Customer Reviews

I'll Be Your Slave (Yaoi)

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

 

 

I find this one original and very enjoyable, and simply hilarious. Gone is the demanding seme. Instead we have Moriya the perfect slave to his beautiful uke.

Moriya is desperately searching for the perfect model for his commercial. He finally finds him in one beautiful student, Ouno. Never mind that Ouno is a guy. The beautiful Ouno is used to being pampered by his adoring fan-like friends. Ouno is one cute character. He is laid back, even passive, hardly utters more than a sentence and just speaks with his eyes.

Moriya is more than besotted by Ouno and becomes an obsessive slave satisfying his quietly demanding uke's every whim. The scenes here are outrageously funny and Moriya's enthusiam as he slaves away crazily adorable. As for the sex, it may not be all revealing but it is fun as our lazy uke wants Moriya to do all the work. Watch out for the one in the bathroom.

The plot turns serious when Moriya's rival since school days and now working for a competitor appears. Misunderstandings ensue and I find a certain development a trifle disturbing. The ending parts are well done and I love the reconciliation between the 2 lovers.

There is a separate short story on 2 childhood friends which is pretty amusing too. One of the characters is prone to violence and could only be pacified by his close friend but of course the feelings are more than friendship.

As for the short bonus at the end on Moriya and Ouno, it is just so funny. Never realized that an ice pack for a feverish head could be so conveniently placed.

This mangaka's artwork is pretty and lively. Notice all the interesting hands and arms movements. Get this if you want a good laugh as much as a sweet romance.

...I'm gonna be the fly in the buttermilk here.

I'm the type of person who'll read the side of cereal box if nothing else is handy, but "I'll Be Your Slave" couldn't even hold my interest through a first read. It's not that I don't like Miki Araya's work--"Yome ni Konaika?" had me laughing out loud--but this particular volume seems lackluster in all respects. The story, characters, humor, and art are all strictly by the numbers. Not bad, mind you, just tepid. (Can one say "exceedingly tepid"?)

Because this is a gag manga, it would be unfair to criticize it in terms of plot or character development, since neither is important, or even necessary, to the genre. So I won't. But the problem with gag manga, and especially with gag manga built around a single joke, is that if you're not amused by the joke, it doesn't have much else to offer.

However, I'm clearly in the minority here, so if you're looking for something soft and fluffy, and easy on the eyes and the brain, you might want to follow the other reviewers' recommendations.

Moriya works for an advertising agency and he is searching the perfect model for a perfume company. Told be truth, lately Moriya has lost interest in his work, and he is not only searching for a model, he is also searching for a purpose in his life. And when he sees Itsuki, he knows to have found both.

Itsuki is a spoilt young man, almost apathic. He does very little in his life, everything seems to tired him and he speaks even less. But he is perfectly beauty. He almost shines for how beauty he is. And Moriya decides that Itsuki will became his whole life: he will be Itsuki's slave, for all he wants. Itsuki is a strange character: he seems to not be affected by the people around him and to not care for nothing, but he sees everything and even if he doesn't speak, his presence is loud and strong. For how much Moriya works, it's Itsuki that shines in this novel.

But this leads Moriya to grew also a very possessive and protective attitude toward Itsuki, and with it will arrive also jealousy from co-worker and other people around.

The story is good, and the graphic almost linear. Maybe I'd like a bit more of continuity, sometimes I had the feeling to lost track of the event.

There is also a little story inside, The Barbaric Prince, which is almost as interesting as the main story, but pity it's very short.

I found this manga to be lukewarm, the art is fine, but the story line needs to spice up. The whole beautiful student whose request to a modeling agent in return for working as a model for his agency is for the agent to be willing to be his slave. The agent agrees happily having found a rare gem in a sea of the ordinary. Everyone thinks he's crazy serving hand in foot to this student, but he seems oblivious to all this taking care of everything even to the sexual desires of this teenager. This manga isn't my cup of tea and all though the cover implies for much more to come it ends there. It's pretty much ordinary and lacks style and appeal of other manga out there in the market. If you're still not so sure check for it at a bookstore and do a quick speed read before getting this manga. For new yaoi-comers I believe this might be a good place to start. To fans out there who've been following this genre a lot longer, look elsewhere.

It does become sweet, but at first it's a bit silly. Moriya is taken by Itsuki on sight, and goes straight out of his mind to please him. Everything he does from then on is completely overdone, it is funny. Moriya pampers and spoils the already pampered and spoiled Itsuki. It seems everyone is in love with Itsuki. Itsuki actually seduces Moriya by telling him that he is going to quit modeling for Moriya because the job makes him too tired for sex, and asks him if he would do anything to keep Itsuki would he do this? Moriya begins by saying "but, I'm a guy", and in the next page is expertly giving Itsuki just what he wants. That's pretty funny in itself, but Ugg! It was hard to like the self-centered Itsuki. He floats into a competitor's hands and right into his bed, without a second thought. He actually calls Moriya after sleeping with the guy, and Moriya finds him in bed, naked, and with an assortment of love bites. He is devastated, and realizes it's because he's in love with Itsuki. You have to guess after a while that Itsuki has been allowed to be selfish for so long that he doesn't think of anyone else until he finds himself in love with Moriya too.

The Barbaric Prince is a great little story. Kuntomo is a sweet guy who likes to rescue animals in need. Fujimaru is very handsome, quiet, and distant to everyone besides Kuntomo. He is quick to anger, and he flies off the handle untill Kuntomo calms him down. I'd love to see this story make it's way into it's own manga. The hotness potential is off the charts!

Overall, I'd say it's a good manga. Nothing along the lines of the romantic Yellow series or the fantastically hot Finder series, but good. On par with the June manga collection I've managed to read so far.

I'll Be Your Slave is... funny: I dont think it was meant to be, it just is. The story line is untypical, the uke has all the power and the seme is like a blind overly hyper puppy, which leaves a lot of room for these comedic incidents in Araya's art work i.e. excited expressions, strangely placed authors comments in the margins and motions of the human body that are just not possible-I recommend you read this when in a bad mood, cuz you'll be laughing at the end, and that you buy it used or borrow.

This is a homoerotic manga so if that bothers you, don't buy it. The story of businessman Moriya and his quest for the perfect model turns into something more when he is driven to do more than simply care for schoolboy Ouno whose looks sell products like crazy. Four chapters are collected in this series plus one free standing story about this couple. There is also a strange story about two classmates, one of whom has an anger problem, in "The Barbarian Prince". What really surprised me was the anime quality of the art, characters would get chibby and behave in silly ways to give you insight to their thoughts just like on television. That was cute. The sex isn't that explicit frankly because of Japanese laws concerning penetration and male organs.

I did not tear the shrink wrap off at the store and illegally preview it before buying it at the bookstore. I wish i wasn;t so principled. I really did not enjoy this book. It was very fluffy. And not in a good way. The art was too angular and two dimensional (yeah, I know it a comic but i like some semblance of reality). The story was silly and the dialogue just plain lame. I enjoy more "feely" (not emo, please) yaoi like 'same cell organism', 'Lovers and souls' and 'constellations in my palm'. Or "fleshier" ones like 'Dog style' and 'I'm not your stepping stone'. This one just didn't make the grade. Tear off the plastic wrap and preview this to make sure the humor is to your liking before forkin' over your hard earned bucks.