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Mahiru no tsuki
Mahiru no tsuki by Ioka Itsuki and illustrated by Ebihara Yuri is the first of a series of (so far) four books about former detective Kanzaki Shuuichi and yakuza underboss Tatsumi Takeshi of Kiriyama-gumi. Shuuichi had quit the force after being betrayed and shot by his partner and had moved to Osaka from Tokyo to manage the building his grandfather had left him. He happens to meet and draw the interest of Tatsumi. Shuuichi ends up getting involved in the matter that brought him and Tatsumi together and doing some investigating, helping to bring the matter to a close.
I was a bit hesitant to read this because yakuza x detective stories tend to be full of S & M, massive machismo, and angst. And they always set up the characters as hard boiled and tough, but at least the uke turns into either uber-slut or weepy helpless heroine or some horrible combination of the two. But this one....was refreshingly devoid of those cliches. Both Shuuichi and Tatsumi are very manly and confident without being swaggering or needing to always prove their manliness. To a certain extent they understand each other and are very much equals. Tatsumi doesn't fly into fits of rage or jealousy or possessiveness, and Shuuichi never acts weak or girly, or play hard-to-get or remains in denial forever. In fact, Shuuichi is uber-manly in that he is awesomely cool and collected. He also acts like he was a real detective. I love how he knows how to read people and actually comes up with plans to get what he needs while he investigates. Tatsumi is more seemingly relaxed in that Osaka way, but he definitely is the man. And the is nothing more appealing than seeing Tatsumi go wild over Shuuichi being Shuuichi.
There are four volumes, all of them excellent. The relationship between Shuuichi and Tatsumi develop very nicely, there are real plots and the cases are pretty interesting, and there's this one really bad-ass moment in book 4 I love to reread a lot. XD Unfortunately, the publisher went bankrupt so the books are out of print right now. But according to her website Knockout Ouji, she will be publishing the next volume with another as yet unnamed publisher. Her website also has some short stories from the Mahiru no tsuki world that were highly enjoyable. XD
( the summary )
( the pics )
I almost forgot to mention that the cd drama is excellent as well. I was rather taken aback by the voices for Shuuichi and Tatsumi (Hamada Kenji and Ookawa Tohru, respectively) at first because they weren't what I was expecting, but I quickly grew to like them both.
Mahiru no tsuki by Ioka Itsuki and illustrated by Ebihara Yuri is the first of a series of (so far) four books about former detective Kanzaki Shuuichi and yakuza underboss Tatsumi Takeshi of Kiriyama-gumi. Shuuichi had quit the force after being betrayed and shot by his partner and had moved to Osaka from Tokyo to manage the building his grandfather had left him. He happens to meet and draw the interest of Tatsumi. Shuuichi ends up getting involved in the matter that brought him and Tatsumi together and doing some investigating, helping to bring the matter to a close.I was a bit hesitant to read this because yakuza x detective stories tend to be full of S & M, massive machismo, and angst. And they always set up the characters as hard boiled and tough, but at least the uke turns into either uber-slut or weepy helpless heroine or some horrible combination of the two. But this one....was refreshingly devoid of those cliches. Both Shuuichi and Tatsumi are very manly and confident without being swaggering or needing to always prove their manliness. To a certain extent they understand each other and are very much equals. Tatsumi doesn't fly into fits of rage or jealousy or possessiveness, and Shuuichi never acts weak or girly, or play hard-to-get or remains in denial forever. In fact, Shuuichi is uber-manly in that he is awesomely cool and collected. He also acts like he was a real detective. I love how he knows how to read people and actually comes up with plans to get what he needs while he investigates. Tatsumi is more seemingly relaxed in that Osaka way, but he definitely is the man. And the is nothing more appealing than seeing Tatsumi go wild over Shuuichi being Shuuichi.
There are four volumes, all of them excellent. The relationship between Shuuichi and Tatsumi develop very nicely, there are real plots and the cases are pretty interesting, and there's this one really bad-ass moment in book 4 I love to reread a lot. XD Unfortunately, the publisher went bankrupt so the books are out of print right now. But according to her website Knockout Ouji, she will be publishing the next volume with another as yet unnamed publisher. Her website also has some short stories from the Mahiru no tsuki world that were highly enjoyable. XD
( the summary )
( the pics )
I almost forgot to mention that the cd drama is excellent as well. I was rather taken aback by the voices for Shuuichi and Tatsumi (Hamada Kenji and Ookawa Tohru, respectively) at first because they weren't what I was expecting, but I quickly grew to like them both.
