Yugi Yamada's No One Loves Me is a recent title in English from an acknowledged master of BL manga. It's a stellar example of the way in which a gifted artist can portray character and relationships subtly and effectively in a comic.

Masafumi Iijima works in the sales department of a small publishing house. However, due to the illness of one of the editors, he's called on to oversee the translation and publication of a novel by a Czech novelist, to cash in on the popularity of the film adaptation. But the schedule is tight, and he's turned down again and again by translators until someone recommends a young man who might take the job: Katsuhiro Kusaka. The name rings a bell, but it doesn't really register until Masafumi meets Katsuhiro face to face -- he beat Katsuhiro up over a woman while they were in college. Sparks fly, but the project goes on, until another publisher beats Masafumi's company to the punch (it turns out the book is in the public domain). It's too late for Masafumi, though -- he's hooked.

This is one of those BL manga in which the romance is the story. It is not, however, anything close to a typical "romance", likely because Yamada has built it around two characters who are, to say the least, more than normally quirky. Katsuhiro is direct, blunt-spoken, and fairly reclusive. Since he was a child, he's had better relationships with books than with people, and he moves in a very small world. Masafumi is outgoing and volatile, and as might be expected when he's confronted with someone like Katsuhiro, he's usually pissed off -- but somehow he can't walk away.

The growth of the emotional bond between the two is revealed in glimpses, small give-aways that sometimes provide an entrée to major revelations. The thing worth attention here is that Yamada uses all three narrative elements -- dialogue, narration, and images -- to portray the steps in this romance, which is fairly common in manga in general, but the balance she achieves and the way the narrative moves from element to element are remarkable. We know Masafumi has fallen for Katsuhiro before he's aware of it himself, because we saw the tenderness in his expression when he found Katsuhiro asleep in the back of the store, in one of those sequences in which the story is carried entirely by the drawing.

The narration, the internal monologue that shifts back and forth from chapter to chapter, also provides strong clues to the characters and their growing attachment. We learn that a big part of Masafumi's motivation is fascination: he thinks to himself the first time they make love, "What do I want to know about him that's making me go this far?" This from a man who has always dated women.

It's not just Masafumi who's fascinated by Katsuhiro. We are introduced to Tetsushi Hasegawa, an editor from another publisher, who also has translation projects for Katsuhiro and, in fact, was Katsuhiro's roommate when they were both students in the Czech Republic. Aside from providing a small jealous fit for Masafumi, Hasegawa's introduction leads eventually to a closely related side story in which he's forced to confront his feelings for Katsuhiro when faced with a beautiful young man who came into the store looking for a particular book -- although it turns out that Ueno's motives were, at the very least, mixed: Hasegawa's about an 11.5 on the cute scale.

Which brings me to Yamada's drawing. Her style is notable for its clarity and her firm, confident line. She here escapes a tendency I've noticed before to present us with very pretty, somewhat girly uke: granted, Katsuhiro is small and pretty, but he's got a dangerous look to him, particularly around the eyes. Yamada's drawing is remarkable especially for the subtlety of expression in faces: I mentioned the tenderness in Masafumi's face at one point, and we see the same thing happening again and again throughout the book, subtle shifts in expression that open a new emotional resonance for the story. Layouts are shoujo-standard, fluid and intuitive, fully supporting and sometimes taking over the narrative flow.

In concept and execution, Yugi Yamada's No One Loves Me is one of the best manga I've read, in any genre. It's an excellent example of what can be accomplished in graphic literature, and indeed offers ample justification for calling it "literature". It's perhaps indicative that most BL manga collections run 180-200 pages. This one comes in at over 300, and there's more than enough story to warrant that.

Yugi Yamada, No One Loves Me

Juné, 2010

ISBN 978-1-56970-141-6

US $12.95

 

Robert M. Tilendis is an artist and writer living in Chicago and traveling the world by means of the Internet. He is a reviewer of just about anything that can be reviewed, but focuses mainly on books, music, and art. He is grossly overeducated, and somehow manages to find more to learn. He spends entirely too much time thinking. He is very happy at this point to have found a job that stays put when he leaves for the day.

His online presence is multivalent. His photographs and bibliographies (alas, sadly in need of an update) are at a/k/a Hunter, his political and social commentary at Hunter at Random, and his online journal at Booklag. His reviews of books, music, and the occasional frying pan can be found at Green Man Review, Epinions, and Rambles. He can be reached via e-mail.

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