akanai tobira by suzuki tobira

[insaneneko]

I've been enjoying Akanai tobira (The door to the closed mind) by Suzuki Tsuta. It's made up of three stories, each amusing in their own special way. Check out the blurbs of the stories at Baka-Updates. Initially, it was the cover that caught my eye. I loved the pose, the expression, the hand appearing from off screen...Fortunately the art of the manga itself was just as good--I hate it when the cover is lovely and the inside art is totally disappointing. I love how many of the characters are either expressionless or look really disgruntled...And are either wacky or actually disgruntled. The stories? Kinda threw me off at first, but after rereading them I've grown to like them. They are conventional with a bit of a twist.

It's currently being scanlated by Dangerous Pleasure...Hopefully they finish it soon so more people can enjoy it. ♥




First story is my least favorite, partly because the uke's looks really repel me. Doesn't he look...sickly? I dunno, he just icks me out. But what amuses me is that he is such a typical uke in that he gets harassed in the train and ends up pushed into sex, yet is not typical in that he totally relishes any chance he can get with the seme.

The second story is totally my favorite because the uke is hilarious! I love his harried expression:



And his embarrassed expression:



A nice contrast with his normal expressionlessness:



I love that uke had fallen for seme because the girl he liked was obsessed with the seme, and in accompanying her in her obsession he became obsessed with seme. XD And that the "princely" seme turns out to be a bit of a sadist.


The third story is just pure comedy gold. I love love love this entire scene. How does a simple "hi" turn into a blow-job in the dark? When the guy you say hello to actually has a side-job as a prostitute! His expression when he is first taken in by the other guy is...priceless. And how he runs away after he comes on the other guy's face...And the other guy can only ask, "where's the money?" XD







The rest of the story is pretty damn hilarious as well. I can't believe seme boy is a cop! How wrong is that? XD


I just realized that there's a cd drama for this manga...I need to listen to it, stat.

Comments

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

I'm amused because your reaction to this manga sounds almost exactly like mine. XD If you haven't read it yet, hand which (http://www.amazon.co.jp/hand-which-%E3%83%90%E3%83%B3%E3%83%96%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9-%E9%BA%97%E4%BA%BA%E3%82%BB%E3%83%AC%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3-%E9%88%B4%E6%9C%A8/dp/4812464625/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223984470&sr=8-4) has some really good stories, too. There's also この世異聞 (http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%93%E3%81%AE%E4%B8%96%E7%95%B0%E8%81%9E-%E3%83%93%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9C%E3%83%BC%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9-%E9%88%B4%E6%9C%A8-%E3%83%84%E3%82%BF/dp/4862630588/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223984470&sr=8-3), which I mostly like because of the secondary couple. But they're so awesome and hilarious, they totally make it worth reading the rest of the series. (I wish volume three would come out already, because that should have the chapters that focus on that couple...)

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

Heh, I'm amused to hear that your reaction was similar to mine. I wonder how many readers reacted like us? I *might* have read hand which because that cover looks really familiar, will have to check. I know I haven't read that other one...I'll stick it on my wishlist. Is the primary couple blah or just not as interesting as the secondary one?

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

It's not that I dislike the main couple...I mostly didn't like the way the story was formatted, I guess. It gets the characters together and then keeps flashing back to when they weren't really, or to the previous generation, or whatever. I dunno, YMMV.

[teletha.livejournal.com]

I loved the second story as well. The first one I thought the seme was strangely very hot with his glasses, but the uke did turn me off a bit. I was just rereading all the Suzuki Tsuta's manga too. It's all so good. But yes! I second the great cover art, ugly inside art. It's so disappointing to me when that happens. Especially when you buy it on the bases of the cover.

Have you read Work In (http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=33101)? It's so freaking adorable. I love the embarrassed expressions like you mentioned, there are a few in that one.

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

The seme from the first story was totally hot, especially since he looked pissed off most of the time. He's definitely hotter than the seme from the second story (who looks...dopey in a slightly creepy way?). I try really hard not to buy new artists based on only their covers. Thank goodness for the internet since we're usually able to preview their work before buying...

I might have read Work In because it sure looks familiar. I will have to check it out in any case. XD