Customer Reviews

A Foreign Love Affair (Yaoi)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I absolutely loved Yamane's Finder series, and have been eagerly anticipating this English release of Ikoku Irokoi Romantan. This yaoi is very different from Finder and Crimson Spell. Finder is an action drama, and Crimson Spell a fantasy. This is definitely a romance. This manga includes two stories, the main title and a second called "Love Guide."

A Foreign Love Affair: Ranmaru has been forced into an arranged marriage by his yakuza family. Neither he, nor his bride Kaoro, are happy about it. The story opens with them embarking on an Italian cruise. Kaoro is annoyed that Ranmaru insists on dressing in traditional kimono instead of a suit. Yet, that is what attracts the eye of Alberto, the sexy ship captain. After drinking far too much one night, Ran and Al end up in bed. But, Ran is married and Al sails the seas. So, they go their separate ways. But they keep meeting unexpectedly. Then, Ran is kidnapped while trying to meet Al on land. This is where the story takes an adventurous turn. The romance is on as Al may be the only one who can save Ran.

I truly enjoyed this yaoi. It is one of those rare hard yaoi titles that also manages to build a sweet romance. The sex is explicit, and happens several times, but is also tender. Ran is desperate to be seen as a tough guy, but Al just wants to protect him. It makes for fun, angst-filled dialog between the two. The kidnapping took a surprising turn, which was dark in tone, but fit the story. It was more than just boy meets boy, which I really liked. Both characters are likeable and appealing. One thing did bother me - the story left some things unresolved. Ran encounters a former friend and now rival who is in love with Kaoro. He is involved in the plot, but just disappears at the end. And readers last see Ran and Al together. I sthis more than an affair? What about his family and wife? This yaoi really deserves a sequel, though I have read nothing about one being made.

The second story was good, though I would've preferred more pages for the main title. Love Guide: a college professor's mother hires a "love guide" to help her son find a wife. The yound man is high spirited, and devoted to his job. And he happens to fall in love with his client! Luckily for him, the professor returns the feelings. This was a short, but very sweet romance. And, Yamane once again delivers the goods when the boys consummate their love, more than once! This was an almost perfect bonus story - it was brief, but didn't short change the characters or their romance.

Yamane's art is top notch as always. Clean lines, good proportions and undeniably male characters. The scenery was quite detailed for a yaoi, and there was a nice size cast for the story. The production of the book is also very nice, like 801's other titles, with a full color dust jacket and color plate. There was an occasional typo in the translation, but nothing major to ruin the story. Overall, I highly recommend this!!

Let me start by saying that I especially like those yaoi titles in which the male characters actually look male. I think this is part of the reason why I absolutely loved Yamane's Crimson Spell, so much so that I even ordered the second volume in the series from Japan, despite the fact that I can't read Japanese! I loved it nonetheless.

And Yamane's Foreign Love Affair also has these undeniably male characters, in addition to the tender romance, the gripping story, some very funny scenes and stunningly beautiful drawings, which make this one a highly recommended read.

The manga features two stories:

-> A Foreign Love Affair
Ranmaru Ohmi, heir of a Japanese yakuza boss, has married Kaoru, daughter of a rival yakuza boss, and they're now on their honeymoon aboard a cruise ship traveling the Mediterranean Sea. It's mostly a political marriage and both are not happy about it. Thus we see Ranmaru alone in a bar, during what was to be his first night with his wife, where he meets Alberto, or Al, the Italian Captain of the cruise ship. They spend a night of passion together but go their separate ways again by morning. But while Ranmaru and Kaoru continue their trip across Italy, Ranmaru and Al keep meeting each other unexpectedly and often in situations where Al has come to the rescue.

Very good story alternating between tender romance, hot sex scenes and adventurous situations.

-> The Love Guide
Professor Hirotaka Takaoka tries to find the right woman with the help of the hired matchmaker Tohru Serizawa. After the umpteenth marriage interview Hirotaka realizes that maybe the reason for those failed interviews is the fact that he can't keep his eyes off the matchmaker.

Love Guide is a delightful story and a very sweet romance.

This book is beautiful, and any BL fan girl/boy should acquire this and add it to their permanent collection. 801-media has done a wonderful job with this title, I could only catch one or two grammatical errors, and even those were almost overlooked. The book consists of a very nice dust jacket and a color insert of the second story's couple, The Love Guide. The binding is nice and it includes a cultural reference section towards the end of the book. Overall, this is a great buy, and the quality from this publisher is still the best in the BL American market. By the way, the comic strip at the end of the book (on the dust jacket) of 801-chan is always a nice and welcome treat!!
The plot has been pretty much explained in the other reviews, so there is nothing else for me to add. If you like this item, then you will definitely love "The Crimson Spell" by Kitty Media (Volume 2 is coming out this fall, ^0^):
The Crimson Spell
The Crimson Spell 2 (The Crimson Spell)
There's plenty of "smex" in both titles and the art/story is beautiful.
Hope this rambling helps in some way, and if not... Oh, well, I did my best.

Ayano Yamane's artwork is just beautiful and her men are so gorgeous and sexy.

