Customer Reviews

Love Mode, Vol. 1 (Yaoi)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Izumi is waiting for a blind date to show up when he's approached by Takamiya Katsura, another man. Initially angry, Izumi decides to go out with the guy figuring that since Takamiya's paying, he may as well have some fun. After having way too much to drink, Izumi wakes up in Takamiya's bed, naked with Takamiya on top of him. Turns out Takamiya hired a male escort named Izumi from a discreet, exclusive club. However, that Izumi couldn't make it and the other Izumi got mistaken for the male escort.

What follows is a cute story of a boy coming to recognize his sexual orientation, and his feelings for another man. There are some explicit sexual scenes, but as in most Japanese comics of this type, the nether regions are only implied, not drawn in. Izumi reminds me of myself when I was coming out, so I tended to feel for the guy.

While the future volumes won't always center on Izumi and Takamiya, it was enough to make me want to read another volume.

The only thing I dislike is that the copyright page does not give credit to the translator. I like to know who does the translation of what I'm reading, and having it missing was annoying.

Still, it was good yaoi. I look forward to Volume 2.

Having read the complete Love Mode series, I am proud to say that Love Mode is one of my favorite mangas. I cant wait till the other volumes come out so that I can buy the whole collection! Yuki Shimizu does an absolute wonderful job with not only the art, but creating the plot and story. Love Mode is a twist and tangle of such sad sweetnesses (it is most definitely a tear jerker). Not to mention, the complex character development and surprises left me in wonder. I would whole heartedly recommend this to anyone who's interested in completely drowning themself in the stories and lives of the characters of Love Mode.

*Please Note That This Manga Has A Reaccuring Homosexual Theme. But do not let that hinder you from diving into a brilliant series!

I've been a huge fan of Love Mode for the past few years, and I can tell you that even in Japan it's still popular enough to be kept on the store shelves when so many yaoi series disappear into the out of print void. That said, the first time I read it I wrinkled my nose a lot - the main characters in vol. 1 aren't quite my cup of tea. I find high school-Izumi to be really closeted and whiny, and as someone else said, Takamiya comes off as too good to be true (although I think when you actually look at what he does in the book it's clear that he's not quite an angel). However, as other reviewers have pointed out, once you're past this initial introductory volume, the author really finds her footing and starts producing some of the best work in yaoi manga.

The series tells the story of the relationships between a set group of characters: Izumi and Takamiya in this volume; escort club owner Reiji and Naoya, a high school student living on his own after his family died in a car crash; Reiji's brother Kiichi, a doctor, and his manservant/lover Haruomi, who have their own troubled pasts to contend with; sickly escort Izumi, the hot guy next door and the lonely old man who brings them together; and a trip into the past with the story of Reiji and Kiichi's &@#*^! father. This is one of the only manga I've read that has actually made me cry - the author has a gift for drawing heartbreaking expressions and loves to prove that everything can get worse before it gets better, but she usually provides a happy ending after all the pain.

By the 11th and final volume, I think you'll find it hard to dislike any of the main couples in this series. Even whiny Izumi and Takamiya, who I thought I'd never want to see again after volume 1 get better - check out volume 4's bonus chapter for a look at what makes their relationship tick. My favorite by the end was Kiichi - there has to be someone in the story who can get one over on Reiji, and Kiichi is such a wonderful conniving [...]. Even most of the side characters are great and memorable. While I'm a fan of yaoi manga, I won't try to pretend I like it because it's deep and highbrow, but I think that Love Mode is one of the few series out there that really balances between giving you the action you want with genuine exploration of the relationships and characters and drama. I highly recommend any fan of yaoi or relationship drama check it out, and remember to buy volume 1 and 2 at the same time so that you don't lose hope in the series from the start.

Mistaken identities, bizarre accidents and pratfalls, tragic pasts and plenty of broken hearts, and that's just for starters! Love Mode tells the story of the lives of the men involved with the classy male escort service, Blue Boy. Lovelines intertwine and cross, friendships are made and broken in this boys' love classic!

