Customer Reviews

J-Boys By Biblos (Yaoi)

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

 

 

I initially thought this monstrosity was actually two books, but discovered it was, instead, one very large `anthology'. Another difference between this and other manga was the paper quality and the ink used. The paper felt rougher and they used different shades of ink to differentiate between each story. I rather liked that it felt as if I had picked it up at a convenience store in Japan.

The positives:
The sheer number of contributions! The gems found within! Many, many artists contributed to this book. - so many, that there is a story for everyone.

The stories that I most enjoyed mainly lie within the first section of the book. The first involves a young high school student who meets an older classmate who has a...nipple fetish. Our young student seems to have extremely sensitive nipples, so I'm sure you can see where this goes. The story was hilarious, there were some very nice sex scenes and the artwork itself was top rate. Another story which sticks out in my mind involved a young artist who returns to visit his old instructor, but finds only the instructors oldest son. This story had a soft and melancholy feel, the yearning the oldest son felt was very palpable, and it had a very satisfying conclusion.

Even the stories done in a slightly different art style were memorable, such as a well done tale involving ghost busters, a wimpy class president and secret true love. It read rather bizarrely and yet was very fun and cute.

The are actually two stories within from Naduki Koujima (the artist of `Out Kingdom;), one stand alone done in her usual manner and the other giving us insights into the `big secret' between Tamaki and Hiyori. I admit it, I laughed at this one even while feeling sorry for Hiyori!

If you've read `Clan of the Nakagima's', which is a great comedy, you'll be familiar with the story `Bat Baron and Robin' within, but hey, never before have you read it in pastels!

With a few of the stories I felt as if we had missed the first part of the tale, the butler story most notably, but I enjoyed them nonetheless.

And now onto the negatives:
There were a few stories which I felt weren't `Boys Love' at all. Most notably, the short shot of the man who picks up a cat who turns into a young, young boy. There wasn't any romance between them, and truthfully I didn't want there to be.

Some of the art styles and story layouts were not appealing, most notably the stories which relied upon little box after box with basically talking heads. I truthfully didn't bother reading those beyond the first few pages.

On the whole, this anthology felt like a bag of candy and left a sweet, satisfied feeling, but then I am a fan of romantic fluff, comedy and happy endings, so please take this with a grain of salt!

At $11.50 and over 300 pages, this collection is certainly a great bargain. Ranging from light BL to some kinky sex and soft Yaois, I find most of the stories pretty enjoyable. And such a wide variety too - nipples fetish, love through a portrait, childhood friends finding love in a small town amidst sadness, a wimpy president and his ghostbuster knight, lonely men with their cats pets, 2 butler brothers finding love, rabbits, a sexy one on 2 "dojos" struggling for dominance, tension release in an all boys boarding school, a training diary on the wizard and his apprentice from a cat clan. There are also some short stories from the better known DMP releases like "Our Kingdom", "Clan of Nakagamike" and "Kurashina Sensei's Passion", which gives one the chance to sample these mangakas' works.
There are a few which I wish for more like the touchingly sweet one on a lonely man with his cat pet in a house by a small lake surrounded by a forest.., the butler brothers' romance, the 2 childhood friends turn lovers and the bizzare diary of the wizard and his cat-boy apprentice.
As I am quite a "sap", I find this overall a good read.

Since there are so many artists, it's a great opportunity to see who you like and who you don't. Although my good vs. okay tally chart was 9 to 10, the good ones are worthwhile. No matter what your style, there's probably something you'll like in J-Boy. Thanks to this, I found some artists that I really love and am looking for their works. This is especially good for starting out yaoi fans who want a sample of most types of yaoi. Despite some of the filler stories, the good ones are worth the buy.

Even if it wasn't all meant to be, this was so funny. The story with spirit names, or whatever they were, was too funny. The quality wasn't very good but the laugh was.

It's a book containing a lot of manga shorts. I'll admit that some of the stories are a lot better than others, at least in my opinion, but this book gave me a lot of ideas too.

Because I got this book I now have a whole new list of artists and stories that I'm interested. It's a really nice way to sample the artists without going all out and buying their books. So, overall, I would say that it was well worth my time and money.

I picked up this manga anthology over the weekend at my local borders intrigued because I love oneshots. However when I finally cracked this bad boy open I was sorely disappointed. Don't get me wrong there was a variety of oneshots, but I just found the stories to be lacking in general. The only story I liked was the first one written by Haruka Minami. They lacked depth, and don't get me wrong I know one shots aren't supposed to be really plot driven, but still I have read much better one shots. Overall I gave it two stars because some of the stories were mildly interesting. In the meantime your better off looking elsewhere for your Yaoi fix.

This book was awesome. it had everything from sweet and fluffy to a little hard yaoi. other than one story about ken-do that was really creepy this was a great book.

The first half of this book is a fun, interesting read. But the second half descends into almost uninterpretable joke and cat-boy stories. In fact, the very first story is so hot and charming that it sets the bar too high for the rest of the volume to reach.

But I do agree that for the price, you won't be able to sample a wider range of yaoi stories. I don't regret the purchase.

I was highly anticipating this anthology. I love love LOVE oneshots. So I was definitely looking forward to the release of this anthology and I wasn't disapointed. I can't say I love all the stories but I certainly enjoyed more than half of them! YAY! I hope we have many J-boys in the future! Great job!

Though it's not as sappy as "Little Butterfly", the short stories from the "J-Boys" manga have a very sweet & silly mood to them. Innocent romance and/or cuddly friendship will often overpower the more intriguing development of sexual tension. Unfortunately, some of the stories have a rather abrupt ending, leaving off at the most compelling moment of sensual/romantic progress.
Also, it doesn't have many adult themes in it, though you will find a bit of suggested erotica sprinkled throughout.
There are several stories about animals who have a human form (mostly cats), a few superhero/theif stories, and some magician storylines. However, the book isn't entirely focused on the supernatural.
As for the artwork, it's pretty average. Not bad, but none of the illustrations really stand out.
DMP has published some great yaoi titles recently, but they sometimes include removable covers that can be a bit annoying. Luckily, this manga didn't have one.
Though the storylines and artwork aren't overly impressive, the book is very thick and each story can be read in a very short time.
In other words, it might make a good bathroom book.
Happy Reading!
Micari
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