[BL] Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai
Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai is one of Yoneda Kou's latest work and its currently ongoing. Its recently been licensed in the US by Digital Manga Publishing so look out for it in the bookstores. I usually not that much into Yoneda's work, but this one is just .... so amazing! I just find the main character, Yashiro, very interesting.
Yashiro is a yakuza whom others describe as lewd and a big masochist. He's quite a troubled human being since he seems to never experience happiness in his rather messed up life. The story starts with the prequel of when Yashiro was in high school. He had perhaps not the healthiest sex life at that time, and always wore long sleeves even in the summer to hide the rope burns. That's when a fellow classmate has noticed them and given him bandages. Which starts their weird friendship since this friend, Kageyama, plans on being a doctor and also has a very odd fetish on scars and burns. The prequel got me sucked in.
The story then goes forward in time to when Yashiro is the president of a yakuza run "finance" company. Usually yakuza wear some tacky like suits, but these guys just wear business suits. Interestingly enough the story starts with the side pairing of Kageyama and a violent boy Yashiro had his eye on. Then the focus centers on Yashiro who gets a new subordinate and bodyguard name Doumeki. They have an interesting relationship. Yashiro still maintains an active yet slightly messed up sex life and he even does it during work. He does not, however, touch his subordinates but with the exception for Doumeki as they continue to work together. Unlike any of Yashiro's partners, Doumeki is impotent. For quite a bit of the chapters we learn more about Yashiro through Doumeki as well as Doumeki himself. I won't say anymore to prevent any spoilers, but I highly recommend this BL manga! Yashiro is one of the most complex characters in fiction I've come across though I suppose that's subjective.
Yoneda's art isn't the most "prettiest" though the colored illustrations are gorgeous at times. I really do love the pacing, writing, composition, and page design. Sometimes the anatomy is awkward, but it still passes. The other characters have their charm and despite the kind of depressing explanation of this manga it has some comedy and lighthearted bits. Its just a very well done manga. I can't even recommend it enough! Oh yes, there's also a bl drama cd and a second cd is coming out sometimes in 2014. The drama cd is exactly like the manga. I'm not familiar with the voice cast, but they did an amazing job! There is like no background music. Well there is one but its the classical song Gymnopedie and nothing else which is fine by me. The tracks cover the side pairing with Kageyama and Kuga, the prequel when Yashiro and Kageyama were in high school, and up till chapter three. Each track is about 20 minutes long. Here's the voice cast list: Yashiro: Shingaki Tarusuke Doumeki Chikara: Hatano Wataru Kageyama Yasumoto Hiroki Kuga: Ono Yuuki Mizuumi: Ookawa Toru Ryuuzaki: Miyake Kenta Hirata: Takase Akimizu Nanahara: Okitzu Katsuyuki Personally I find the voice Kageyama too deep, but I no issues with everyone else. Unfortunately, Japan is not as into digital media as the US so the drama cd is only available as a phyical cd set which from what I've seen super expensive. Google search should help you easily find free downloads of it though.
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