Customer Reviews

Endless Rain (Yaoi)

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

 

 

Endless Rain title story deals, in essence, one man's revenge. He blackmails the company's president's son in to sleeping with him. Its not the usual sort of blackmail where someone did something "wrong " and the other person knows it. This blackmail involves how the younger brother, who is blind, is treated (going to a school for music), and a hospital being closed and the employees being fired, amongst other things. The ending to the story is contrived and it seems the author wanted a feel good ending. Though how one can fall in love with your blackmailer is beyond me. I give this 3 stars, Five stars goes to the bonus story. It was cute.

There were several graphic non-explicit scenes.

A story of growing love between a young man and
his father's henchman. Akira sells his body to
protect his younger brother from harm. In the
process he comes to love the man who used him.
His father apparently had abandoned him, his
little brother and his mother.
It is later revealed that he had been ordered by
Akira's mother to stay away. He supported them
all that time though and never contacted his sons.
Only after their mother died did he have the boys
come to his mansion. There Akira meets Hyougami,
in the employ of Akira's father and it is then,
that he gets used by the man.
Hyougami did not count on falling for Akira, but
he did find the proud young man very attractive.
Akira kept his heart pure from the darkness around
him and persevered, eventually finding out that
his father had really cared for him.
A manga of powerful images and writing. I loved
the cover illustration. The sexual scenes are
intense and Akira suffers, but ultimately he
does prove that a pure heart will always triumph.

Endless Rain is one engrossing read. There is an angst filled plot here with depth. The characters may not be that likable but they are interesting. You either like or dislike Hyougami, the complex, cold and forceful seme, with his secret agenda. As for Akira, he could come across frustrating at times but he is your typical innocent uke with a soft heart. The most likable characters are Nao, Akira's little brother, and his assigned faithful caretaker (even if this is a minor role). And I enjoy the brothers' close relationship which is sweet and touching.

But the sudden change in atmosphere towards the wrap-up of the story is not convincing. I like the somewhat dark and unhappy tone of the story and it would have been better if this is kept till the end. However, it is as if the mangaka suddenly decides she has gone too far in her bleak treatment of her characters and tries to rectify it with a "nice" ending. The results are inconsistencies in the characters (especially the ruthless father and Hyougami), and the plot which becomes somewhat a little disjointed. Maybe this is just me. That said, Endless Rain is absorbing, fast paced and after a lot of lighter, sweet and romantic stuff, this angst filled and more complex Yaoi is a good change. Like the artwork and metaphor title too.

The short story on 2 very close childhood friends, in which one suffers from a heart ailment, is romantic and very sweet and both uke and seme here are complete opposites of the ones in Endless Rain.

A fine addition to my collection.

I like yaoi where the seme is dark and the uke is irresistibly pulled toward him, however this seme had few redeemable qualities. The ending is darker than I usually like. If this was a real person drawn to someone so abusive towards him, he'd have some serious psychological issues. It was a good read, but lets tone down the cruelty next time. Or at least have one scene before the uke gives in where we know the seme really loves him.

Endless Rain is one very steamy manga. There are enough erotic scenes so that you are not left wanting more, which unfortunately is the downside of many yaoi manga.
Do not let the cover fool you. It may appear cheesy, but it's not. The storyline is actually quite mature as it involves blackmail and murder.
Though, I do have my dislikes about certain aspects of the plot and the way the characters develop, the artwork and sexiness truly make up for it.
The bonus story that is included is very cute and heart-warming.
I highly recommend the purchase of this manga.

Akira's life has not been one of simple luxury and happy family memories. Seemingly abandoned by their father, chairman of the mighty Kasuga group, Akira's mother was left to raise her two sons on her own. If not having her lover there to stand beside her was not enough of a tragedy, the birth of the second child, Nao, dealt another blow as he was born blind. Akira and his mother were left soldiering on, caring for Nao without any emotional support besides themselves. This too, was to be taken away as Akira and Nao's mother tragically developed cancer while Nao was still in school and Akira not yet beginning his life as a working adult. Her death is heralded by the sudden onslaught of rain, which brings not only the moment she has departed from their lives, but the moment the Kasuga Group re-enters it in the form of Kasuga R& C president Kyouya Hyougami.

The onslaught of rain is relentless as Hyougami appears again and again to assert the will of Akira and Nao's father, Jun'ichirou Kasuga. Forcibly brought to the Kasuga estate, Akira and Nao are not only suddenly brought into the Kasuga family fold, but find themselves acknowledged as their father's second and third heir. Shock and surprise await them though as they discover half brother Yuuichirou is confined to a mental hospital, and elder half sister Kyouko seems to be the lover of Hyougami. Love and affection from the family is most definitely not forthcoming as once succession has been arranged, the boys find themselves shuffled off to an apartment elsewhere in the city. It soon becomes apparent though that their lives are definitely controlled by their father , as everything that ties them to their past lives is consumed by the Kasuga group. Even Akira's new job is subverted and he finds that he is powerless against his father's efforts to crush the past regardless of the many innocent people involved. Lacking any financial or political clout of his own, he finds but one hand extended to him in the pouring rain: Hyougami's. But at what price and for what reasons?

Yuuya's Endless Rain is a pretty to look at drama with many layers of emotion running through it and filled with suspense. Jun'ichirou Kasuga is a fairly unlikeable man and a bit of an enigmatic character. Seemingly cold and uninterested in his mistress and their children, he nonetheless crushes the ties she and the boys had to the world as if re-inventing his family's past while at the same time, holding them at arms' length and using his children as pawns for more money and power. Hyougami is likewise a cold figure that is hard to warm up to, though charismatic in his own way as Akira finds out. Layer upon layer of secrets and deceit are piled one upon the other in a tale of love and betrayals. It seemingly comes out right in the end, but does it really? For we end up knowing a few things that Akira never does, and it leaves us to ponder the true nature of his beloved. Still, as Nao says, as long as he is happy, and he is. The reader is left with the sun shining, with the allegorical yet actually physical rain ended. Perhaps, this too signals a change within the hearts of the two dark hearted men in the story. One looking to towards a bright future with his beloved, and the other treasuring a simple life with family. Let's hope so.

Rated an 18+, it features graphic sex and violence, so not for the faint hearted or shy. It is available as both a paperback edition as well as in Kindle format, so one has a great choice on how to read this. I'm impatient, I must admit. If I buy a dead tree copy and it is also in kindle, I also buy the Kindle edition so I can start reading it in under a minute. The resolution of DMP's offerings are crisp and clear when read on my PC using the free Kindle app, and likewise when read on the I pad, so it just feeds my greed. Having now ordered the Kindle version of this title, I can tell you that this offering is no different. Now I just need to buy a Kindle and its cover so that I can hold this in my hands like a "real book" when out and about (I hate taking my dead tree books out of the house in case anything happens to the paper pages or the cover).

Downloaded the sample but the text is so blurry and small on the standard size Kindle 3 that I deleted it right away.