Junjou Island written by Sunahara Touko and illustrated by Natsume Isaku

Junjou Island by Sunahara Touko (author of another favorite book of mine, Seventeen Drops) and illustrated by Natsume Isaku is a delightfully ridiculous light-hearted comedy I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It's not quite crack, it's just...retarded. In the best possible way, at least in my opinion. I could not put this book down the first time I read it, zipping through it at breakneck speed so that I could get some sleep. I finished with a big grin on my face and went to bed not regetting (much) how awful the next day was going to be--I figured I'd be planting my face into the keyboard when I'd inevitably nod off... I wasn't even too stressed the next morning when I woke up late and had to rush to get to work on time--I had forgotten to set the alarm clock in a post-reading daze of happiness, apparently.

Sakiyama Kouhei, a 20-year-old college student, has two big problems. First, he can't leave the island he was born and raised on. Every single time he tries to get off, the weather turns really bad really quickly and prevents him. Second, he has a "stalker." Hinase Ryo is the rich, good-looking, completely clueless "prince" of the island who has been in love with Kouhei for the last 11 years. Nothing Kouhei does (including having girlfriends and telling Ryo that he does) clues Ryo into the fact that he doesn't like Ryo, thanks to Ryo's selective hearing/seeing/comprehension and unbelievable optimism (I love to use the phrase "magical thinking" to describe Ryo's mindset). Kouhei ends up doing things like tricking Ryo into running errands to make him go away for a while. As anyone with even a passing aquaintance of BL would know, this story is about how things (finally) change between the two of them.

While I may squee about this book, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it willy-nilly. To me this story falls into the same category as Kodomo no Hitomi or Yome ni konaika, in that it is a patently ridiculous story that you kind of have to "buy into" to enjoy (if you don't, you may end up irritated and frustrated). Personally, it kills me with its silly child-like sweetness. It is overflowing with a kind of earnest, pure fairy-tale quality. Neither of the main characters nor the story irritated me, even when they ran into some fairly cliched (or really retarded) roadblocks to happiness. I found this combination of earnestly hetare seme + earnestly clueless yet devoted uke a winner, all around. I was laughing with/at/for them for most of the book, while still being touched/saddened at the apppropriate times.

( the summary )

( the pics )

( the omake manga )

"Ryoute Ippai" by Suzuki Shoko is the ending from one of the Arlsan Senki OVAs and a lovely, lovely song. I thought it was appropriate for this book because of a) the image of an armful of flowers and b) the lyrics in general--so sweet and about always being together! Download the song here and check out the lyrics here.

fics that ache

Two excellent if painful fics I read today:

a closed book by sesame_seed, Initial D, Takahashicest and Keisuke/Takumi. I don't even care for Takahashicest (in that I don't really slash anyone in Initial D, but those two the most out of them all) but...wow.

Flower by prillalar, PoT, Ryoma/Kaidoh. Another pairing that's not really my thing, but...wow.

I love fics that make me believe, if only just while I'm reading them.