MJ Review: Ordinary Crush Volume Two

[Eric]

Title: Ordinary Crush
Volume: 2
Manga-ka: Hyouta Fujiyama
Originally Serialized In: Daria Comics (Movic)
Genre: Yaoi, Drama, Romance
Rating: 18+
Licensed by: DMP
Price: $12.95 (US)

Ordinary Crush volume two, continues where volume one left us. After an initial ruse led to their dating, Nanase and Heiji are now happily involved and join the ranks of the 90% gay or bi population of their all-boys’ school. A problem arises in the form of Nanase’s brother, Yoichi, a previous student of Kinsei High. Yoichi is well aware of the behavior of Kinsei’s students and was hopeful his brother would avoid that kind of complications. Along with the fact that Yoichi has no like for Heiji, and that’s before even discovering Heiji’s dating his little brother, Yoichi was bound to cause some problems.

The bulk of the story in volume two follows Nanase and Heiji dealing with Yoichi’s brother and the partially resulting fascination by Nanase of his wish to be dominant over Heiji during sex (something they had yet to fully engage in). Yoichi, his dislike towards Heiji and his relationship with Nanase, is a nice change from this often used twist in a story. Instead of the big brother going out of his way to stop the relationship as in other yaois, sometimes in ways so blatantly interfering it borders on the unbelievable, Yoichi merely expresses his dislike and distrust towards it, often taking the time to question it himself. This leaves it up to Nanase to draw his own conclusions, thus wishing to find a way to have his brother accept the relationship in order to have everyone be happy. Heiji, in turn, is bothered by how the dilemma is hurting Nanase and seeks to deal with Yoichi himself, as well as find a way to appease Nanase’s desire to take the dominant role sexually.

The interactions in Ordinary Crush feel pleasantly down-to-earth and the issues are dealt with in an understandable and believable way. Nothing comes off as too over-the-top and manages to be humorous enough to keep the whole thing interesting and good fun. As a change of pace, the second story follows the sought-after Yamato and his interesting developing relationship with the school doctor, as first seen in the previous volume.

With nice artwork consistent with volume one and follow-up stories that are actually more enjoyable to read than their predecessors, volume two of Ordinary Crush is definitely recommended to those who read and enjoyed the first. It’s a well-paced story with life-like characters that makes for an entertaining read.

Reviewer: Lissa Pattillo
Proofer: Eduardo Menendez
Editor: Eric Turner