insaneneko

I was reading a novel featuring police officers which I enjoyed muchly, and it made me think about other novels with police officers I've liked. It led me to do the round-up below (with links to more detailed posts when they exist):

Kouban e ikou by Ioka Itsuki and illustrated by Sakuragi Yaya is about an officer assigned to a koban who gets involved with a contractor and the contractor's son. It's a pretty fluffy story, but I like the passionate young officer type and the art is pretty.

The Reload series by Ioka Itsuki and illustrated by Kunisawa Tomo (My post about the first three volumes here) is an ongoing series about a wild but very effective detective and a forensics specialist. Every so often the case featured in a book is good enough that I actually want to follow it, but what it comes down to is that I like the two characters and their relationship. There's seven books out right now, and it doesn't seem like it'll end any time soon. Or so I hope.

Mihitsu no koi-Keep Out-, -Break In-, and -Cross Over- by Himekawa Hotaru and illustrated by Mizuki Hasuno are about another pairing of a detective and a forensics specialist. I haven't read the third one yet, but the first two are fun. The cases are a bit over-angsty, but once again I just like how the two characters relate. This pair seem…a bit more mature compared to the Reload series. It helps that the detective is actually pretty responsible. He is saddled with subordinates and with keeping the forensics specialist (who is good at what he does but has no people skills) in line, while dealing with out-of-touch superiors.

Niizuma Deka by Miduki Mato and illustrated by Ebihara Yuri (My post about it here) is the absolutely silly story of a wild but effective detective who marries a rich and up-and-coming politician. Like, actually marries in a church ceremony (though legally the detective is adopted by the politician as there is no same-sex marriage in Japan). I want a sequel, frankly.

Fuson de yaban by Iwamoto Kaoru and illustrated by Enjin Yamimaru has pretty art and a premise I like even though (or is it because?) it's just so cliched. An uptight career-type (WTF do you call career-gumi police in English?) asks a former partner (a normal detective) for help and they "have to" play a gay couple as their cover. The detective is gay and had been (still is) in love with the career type, and he lets the play-acting go a bit too far at times. Yes, yes, cliched. But the art! So pretty! Also, the story ends decently.

Mahiru no tsuki by Ioka Itsuki and illustrated by Ebihara Yuri (My post on the first volume here) is about a former detective who quit the force because he was disgusted with the police after they'd covered up his former partner's crimes (including shooting him) and moves to Osaka. There, he meets a yakuza boss and ends up the boss's lover. He also becomes a private investigator. I reread this series quite a lot. The relationship between the two develops throughout the series, but the detective never loses himself in the relationship (like many supposedly tough-y toughs who turn into uke jello). The side characters are endearing. Also, the cases he takes on (which invariably have something to do with yakuza) are pretty interesting. Also^2, Osaka-ben! The drama CD for this is soooo good. I wish the entire series had been made into drama CDs.

Sekai no hate de matteite~Tenshi no Tsumeato~ and it's sequel Sekai no hate de matteite ~Uso to kaifu~ by Takatoh Ruka and illustrated by Yukifuna Kaoru (vol 1) and Chayamachi Suguro (vol 2) are about a former detective turned private investigator and his former partner who is still a detective. As I mention in my post about the books, the cases are bleah. The real meat in this is the tension between the two characters and the mystery of the unsolved murder of the PI's sister that caused the PI to quit the force. Oh, so delicious. Too bad the artist changed between volumes. I really want the next book (please let there be another book) because we get a tantalizing glimpse into the past at the end of volume 2.

Amai Mizu vol 1 and 2 by Kawai Fumiko and illustrated by Kitakami Ren are about members of the SIT (Special Investigation Team) of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. I've only read volume 1 but am looking forward to reading volume 2 (eventually...). Endou is a SIT member formerly in SAT (a paramilitary counter terrorism unit) who does not look forward to a new former SAT member joining SIT at the beginning of the book, Kuonji. (According to the book, SIT specializes in working on cases with hostages, thus does negotiation and the like. They do, however, also do missions to rescue hostages.) Endou does not like Kuonji. Kuonji likes Endou, but doesn't know how to get along with Endou. What I enjoyed from this book, besides the pretty art, is the depiction of the very hierarchical structure of the police and how much being a sempai vs. kouhai is a huge deal, even more than in regular Japanese society. The life in the dorms is fun to read about (though I'd never want to be in one--all this gotta do what your sempai says crap sounds awful). The way Endou learns to see Kuonji differently and how they develop a relationship works (it's not smooth, but it starts with them having to work together in a professional manner). Endou is one of those "guy" guys, very carefree and manly. Kuonji is a man of few words but much action. I like the combination, even if the SIT and SAT acronyms crack me up every time I see them.

