▪	RELEASED BY:		DIGITAL MANGA PUBLISHING
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		YUGI YAMADA
		▪	FORMAT:		JANPENSE / B&W
		▪	PAGES:		200
		▪	RATING:		M
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		12/12/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		12/05/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		HOLLY ELLINGWOOD

Holding the most stories in a yaoi anthology I’ve reviewed to date, Glass Sky has ten tales of romance in one packed manga. With so many stories, there’s a large variety of romantic tales, some bittersweet, others unrequited, some more about coming into your own and coming out than finding love, sometimes it’s about loving oneself. All in all, a subtle tour de force about being gay, being out, and being in love.

Out of the many stories, the ones that left the strongest impressions for me were three tales in particular. “Symphony” was a very brief but well done romantic short about a pianist and his teacher. It is erotic and has an unexpectedly funny twist at the end. “That’s All From Me” tells the story about childhood friends and lovers who, after a difficult parting, are reunited several years later. It’s a story that blends bittersweet drama and quirky humor very well. Then in “Glass Sky” and it’s follow up bonus story at the end, readers discover the painful high school life of out and gay boy Naoki. This is one of the secondary characters in the upcoming manga Laugh Under the Sun. Here he is the main character and his youth is one marred by homophobia and bullying. He never cowers or backs down. He makes no apologies for his lifestyle. But things turn bittersweet when one of the school thugs falls for him. Their relationship is not a healthy one. Naoki is in denial about his true feelings while the other boy is in denial about his orientation. In the bonus story, we find out how this relationship still haunts and marks Naoki’s life and romances, and how he may finally be ready to let go of the past and embrace the future.

Although some stories are brief, many of them hold a subtle poignancy and gentle humor that reminded me of Fumi Yoshinaga. There are layers to some of the stories and tales such as Naoki’s, that touch upon the truths closer to that of real life. The difficulties about coming out, the struggle with discovering one’s sexual orientation and the life choices that follow are deeply affecting, which makes many of the stories in this compilation deeply effective. Some it would have been nice to see more fully explored, nevertheless, they are compelling.

Yumi Yagami’s art style is clean and often sweet natured in composition. Perhaps and most likely due the large number of stories within this collection, occasionally there is some confusion as some characters from unrelated stories do look a tad too much like others. The explicit content varies from story to story, but does tend to say away from anything overly graphic with the exception of a few of the tales.

IN SUMMARY:
Glass Sky is a yaoi anthology filled with tales of the struggles of coming to terms with being gay and being in love.