Yuki Shimizu's Love Mode is like a manga version of a soap opera. It's got tons of characters and couples all woven together to create a masterpiece. It's been a fan favorite for years, and what initially caught my eye was the fact that it's eleven volumes long. So many boys' love series are a single book, but I've always been a fan of long series with lots of character development. This is a series that really pulls you in once you start reading it; it's like an addiction where you swear you'll die from the wait to get your next fix.

Love Mode volume one is entertaining, but there's not much substance to it...However, as a long time fan of this series I can tell you THIS SERIES GETS SO MUCH BETTER! The main couple switches focus to Aoi and Naoya (and they are so completely adorable)and to the loves of several employees of Blue Boy. It's a wonderful series that's well worth your time. Volume one isn't really neccessary to understand the greater story, but it's a great, smutty entertaining read. Volumes 2+, on the other hand...are fabulous!

First impressions are usually not quite the entire story. This is certainly the case for our couple in Love Mode, and it is also true for the reader in that this is our first impression of the series, and first impressions can be quite deceiving. First impressions say this is a frothy piece of work, dealing somewhat breezily with the issues of prostitution, sexual consent, and sexuality. Like many first impressions, this would be wrong. The tone is somewhat light, but bear in mind it is told from the point of view of two very young men, whose lives intertwine unexpectedly and set forth a chain of events that topples over barriers and heals old wounds a few years in the making, in a story that actually takes eleven volumes to fully unfold. This is merely the catalyst for change; with the effect it has touching first one, then another, and another, much like the beat of a butterfly's wings triggering a typhoon somewhere far off.

Like a butterfly, the beginning seems innocuous enough. Izumi is a typical high school student who dreams of the hot hook up. He thinks he is in luck one evening when his good buddy Konno rings him up. It seems some older friend of Konno's has had her eye on him and convinces Konno to approach Izumi in order to set up a blind date. Izumi is of course excited. Older, hot, probably ready for action, his musings take him to places that those of us familiar with young adult males are well familiar with, so throwing caution to the wind, he agrees. The hook up is supposed to occur at a landmark in the local park, and Izumi is left sitting there waiting. He realises he knows absolutely no details about the person he is to meet; bar the fact they are hot and older. Pondering this lack of foresight, he is interrupted by the screech of tyres just outside the park, followed by a young man stumbling into the park, and falling against him. The young man drops a rose, stumbles off again, and moments later, the sound of an ambulance is heard. What on Earth? Shrugging it off, Izumi picks up the rose, his thoughts returning to his pending encounter with the now late date.

Beginning to wonder if he has been stood up, Izumi is startled when a rather good looking older man stands before him, and asks, "Are you Izumi?" Oh crap, that Konno...What to do...Such an awkward situation, but he has just automatically replied in the affirmative. Nothing for it, he decides to accept the older man's invitation to go horseback riding and then to dinner, thinking he can decline later dates and save face for both of them. Sadly for him, he is not used to fine wine, and he drinks rather more than he should. Hmm...Something feels good... Rather suddenly startled by this realisation, , Izumi finds himself in bed with the suave Takamiya, who chuckles at his sudden half hearted drunken refusals, given that they occur midway through the deed, don't last but a moment, and are followed by a seemingly full act of co-operation. Izumi feels humiliated once he sobers up after, and it gets worse when Takamiya goes to leave money by the bedside. WHAT?! It seems Takamiya was expecting to meet a different Izumi, a high class male escort working for a place nicknamed the B and B (short for Blue Boy). The same young man in fact, who stumbled into the park after a traffic accident, and dropped a rose. Horrified, Takamiya does not know what to do. He thinks he has actually fallen for THIS Izumi, yet he has done something pretty unforgivable. Will Izumi come out of this with his mind and heart intact? Does Takamiya truly love Izumi, and if so, how does Izumi truly feel?

