan and their angst filled and convoluted triangle relationship which hold me spellbound.
How would it end between the two siblings embroiled in their love hate relationship? Is death the only answer? The confrontation between brother and sister is almost painful to read but this is what makes the story fascinating. And what about Kai? Could he really stop the siblings from killing the other ? As for the romance angle, if this is not Yaoi I would be dubious about the outcome. In this volume one could not help but feel for Kai. He is never certain where he stands with Lahti as Kai is only one of Lahti's many lovers. Lahti never declares his love for Kai. Is Kai a possession or merely a substitute? I enjoy this complex angle of their relationship and we are talking about Lahti here and his actions only enforce who he is and makes him a more fascinating character. He is one cool seme! As for Bihaan's role in the story itself this female character definitely adds freshness to the plot as she is ultimately the villain in the whole story but is she ? Kai has certainly grown up in Vol 2. He is the kid who has matured in this series as he finds his strength and knows what he really wants and aims for it.
One pleasing development is the revelation of the other 3 kings of Sarte and these supporting characters are likable and are the ones who provide some light hearted moments in the story. As for the sex scenes they are tastefully done in this volume and what better way then to start and ends with it in a Yaoi! Makoto Tateno is one versatile mangaka and she has certainly outdone herself in BSR2. I am very pleased indeed that sensei has decided to continue with this series. The translation from DMP is top notch and I have to said this after reading some sub standard ones from other Yaoi publishers.

I simply can't get enough of Kai, Lahti and Maria! The main characters in this series are simply wonderful. You have the very loyal Kai, torn between two siblings bent on the destruction of each other, the distant (yet possessive!) Lahti and Maria, a very willful and beautiful woman who holds her own in this violent world. The main relationship is between Kai and Lahti, both of them haunted by their ties to Maria. For a yaoi manga, I like the main characters enough to not mind at all the love triangle aspect to it (considering that one of the three involved is a woman).

Makoto Tateno's artwork is, as always, lovely, and I find the plots for Blue Sheep Reverie much more enjoyable than its spin-off, Steal Moon. Despite the rejection and abuse he takes, Kai is a strong character who is trying to do his best for those he's given his loyalty and love to, even if those emotions aren't reciprocated. At times there seems no happy ending possible, especially as he's caught between Lahti and Maria, as well as the demands from the harsh world they all live in. But then something happens to give you hope for the characters.

While I was a bit disappointed with the first volume as it didn't contain much love scenes between Lahti and Kai, I was so happy and satisfied with how volume 2 turned out. Tateno-sensei started this volume with 2 pages of sex scenes, which was a good appetizer.

In this volume, we get to see Lahti and Kai getting closer even though Lahti never made it clear that he has feelings for Kai. It is quite obvious that Kai has some feelings for the other man but it is also obvious that he is still obsessed with Maria/Bihaan. I am quite sure that he will end up with Lahti that is if nothing bad happened.

I sure never imagined that the first chapters have been serialized in a shoujo magazine. I am fully aware that Tateno-sensei has a number of shoujo titles but this series never striked me as one. Sure Kai was in a relationship with a woman and he was madly in love with her but that doesn't mean anything. There is a number of BL series where one of the main characters is not gay, so it is not that weird. Even Taki from her work "Yellow" was heterosexual but it just happened that he fell in love with a man. Anyway, I hope nothing will come between Kai and Lahti, though I am sure it wouldn't be that easy with Bihaan still around. It would be a great love triangle indeed and I cannot wait to see what will happen in the next volume.