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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Full book story, March 1, 2009
I've seen a lot of work from this mangaka hitting US publication lately, and I have to say, this is probably the best of them in terms of plot *and* art. "His Arrogance" is a book-long story about the young, earnest Ryou, helping out at his famous model brother's modeling agency, and Kazuto, a supremely arrogant model who takes a liking to Ryou.
Ryou's brother, Tomohito, and Hisashi, Tomohito's lover and a fellow model, both appeared in a short story in "Falling Into Love", also released by 801 Media, but you don't really need to have read that story to enjoy this one. Ryou adores his older brother, and vice-versa, which is what drives most of the conflict between all four men featured in "His Arrogance".
Generally, the appeal of Takashi Kanzaki's work is in the art and all the adult scenes her books contain. Her plots tend to be rubbish and her characters all one-dimensional with little motivation given for their actions. But the mangaka steps up her game in "His Arrogance". The story still has lots of well-done adult scenes, but there's more plot here and the main characters are...well, at least 2.5-dimensional. I'm not saying this is a work of staggering genius, just that, compared to Kanzaki's other books published in English, this one is a step above the others.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Arrogant or Merely REALLY Fed Up?, July 15, 2010
In Falling into Love (Yaoi) we met Hisashi who got into modelling thanks to his hero worship of Tomohito. In "His Arrogance", we get the flip side of the coin. Let me introduce to you high school senior Kazuto. He too becomes a model for Tomohito's modelling agency, but hero worship has nothing to do with it. He doesn't want to become like Tomohito, he wants to surpass him and have him sit at his feet. Add in the fact that he is classmates with Ryou, the younger brother Tomohito has a doting complex over, and the fact that jealousy over the closeness the brotherly pair share is not a huge surprise. Ryou too adores his older brother, and in fact lives in the same dorm. Ryou's part time job after school is looking after the models at home, which gets hi the affections of all there. With an arrogantly selfish guy like Kazuto, this is a challenge. He won't let anyone else sty close to Ryou, and he intends to fully usurp Tomohito's place in the world, and not just in modelling. Ryou best get his heads out of the clouds, because the attentions are serious!
The sequel to "Falling Into love" focuses on the younger brother this time and his interpersonal relationships with his classmates, brother, and other models. It is a light hearted romp with a much different feel than the first volume however. The first volume had two dynamic protagonists, and sadly we don't get this here. What we get is a rather sweet, naïve sort of boy whose air headedness an lack of self awareness stands in strong contrast to his capabilities as a housekeeper, cook, and general modelling assistant. He is a likeable character though, with a sunny and generous disposition that raises a smile.
Kazuto is his polar opposite. Often sullen, scheming, and seemingly selfish, he is rather hard to empathise with at first until we come to understand that he too is a man obsessed with Tomohito, as Tomohito is the bane of his existence. Ryou, the object of his affections, is oblivious to the great importance of anyone BUT Tomohito. Tomohito the talented, Tomohito the cool, Tomohito...Kazuto's big pain in the butt. To gain Ryou's actual full attention, he decides he must topple Tomohito from his pedestal, and this is the crux of all his behaviour. Anyone who has been in the company of an obsessed fan can relate...the talk is non-stop Tomohito!
The plot is a bit more formulaic than her first offering in this short series, but her spin on it is still decidedly refreshing. I quite enjoyed how her stories show the tedium of the actual modelling job that is quite separate from the snippets of glamour the industry peddles. Likewise, the cut throat nature is well portrayed, something that no doubt will strike a chord with viewers who watch such shows as "Top Model". With Ryou torn between helping his friends succeed in the modelling world while supporting his brother as THE top model, what happens as he grows up and realises that loyalties can get torn when one must choose between a beloved brother and a lover? Is Kazuto going to be out of luck, and will Hisashi have to put up with being the third wheel in his relationship with Tomohito? Stay tuned, as these models are anything but as cool as they appear; their inner flaws are exposed and explored with great delight.
While the story may not hit the same extraordinary high notes that we got in the first volume, the art certainly does. Once more we get crisp clean lines that readily impart the elegance of her models as well as the sweet boyish innocent charms of Ryou. Her prose is definitely as polished, flowing almost conversationally so that the reader is engrossed immediately upon reading the very fist page. This is just as well, as it is a longer tale than the first, and this volume does not contain any filler manga tales to bulk it out. This is, like its predecessor, an imprint of Digital Manga's 801 Media line, so carries an 18+ rating due to very explicit sexual content. The sexual situations are natural progressions of the plot however, so not there for mere titillation. You do however, get quite the eyeful, so if you tend to be shy about these matters, this is definitely not one for you.
***I'd like to thank Digital Manga Publishing for providing me with this review copy.***
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love Takashi Kanzaki, October 5, 2009
Although Love and Alpha is my favorite of Takashi Kanzaki's works that are available, I really liked this one as well. Her artwork is always great, and there are always gratifying explicit scenes. This story is set after Falling Into Love, although you really don't need to have read the previous book. I know the story is about Ryou and Kazuto but it would have been nice if there had been more then one tiny scene between the previous two characters, Hisashi and Tomohito. I also don't think Hisashi was portrayed that well, he seemed totally different as opposed to how he was in the first book.
As I mentioned in my review of Falling into Love, I really liked the short stories at the end. I was kind of expecting it this time too, but it was all about Ryou and Kazuto. Because of this, or maybe just because I was expecting it, the story seemed to drag on a little at the end. But still, I think it's head and shoulders over many yaoi books out there. I really hope we see more from Takashi Kanzaki in the future!
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