Manga Review: Hot Steamy Glasses

[Jason]

Title: Hot Steamy Glasses
Mangaka: Tatsumi Kaiya
Originally Serialized in: HertZ (Taiyo Tosho Publishing Co., Ltd.)
Genre: Yaoi
Licensed by: Juné
Rating: Mature (18+)
Price: $12.95/US

Takeo and Fumi have been friends for a long time, but Takeo is nursing deeper feelings for the hot-tempered man. The problem is that Takeo is a certified otaku nerd…and Fumi can’t stand anything moe!

Kaiya’s on the right track with her plot idea, but unfortunately fails to follow through with a coherent and cohesive story. Part of that failing is in her characters. Takeo is so overlarge and slow seeming that I expected her to draw him petting bunny rabbits and muttering about how he’s going to “love him and pet him and call him George”. Fumi, on the other hand, is annoying and brash and I wondered what Takeo would ever like about him. I’m all for the protesting, ornery ukes, but Fumi’s just annoying.

The side-characters are used and discarded without ever bringing them fully to life. Fumi’s younger brother is an important part of the tale, but he too is underdeveloped, though he was nice enough to make me wonder why Takeo didn’t fall for him instead.

The transitions between story points are jarring. One minute Fumi says he’ll never fall for a guy, the next page he’s reluctantly in love. One minute they’re kissing, the next they’re naked and going at it. There’s none of the build-up of emotions that make a romance work. In the end, I just didn’t care about Takeo and Fumi, nor did I care if they ever got together.

Kaiya’s art is capable, with her boys being softly pretty, but there’s a flatness to her black-and-white interior illustrations that isn’t evident in her nicely painted covers. Her characters seem to have two expressions—yelling and blushing. While that might work for some manga-ka, in her hands it just comes off as annoying.

This is the second work by Kaiya that I’ve tried. Neither has been what I would call successful. At this point I think that I’m not going to try any more of hers. I’ll be looking for something a little stronger, both in writing and in art.

Reviewer: Snow
Proofed and Edited by Lissa Pattillo