Customer Reviews

Ichigenme...The First Class Is Civil Law Volume 1 (Yaoi) (v. 1)

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Ichigenme is one of the first offerings by 801, Media Inc., and judging by this release we have a lot to look forward to!

The book itself was well done, the translation smooth and easy to read and the pages crisp. The artwork is the norm for Fumi Yoshinaga, very expressive faces and a rather sensitive touch.

Our couple is Tamiya: the hard working, studious main character, a man of average income amongst wealth and privilege and Tohdou: the son of a politician, flighty and yet steady where Tamiya is concerned. Normally I would find Tohdou, a spoiled, rich kid (used to getting what he wants) annoying, and yet instead I found him to be very likable. Tohdou's character not only has a background that drew me in, but changes as a character during the course of the manga very believably. (but then so does Tamiya - mainly in his acceptance of himself.) They're relationship develops slowly throughout the manga as each character grows, and by the end I was happy with their journey and looking forward to the second volume.

And yes, this is a Yaoi offering: there are sex scenes, which were beautiful if rather carefully staged to avoid showing certain things.

All in all, a well done, well plotted story populated by believable life stories and perhaps more important for a manga reader like me: it's fun, interesting, and though has its share of angst has many sweet moments which left me with a cheerful feeling. Definitely a manga to be read again and again.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I'll admit I was a bit reluctant to purchase this volume. I've read other books by this mangaka and while they were good, I just didn't find myself quite as impressed by them as other reviewers seemed to be. For one thing, while she is a competent artist, Fumi Yoshinaga's characters faces are amazingly similar from series to series. It's like watching Gerard and Jacques with different hairstyles and hair colors live lives in different eras of time. That aside, her drawings are good and I like the fact that she's able to convey the characters feelings by their expressions. The scenes in Ichigenme in which Tamiya and Tohdou find themselves in bed together and yet exchange no spoken words are excellent.

While there is a certain amount of sex in this volume, it's never graphically displayed. Truthfully I wish it was a little more explicit but then that's just me. In my opinion it's the story that truly stands out here. It's well expressed, easy to follow and interesting. The situations are believable and I like the slowly building relationship between Tamiya and Tohdou. You won't find instant declarations of love and devotion here but a gradual understanding that grows between the two of them. I like that and I truly love this manga. I hightly recommend it and am eagerly looking forward to volume two in the series.

This university campus story is amazingly well written. It is of course stamped with Yoshinaga's trademark, i.e. her marvellous story telling skill and wry sense of humour. The mangaka has created some very interesting characters here (including female side characters). The dialogue is well written and the interaction among her characters just great. The plot itself is very entertaining and keeps me turning the pages till the end. Last but not least the emotions built-up between her two guys is realistic yet have you cheering them on. From university mates, to good friends to lovers, the evolution of Tamiya and Tohdou feelings for each other at the different stages are wonderfully captured and credible. Tamiya's coming to terms with his sexual orientation is subtly yet well expressed. Some may wish for more explict sex scenes but I appreciate Yoshinaga's style here. Her 2 guys' marvellous expressions (you just have to love those expressive eyes) and the subtle movements are tastefully done. Actually, it is pretty explicit in 2 panels when the tissue paper is put to use :).
Her artwork is of course a distinct class by itself and if you study it closely you will notice her painstaking effort in the shadings, example the casting of shadows along a walkway lined with trees.
A wonderful and engrossing read indeed and looking forward to more on these 2 lovers in Vol 2.

I bought this title just because I am working on my 801 catalogue, but it has become one of my favorite BL titles. The story and humor in this work is one of the best, with believable and down to earth characters, you don't get any of that "only in a manga" feeling in different situations. If you are looking for smex, then this is not the title, however, if you get the sequel, you will not be disappointed (her facial expressions and clean panel transitions are some of the best out there). Overall, a must have for any BL collector.
Ichigenme...The First Class Is Civil Law Volume 2 (Yaoi) (Ichigenme... the First Class Is Civil Law)

Yoshinaga Fumi once more shares a slice of life story that transcends the genre. Taking a frank look at the trivial pettiness that comes with dealing with popularity and the masses, the emotions of the very real people involved, and the everyday occurrences in a college student's life, she weaves a story of friendship, love, and life in general. As ever, her attention to the seemingly trivial breathe life and realism into the situations, her expressive drawings punctuating the emotions and moods with perfection. I was quite struck with how, once again, Yoshinaga used dialogue to convey much of what is occurring. Quite often in BL, dialogue is short, with little thought boxes helping explain things. There is a minimal amount of this, as Yoshinaga uses side characters and background dialogue, facial expressions, gestures, and situational settings to get things across.

She also breaks the mould when it comes to plot and character style. Where Antique Bakery and Flower of Life had gentle elements of comedy, this is serious drama. Tohdou may be a flamboyant rich boy who loves partying, the class may be made up mainly of irresponsible young people, the professor an amiable drinking buddy, and Tamiya an uptight and practically neurotic nerd sort, but rather than being played for laughs, they are all cross sections of people one may meet in the course of attending a third or fourth rate university funded by rich alumni who send their useless offspring there to gain a degree. Tohdou's very flamboyance masks the insecurities he hides within himself. Like Ono from Antique Bakery, he has hidden depths that rise to flash at the surface, revealing the true inner Tohdou as opposed to the public face he puts on as the playboy son of a member of the Diet. It is these inner flashes that seem to give Tamiya the most trouble, as he finds himself drawn to them.

Tamiya is uptight, rigid, and tries to stick to rules and society's expectations. These chafe him, as he encounters and befriends Tohdou, at first rejecting the often socially stigmatising reality of homosexuality, but after developing a one sided crush on a professor who drunkenly kisses him one night, he has to come to grips with something within himself that does not fit the ideal he had set before himself. Falling into Tohdou's arms for one night whilst seeking comfort, the volume follows a deeply complex set of emotions as both Tohdou and Tamiya come to grips with their very real, deep emotions, and Tamiya comes to accept his own sexual orientation. It is not a typical tale of seduction whereby once the seme has the uke in his clutches, it is all hot sex, lovey dovey, happy ever after, but a tale of emotional growth, self awareness, and romance of the purest sort. Truly standing apart from other school romance stories of any sort, Yoshinaga once more proves she is a master not only of the slice of life genre, but BL itself.