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Tanaka Suzuki: As a dog, like a dog
My copy of this volume is less than mint. It's not torn or bruised, but if I had seen its physical condition at a bookstore, I would have hesitated in buying it. It's not Amazon Japan's fault (as such) that the one they had in stock was sorta battered and had a dirty back-cover, but ... meh, it bothers me. Especially because the design of this book is really rather pretty, with the dark pink and green. Sigh. Oh well.
The content of this book, however, is good. I daresay the best Tanaka work I've read, which says something since I was fascinated by Memai, adored Jinno Murasaki, and even liked the pointless Menkui. So I guess the bottom line is just that I like Tanaka Suzuki a lot. I mean ... think of her name, people. Tanaka. Suzuki. What Togashi Yoshihiro connoisseur wouldn't love her, I ask you. And yes, I am calling myself a connoisseur. Shut up.
Like a dog, as a dog collects five short manga about animals that become humans to speak to people that have effected them in one way or another. If the person believes that they are an animal, they can change back -- else, they must spend the rest of their lives as humans. This catch is sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse. The resolutions are all different and not always purely happy, but the characters all manage to change and move on in the few pages they are allotted, and the book as a whole leaves a bittersweet but hopeful lasting impression.
It's difficult to talk about manga that are just ... regularly good. Um. I'm placing this under "BL", but only two of the pieces are mildly BL and all it amounts to are a couple of kisses. I suppose you could consider it beastiality if you were anal about that sort of thing, but that'd be taking something beautiful and twisting it into something it's not. I especially liked the last 20-page story, which I thought was worth all 590 yen even if the rest of the stories had been shit.
Category: BL manga | Posted by Alicia at February 11, 2005 08:17 PM