S.S.SP by Yuuki Kazumi and illustrated by Norikazu Akira is about a wild but effective detective who becomes an SP (security police) officer, which I wrote a lot about in this post. What can I say? Stupid title, silly story, but lotsa fun. I really, really enjoyed this. Probably too much.

Fujourina kuchizuke by Himekawa Hotaru and illustrated by Nara Chiharu is a silly story about an SP officer who has to guard a VIP. My worthless post here is basically full of pics (and snark), because this is from Nara Chiharu's time doing good art and there is much eye-candy. There is also eye-rolling, but pretty art trumps much. This is possibly the silliest of the bunch because at least in the others the people seemed to be able to do their jobs decently. In this one the SP has to be pretty worthless for the plot to go anywhere. :P

Soooo...anyone have any recs for me? I love police BL. Would love to read more decent ones.

Reload, Truth, and Grow Back are in a series by Ioka Itsuki and illustrated by Kunisawa Tomo about a police detective and a guy who works in a police lab. This series is supposed to be a seme vs. seme who will win type of situation. Kawatou Kazuma, the police detective, is straight. jinguu Satoshi, the lab dude, is gay. They both have fucked a ton of people. They meet, they snark, and they become attracted to each other. But who will top? I didn't realize this was the gimmick of volume 1 because I read volume 2 first so I knew who got to be seme in the first book. Each volume is set up around a case (or various incidents that turn into a case). The cases don't suck, per se. I just don't care much about them. This series is heavy on conventions, both of the genre and series-specific type. Some conventions desperately need to be ditched, but they are not so irritating that they'll keep me away. What attracts me to this series and keeps me looking forward to the next book is the interaction between the two. They are macho guys who initially have an antagonistic relationship. Even after they acknowledge their attraction they are still at odds because they both want to be seme. Even after it's more or less settled, the guy who gets the dick up his ass (I was going to write "gets the short end of the stick" but...) is not satisfied. He wants his turn, and they argue about it quite a bit. I'm hoping either the author has them switching OR the uke decides that he can take control from the bottom instead of stubbornly holding onto his ideal of what he should be doing (fuck not be fucked). It's not like he doesn't get a lot of pleasure from being fucked. Despite his stubborn pride, in the end he loves having sex, in whatever form, with the guy he'd fallen for.

I've been meaning to summarize these books but have come to realize that I can't be bothered to do it. So...I share the pics instead. XD They are quite nice.


( Reload )
( Truth )

I really enjoyed reading Zankoku na ouse by Ioka Itsuki (one of my favorite authors) and illustrated by Sasaki Kumiko. This takes the tired old premise of the traumatized victim uke with a frozen heart who is "thawed" by an aggressive man and makes it work. I kept waiting for the author to betray her premise and make the uke start acting differently to make things more...passionate. But she didn't! I was so happy that she stayed the course and ran with it, even if it meant there wasn't the angst-fest we typically get when the types of things that happen in this book occur. XD

Ooba Makoto already has been promoted to a high position in the company he works at. He's married to the company president, he's good looking and works very hard. Seems like he has everything going for him, but of course it's all an illusion. Makoto has lived his life without feelings for years. He lives for his work. His marriage is a sham--he had initially married his wife because she'd become pregnant with some random man and needed legitimacy, but she'd miscarried and they never developed any kind of relationship at all. She had tons of affairs and ran around playing while he worked. One night he wakes up to find himself handcuffed to his bed and a man on top of him. The man introduces himself as Hadori Chiaki, a host in a Shinjuku club. He's having an affair with Makoto's wife.He'd been asked by her to find out if Makoto is gay. When they have sex it becomes obvious that Makoto had been used to being fucked.

Chiaki tries to blackmail Makoto with the threat that he'll report the truth to Makoto's wife to get Makoto to continue to sleep with him, but Makoto doesn't much care. It's only when Makoto thinks that things might become public and thus a problem for his wife and company (he doesn't much care about what happens to him) that he goes along with it. He tells Chiaki very dispassionately how he'd been raped by his cousin for years (or was it only a year or so?) until the cousin died in a car accident. After that he'd lost the ability to feel much beyond a vague sort of empathy, as well as less intimate feelings such as a sense of duty (to his company, for example).

