Animal spirits are a recurring theme in Japanese folklore, so it's no surprise that they show up regularly in manga, and just as regularly in boys' love. And the spirits are, invariably, shape-changers, which can lead to some interesting arrangements.

One of the first examples of shape-changing animals in boys' love that I encountered, if not the very first, was Tamaki Kirishima's Ruff Love. Taketora writes historical fiction; it's not really very interesting because his characters are boring, which is not hard to understand: Taketora's pretty boring himself. One day, as he's making an offering at his grandfather's shrine, he thinks to leave something at the grave of his grandfather's dog, Shiba. As he approaches, he sees a boy with a dog's ears and tail struggling up out of the ground: Shiba has come back to repay his master for his kindness in taking him in and caring for him. Although Taketora is a dead-ringer for his grandfather, Shiba -- who's not really very quick -- eventually understands that years have passed and Takeyuki, Shiba's master, is long gone. Shiba happily declares that he will serve Taketora in his place. The inevitable happens, and it marks a distinct improvement in Taketora's personality: he's gotten a lot more interesting. This is a sweet story that manages to avoid the saccharine (although there are a couple of definite "Awww!" moments). It's a romantic comedy that is sometimes very funny, and sometimes very heartwarming. Kirishima's drawing style is fairly dense but always readable. Taketora is rather angular, somewhat craggy-featured, although Shiba, as a boy just on the edge of growing up, is perfectly adorable.

In a similar vein is Kazusa Takashima's Man's Best Friend, a story collection that features shape-changers, although in one story it's entirely metaphorical. Ukyo, a high-schooler, rescues a stray dog from the well-meaning but incompetent attentions of a couple of younger boys, takes him home and cleans him up and names him Kuro. He's somewhat taken aback when Kuro says his name, and even more nonplussed when Kuro gets excited and turns into a gorgeous hunk (with dog ears and tail, natch) with one thing on his mind. (Kuro has been praying to the moon for a chance to meet Ukyo.) The final story, "Princess Goldfish," features Keisuke, who rescues a goldfish won in a lottery from being tossed in the trash. That night, a beautiful boy appears in his room, with golden hair and wearing a scarlet kimono: the goldfish wants to repay Keisuke with the only thing he has to offer. In between is the tale of Kentaro and Kasumi ("Summer's Here Again" and "Pinpoint Lovers"), close childhood friends separated when Kasumi moved to Tokyo with his mother. Now they're teenagers and Kasumi has come back to spend summer vacation with his father. This is the metaphorical transformation: Kentaro always thought Kasumi was a girl, because he was so cute (that's how young they were). Well, Kasumi's all grown up now, and he's definitely male and not cute any more: he's gorgeous. Takashima's drawing style is really easy on the eyes, although her uke (usually translated as "catcher") are a little too big-eyed for my taste. The seme ("pitcher"), on the other hand, are real beauties. Page layouts are relatively sedate for shoujo manga, but the narrative flow is always clear, and the comic interludes fit perfectly.

Hayate Kuku's Your Love Sickness is another story collection that starts with shape-changing animal spirits, in this case a couple of young fox spirits doing duty as shrine guardians. Unko is a red fox, the lowest rung on the social ladder; A'ura comes from the most prestigious white fox family -- the crème de la crème. Unko is very conscious of the difference in their status. A'ura doesn't care: since their childhood, he's thought of Unko as a perfect red jewel, and it turns out that human form is ideal for what he has in mind. In the second tale, "Disappearing Into the Dew", Yoshiro is lost in fog on the mountain when he stumbles on a god fishing in a pond. Kugira, "The Gathering Clouds That Protect the Thunder", is smitten, but sends Yoshiro back to his village for his own good. Yoshiro, broken-hearted, goes off in search of his god-lover again, only to be confronted by a storm dragon: guess who. The other two stories are somewhat less supernatural, but the protagonists generate their own magic: "Cheeping" features Rick, a famous model, and Oshi, the manager of a bento shop where Rick has gotten into the habit of stopping for dinner. He swears that it's just that he loves the -- um, food. "Cross My Heart" is about Kaoru Yahashi, a police detective, and his childhood friend, Mickey Nishi. Mickey wants to be much more than friends, but he's a yakuza boss. Kuku's drawing style is sketchy and spare but very appealing, and captures an element of wildness in these men, gods and mortals both. I'd like to see each of these stories reappear as a full-blown manga in its own right -- they have that potential.

