MJ Review: From Up Above

[Jason]

Title: From Up Above (Aruhi Sorakara Totsuzen ni)
Mangaka: Sakuya Kurekoshi
Originally Serialized in: Aqua Comics (Ookura Shuppan)
Genre: Yaoi, Fantasy
Licensed by: Digital Manga Publishing (June)
Price: $12.95/US

When Yuuto comes to in the hospital after being struck by a bolt of lightning, he’s confused to see a young man in his room. His parents tell him that the boy is his cousin, but when the mysterious visitor later attacks him and turns into a two-tailed cat, Yuuto begins to think something’s up. The world turns out to have more mysteries in it than a modern high school boy ever thought possible in this tale of folklore, reincarnation, and pretty boy gods.

I’m a sucker for folklore and fairy tales, but for some reason was reluctant to pick this title up. I think I was worried that the cheese factor would be too high and, while I do love a good cheesy yaoi story, I didn’t want to get cheese all over my beloved folklore. Well, I was pleasantly surprised when this sweet story grabbed me and didn’t let go. In fact, my only disappointment was that it’s only volume one of an ongoing story, something that slowly dawned on me as I got to the end with no resolution in sight.

That small caveat, and the concern about when the next volume will come out, aside, I really did enjoy this story. Bits of yaoi-cheesy-goodness do slip in: the god, Kazuchi, feeds off the energy of humans mainly through kissing and other forms of “feeding” show up later in the volume. Since this is rated 16+, the one sex scene is almost off-screen, though not completely. There’s a good amount of chibi freaking out, which is both cute and funny, and the usual angsting over casual kisses vs. kisses with meaning.

Kurekoshi’s art is just as sweet as her writing. Yuuto and his best friend Takumi are drawn young, but are still believable as high school boys, and the gods’ androgynous bishonen qualities work well as an image for fantasy beings. Readers who prefer to see the Japanese sound effects will be disappointed to see that about half of them have been completely replaced by the English translations, though this does keep the pages looking cleaner. Kurekoshi uses the typical shoujo/yaoi background effects, but she seems to have chosen them judiciously and tries to not overwhelm the panels with extraneous details.

All in all, this is a nice read and a good choice if you’re looking for a lighter boys’ love title, or if you know a high school girl who’s a budding yaoi fan and you’d like to give her a good read without worrying too much over corrupting a minor. Fans of folklore will be equally intrigued by the older gods and beings that Kurekoshi references. I myself am going to wait eagerly, and a little impatiently, for the next installment of Yuuto’s story.

Reviewer: Snow
Proofer: Iliana
Editor: Lissa Pattillo