Overall, I quite liked this story, but my first impression of it was that it was a rather lightweight piece. This was an opinion I revised after reading the succeeding volumes, and came back to this one to have another look because the remembered overall feel of this piece felt different from all the rest. Takamiya is at first glance a man with dubious friends and his involvement with prostitutes seems at odds with the persona he shows. We only get glimpses of who he really is, as we only get to see him through Izumi's eyes, and Izumi is only just getting to know him. Izumi's assumptions about love, life, and just who he himself is are all sorely tested as he learns that despite being 17, he is not nearly as wise about the world as he imagined himself to be. There are elements of pathos in the form of the other Izumi, who harbours an unrequited love and lives the life of a high end call boy, and humour in the form of Aoe Reiji and a box of chocolates. I have to admit that the scene with the chocolates was one of the funniest I have ever seen. Children, don't be greedy when a man from the underworld offers you complimentary chocolates from his brothel. And if you DO take them, carefully read the print. That word aphrodisiac before the word chocolate does NOT refer to how high quality the chocolate is, but rather what is inside them! I don't know which was funnier, Izumi's reactions after blindly eating them all, Aoe's own surprising naiveté at giving them to Izumi as an apology, or Takamiya's response.

The panel work here is exemplerary. Each page is full, but not too busy, nor filled with excess "space" in the frames. It's fun to look at as well, as each frame is not merely stock rectangle after stock rectangle with the occasional long rectangle overlay, but cut up into triangles and other shapes, so that the frame itself complements the action going on within, and laid out so well that the eye experiences no confusion as to where to look next. Nor are the panels squeezed in for side bar chats with the author. There are little messages from the mangaka, don't get me wrong, but she has thoughtfully placed these between chapters and kept them brief. We don't get to hear about any pets or neighbours, or what she had for breakfast, but we do get treated to thanks for any letters that were sent to her (they love fan mail, so write one, stamps to Japan are NOT that dear!) and other things relevant to the actual manga. These little notes are accompanied by mini character profiles, adding that "little bit more" dimension to our characters.

Having read the succeeding volumes, I can say that we get to know the characters quite well, and that the storyline substantially improves and deepens quality-wise as the volumes pass, so it is well worth sticking with.

I read this series over and over and over... especially 1-6. But first the warning - by means of an analogy - if you were a Trekie (Star Trek fan), you may dress up as a Vulcan and go to conventions but you know that it does not exist, right - the same is true for the formulaic seme/uke blurred lines of informed consensual sex. Also be advised that this series delves into what looks to be very young persons engaged in acts with the more mature. That is a staple of the genre and I do cringe every once in a while when the supposed high-schooler looks 12 or 13. They also accentuate the older characters by making them disproportionately larger in comparison to the young men/boys.

However, that being said, this is fantasy folks... like how Trekies can see Vulcans, Klingons, phasers, etc. as real constructs of an imaginary world, by and large, the yaoi world is a parallel universe that sort of looks like ours but functions in a totally different way. The idea that coerced sex and even non-consensual sex is mitigated by love is a yaoi staple. In the yaoi world, all hansom men are either gay or straight but willing to have sex with persons of the same sex if it is for love. If you cannot go along with these and the other odd formulas of yaoi... then don't go near this series since Love Mode touches on all of them. This is a quintessential hard BL/yaoi series. In this series, the plotline is driven by sex, desire, and physical intimacy... there is love too, but not much of the doe eyed "I love you" and holding hands and snuggling is enough for me type of relationship.

Unlike the soft and sweet yaoi/shonen ai types of manga, where sex is the culmination of hidden feelings; misunderstandings; or suddenly stumbling over love, etc. the men of the series are after sex and relationships and are actively pursuing it. The objects of their desire are younger - usually demure, passive types that are coaxed, cajoled, and seduced into relationships and "true love." An interesting concept, since it revolves around the B&B - a high priced gay escort service.

