Manga Review: The Color of Love

[Jason]

Title: The Color of Love
Mangaka: Kiyo Ueda
Originally Serialized in: (Taiyou Tosho)
Genre: Yaoi, Drama, Romance
Licensed by: Juné Manga (DMP)
Price: $12.95/US

What I love about reviewing is discovering a hidden gem and Ueda’s work is one of those gems. This anthology of her stories isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty darn good and certainly worth a look. She attempts to stand out from the pack in two ways— one in how she uses the elements of comic art to tell her story, and two in how she sensitively and realistically deals with issues like rape. But, that being said, her works have a down-to-earth, “yaoi normalness” to them that should appeal to those who want their yaoi ordinary and understandable. That’s a fine line to walk and Ueda succeeds with only a few stumbles.

The title story has a standard yaoi plot: cute high-school boy realizes that he is in love with his friend and is too shy to tell him. The last story in the anthology is also about the first couple, an adorable short about their first time making love. Both stories are cute and sweet, but they don’t venture out of the norm.

In other stories, Ueda likes to play around with the theme of glasses and how the wearer’s perspective on things changes whether they are wearing them or not. In “Mix,” Yoshino takes his glasses off when he makes love to his boyfriend because he has a hard time reconciling their new romance with their previous friendship. In “Friendship Formula,” Sugi takes his glasses off to avoid heartache from a botched confession. “I’m being suffocated by all the things I don’t want to see,” he says, not realizing what he’s missing by blurring the world around him. The second of these two stories is more successful, and though having both of them in the anthology is repetitive, they’re an interesting contrast to each other.

To me, the best stories are the three in the middle, though at first glance they are nothing terribly special. I mostly like “How to be Happy” for its use of comic elements. It wasn’t until I was through with the story that I realized two-thirds of the pages comprising the tale were just two guys sitting across from each other at a table, talking. It’s the way that Ueda adds flashbacks and switches perspective that makes those pages interesting and keeps the story moving. It’s not the best story I’ve ever read, but it’s a nice use of comic art that I appreciated.

“The Ideal Love” also plays with comic elements, keeping important secondary characters hidden by panels, backgrounds and other characters until the very last moment. However, that isn’t why I enjoyed the story. This half-light, half-angst story of two men, who’ve been friends and on-again-off-again lovers since college, is interesting because of the main characters. Maki isn’t sure that he wants Sasaki’s love, preferring the cold, remote men he usually falls for, but this time when Maki shows up things might change between them forever. It’s a delightful, cautionary tale about not missing the good thing that’s right in front of you.

Finally there’s “Direction of a Smile,” which is a wonderfully realistic (well, as realistic as yaoi gets) and romantic story of two co-workers and the relationship they fall into. I won’t tell you much for fear of giving away too much, but I will say that it is a moving story and what really sold me on this book.

Ueda’s art is light, with thin, sketchy lines. She alternates between empty backgrounds, to highlight detail, and using screen tones to add impact. Her use of chibis is understated, which helps up the humor factor in her stories. Nothing is overly graphic, though that’s not to say she shies away from sex scenes. Her boys have a soft, blushing quality that puts the reader in mind of Hinako Takanaga’s works. Much of this book makes me think of Takanaga, though it isn’t a rip-off, by any means. It’s more that they have a similar light, yet deep; sweet, yet realistic, feel to their creations, and Ueda’s work should appeal to those who like Takanaga’s.

What really floored me about Ueda’s work was her author’s note, where she said that this is her first book. In fact, “Friendship Formula” is her first ever comic, originally published in doujinshi form and written around 2005. I can only hope that this new manga-ka, who says “I like BL more than I like three meals a day …”, will keep creating. Though her work isn’t the strongest I’ve ever seen, it shows a lot of talent and potential and I have high hopes for her work for years to come.

Reviewer: Snow Wildsmith
Proofer/Editor: Lissa Pattillo