Ze Volume 1 (Yaoi) [Paperback]

Yuki Shimizu (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 2009

If Fruits Baskets was done as a yaoi manga, it might look something like this... Raizo has recently moved into a strange mansion upon the death of his last living relative. Given room and board in exchange for taking over the household chores for the half dozen residents, Raizo slowly comes to realize that the house is hiding some pretty dark secrets. Are his housequests more than what they appear? And will his attraction to the lord and master Kon prove hazardous to his health?

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: 801 Media, Inc.; 2 edition (March 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934129321
• ISBN-13: 978-1934129326
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #338,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good start to a great supernatural yaoi series from the creator of "Love Mode", April 4, 2009

By 

Brooklyner (NYC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ze Volume 1 (Yaoi) (Paperback)

Ze volume 1 is just the first one out of a fairly long series (volume 7 is already out in Japan). So, it starts fairly slow, with a lot of characters introduced, and is fairly low on "yaoi action". I've already read a few subsequent volumes in the original, and though my Japanese is quite basic, I enjoyed the series quite a lot so far. There's a good reason why 801-Media branch of DMP (which specializes in fairly explicit (M/M) yaoi titles) picked up this series as opposed to their "June" (more "softcore") brand: things really start heating up in the next volumes. My current favorites are volumes 3 and 4, which are fairly hardcore. There's a lot of non-con and rapes between major characters (NOT Raizou and Kon, though) in volume 3, for instance, and there are some strong SM undertones in the relationship between the characters there. Yuki Shimizu does shy away from drawing sex scenes with the "obvious" frontal nudity, but little else is concealed, and her art style is just plain hot and sexy. So, overall, "Ze" is more explicit / "darker" as compared to "Love Mode", in my opinion. Also, the supernatural theme is quite interesting and original (there are no "shapeshifters" in this series, and it IS quite different from "Fruits Basket", for example), and becomes much less confusing with further volumes. So, if volume 1 disappointed you somehow, I do recommend to try further volumes, as it gets more exciting. And if you're hesitating whether to buy it based one somewhat lukewarm previous reviews, go get it! :)
"801 Media" did a very good job with this edition (though, alas, no dust jacket after January 2009 for all their titles...): the translation is not awkward, no obvious typos or slips, and there's a color page, as it is usually the case with their books. I'm looking forward to their further publications of this series: volumes 2 and 3 are scheduled to appear later this year (2009).

Edit: as of December 2009, Amazon states this manga is temporarily out of stock. Don't buy it for anything over cover price from those third-party sellers. Those who sell it at outrageous prices here are just trying to rip us off. The book is still in-print, and available from Akadot as well as a number other manga-selling places, both online and offline.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant read!, June 7, 2009

By 

kaya j (U.K.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ze Volume 1 (Yaoi) (Paperback)

The story in Ze revolves around a number of characters and couples. The first volume starts when Raizou, a good natured student, starts working as the housekeeper for a rich household. It turns out that the members of the family are kotodama users, which means that they can cast spells/ curse people. Basically, using kotodama results in injury, so each user has a non-human `kami-sama', who exists to heal them. I don't really want to say too much about the plot but the story is about the different relationships around Raizou and his own relationship with Kon, a quiet, aloof member of the household.

Yuki Shimizu is definitely one of my favourite yaoi mangakas and I picked this up as big fan of her other work (including Love Mode). If you haven't come across her work before I definitely recommend it!

As with her other work, in Ze, the characters and story have a lot of depth. The artwork is also beautiful. There are quite a lot of characters in the household, which is a bit confusing at first. It took me a while to get into this series but once I got a grip on what was going on and who everyone was, it has just really grown on me. Although not completely explicit, there are a lot of hot, passionate scenes. If nothing else, Yuki Shimizu's work is always a guaranteed hot read!

The overall setup seems similar to Love Mode, in that different chapters/ volumes seem to focus on different couples. (The first two volumes are mainly dedicated to Raizou and Kon.) There are some darker themes but at the same time there are also a lot of light-hearted moments, which makes this an easy, entertaining read overall. In these volumes, Raizou, who is a very sweet, simple guy, especially breaks things up. The story between him and Kon is really moving and cute, I loved it!

Overall, this is a really engaging, hot read, with a lot of depth. If you're looking for something a little bit different, I definitely recommend it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Begining, March 30, 2009

By 

robbie (MD) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ze Volume 1 (Yaoi) (Paperback)

"Fruits Basket"??? Did I read the same manga?? I wouldn't say this is like Fruits Basket. There is isn't anything about the Zodiac and shapeshifters in at least the first volume. Raizo is taken on as a housekeeper which is about as close as it gets, again at least in the first volume.

Ze is a series of volumes with volume 1 introducing us to some of the first few. We are introduced to a lot of characters and can be somewhat confusing at first. On re-reading many of the characters are more easily recognizable. It might be helpful to list out who's with whom. The premise behind the series seems interesting, interesting enough for me to read subsequent volumes. The graphic scenes are mostly non-explicit, though there are exposed br**sts. There is some r*ape but not between two of the main characters.