Hello FP otaku! You may have noticed me missing from my usual haunt upstairs in our super awesome anime loft, and that is because I am currently out on the road, dialing in news about what’s hot in manga as I experience the most un-Eastern thing there is: America. So don’t worry! I’m not dead yet (In fact, I think I’m getting better).
Anyway, there is but one, lonely omnibus coming out this week, and its target audience is our faithful fujoushi crowd. Still, for those of you who are interested in that kind of thing, you won’t be disappointed by the second Yellow collection to hit shelves this year. Yellow went out of print a while back, and it was definitely a fan favourite as far as yaoi was concerned, so it’s great to see one that was so well-received come back in such lovely packaging. Especially since, for once, the popularity it earned was well-deserved.
What makes Yellow particularly appealing is that it doesn’t have the traditional seme-uke relationship that most yaoi books tend towards. Frankly, though that sort of dynamic is common — even expected – in yaoi, it is a big turn-off for me, which is why I am often wary of many strictly yaoi titles. But the men of Yellow, Taki and and Goh, are presented as equals who push and pull at each other as their destinies twine around one another. The art is pretty typical, but it’s nice to have a story that extends beyond the question of whether or not they’ll hook up and when.
The plot pretty much circulates around Taki and Goh, who are essentially on call by the police to bust the mafia for drugs. Because they have such a high stakes job, the thrills are nonstop, especially when Taki allows his growing interest in Goh to start taking over. There’s plenty of character development and hidden pasts to uncover as you go, but it’s all packed into a pretty well-rounded story, so you won’t be hunting through a million volumes to find out whether or not there’s any hot and sexy time. If you enjoyed the classic yaoi cop drama, FAKE, then Yellow is definitely one for you. …Which would make me super happy if it ever managed to win itself a reprint of its own. Fingers crossed, fujoushi! Fingers crossed!!
