 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | DIGITAL MANGA PUBLISHING | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | YAYA SAKURAGI | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 186 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | M | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 04/15/2009 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 04/14/2009 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | RACHEL BENTHAM |
Hey Sensei is a fun and sexy yaoi manga about a student hot for his teacher. It works on several levels and adds its share of soap opera antics to end up with a surprisingly sweet romance. Homura is tall, direct, and cannot keep his eyes off of his handsome and young math teacher Isa. When he finally asks the teacher to “play” with him, he means it in the naughtiest sense of the word! Isa doesn’t know what to do with the aggressive young man who is taller than him, stronger than him, and ever so persistent in trying to take advantage of their after school time together. No matter how many times he rebuffs Homura, the younger man will not back down. When Homura declares that it isn’t just lust, but love that motivates his carnal desires, it sways Isa’s heart. Now they have to figure out how to have their taboo relationship together. One of the reasons Hey, Sensei works so well is that the artist/writer does a great job of showing Homura, the student, as the seducer and making him look on a par in age and taller than the object of his desires – Isa the teacher. His aggression never gets too rough and it is easy to see how the virginal Isa could fall under the sway of such a constant onslaught of seduction. Their relationship together has its snags of course. In Jerry Springer fashion, things get complicated by the fact that Isa used to chastely date Homura’s older sister way back when. This is one of the reasons for Isa’s confusion and reluctance in thinking Homura was serious when he first began to pursue Isa at every opportunity. Another slight hiccup on the road to love is that Isa has to get his own place and that causes a teeny tiny rift of a misunderstanding between the new couple still trying to find their feet. All in all, the story is seductively sweet while still holding its fair share of risqué. The manga also has a bonus story about a reformed juvenile delinquent who hates cops. That is, he does until the day his long lost childhood friend Manabu returns and happens to be a man uniform! The more time they spend together, the more confused Yuji gets until a declaration from Manabu leads to an exploration of the heart and soul in fine romantic style.
IN SUMMARY:
Hey Sensei is a seductively sweet romance about a taboo love in the halls of high school! |
