Customer Reviews

Brother

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

there are days when you just want to curl up to a good, emotionally charged romance story that sheds some light on the TRUTH-ABOUT-LOVE.

then there are days for hot-mindless-scr*wing. to hell with plot and all that jazz.

this manga definitely falls under the latter, and hey, it has a plot... somewhat. no really, what makes one grab this manga is for the shamelessly hot man-on-man action, gorgeously delectable male flesh and i'm happy to say, one of the least censored yaoi mangas ever published in the english speaking world. i was (and still am) reeling with happiness at the unexpected bounty that is "brother"... any self-respecting (and salivating) yaoi fan would not hesitate to grab this manga based only on the very-minimal censorship.

[SPOILER ALERT... kinda]
right, on to the plot. the boys are stepbrothers who have, what else, the hots for each other. gee, as if the barebones title didn't tell you enough. so, obviously those who rates incest as one of their squicks should steer away from this, although this is not outright incest. at least, i think the manga industry seems to find this type of relationship is not as taboo as straight-on incest, so you find more of this type of relationships in manga compared to the real mccoy.
[END SPOILER]

so asuka, the older-utterly-adorable brother has been plagued with impotence, or rather specifically erectile dysfunction, ever since his younger brother, yui, walked in on him jerking off one sweet day. yui's scathing comment was the catalyst that caused his trauma and it took him years to build back his confidence. just when asuka thought he might be cured, yui returns home after a year (i think) studying abroad. just seeing yui's shoes at the door was enough to make asuka revert back into the traumatized teenager he was several years back. so that, is basically where the story starts off, and the events that follows shows how the two tried to reclaim the friendship that they shared as children.

so the plot is not deep. i have no problem with that, not when the sex scenes are as hot as this!!! yuzuha ougi is one able mangaka when it boils down to eroticism, and like some of her other works (the as yet japanese release only "star no koi") she doesn't worry much about plot, but focuses on delivering high-octane sex.

guess what? deliver she did!

superficial plot aside, her characters has to be some of the most gorgeous-yet-cute-and-also-sexy-beasts ever imagined. here is the land where the boys are men (*snicker*) that looks like they actually have testosterone, and not incomprehensibly femme. both asuka and yui oozes a kind of manliness that is exciting to watch, and yet both characters mesh together well, without having all those testosterone clashing about.

what i do like about her characters is that the dominant (or seme, or tachi) ones have a certain frailty in them, especially in terms of experience or emotional maturity that is quite refreshing and i admit... cute. there's a certain humanity about them that is just soooo lovable and huggable!

all in all, "brother" certainly lives up to the yaoi expectations... it's a fun, cracktastic look into the lighter (and HOT) side of the genre.

just a reminder... keep it out of reach of juvenile hands and minds... lock it, bury it, whatever... this manga is bound to traumatize the unprepared.

If you're looking for some hot boy on boy action, this manga isn't to be missed. It's very nicely drawn and there's lots of steamy sex scenes. However the story, what little there is, is unimpressive. Character development is pretty much non-existent.

Basically, step-brothers fall in love and have lots of sex. There are a few good gags along the way, but there's really not much there outside of the sex scenes. If you're looking for a romance along the lines of Gravitation or FAKE, you might be a bit disappointed.

But, if you would enjoy some angst free X-rated material with a hint of comedy, I definitely recommend this book.

Drama Queen's translation reads very well. The book is nicely printed and bound. The only downside to this edition is that the font used is a little difficult to read because it is so small.

//From the Gay Comics Listing//

Everyone knows I am not a big fan of licensed Yaoi, yet I got my hands on a copy of Brother tonight. No picture reading here man! This one is licensed and in English...and completely uncensored. Gay fans of hard-yaoi should get this book before buying any other licensed material claiming to be for `mature readers'. This is how it's done.

Brother is by Yuzuha Ougi, and it's about a 22 year old advertising exec named Asuka who is quite a chipper if not spastic young man [we all know a guy like this don't we...?] who has only two problems in life: one, he still a virgin and two, he can't get it up. Of course one can be blamed on the other so technically they are same problem-he's convinced himself his problem stems from a romantic [if not rather claustrophobic] encounter with his young step-brother when they were boys.

As if on cue we then meet younger step brother Yui. Yui is a strapping 17 year old sports star who arrives back in Japan and confronts Asuka over their childhood encounter, but their argument leads to something more. Dear Lord, we have a pair of Step-Brothers who stumble into bed together, have some hot sex, and then try and build a relationship. Now that is YAOI baby! This book is a welcome `ball-grab' to the watered down fiascos some other licensors of hard-yaoi tried to bring over from Japan. Ougi's men are nicely toned, detailed, and quite lovely. The sex scenes are very explicit with well drawn private parts-there is NO CENSORING in this book; you get dangling bits, you get penetration, you get yaoi-romance coupled with graphic encounters complete with very sensual `f*ck-faces'...what a treat. I cannot comment on the translations since I never read the original Japanese material, but I can say they even translated the comments of the artist at the end, which is a nice ending touch to a very well delivered title.