The main story "A Foreign Love Affair" is an engrossing romance between Ranmaru, a Yakuza's son, and Al, an Italian ship captain.
Ranmaru forced into a marriage to strenghten the Yakuza families ties is an appealing character and he sure looks alluring in his yukata. As for Al, he is such a stud and the perfect cool and sexy seme. Theirs is a amusing and sweet romance. There are some heavy and dark moments mid-way when Ranmaru is kidnapped and nearly sold off as a sex slave. Here I was afraid that the mangaka would turn this into a dark Yaoi but fortunately she didn't and the story remains romantic and sweet. But the ending does leave one wanting! A few unresolved issues. There is no doubt that Ranmaru will choose his captain but then how does it all pan out with his wife and the Yakuza families. And I would love to know more about Al's background.

The second shorter story on an anti social professor who has no time for love except work finally finding love with his male match-maker is equally enjoyable. Theirs is a fun, light-hearted, cute and equally sweet romance. And I love both characters here too.

And of course the sex in both stories are hot and sensual. A must for all Yaoi fans!

Ranmaru is the son of a yakuza boss; he married an older woman (5 years older) to please his father and the family, but he is not attracted by her and the thing is mutual. During their honeymoon, with all the family around, Ranmaru avoids to be near the woman, and he persists on wearing the traditional Japanese kimono even if his wife despised it. On the Italian cruise ship where they are, Ranmaru gets noticed by an handsome Italian man, Al, who has a deeply interested for all Japanese things, included Japanese men! The first night they meet, Al seduces Ranmaru, and the Japanese guy discovers only the morning after that Al is the captain. On the course of his honeymoon in Italy, Ranmaru ends in even deeply trouble and Al is always there to help him, only "pretending" as reward to ravish Ranmaru, a thing that the Japanese guy is beginning to appreciate...

As always the graphic is gorgeous and very sexy. Poor Ranmaru finds himself in very badly situation, and everyone around him seem to want to ravish him. But all in all this manga has a funny side and in the end Ranmaru always escapes from bad trouble almost unarmed, if not for what does to him the handsome Al.

At first Ranmaru's character is not very "feminine", and in fact it's strange that a very handsome man like Al finds him interesting. But after their first night together, Ranmaru changes, and he becomes more and more cute and pretty, both in behavior than in look.

The manga ends at the second volume, and the English version doesn't give an hint if there is a continue. I hope so, since there is still a lot more that can be said on these two characters.

Some folks here have complained that the story has left a lot of loose ends. Well, it may be because the final chapter(s) are not included with this publication! Ranmaru is confronted by his clan, Al's father is introduced (he is quite a humorous - and amorous - character; it is a shame he was left out of the story altogether), Ranmaru flips out and makes a big scene after he is being chased and groped by Gondoh, Al's father and Al, and put himself in yet another precarious position, from which he is saved once more by his blond hero! Finally the story ends with Ranmaru back in Japan drinking in a bar and Al walks through the door, much to his surprise and delight. It is such a cute ending and quite a shame it is not included. I guess I am going to have to learn Japanese just so I can enjoy my yaoi unadulterated, unabridged, and uncorrupted. (And also so that I can enjoy Volume III of Crimson Spell, because I don't think the English version is ever going to be published, /cry)

So because this publication is missing the ending chapter, I am going to have to give it 4/5 stars.

I became aware of "A Foreign Love Affair" after watching the both OVAs. Having read the online scanlations versions, I was impressed w/ the artwork.

However, I'm disappointed that "A Foreign Love Affair" is missing the last epilogue chapter, "Sweet Destiny". The last chapter, Ranmaru meets Al's father, and his wife tracks down Ranmaru at Al's estate. It's a good chapter that wraps up the story line well.

The second story for me was just filler. It's not as good as the first story. It's a cute story about a matchmaker falling in love w/ his client. It's a little on the cliched side.

I bought this book for the first story, and would normally recommend it highly but the missing epiloge lowers this volume by 1 star. Artwork is incredible, and the translations are done very well.

After waiting for a very long time for this title to become available I was at last able to purchase it! Well worth the wait! Story well put together, enough hot and heavy scenes to keep one satisfied and the story line pretty good too. Overall very happy with my purchase!

Once again, Ayano Yamane proves she deserves to be named one of the top Yaoi Artists. I did like the story but it was not as well rounded out as Finder or Crimson Spell. This really did need to be expanded into two novels.

Also, I think I must be the only person who does not like 801's extreme devotion to printing only high quality books. It has a dust jacket and the paper it is printed on is super thick. That is nice and all, but the thicker paper makes it harder to read the book without breaking the spine. I am a STICKLER for keeping the spine unbroken but with this thicker paper you can not open the book as wide and it makes the reading of the book a bit more clumsy. I almost feel guilty for stretching the book wider to get a better look at the page. You almost need that dust jacket to cover spine damage from the book being so unflexable. I also don't like dust jackets because it is just one more thing that can get damaged.

overall, I liked the content just not the packaging.

I first saw the anime version of the first part .So I was curious whats the differnce between the two.The anime took abit of liberty in changing things a little, giving the characters more depth but of course taking out the explicit bed scenes.I was surprised that the manga version was shorter.
But in the manga ,the story continued ,developing the plot and their relationship . I like that.And yes a lot of explicit sex illustrations.
Four Star because...There are times Ranmaru looks abit feminine when his hair is longer and some of his his lines is more what a woman would say .

The second romantic story about the matchmaker is ok.There is nothing deep about the charcaters but at least its not too boring.