MJ Review: Sunflower Volume One

[Jason]

Title: Sunflower
Volume: One
Mangaka: Hyouta Fujiyama
Originally Released By: Frontier Works, INC.
Genre: Yaoi, Drama, Romance
Licensed by: Digital Manga Publishing (June)
Price: $12.95 USD
Rated: Mature (18+)

Sunflower follows a somewhat typical formula for schoolboy yaoi: mix a bunch of cute boys (with a dash of unrequited feelings) and stir in a healthy measure of misunderstandings to make the road to finding 'true love' extra bumpy. The resulting manga isn’t anything that will change your life, but Hyouta Fujiyama does manage to entertain you with a cast of adorable characters and her charming artwork. While this is a sequel of sorts to one of the manga-ka’s other DMP releases, Ordinary Crush, Sunflower stands alone well and readers don’t have to be familiar with the earlier story.

Ryuhei Ohno, a love-struck junior high student, can’t help crushing on one of his male teachers. When he learns that his instructor is already in love with somebody else - another man who doesn’t seem to return the feeling - Ohno takes on the role of matchmaker to help his teacher’s love life. It’s a sweet gesture, and he even manages to bring the two men together, but what about Ryuhei? Flash forward a couple of years and he’s starting high school at a campus where 90% of the student body is gay. Finding love here should be easy, but as Ohno’s luck would have it, the boy he’s falling for, Kunihisa Imaizumi, is adamantly straight. As circumstances at school force them to spend more time together, there definitely seems to be a spark of attraction forming between them.

This is where Fujiyama’s story really shines. She does a wonderful job of making the characters likeable and she builds great romantic tension. Her artwork is expressive and pretty, though her lines aren’t as tight and polished as other artists with a similar style, such as You Higuri. The boys are attractive and there’s plenty of emotion behind their smiles and subtle looks of longing, qualities that bring Sunflower to life as a sweet manga about finding and keeping love.

On the downside, the storytelling is a bit jilted at the beginning - at times, it’s difficult to understand what’s happening from panel to panel, although this problem is smoothed out by the first chapter’s completion. There are also a few production errors, including a handful of translation goofs and some typos. However the biggest area of confusion for me is why DMP slapped Sunflower with an “M” rating. The story isn’t graphic at all, in fact the word “sex” is used just once and there are only a handful of chaste kisses sprinkled throughout the book. There’s only one love scene in the manga and it shows up near the end in a bonus story focusing on Ohno's former teacher. Sex is implied, but not shown, and there is no full nudity. (Damn! I’m sure that Fujiyama could draw some very hot and tender sex scenes!) In any case, a “PG-14” would’ve been sufficient considering the content.

Sunflower isn’t the most unique yaoi manga out there, but it’s fun and entertaining. Anyone who wants to relax for a couple of hours with a light story and pretty artwork will enjoy the book, and I’m certainly looking forward to reading the next volume in the series.

Reviewer: Anne Cain
Proofer: James Thomas
Editor: Lissa Pattillo