The Day I Became A Butterfly (Yaoi) [Paperback]

Yumeka Sumomo (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2007

There is a rumor going around school that Mikami can "hear" when one's death is near. Uka has just turned fifteen, but doesn't know how much longer he'll live... Will the budding love between Mikami and Uka have a happy ending?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sumomo follows her yaoi hit Same Cell Organism with a collection of short pieces that run the gamut of teenaged romance manga from yaoi to yuri, and even includes a piece or two featuring heterosexual teenagers. Panel by panel, Sumomo's art can be compelling. She excels at closeups, drawing expressive faces that make quiet moments between characters especially effective. Unfortunately, her storytelling skills are nowhere near as strong. Characters appear and disappear at whim, and the staging and writing are often awkward. In the title piece, a boy who thinks he may be dying gets involved with a boy who may or may not be able to "hear" when a person will die. The premise is interesting, but gets lost in the "he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not" mooning that follows. Nor is that story helped by the fact that one of the two male protagonists not only looks like a teenaged girl, but dresses like one as well. Sumomo's other stories are equally unsatisfying. While the art is pretty, the confused storytelling means that this collection will likely appeal to yaoi completists but few others. (Mar.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing (April 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156970869X
• ISBN-13: 978-1569708699
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #974,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Series of Vignettes!, April 12, 2007

By 

Rin "yaoifix.com" (Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Day I Became A Butterfly (Yaoi) (Paperback)

I'm really not sure why the Publisher's Weekly review above was so harsh on this manga and I think it will, unfortunately, turn many people away from what is a wonderful manga.

Personally, I love Sumono's work. Her short stories are very much like visual poems. Of course, this means that certain things aren't always presented as clearly or straight-forwardly as they could be, but I feel that's part of the reason this mangaka's work is so thought-provoking and unique. There's a soft, tender quality to the manga. Also I am completely infatuated with her artwork, which is clean and elegant. June has also packaged this volume with the quality it deserves. The art is reproduced on clean, heavy pages and there's a nice non-glossy, satiny cover. (If only BeBeautiful would learn something from them!)


The only issues some might have with this volume are:

1) There *are* a couple hetero stories in the mix- a fault of June for selling the volume as only 'yaoi'.

2) Sumono's ukes do tend to have exceptionally long hair and/or very feminine features. This doesn't happen to bother me. Although I generally dislike ukes that are too 'girly', but I adore Sumono's art enough that it doesn't bother me. (May I add that gender ambiguity is just not as big a deal in Japan?)

Overall, I highly recommend this volume as a thoughtful, lovely alternative to the many insipid yaoi titles that happen to be floating around on the US market. I love hardcore yaoi as well as the next girl, but if you're looking for something with a more mature feel that has depth and romance, you won't be disappointed (hetero stories and all)!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good collection but a serious issue with Junemanga!, March 30, 2007

By 

R.Parklane (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Day I Became A Butterfly (Yaoi) (Paperback)

When I buy BL I expect to get all BL. So why are there 2 heterosexual romance stories here! Junemanga is ridiculous or have they conveniently forgotten the meaning of Yaoi and BL?!
Back to this BL (including 2 hetero) manga with implicit sex. By the mangaka of Same Cell Organism, this mangaka once again proves her remarkable story telling skill. Her words are simple yet so expressive and effective. 6 stories here and they are bittersweet and touching with a surreal and haunting quality in them. My favorite is the deeply moving "You at the end" about a mute boy finding love. The titled story on a boy who may not live till adulthood and his seme who senses death is melancholy but lovely. The one on an abused boy finding comfort may be the shortest but by no means lacking. "Tokyo Alien Ulala" is comically sweet.
One of the hetero stories on a student in love with her teacher is pretty good but I have an issue with it as I do not go for heterosexual romance mangas.
I like this mangaka's fluid and graceful artwork but I wish she will stop drawing her ukes with long hair. And again my rightful wrath with Junemanga, for injecting heterosexual into this manga. I will definitely lodge a complaint!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful artwork, May 4, 2007

By 

Snuggles D. Rabbit "Puppet God" (New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Day I Became A Butterfly (Yaoi) (Paperback)

If you are looking for hardcore, explicit sex this isn't it.

The day I became a butterfly is a gentle, sweet collection of stories with emotion. I liked the first story the best. It is a bittersweet story about the desperation of finding and receiving love, and the uncertainty of the time we have on this world to be with the ones we truely care about. The butterfly tattoos tugged at my heart.

I really loved the art in this book, it was a welcome change from a lot of yaoi books where the characters have freakishly large hands, oversized shoulders, and outragous heads of hair.