insaneneko

I just devoured the newest Ryuu and Dr book, and am so electrified I can't sleep. Thus I post. I've always liked this series because it had a great balance of comedy and drama, but these last two or three books have just been one big roller coaster ride. This latest book was the conclusion of a story arc covering several books (I think three), and what a conclusion! I can't believe how well Kifu-sensei used Hikawa's unique personality to bring things to a close. She also did a fabulous job of developing a whole slew of unique and fun characters through the first five books or so, so just having them move about is fun to read as well. I've bitched quite a bit about some of her other books, but damn. When she gets it right she gets it right. The coda was perfect as well. *_*

I hope she writes more in this series, though I'm not sure she can keep up the high standard she set in these last set of books.

Ryuu no renjou, Dr. no bojou by Kifu Kaname and illustrated by Nara Chiharu is book 5 of the Ryuu and Dr series (click on the new tag to read my earlier posts on this series). The fun and silliness continues, with just a touch more seriousness creeping in. New awesome character introduced! I must say, the portrayal of women is appalling. I try to ignore it because it's just....so not the point, but sometimes it's hard.

I really wish I could read book 1 (there's some bits in this one that allude to the first book). *sighs* Can't they reprint it?


( the summary )

( the pics )

The "Ryu and Dr." series (that's what I call it, I don't know if the publisher has an official name--I really dislike that so many series aren't labeled and numbered properly, it's a bitch to sort out sometimes) by Kifu Kaname is, in one word, crack. Not crazy zany crack, but silly retarded crack. The titles of the volumes are as follows:

1. Dr wa ryu ni noru
2. Dr wa ryu to tatsu
3. Ryu no koi, Dr. no ai
4. Ryu no junjou, Dr. no jounetsu
5. Ryu no renjou, Dr. no bojou
6. Ryu no shakunetsu, Dr. no jouai

Books 1 and 2 were published by a different company and illustrated by a different (not as good, IMHO) artist, and are no longer in print. Frankly, I don't think you need to read Books 1 and 2. I started reading this series at Book 3 (drawn to the lovely illustrations by Nara Chiharu) and didn't have much problem getting into it. You get the handy-dandy summary paragraphs in the very beginning to give you background anyhow. So far I've read books 3, 4, 2, and 5 in that order. Someday I'd like to read book 1 just to find out exactly how their first time went...

Er, back to the important stuff. The "ryu" (dragon) is Aikawa Seiwa, a 19-year-old yakuza boss (kumichou). The "Dr." is Hikawa Ryouichi, a 29-year-old internist at a hospital. Hikawa was left at the gate of an orphanage, where he was raised until he was adopted at 12. Grateful, he worked hard to do well in school and be a good successor to his step-father, who ran a hospital. Unfortunately, his adoptive parents had their own child when he was 15. While provided for materially, he became the child they no longer needed and was emotionally neglected. Luckily for him, he had something to fill the void in his heart--Seiwa. Seiwa lived in the neighborhood with his mother, who totally and utterly neglected him (while her boyfriends abused him). I don't really understand why a random 12-year-old would be changing some strange toddler's diapers, but they were that close. Then Seiwa was taken away by some dude when he was nine or so, and Hikawa didn't see him until one day Seiwa strolled into the hospital he worked at surrounded by his underlings. Hikawa is shocked that Seiwa had become a yakuza and rushes headlong into the world to try to drag him out. When he's threatened with death by the dude who had taken Seiwa in the first place, Kitsutaka, now the underboss of the clan, he declares that he doesn't mind dying if Seiwa can be freed from the clan. Seiwa doesn't want to leave the clan. He's the bastard son of the clan head. Instead, when Seiwa is given the task of dealing with Hikawa (who knows too much) he declares that Hikawa is his "wife," fucks him, and has him move in with him. I think that's where book 1 ends, and book 2 has some moving and shaking occuring in the clan with Seiwa installed as clan head by the end. In Book 3 they've settled down, and the story enters the ludicrous. Book 2 felt half-serious and half-silly, but book 3's highlights are the silly (frankly, the serious portions bored me). Hikawa is an airhead with the strangest (and rather creepy) mixture of maternal and romantic feelings towards Seiwa, and Seiwa is a bad-ass yazuka with killer looks and an awesome rising dragon tattoo who is totally (willingly!) whipped by his "wife" (at least in personal matters-he's adamant about keeping yazuka matters away from his woman like a good yakuza). Book 3, besides being the first with the Nara Chiharu illustrations (I don't care for how she draws Hikawa--he's supposed to look like a doll without his glasses, he's so pretty...but he looks too ordinary in the pics. Seiwa looks good, though.), has what is possibly the single funniest scene I've read in BL so far.

( book 3 summary )

( book 3 pics )

Sorry versine for taking so long to do a summary of this series. ^^;