8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty Good!, October 22, 2007
This review is from: Hate To Love You (Yaoi) (Deux) (Paperback)
Hate to Love You is Makoto Tateno's very first BL story. Tateno previously only wrote shojo manga (manga for girls), but her transition into boys' love (BL) territory is seamless. She is also, even in one of her older works (10 years old, in fact), a fantastic artist and just gazing upon her drawn characters is a pleasure.
As mentioned already, this story is set up like a BL version of a "Romeo and Juliet" story, only without the tragedy at the end. Masaya Konoe and Yuma Kazuki are the eldest sons of rival real estate companies who just happened to grow up in neighboring estates, divided by a river so that they could never truly be together as friends (or otherwise). As rivals in high school their true feelings for one another become known and their "hatred" for each other ignites into an equal amount of passion. It is relatively cute and no one really gets hurt, except for the one time Akiko, the daughter of another rival real estate company and neighboring estate that Yuma and Masaya are "fighting over," slaps Yuma (one of my favorite moments in the book).
It seems clear that the story was originally designed to be a one-shot (one short story) and it stands alone just fine, but either its popularity spurned on more chapters, or Tateno just couldn't leave the characters alone after that one taste of them and enough was eventually written to fill most of an entire volume (plus an unrelated side-story). In any event, the second and third chapters of the main story in the book are a testament to Tateno's thoroughness in writing character background, motivation and plot resolution. This one book satisfies just about every question or desire you might have concerning these characters (or at least did for me).
If you're looking for graphic bits, Tateno seems to have always been reserved, starting all the way back with this, her first BL title. Yes, there are love scenes and yes they are well drawn and appropriate, but they are not excessively erotic or graphic. I personally love her style and if you have read any of her other BL works this book is on par with them in that department.
My actual favorite part in the book is the postscript. I may be biased because Tateno is one of my favorite mangaka (artists of manga), but I absolutely love her postscripts because she is incredibly candid, humorous and often surprisingly informative. In the postscript for this particular manga volume she discusses an incident she had with her editor concerning a specific panel on a page in the main story. Her editor told her that women in BL manga are extranneous and her choice to show a close-up of Akiko was unnecessary and asked a horrified Tateno to make her drawing of the woman smaller. It's interesting because we get an insight into the mindset of the industry and the ways in which it treats female characters, something Tateno has strived against in many of her BL works. Women are normally demonized or marginalized or under-developed, but, in like many of Tateno's manga, Akiko is anything but two-dimensional and anything but a villain (she actually helps Masaya and Yuma get together). It's something about Tateno that sets her apart from many of her contemporaries and something I love about her.
The only part of the manga I would warn about is the extra story. It features a teenaged boy who becomes infatuated with his adult neighbor and the stalking that goes on and quite disturbing outcome for him in the end. It doesn't exactly have a positive or romantic resolution and might turn some readers off.
Deux Press' localization is pretty good, at least on par with other BL/yaoi manga translations. The language certainly flows well and doesn't seem to be too "Americanized," although the usage of honorifics seems to have been decided against (although I've noticed in a number of Tateno's works this does not seem to be a problem as she often doesn't have characters address each other formally). I'm over-all satisfied with the work, which suggests good things for this new publisher of niche genre manga in future endeavors.
In all I would highly recommend this title to any current fans of Makoto Tateno's works and would also recommend it to those who are fans of BL or who are new to or interested in the genre. The short, one-volume nature of the story is a good taste in the lighter side of the genre (with the exception of the side-story) and can be added as a compliment to one's existing collection or serve to help begin one's BL manga collection.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Tale of Love and Rivalry "Romeo and Juliet" Style...only Yaoi ^_^, September 12, 2007
This review is from: Hate To Love You (Yaoi) (Deux) (Paperback)
As the title entails, "Hate to Love You," is a story of love and rivalry between the two protagonists. However, rather than the same cliche Romeo and Juliet-type storylines that make up the majority of romance material today, it was nice to see the story portrayed with a "twist." "Romeo and Romeo" that is.
All the juicy parts that make "Romeo and Juliet" so famous--minus the tragic ending--are still intact. The excitement of a forbidden romance, the adrenaline pumping rivalry between the two protagonists and their families, and the external and psychological turmoil of the characters as they battle through their rivalry with, and feelings for, each other.
I am a sucker for anything forbidden that results in lots of psychological turmoil within the characters so I rather enjoyed this story even though it was set in a stereotypical plot setting. Not to mention, I am also a sucker for sappy romance stories as well ^_^
Makoto Tateno really knows how to portray serious and intense emotional states like rivalry, love/hate, and obsession in very engaging storylines.
The second story (there are two stories to this oneshot volume) deals with one of my favorite topics: love that borders on obsession / or in this case, more of a fascination/ attraction that leads to obsession.
Though the physical elements are not as intense in this novel, the examination of deep emotional/psychological states within the characters more than makes up for it. At least with these two stories, it is not all about the sex. There is a depth to the stories that, if examined deep enough, could be quite disturbing. Then again, that may be just my tendency to overthink everything.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Appealing star crossed lovers!, August 22, 2007
This review is from: Hate To Love You (Yaoi) (Deux) (Paperback)
This is Romeo and Juliet but Yaoi and minus the tragedy. The romance is engaging and I like the flashbacks to the star crossed lovers' childhood. Yuma is the cool, smart and aggressive seme while Masaya is the earnest, pure and gullible uke. They are stereotypes but this is why we read Yaoi. I find both characters very appealing as their relationship evolve from rivalry to love, interspersed with misunderstandings and doubts. I would have preferred a more dramatic ending and the sex could be more explicit. This is the mangaka's first attempt at Yaoi and she is of course the mangaka of my favorite series Yellow.
There is also a second separate short story on obsession. This one is disturbing even without any explicit sex.
Her artwork is clean lined and pretty, with such vivid facial expressions. Please to add this to my collection.
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