Customer Reviews

Our Kingdom, Volume 1 (v. 1)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The beginning of the third novel was being scanlated when DMP got the license for this story under their Yaoi-Manga label.

The Book Description above is accurate, so I won't repeat it.

The first volume is a little weird. At the beginning you get the feeling that Rei hates Akira, that he considers him a pest. But Rei asks Akira to stay and they become friends.

It's a sweet little story, lots of warm and fluffy feelings.

The Yaoi doesn't happen until the second book when Akira feels that Rei is using him as a stand in for Akira's father and goes into a storage shed with Rei's nephew (complex family tree) to find out more about the man Rei (supposedly) loved. They get locked in Rei finds them, misunderstands, and tries to prove his feelings for Akira.

Besides Only the Ring Finger Knows, in my opinion (atm) this is one of the other best Manga DMP have released. It is beautifully written, the art is gorgeous and the translation is tops.
It's defiantly one of the best Manga I have read, and DMP isn't going for well-known titles and seems to more about "Quantity over Quality" so just beware of that and some of their titles, quiet like Alone in My King's Harem. All the boys in that Manga look like 8-year-old girls.
Our Kingdom stars Akira and Rei and their budding relationship, it is a comedy romance that will make any Yaoi Fan swoon. It's almost like Fake in a way but a lot cuter. In this volume the only `moves' we see are a grope and a kiss between the boys which is cute because their only fifteen and just exploring their curiosity during puberty.
Rei and Akira are two boys who are competing to become the heirs to the head of the family and neither boy wants to inherit it and so they become close.
Rei and Akira are cousins, not brothers either.
Any Yaoi Fan should pick this title up because it's so beautiful to read.

Not enough to be classifed Yaoi in Volume 1 but shows the potential in future volumes. Let's hope so. The plot has yet to be developed but the characters (the pair of potential lovers and 3 main sides) are well defined, with each having his personality and little quirks. As I look for characters more than the plot in any book, I will definitely follow this series.

This is my first review ever (so bare with me), but this is the first book that ever compelled me to write one. I'm a big Yaoi fan and I usually like the harder yaoi stuff. But, this story and the characters are so great I never cared if it got dirty or not. It's basically a rich boy poor boy story (sorta like selfish love but better) with a interesting jelousy twist. It might seem pretty basic for yaoi but I still found it very interesting. I can't wait for volume 2.

Sweet and fun are the first words that come to mind when thinking of the 1st volume of Our Kingdom-at this point I've read all 5 volumes and wait anxiously for the 6th volume due out in early 09.
The first volume introduces you to the characters and the short lived unrequited love between Akira and Rei. I love the fact that it's the sexy hunk(Rei)who's the aggressor and the nerd-now to be fair Akira is cute too, but Rei is GORGEOUS while Akira is cute. The feel of the whole script is different, in the beginning it's sort of incorrect to call it yaoi but the latter volumes more than make up for the start. I loved the quick pace of the book, all the space seems to be well used-it doesn't lag anywhere-it's truly a page turner. I'm very hard to please when it comes to a good read, but this book fits the bill, it's the right mixture of beautiful drawings, intersting prose and heart stopping intensity-it's like ice cream, when you're done the experience was both sweet and fun and very hard to describe.

WOW! SUPER GREAT! sooo funny and original! Akira and Rei forever! love triangles, angst, rich heirs to majior companies, farmboys, and a house to get lost in??!!! ten thumbs up! you'll laugh so hard when you read it! ^^

Our Kingdom Volume 1 is a fantastic book and the beginning of a great 4 part series. I own all 4 volumes and I not only adored them the first time I read them, but more importantly enjoyed reading them again later. The art is exciting with great details and interesting setting, which include a Japanese palace on the top of a skyscraper. The main characters are cute and endearing, as are the support characters. The plot is interesting, angsty, and has multiple hot situations. While there is nothing really graphic displayed, the artist makes great use of character expression and shadowing to convey what action is occurring. The great comic backdrop that characterizes both manga and anime is quite prevalent and adds a wonderful spice to the series. There is such life and activity in the work that you can almost see it playing out on a TV screen as an anime. If your into a sweet and charming Yaoi title this series is for you.

The matriarch of a filthy rich Old Family takes in her orphaned grandson Akira, and tells him that he and his unworthy cousin must compete to be the heirs of the family business. When our plucky hero tells Snooty-sama what she can do with her fortune, this wins him the admiration of his cousin, who becomes more interested in being friends than in the fortune. So far, so good!

Here is where the hugely promising story suddenly goes splat. For the cousin loses no time in revealing himself to be a obsessive and dangerous borderline-psychopath, whose idea of "love" amounts to domination and possessiveness enforced by abuse! Akira's self-respect and self-assertion suddenly go up in smoke, and we have to simply watch and endure as this once-promising kid happily submits to his new role as uke-in-training. Ugh!

OUR KINGDOM would make the beginnings of a decent Gothic Horror of the "Innocent Ingenue Trapped In Dark House With Creepy Family" genre if the author would only let the hero stand up for himself, but this does not look likely.

As it is: Depressing, a horribly dangerous influence on any young kids or dumb adults who might read it, and a sad waste of a very good idea and a very bad grandmother.


SLIGHTLY SPOILERY PS REGARDING CONTENT: Descriptions by other reviewers of the sexual content may be misleading. True, there is no sexual intercourse or nudity or even extended smooching in this volume, but what limited sexual contact does occur takes the form of 1) an attempted rape which is regarded with the same degree of moral seriousness as a mean prank, and 2) some creepy acts of sexual domination on the part of Akira's "loving" cousin towards Akira. This is not the innocent coming-of-age romance it is sometimes made out to be.

This is a cute story about a boy that meets a part of his family that he never knew existed. I really enjoy Koujima's work and I'm grateful that this story has been brought to America. If you enjoyed Selfish Love or Only the Ring Finger Knows then you will definitely enjoy this.

Naduki Koujima does it again with a great series. It never quite reaches hardcore yaoi, but that sho-ai-ness and the storyline is a great attention-getter. A great buy.