 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | DIGITAL MANGA PUBLISHING | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | TOKO KAWAI | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 200 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | M | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 03/25/2009 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 03/29/2009 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | HOLLY ELLINGWOOD |
From Toko Kawai who gave yaoi fans Bond(z) and Loveholic comes an all new and arresting tale of trauma, bonds and the destiny one can choose when they overcome the wounds of the past. Chiaki is an all around regular student from all perspectives, but he has a secret, one that throws him into a bitter well of emptiness and apathy that no one is aware of. When he meets Eiji, the student outsider, he accidentally has found the one person who he feels something for. But it is far and away from being an easy relationship. The two must deal with their pasts, their present, and first and most importantly – each other. It is merely a chance encounter that leads to events that will change their lives. Eiji comes across Chiaki during a complicit moment and in so doing, discovers at least one part of Chiaki’s dark secret. Chiaki begins to pursue contact with Eiji. For some reason he feels he can talk to the other young man and soon, despite both of their misgivings, they spend more time together and feel an ease neither have experienced before. It would be all well and good from there but the brutality of their secret lives soon catches up to them. One must deal with a severely abusive father and his own self-mutilation tendencies, while the other suffers from violent outbursts due to a shocking trauma that he suffered in his childhood. Can two damaged souls reach beyond the chains of the past that bind them to save each other in the present? Toko Kawai has written a deeply layered and moving plot in the latest manga. It is not a simple yaoi tale but one fraught with discord and deep psychological overtones. The self-mutilation of one character and the nightmare existence of the other both converge to show the deep well of depravity those we love most can inflict upon us while at the same time displaying how a true and honest love can be the key to saving them. Toko Kawai’s art style has impressed readers for years. The more serious overtones of this story give the artist a chance to show the more stark and dramatic side to her illustrations and imagination. There are some graphic scenes of the abuse Chiaki suffers at the hands of his step-father so readers be warned. This is not light and fluffy matter but a far more serious and dramatic shonen ai that delves into the darker recesses of the human psyche.
IN SUMMARY:
CUT is a gripping and emotional journey of two scarred young men finding solace in each other. |
