Customer Reviews

Blue Sheep Reverie Vol. 1 (Yaoi Manga)

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

 

 

Originally published in the shojo magazine Bessatsu (Extra/Supplementary) Hana to Yume (where Otomen is serialized) as "Aoi Hitsuji no Yume," Blue Sheep Reverie's serialization halted after just one volume. Several years later the BL magazine Karen serialized a new title by Makoto Tateno called Steal Moon, which took place in the same universe as AHnY (and a few years later in the timeline). With Steal Moon's popularity, Blue Sheep Reverie was resurrected, reissued by Karen (with a more BL flavor) and continued past the initial volume (it is currently in its fourth volume in Japan). DMP finally licensed the series and is publishing it as a "side story" to Steal Moon, a classification which, while not only being incorrect, does this wonderful series no justice.

Blue Sheep Reverie is the story of a young man, Kai Kouda, who arrives in the town Akatsuki, named "sunrise" in its long-forgotten original language and now referred to by that name in the languages of its many multi-ethnic immigrant inhabitants. Because the town essentially has no police or government institutions (making it a haven for the less-than-desirable), it is ruled by two rival companies, Sarte and Mynah, who are in a violent, yakuza-esque war for control. New arrivals are told they should choose a side and Kai is interested in Sarte, but only because one of its bosses, Lahti Bara, wears a ring Kai believes belonged to his murdered lover, Maria. He is on a quest for revenge, but the world he is about to enter into is far more complex than he would ever have imagined.

As this title was originally serialized in a girls' magazine, there isn't much in the way of BL service, and the one love scene is very brief and tasteful. Those who are looking for a lot of fanservice are going to be disappointed in that respect (until volume 2, at least). There is also a much greater focus on Kai's relationship with Maria and she is a steady presence throughout the story, so readers who have a distaste for prominent female characters in BL series might also want to be wary. However, I think her strong presence is one of the unique facets of the series that allow it to stand apart from the pack of stereotypical BL titles that either dismiss women entirely, or demonize them. Tateno began her career as a girls' manga author and it shows in her more positive attitude towards the women in her BL stories.

Kai by the same respect is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stagnating sea of weak, passive ukes (the submissive partner in a BL pair). He is quick-witted, strong-willed and physically impressive. His single-minded goal, however misguided it might ultimately be, is enough to make him stand completely apart from his constantly unsure and wavering counterparts in other BL titles, not to mention the fact that he could take just about anyone in a fight. I've been known to refer to Kai as the type of rare uke that can only be dominated by the strongest of super-semes (such as Ryuichi Asami of Viewfinder). It takes a powerful man like Lahti Bara to awe a man like Kai and draw him near. That is one of the driving forces behind Kai's relationship to Lahti, and not some misguided romantic affection, as many BL series are often reduced to. Kai doesn't "fall in love" with Lahti, he recognizes him as a strong man whom Kai desperately wants to equal as a man, and not necessarily to submit to as a lover. It is possibly this fact in particular that makes this story one of the most unique and impressive to come out of the BL genre in some time.

Very little about this book is disappointing. The most unfortunate thing to be said is about the series' title, which is more or less a direct translation from the Japanese. Most BL series have titles that reference some aspect of the romantic relationship of the characters (like Tateno's Hate to Love You), or in the case of action oriented series like this one (or like Tateno's Hero Heel and Yellow), some element of danger. There is nothing particularly "dangerous" about sheep, let's be honest. I do understand its significance, a reference to the misshapen cat's eye ring owned by the murdered Maria and worn by her murder suspect, as an ironic symbol of a "loss of innocence," but as an eye-catch on the shelves of a bookstore it is not something that is going to easily attract the attentions of those passersby who might be interested in the story.

Among the smaller criticisms of the book to be made are in the language of the adaptation. First is some of the name choices. Pushing past the unfortunate spelling choice of the original "Maina" into "Mynah" that was presumably made to make it phonetic (Romaji is just as phonetic in my opinion), my biggest complaint is in what I regard as the incorrect choice of "Lahti." While the translators successfully unravelled the mystery of "Bihaan" from the original katakana (an Indian reference to "dawn"), they completely missed the equally culturally-specific reference of "Ratri" (the Goddess of Night in the Rig Veda). I will concede that the translation for Steal Moon clearly missed this reference (only vaguely explained in this book by Yan) and it was probably decided for the sake of consistency to keep the name "Lahti" for the duration of publications of this story universe.

Secondly is the awkwardness of the English adaptation. DMP is by far the most prolific of the English BL publishers, but they are also one of the most inconsistent in quality. The translation is pretty faithful, but the adaptation isn't very smooth and makes it harder to enjoy the story when reading. For example, on page 67, when Kai apologises to Lahti he says, "...for the other time," which doesn't fit since when he is addressing Lahti here, it isn't a "different" time (as in, an equivalent situation at a later date), it is a different day and a completely different context from the issue he is referencing. It should be written as something like "for before" or "for what I did." There are numerous incidents like this throughout the book, and they are a distraction.

I have to admit that this series has long been one of my very favorite BL titles and finally owning an English copy (to replace my Japanese tankoban) makes me ecstatic. I can't wait for the next volume to be released and I highly recommend this series to all Makoto Tateno fans, fans of Steal Moon and fans of action type BL series.

As one of the previous reviewers noted, a substantial part of the first volume was originally published in a "girls"/shojo comic magazine, hence, it ended up having a low BL content. The "18+" rating of the first volume is definitely undeserved, though there are some implied M/M sex scenes. The second volume is scheduled to appear later this year in the US.
The first volume was just so-so to me (I'd give it 3.5-4 stars), as the yaoi content is low, and at the same time there's not enough of character development to compensate. I don't mind the presence of girls in the yaoi manga (it's actually a plus to me), but the whole character of Maria is very unrealistic and purely psychopath. There's another girl in the book, Kai's childhood friend, who also couldn't solicit any interest of sympathy from me: she's drawn as a very weak, easy-to-manipulate and dumb character, wearing some ridiculous outfits.
However, luckily, I've read the first few chapters of the second volume, and from what I can understand, it looks MUCH better: there are a number of sex scenes between Kai and Lahti, all are passionate and relatively / moderately explicit. Kai's and Lahti's characters are much more developed in the second volume: Lahti is shown as quite a violent, jealous and even cruel lover, while Kai is hopelessly in love, adoring Lahti and Lahti's strength blindly. It sounds like a typical yaoi seme/uke pairing, of course, but Makoto Tateno does it so well! So, even if you got somewhat discouraged by the negative review below and/or low yaoi content of the first volume, my recommendation is to give this series a try, as the second volume is great.
<<review was updated on 4/5/2009>>

This book is really entertaining and the story line just makes it even more interesting! I couldn't help but order more of the series!

I don't see why the book was rated MA, it didn't have any graphic sex scenes; I saw more of a woman's bare chest then other favorable parts. The story annoyed me personally because the uke is in love with the seme's twin sister and the seme tells the uke that the only reason he is gay is because he can never be with the one woman he loves (GROSS)! I could have lived without that knowledge. The main reason I bought this book was because I enjoyed Steal Moon which is worth the buy instead of this side story. Steal Moon Volume 1 (Yaoi) (v. 1) The reason I gave this three stars is because the artwork is beautiful and I usually enjoy all of Makota Tateno's work. I know my review is bias but this is what my friends and I thought. More then likely I'll get the second volume since the review above sounds hopeful.