Customer Reviews

Poison Cherry Drive

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

 

 

Those looking for steamy sex or sweet romance probably won't like this one. Poison Cherry Drive is more the crazy humor style of Gravitation, Bobobo Bobobobo, or Excel Saga. There is a plot, but it exists not to tell a story as much to bounce ideas off. An internet site offering free service to gay men or those who want to try that side of life offers to do anything for those applying if they are accepted. We get a boy who was raped seeking revenge on his rapist, a boy wanting to shut the site down, another young man seeking to humiliate his rapist, and a businessman who suspects he's gay. The young men running the website are insane from President Iida (one most desiring virgins, yet always getting "poison cherries") to Vice President Takano(who can't get anyone's name straight & believes he's 94 yrs old) to Gofer Kenny Boy (apparently straight with no memory past 2 yrs ago)first victim/client of the book Nihongi is cast into the middle of this crazy crew to work off the debt of his revenge. I laughed so often & had so much fun it really didn't matter that we don't really "see" anything. It doesn't quite reach the insanity of Gravitation, but it comes close enough.

I bought this manga because I love the artist's other works, but this story resembled little to nothing of the stories I am used to seeing from this mangaka. The characters were appropriately good-looking and uniquely deranged in their own ways, but the plot was all over the place. There were times when the dialogue made little to no sense, and the storylines were hard, or even impossible, to follow. I don't know if this was the fault of the translators, or merely the garbled nature of the story.
Either way, I could still appreciate the humor, and the boys are as gorgeous as any of her other works. The yaoi content, however, was suprisingly light.
If you are expecting a hardcore, drama-style plot along the lines of her other works, I'd look elsewhere. Pick this one up if you're a fan of the artwork.

I loved this book, but I think it should be made clear that this is a yaoi parody--not a comedy romance like Gravitation-- It's like Ping Pong Club for yaoi readers. The art is lovely and the jokes are dirty, disturbing and so funny that I kept laughing for days afterwards.

If you have a dark and strange sense of humor then this may be just what you're looking for. If you are easily offended or want something brimming with angst then put this one down and back away slowly.

You'll either hate or love this fantastically cracktastic title. I obviously love it. When I bought it I had know idea what to expect but as soon as I opened it I couldn't stop laughing. The art is also excellent, something that I always take into great consideration before I buy manga. The antics that the characters get up to are so wacky that you can't help but laugh. Don't judge this title on the deeper aspects of story telling like plot and character development and so on. It will fail miserably. Its crack, pure crack, and one should enjoy it as such.

Words can't describe my love for this manga. It's funny, irreverent and sexy. The artwork is beautiful and Iida (the blonde on the cover)is about the sexiest thing ever. Give it a try if you are looking for something different from your typical angsty yaoi love story.

See above. This one is best described as uber warped naughty humor that will have you laughing hysterically. It just so happens that the subject of the comedy is boy sex, which just makes it oh so much better. It's not meant to make you hot, it's designed to go "Oh WTF this is some sick comic genius." In this, Poison Cherry Drive does GREAT. It takes some serious brains and talents to put together such demented stories, delicately steering clear of any waffy "true love" BS. (Well, maybe a little, but it's always accompanied by a heavy dose of the crack.)The other reviewers cover the characters and stories pretty well, but lemme say that the mangaka knows exactly what she's doing. Her guys have plenty of beauty shots but can make the weirdest expressions of disgust/shock/insanity at the best moments. The sex is pretty darn graphic, but is so hilarious at times you should really consider them as a means of delivering the wacky climaxes. This is something really different and really new, and anyone who's getting a bit tired of the same "we're so cliched but SO serious!" yaoi routine will find this breath of fresh air.

I've loved Modoru's work in Japanese for years, so I was thrilled that something of hers was getting brought to English-speaking audiences. But... why this? Why not the stunning, terrifying, orginal gothic drama Shiikugakari Rika? Why not the humor and subtle meta-criticism of Koi ga Bokura...? I suppose Media Blasters picked the shorter and smuttier-looking of her titles, but good grief -- Poison Cherry Drive is (IMO) her worst work. There's no plot, no characterization, and the humor is... unfortunate. About the only thing going for it is Modoru's gorgeous artwork, which I can never get enough of... but which isn't enough to make me pay this much money for the book.

To Media Blasters: here's a clue about women. We need more than pretty pictures. Eroticism works best for us when it isn't boring and stupid. Please bring over Modoru's less stupid, more interesting work.

i bought this at a discounted price from a friend who warned me on the nonsensical plot, but--like a fool--i ignored that in light of it being what it was. some of the art is delightful, and there were certainly aspects of the manga that i truly liked, even loved, but the hard-to-follow plot and dialogue made it difficult for me to find much appreciation for the book as a whole.

there are very few manga that i've read and wished to get rid of, but this is one of them. once reading it, i have no desire to keep it around for a second run-through (as i'm apt to do for most others i own). problem is...who do i foist it on?

take my advice: don't waste a lot of time or money on this unless you're an avid collecter of the genre.