A Strange and Mystifying Story, by Tsuta Suzuki, is a short, two-volume series about Akio Yamane, whose maternal bloodline is cursed: they all die of a terrible sickness. Akio's grandfather, who managed to die of old age, tells Akio that there is something in the family shrine that will protect him. Sure enough, Akio suffers an attack of illness that almost does him in and summons the guardian, whom he names Setsu. Setsu, as it turns out, is a wolf spirit that takes human form (give or take the ears and tail, although he can hide those if he wants to). He seems exceptionally solicitous of Akio, and although his methods of getting rid of the disease are quite intimate, Akio starts to respond.

This series has more depth than one might at first expect, as well as a humorous take on the ways of gods and spirits. The second volume begins with Setsu's backstory, although there is enough room for the continuation of the main story. This is one in which characters are not all on the surface, which I quite frankly enjoy. The drawing style is engaging, although Akio is a little bland looking – but his personality is prickly enough to make things interesting. Setsu is, as might be expected, gorgeous.

The final title for this group is Sakuya Kurekoshi's From Up Above. Yuuto Kiyohara, after a year and a half in high school, has finally become a regular on the kendo team and is looking forward to his first real match. Unfortunately, he's struck by lightning -- a raijuu (lightning spirit) named Kazuchi, who sometimes takes the form of a two-tailed cat. Kazuchi is convinced that Yuuto is the reincarnation of the Princess Aki, a priestess who took his mana -- his true name -- and locked him in a shrine a thousand years before. Kazuchi feeds off the life force of humans, which usually means their death. With Yuuto, however, he has to be careful, or he's doomed. Yuuto's not real enthusiastic about Kazuchi's method of taking meals, but he starts getting used to it. Things get more complicated when Kazuchi detects the aura of another elemental around Yuuto's best friend -- the new spirit, whose natural form is a horned serpent, is stronger than Kazuchi.

A big part of the fun in this one is the two running headlong into a thousand-year difference in attitudes, again and again. Kurekoshi's drawing is appealing, although not remarkable. Character designs are very much in the bishounen ("pretty boy") mode, especially Kazuchi. Narrative flow is clear, and layouts are on the sedate side of intuitive. As it happens (although it's only noted in Kurekoshi's afterword), this is volume 1, and the ending is something of a cliff-hanger. I've found no evidence of the impending release of volume 2 in English, but these things can take awhile.

Manga, like Western comics, takes as raw material anything that comes to hand, including folklore and history, and boys' love is no exception. As you might imagine, boys' love manga in particular has a lot of fun with the supernatural, which, if the spirits allow, we'll investigate further in the future.

Tamaki Kirishima, Ruff Love (Deux, 2008) ISBN 978-1-93449-641-1, US $12.95

Kazusa Takashima, Man's Best Friend (BLU, 2006) ISBN 978-1-59816-357-4, US $9.99

Hayate Kuku, Your Love Sickness (Juné, 2010) ISBN 978-1-56970-183-6, US $12.95

Tsuta Suzuki, A Strange and Mystifying Story, Vol. 1 (Juné, 2008), ISBN 9788-1-56970-717-3, US $12.95; Vol. 2 (Juné, 2009) ISBN 978-1-56970-130-0, US $12.95

Sakuya Kurekoshi, From Up Above (Juné/Oakla, 2007) ISBN 978-1-56970-753-1, 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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