 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | DIGITAL MANGA PUBLISHING | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | SAKURAKO HANAFUBUKI | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 168 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | M | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 07/08/2009 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 06/20/2009 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | RACHEL BENTHAM |
When last we left off, Ayu has regained much of his memory and has returned to Koji’s arms. But Koji has his own secrets and we find out about some of them in this volume! Will it break them up? The past isn‘t the only thing threatening Ayu’s happiness. Success, pressure, inner-group rivalries, it all comes to head in this volume! Ayu (aka Natsu) is climbing the charts with his band. At last they’re on their way. To make that climb to the top happen, they hire a music producer. The avant garde and outrageous Ryuichi Toya shakes the band up first thing by telling them that their lead singer Pomeh is off the mike and Ayu is in! Pomeh tries to figure out why he’s being put in the background and that launches a whole new romance in the series. Toya and Pomeh make an interesting couple. Toya has experience and Pomeh’s surprising vulnerable side is unearthed. I’d love to see more of these two together. The main couple however has some serious problems. Koji’s past as a prostitute and how that sordid sex tape got made are shown in a special chapter that unveils his torrid past. Koji met an idealistic man named Uno and immediately wanted to corrupt the naïve gentleman. But Uno’s descent into desire for Koji quickly becomes a journey into madness. Obsession, frightening deeds, and a need to try to own the heart always denied him, drives Uno to the ultimate extreme. It’s a tragic, at times nightmarish, story and one that reveals a lot about Koji’s background and some of why he is the way he is today. The manga has two other romances. The first involves Toshiya who confronts the pretty boy player who played Toshiya’s sister so badly. But things get confusing and crazy when the two get kidnapped together! It runs out that Narusako is the heir of a dangerous family business akin to the mob that is into arms and drug smuggling among other illegal ventures. Things get super zany when even that isn’t the whole truth and the story of a top notch assassin makes this romance a real walk on the wild side! These characters and this story is a whole other manga series waiting in the wings to be told! Hopefully author Sakurako Hanafubuki will give us more in the future. The final romance is about a new transfer student named Sana who ends up becoming pals with Tomo, a classmate who has a crush on Sana’s older brother. As their friendship evolves, Sana feels closer and closer to Tomo and we learn why Sana dislikes his player brother so much when he comes to Tomo’s defense after Sana’s brother cheats on the guy sweet on him. The big fight between brothers ends up with a sweet kiss from the boy being defended in this cute romance.
IN SUMMARY:
New romances spring up and a past is torn up in the latest volume of the Junior Escort series! |