Chiaki is confident and carefree, the very opposite of Makoto. He is aggressive, but very gentle with Makoto in bed after that first time. They continue to have sex, even after Makoto's wife finds out about them. She's desperate and angry because Chiaki, whom she had patronized heavily and spent serious money on, is avoiding her and fucking her husband instead. In revenge, she plasters pictures of the two of them at their respective workplaces. Makoto, who works at a very respectable company, had been preparing for his eventual departure after the first rape by Chiaki. He quickly and efficiently tenders his resignation as well as divorce papers to his father-in-law, the president, and then spends his last day at work handing his work off to his subordinates. He is surprised to find Chiaki waiting for him outside of the office. Turns out Chiaki had been fired as well--a gay (or bi) host is useless at a club catering to females. Chiaki gives Makoto a ride to Makoto's apartment (a very nice place provided by his soon-to-be-ex-father-in-law), where Makoto picks up the bag he'd prepared for when he might have to leave. He feels guilty about his wife, especially as he'd found out that day that she'd actually liked him and had pointed him out as the person she'd like to marry. He'd made no effort to get to know her, and she was too proud to try herself. But in the end what Makoto feels as he leaves the apartment is a feeling of relief. He was free of all obligations.

Chiaki tells Makoto that he'll go wherever Makoto goes. He's been bored with life for a long time, good at everything he did and able to sleep with anyone he wanted. But he's drawn to Makoto for some reason. Makoto decides that it might be enjoyable to travel with Chiaki and laughs.

They travel by car, with Chiaki spending the tons of money he'd made but hadn't bothered spending as a host. He buys Makoto clothing after getting tired of seeing Makoto in work-type slacks and shirts all the time (Makoto didn't own casual clothes as all he did was work). Chiaki had realized that Makoto wasn't used to kindness and gentleness by others, in and out of bed. After the first couple of times, he learned that the more gentle he was the more Makoto responded. Thus, he became more and more gentle in bed. He continues to be gentle with Makoto, figuring that some day Makoto will realize why he bothers to do things for Makoto.

Hm...I don't think the quick summary really did the story justice. ^^; It's hard to convey the dry yet deep relationship between Makoto and Chiaki. They're both rather dispassionate (okay, Makoto is *really* dispassionate for most of the novel besides during sex, and only becomes less so at the end) yet aren't boring or shallow. I love how neither much cared about having their sordid gay affair exposed to the world. There's a sweetness mixed in with the dry dispassion that was I found very appealing. I was so happy that Makoto really was more or less detached throughout, not having the utterly-cliched "breakdown" that these supposedly detached/supressed characters almost always have. The novel ends with him only becoming slightly more human...

I rather like the art, it totally fit the feel of the story and the characters.

( cut for my favorite pic )

To be frank, I didn't expect much from Kodomo ni naisho de written by Ioka Itsuki and illustrated by Kazuaki when I bought it. The blurb sounded rather hokey, but I was on an Ioka Itsuki streak (thanks to Mahiru no tsuki) and the cover art was oddly compelling (if not exactly my favorite kind of art) so I took a chance. I am so glad I did, because it turned out to be utterly delightful. The best part about it? The main characters are decent, nice, ordinary people who act mostly like sensible adults. It can be tiring to read about ultra-beautiful tragic/special/stupid ukes meeting ultra-gorgeous arrogant/brilliant/domineering semes and doing their ultra-shiny thing in one BL novel after another. So when I can get nice person meeting another nice person and they don't act out a soap opera, it's like a breath of fresh air.

Torishima Yuuma is a young man who hosts a children's morning show. The children's book publisher salesman Shiozaki Tetsuya (who's not very good at his job) happens to see Yuuma interacting very well with some children in a bookstore and begs him to teach him what it is that children like. Yuuma decides to help him out. They become friends, but of course things don't remain that way.

I realized as I wrote the summary that I can't even begin to show just what makes the story utterly delightful without translating whole passages. The interactions between Yuuma and the children and Yuuma and Shiozaki are wonderful and sweet and what make the story...

( the summary )

( the pics )