This is Drama Queen's first licensed release and I say bravo. The printing is on par with American publisher Yaoi-Press's quality, clear and crisp, with strong binding and decent price tag. The dust jacket is an added bonus not found with any other licensed title in the states, and the cover art is true to what was sold in Japan. It's worth the $11.99 USD even though it's only 176 pages, come on...Playboy does cost more than People Magazine-even though you know damn well they cost the same to make. So compared to what other publishers are charging for `censored' hard-material, this book is worth it. You get shelf worthy smut in a package that is built to last.

Whoah. Very, VERY detailed sex scenes. Okay, now that I have that out of the way, there is something fascinating about this book. Based on Amazon reviews, I checked this book out expecting some generic "I'm in love with my brother" sort of story that seems to come up a lot in J-Anime and yaoi (See: Golden Cain...or maybe don't, in fact). What I actually got was a pretty developed story with excellent humor. I could almost hear the voice overs in the panels. I can't give examples or it would spoil the humor when you buy the book, and hopefully you will buy it.

I don't like the look of the uke character with his wacky-styled hair, and alien-looking eyes, but that's not the artist's fault because when I see younger brother, whoah. Lovely, simply lovely. I'll admit I'm not used to seeing the genitalia drawn in such detail, but after the initial shock, I began appreciating the scope of her drawing skills. The Artist's notes at the end about her process of drawing boy's erotic art are hilarious and informative. I was truly surprised again at how charmed I was with the book, considering the explicit nature of the drawings. It was saved from being straight porn with some truly great writing. DramaQueen did a fabulous job in the publication, perfect translation, and any mature yaoi reader will appreciate this one. I'd love to see more of Brother, and I'm thankful to have the unique art and creative writing in my collection.

I can honestly say I've read every yaoi/shounen ai title that has been published in english. (For real! me = perv) I spend a great deal of time searching for them and researching where to get them. And this is by the far the BEST yaoi title I have ever read.

The story is absolutely gripping and the sex scenes are top-notch and hide nothing! You get to see every detail of the you-know-whats. No blurs here! I really fell in love with the characters and wasn't able to put the book down. I really, really love this book and you will too! Enjoy! :-D

If you're in the mood for a hot yaoi manga, this book delivers. No glowing cones here; there is explicit detail throughout the book, and plenty of eroticism in the artwork. The story merrily flings around taboos (it contains incest, of course, and one of the characters is under 18), so it may not be for everyone, but if you don't mind a little "brotherly love," then this is one sexy manga.

The artwork is attractive, though there are a few scenes where anatomy is distorted. DramaQueen has done a great job with the translation. My only complaint in that area is the sound effects--some of them are just plain silly. ("sproing"?)

The manga's weak point is its plot. If you're looking for a great piece of literature, keep looking--there's nothing here but "two step-brothers have a whole lot of sex." It's not badly written, though, and this book gives you plenty of "bang" for your buck.

Let me just clear up this; the two boys on the cover aren't brothers they are step-brothers. They aren't really related.

There is no censoring in this Yaoi Manga and the gentials are clear which makes a great hot Manga for any fan. It is printed Right-to-Left and features a color page (first I've seen in any English Yaoi Manga) and a dust cover.

The story is fine and the art is lovely. It's a nice Manga for DramaQueen to begin with, and if the rest of their Manga is uncensored, I'll be looking for others released by them.

I picked up a copy of [Brother] at the UK anime convention I was at last weekend, and was surprised and impressed by the publication.

My first pleasant surprise was the artist of the book; I've seen one or two titles by Yuzuha Ougi on Livejournal groups, and was always entertained by her work. On flicking through the book, my second pleasant surprise was that it was completely uncensored. xD I promptly bought a copy, and took it away to read properly.

While reading my way through the whole book, I continued to be surprised and impressed. The translation is crisp and witty, the quality of the actual book is excellent, and the clarity of the pictures and text is wonderful. On top of that, the story itself is funny and sweet, and I love the way Ougi's characters are spazzy and adorable. x) The addition of her "Boys Love Erotica and Me" ramble at the end of the book was hilarious, and had me giggling madly to myself.

And a bonus; I was impressed with the sound effects. I must admit that, as someone who can read semi-semi-SEMI-passably in Japanese, I mostly like it when sound effects are left alone for me to read myself. However, I really liked the way the SFX in [Brother] were handled; even though they were completely translated, they fitted in well with the book and didn't look out of place at all. ^__^

So overall, a very impressive first publication for DramaQueen, and the most smutty Boy Love/Yaoi title available in the West so far. Well worth a read for a yaoi fanatic! *raises a glass to DramaQueen* ^_~

This manga is truly one not to miss. I am a big fan of yaoi and as such i have read many many mangas. This grabs you when you read it. This is one of the few that when you look at the detail of the pictures you don't miss anything! I get very tired of yaoi manga where there are blurr clouds or just outlines, with this book it was like "if i wanna draw it i'm drawing it right!" type things. so not only is the plot funny and great, but the art it amazing with in your face detail!. one of my favorite yaoi mangas beside Embracing Love. ^^

A great read. The characters are well-developed. The plot line is fun and episodic. The artwork is beautiful and detailed. The characters are drawn beautifully with expressive faces which shows their temperment and personality perfectly. Everything is taken carefully into account from the expressions to the sound effects used during the fairly graphic sex scenes, which somehow remain tasteful. With the right amount of drama and passion, "Brother" leaves you wanting more.