Blue Eyes, vol. 1

By Tohru Nishimaki
Released in the US by Icarus Publishing


Slugline: Never have I been impressed by so little.

Note that Blue Eyes is a PORN title and makes no apologies for that.

Blue Eyes is a strange porn title. In that there are actually characters, which most porn stories usually don' bother with, but they are curiously flat. And there is the fetish for big breasted women in the volume, but if you look at the cover art (as seen below), the fact that the women featured are in dire need for breast reduction surgery is minimized. But most shockingly all of the women in the volume are engaging in the porn of their own free will and volition. What has the world (or more specifically Japan) come to? It is the face that there is a continuing story, the setup of a romantic triangle, these are all things that I suspect would not be out of place for most of the risque romance novels, but here, in manga, it is different and new. Which is why I gave it the slugline I did. If you want some plot and rationale for your sex, this has it, and so despite the characterization being a little flat, and the characters themselves not triple-jointed like they are in many other titles, this a solid, uninspired read.



Blue Eyes, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in manga and anime.

-Ferdinand

Council of Carnality Unlimited

By Yanagi Yuki
Published in the U.S. by Icarus Comics



Slugline: Look, it's a porn manga where the characters like each other! How bizarre!

Council of Carnality Unlimited is an odd bird among porn manga. The people who have the sex for the most part actually like each other. Heck, one couple even uses the l-o-v-e word and admits the sex afterwards is they best they ever had. Obviously this was created some sick deviant. There is an attempt at a plot, more like a series of relationships between the characters in the book, so that the whole book shares the same cast. Even the bits of non-consensual/bondage acts are light in comparison to other titles, and characters involved are emotionally distraught at the time and apologize afterwards. Like I said, in comparison to other titles, this is a font of neo-Puritan morals.

Now, so you don't think I have gone all mushy, this is still a porn title, so believable plots, well-drawn characters and women who are not contortionists are notably absent. But aside from that, this is a title that doesn't make me want to scrub my brain afterwards. You have to take your victories (and three star ratings) where you can, in porn.

Council of Carnality Unlimited is available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Patchwork

by Rego Yokoi
Published in the U.S. by Icarus Publishing



Slugline: Anthology of short porn stories that are slightly off the vanilla. Caution: explicit sexual content.

When you reach into a big box of Japanese porn, you really never know what you're going to come up with. Bear in mind that my first run-in with manga porn was Bondage Fairies, and you'll understand when I say that an anthology with a bunny girl, an elf girl with transferrable genitals, two gang bangs and some teacher/student fooling around is only just off the vanilla.

The writing is competent -- which for porn is pretty great. The introductory pages setting up the sex contain better dialog and characterization than many porn stories. The art is also competent and fairly standard, not overly focused on any one aspect of the action but not doing anything too unusual either.

The bunny girl and the elf girl stories verged on amusing, which is a rare thing. Some of the stories were completely consensual, a few of them involved some arm-twisting (the old "no means yes" myth that's so troublesome IRL) but nothing excessive enough to make me angry.

Amazon has no listing for this book, so if you want to check it out visit Icarus directly.

Later added

Patchwork is available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga (along with being more than just a retailer, but beside the point for now.)

- Miranda