Ciao Ciao Bambino
Author |
TENZEN Momoko |
Artist |
TENZEN Momoko |
Primary Genre |
|
Sub Genres |
Shounen Ai |
Volumes |
1 |
Licensed |
Yes |
| Publication History | |
Japanese Publisher |
|
Serialized in |
|
Serialization Start |
0000 |
Serialization End |
0000 |
US Publisher |
June Manga |
| Series Summary |
Ciao Ciao Bambino is a collection of one-shots from Momoko Tenzen, the first being where the source of the book's title . College freshman Kaname, a sweet-natured guy in glasses, is about to start his new job as a part-time tutor at a cram school. He chases off some potential kidnapper and meets Yuuta, a boy so delicate and pretty Kaname initially mistakes him for a girl. A year later, the outgoing and confident junior high first year Yuuta is a student at the cram school, and he is on Kaname like a wet towel. While in the real world this would be cause for a serious investigation into Kaname's teaching credentials, in Yaoi-land this is the basis for an eventual fluttering in Kaname's heart whenever he sees that still-so-pretty Yuuta. The nature of Yuuta's feelings become clear to everyone except Kaname when he gets jealous and protective over another teacher's attempts to seduce Kaname. When the guy attempts to feel up Kaname in a locked room, it's Yuuta to the rescue. The guy is (rather understandably) extremely weirded out and leaves, clearing the path for a rather chaste kiss and Eternal Love Forever. The thing that struck me the most about 'Ciao Ciao Bambino' was that... Kaname is a college student. A grown man. Yuuta is in the 7th grade. One begins to wonder why Kaname rescued Yuuta from the pervert in the beginning at all, since he appears to have no qualms about dating someone seven years his junior. Ever. Not even once does he think, 'this boy is basically a child', because this is yaoi and that is Just Not Done. I suppose the fact that Yuuta makes the moves on Kaname first is supposed to make it more tolerable, but as big a fan of Momoko Tenzen as I am I found this first story very hard to swallow. The second story, 'Honey Citron', is about Yuuta's two friends Kei and Mako, who were side characters in the previous chapter. Mako and Kei were childhood friends, but when Kei announces he's no longer attending cram school, Mako begins to realize his feelings for Kei go beyond just friendship. They aren't in the same class and rarely see each other outside of school. Mako doesn't want this arrangement to continue, but even after he (with Yuuta's help) realizes his real feelings for Kei, it's hard for him to come out and say it. Eventually he does, of course, and while this couple never even kisses they are extremely sweet. This pair shouldn't trip any squick alarms, unless you find the idea of jr. high students dating at all to be morally objectionable. 'Going Steady' is another story about Kaname and Yuuta, this time about Yuuta working up the courage to finally confess his feelings to Kaname (which he hasn't previously done-- he was evidently waiting until they were closer in height). The whole thing proceeds much as expected, with the idea of Kaname having a girlfriend being the impetus Yuuta needs to tell Kaname how he really feels. This one bothered me less, if only because Tenzen drew Yuuta looking a little older. It feels on the filler side, which I suppose is exactly what it is. 'Going Steady' paves the way for 'Swing On Over', which takes place a couple years later. This one is about Kaname and Yuuta's first time, and does feature some very non-explicit sex between the two. Yuuta is young and eager to "go all the way" with his boyfriend, but every time he goes to push it further Kaname flinches away. Beneath the whole sex thing, this chapter is actually about Kaname noticing Yuuta as more of a cool, grown-up type of guy. Again, he is at the oldest a 9th grader, but that is certainly more grown-up than a 7th grader, and he has put on quite a few inches. Out of the three Kaname/Yuuta chapters, this one surprised me by being my favorite. I expected to hate it because of the still-rather-illegal sex, but it has the most interesting development of their relationship. The final chapters are all one story, 'Brand New Wednesday'. Now this story was by far and away my favorite out of all of them. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this story is what makes owning the book worth it. Kana is tutored every Wednesday by Nakahara, who I assume is a college student. Their ages are never actually stated, not even relatively (which is, perhaps, a blessing). Kana dreams of being gently touched by someone and is easily mesmerized by his tutor's face, but he never really thinks about the nature of his feelings until he's confessed to by a girl at his school. Over the course of the first part, Kana comes to realize his own feelings for Nakahara and manages to confess. Though it's never shown, this confession does eventually lead to sex. Nakahara's guilt over letting it go so far and half-heard conversations on Kana's part lead to a whole host of misunderstandings, some of them intentionally perpetuated by Nakahara in the hopes of Kana putting it all behind him. There's some dramatics that serve mostly to emphasize Nakahara's genuine devotion to Kana involving basketball games and dangerous fevers, and in the third and final part all the loose ends are tied up and the two do in fact get together. 'Brand New Wednesday' was, like I said, my favorite out of the three. Kana and Nakahara are very passionate couple, and in a premise as trite as 'student falls in love with tutor, angst ensues', it's the romantic drama that keeps me interested. 'Brand New Wednesday' was written four years previous to the other stories in the volume, which is strange because the art also seems to be more polished. Which brings me to the art in the volume in general! I really, really enjoy Momoko Tenzen's style, for reasons I cannot fathom. It's somewhere between polished and sketchy, with everyone having really long faces and slightly awkward anatomy, but somehow it works. She goes through great lengths to vary the eye details, which is an unexpected but much appreciated detail. The copy of the book I have in my hands does have some printing mistakes, with many of the pages having black, fuzzy smudges all over half of them. Otherwise the quality of the book is what I expect, having decent pagestock and a nice, glossy cover. No color pages or fancy extras here, and in fact DMP used to do dust jackets and no longer does this (most likely to keep costs down). That's to no detriment, really, and mostly just serves to make the books fit more nicely with the other ones of my manga shelves. Ciao Ciao Bambino is a nice, sweet yaoi work. I would say it would appeal especially to someone who wants the knowledge that the relationships go further than just kissing, but isn't interested in anything hardcore or explicit.
Discuses this review on our forum! Information last updated on Dec 22, 2009 |
