![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labingiCut is a one volume, BL manga by Touko Kawai (2003). I’m in complete agreement with one review that said it’s generally good but too short to develop the emotional dimensions it attempts to. I recommend it as a quick, one shot read if you like BL.
The story concerns two high school boys, Chiaki and Eiji (both of whose names make me think of other characters), who are quite different personalities but become united through sharing confidences about their respective experiences as victims of child abuse. Chiaki is a rather femme, chatty boy and Eiji the tall, silent type, but they click. Romance ensues, and it’s pretty well written, maintaining a sense of real social interaction between human beings, as opposed to the constant romantic drama so common in the genre.
Light Spoilers and Commentary
The Good
* Fairly realistic dialogue and interactions, not particularly schmoopy.
* While the story employs the trope of the uke (Chiaki) obsessively throwing himself at the seme (Eiji), it is unusual in having a good explanation for this: that Chiaki is a victim of sexual abuse and has developed a pattern of validating himself by behaving sexually. Eiji repeatedly observes that this is not normal—good for him.
* Eiji’s protestations notwithstanding, they do have a lot of sex, and it strikes a nice balance in being convincingly good (physically and emotionally) without being perfect. And its imperfections rest in failures in communication and responses to past trauma in a realistic way.
* The art, in general, is attractive, not too graphic but certainly romantic.
The Bad
* The cardinal failing of the book is that it tries to develop in one volume what should take about six or seven (at least that’s about what it took Banana Fish, which did this sort of thing right). It’s impossible for me to suspend my disbelief for the idea of two superficially normally socialized high school boys exposing all their darkest secrets sobbingly to each other so fast. Everything is too fast: the relationship’s development, getting through school, psychological growth. The trajectory is good; it’s just on fast forward, so it loses its tempo.
* While I like the art in general, I’m not best pleased with the character designs for the principals. They are stylized, and their faces look almost identical. If they weren’t different heights and with different hair colors, they’d be hard to distinguish. This was a bit unsatisfying.
The Bemusing
* Chiaki (like many an uke) reads as very effeminately gay, and I’m not sure how to place this in terms of his high school experience. We’re given to believe that he’s popular, and his sexuality does not seem at issue. Is this plausible for Japanese high school in 2003? I don’t know. It would be nice if it were. (I’m also aware that “effeminate” in the West is not necessarily “effeminate” in Japan.) It just seems like this requires a little more remarking than it got to place the characters in a social context.
Overall, this is a fairly slight story but an enjoyable diversion for 40 minutes. Our heroes do not read to me as exemplars of “true love,” nor does the story attempt to tell us whether they’ll be a couple forever or not. They seem like high school boyfriends who genuinely care for each other and are good for each other. I could see their relationship growing into something long term or fading away; either way, (within the caveats above) they convincingly portray two people who better each other’s lives.
The story concerns two high school boys, Chiaki and Eiji (both of whose names make me think of other characters), who are quite different personalities but become united through sharing confidences about their respective experiences as victims of child abuse. Chiaki is a rather femme, chatty boy and Eiji the tall, silent type, but they click. Romance ensues, and it’s pretty well written, maintaining a sense of real social interaction between human beings, as opposed to the constant romantic drama so common in the genre.
Light Spoilers and Commentary
The Good
* Fairly realistic dialogue and interactions, not particularly schmoopy.
* While the story employs the trope of the uke (Chiaki) obsessively throwing himself at the seme (Eiji), it is unusual in having a good explanation for this: that Chiaki is a victim of sexual abuse and has developed a pattern of validating himself by behaving sexually. Eiji repeatedly observes that this is not normal—good for him.
* Eiji’s protestations notwithstanding, they do have a lot of sex, and it strikes a nice balance in being convincingly good (physically and emotionally) without being perfect. And its imperfections rest in failures in communication and responses to past trauma in a realistic way.
* The art, in general, is attractive, not too graphic but certainly romantic.
The Bad
* The cardinal failing of the book is that it tries to develop in one volume what should take about six or seven (at least that’s about what it took Banana Fish, which did this sort of thing right). It’s impossible for me to suspend my disbelief for the idea of two superficially normally socialized high school boys exposing all their darkest secrets sobbingly to each other so fast. Everything is too fast: the relationship’s development, getting through school, psychological growth. The trajectory is good; it’s just on fast forward, so it loses its tempo.
* While I like the art in general, I’m not best pleased with the character designs for the principals. They are stylized, and their faces look almost identical. If they weren’t different heights and with different hair colors, they’d be hard to distinguish. This was a bit unsatisfying.
The Bemusing
* Chiaki (like many an uke) reads as very effeminately gay, and I’m not sure how to place this in terms of his high school experience. We’re given to believe that he’s popular, and his sexuality does not seem at issue. Is this plausible for Japanese high school in 2003? I don’t know. It would be nice if it were. (I’m also aware that “effeminate” in the West is not necessarily “effeminate” in Japan.) It just seems like this requires a little more remarking than it got to place the characters in a social context.
Overall, this is a fairly slight story but an enjoyable diversion for 40 minutes. Our heroes do not read to me as exemplars of “true love,” nor does the story attempt to tell us whether they’ll be a couple forever or not. They seem like high school boyfriends who genuinely care for each other and are good for each other. I could see their relationship growing into something long term or fading away; either way, (within the caveats above) they convincingly portray two people who better each other’s lives.