The first volume is no exception. Izumi is mistaken for a high priced call boy and his john, the ever sweet Takamiya fetes him to a nice day horseback riding, dinner and drinks... so far so good - Izumi is having an unexpected good time. But after drinks, the tipsy Izumi finds himself in bed with Takamiya (sweet during the day, but a demon in bed). After a night of passion, the mistake is realized - the actual call-boy was hospitalized and Izumi was picked up instead. But the feelings of Takamiya (the john) for Izumi persist and active pursuit of this young lad who says he hates gays ensues. The wooing of Izumi is the focus of this volume. As much as Izumi pushes off Takamiya's advances (literally and forcefully), he still finds himself being more and more by his side (shopping, eating, long drives, napping together, etc.). Izumi has to make up his mind - does he like Takamiya's attention or does he actually like Takamiya himself; a scary thing to admit for a "straight" teen who hates gays.

Love Mode has been my favorite series for a long time now. I was excited to hear it was brought over. I admit the first volume isn't the best. While I'm not a great fan of the Takamiya and Izumi pairing it is fun and interesting to watch Izumi come to the slow realizatioin that he's gay. (I'm still amused about his image of gay men) (pg. 45) This is not a one shot smut manga. You have to be into Love Mode for the long run as it follows different couples in their struggles. Some with happy ends and some in heartbreak. Possibly what I love most aboud Love Mode. ^_^. I wish they'd make an anime out of it but oh well...Biblios dropped off the face of the earth ;_;

This is more of a hardcore BL series than a softcore yaoi. It's almost like watching a soap opera with no female characters.

The art style in the series changes over time. In book one it's clear that the mangaka's strong points are clothing, hair, backgrounds, & hands. The faces are well drawn, but the eyes & eyebrows make everyone look hideous, with the ecception of Aoe. Skip ahead to the last page of book 8 & you see that that problem has been resolved.

This is an angsty series, & yes it does have many of the same elements as Gravitation. The story is thouoghly enjoyable & I hope it gets translated.

Lest there be some confusion, I *do* enjoy yaoi manga, and am aware of the formulas used in many storylines. When handled respectfully and not candy-coated, it's fine. "Love Mode" sadly,

opted for the candy varnish.

Artwise, it's a pleasant book. Its style reminds me rather of Kizuna. The artwork is detailed without being too intricate or tone-heavy, and the lettering is legible. The characters--all of them--are attractive, as would be expected of a yaoi title. Some, like Izumui's mom, are even amusing.

My problem with "Love Mode" rests with its plot device. When I picked up "Love Mode," I was expecting a sort of "comedy of errors," due to reviews.

What I wasn't expecting was sex with *very* questionable consent, not just once, but *twice* and the use of intoxicants with a minor both times. There's a word for that, and it isn't love. There's also a semi-graphic assault that gets glossed over as 'no big deal'. More attention is paid to colds and minor injuries than these assaults.

But I gave it a chance--volumes one and two. I liked the high school Izumi, B&B's Izumi...well, I was underwhelmed. Takamiya had me rather baffled--the non-con being the gateway to Great Love plot device is one even bad soap operas don't use anymore. It's *creepy* for a mature, professional man to be intimate with a protesting high school student, realize his mistake, then decide it's okay because he's in love.

Aoe irritated me. He runs the club (let's be blunt and call it what it is: a fancy brothel), dislikes it, but is honoring his dead father's wish by peddling flesh. Pin a medal on him. Naoya is probably the most realistic, sympathetic character so far.

I understand this serious is supposed to be romantic, about how love can be found and cherishedm whatever one's background or situation. But is it *really* necessary to introduce such serious topics like the sex trade, consent issues, and then downplay them like they're supposed to be funny, or not important in the Grand Scheme of Romance?

*Surely* it's possible to tell a yaoi love story, that there are enough roadblocks and difficulties for a same-sex couple to overcome without resorting to this--or at least, without flinching away from the consequendces.

I honestly don't know if I'll continue with "Love Mode." Twice-burned...