Gunji by Gengoroh Tagame

Quick Rating: A+

Purchase: Amazon

Blurb: Gengoroh Tagame is one of the greats in the manga scene. Up to now, most of his works have been published exclusively in Japanese. Bruno Gmunder is proud to present Gunji in English for the first time in his gay manga series. Also included: Ballad of Oeyama, a short story by Tagame.

Review: The Bruno Gmunder English language release of Gunji contains a four part story called Gunji and the oneshot Ballad Of Oeyama. 

These two stories are pretty different from other Gengoroh Tagame manga I've read. Gunji was originally published in Kinniku Otoko, a magazine chock full of BL/yaoi type muscle men stories. That said, there's an emphasis on romance over pornography, along with textbook BL nods, BDSM, and gay elements.

Gunji is the story of a runaway masochist sushi chef whose owner comes to collect him from the new restaurant he's been working at. Lots of violence, pain, humiliation with a splash of twisty dark obsession involving a shop family's son where Gunji used to be a sushi chef apprentice. Ballad Of Oeyama is the retelling of a Japanese legend put in terms of prejudice and being open to new experiences. 

Although both stories really knocked it out of the park imo, I most enjoyed the afterword where GT discusses his thoughts about creating content for a magazine whose readership and authorship is made up of about half women. He also mentions the difficulty of depicting hair color between races, an element GT updated in his completely revamped edition of Ballad Of Oeyama.

So. If you were left skeptical after reading Endless Game and/or Passion like me, and still looking for a nice mix between muscle men and standard BL fare, definitely give this one a shot. The price is steep, but you get some amazing content and color artwork... especially the right flap, which is a full color depiction of Gunji. Drool worthy. Yum!

My one detracting comment would again have to be about the handling of SFX. The English is placed on top of the Japanese SFX with a large, distracting stroke around the text, obscuring much but not all of the original SFX. The translations are not very useful either, typically a literal romanisation of Japanese onomatopoeia like [GAT... ...T!].

Disclaimer: none

Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett

Quick Rating: B

Purchase: Amazon

Blurb: At forty-seven, Mr. F’s working life on London’s Skin Lane is one governed by calm, precision, and routine. So when he starts to have recurring nightmares, he does his best to ignore them. The images that appear in his dreams are disturbing—Mr. F can’t think of where they have come from. After all, he’s an ordinary middle-aged man.

As London’s backstreets begin to swelter in the long, hot summer of 1967, Mr. F’s nightmares become an obsession. A chance encounter adds a face to the body that nightly haunts him, and the torments of his restless nights lead him—and the reader—deeper into a terrifying labyrinth of rage, desire, and shame.

Part fairy-tale, part compelling evocation of a now-lost London, this is Neil Bartlett’s fiercest piece of writing yet: cruel, erotic, and tender.

Review: This is the third book I've read that features London and its trains... probably the most haunting of them all.

A study of isolation and obsession, and love (or the absence of it). With a powerfully satisfying ending. Nothing turned out as I'd assumed it would. Thankfully. 

The narrator was pervasive, without the book would have lost its eerie atmosphere. Can't say I'd change anything about the novel, but the narration was incredibly intrusive and that level of self awareness made it difficult for me to fully immerse myself in the story.

Disclaimer: none

A Map of the Harbor Islands by J.G. Hayes

Quick Rating: A+

Purchase: Amazon

Blurb: "A Map of the Harbor Islands" is the long-awaited novel from J G Hayes. This book charts the turbulent life courses of two South Boston friends, Danny O'Connor and Petey Harding, from their childhoods through their adult lives. 'Golden Boy' Petey has it all going for him - grains, charisma and his close friendship with Danny. Then, an accident on the baseball field changes everything. Petey wake from a coma a different person, completely different from the boy Danny knew and loved. When Peter confesses that he is gay, it sends Danny on an odyssey he never dreamed could happen.

Review: This book calls to mind a loving mixture of A Prayer for Owen Meany and the gay classic At Swim, Two Boys. It's a work of real literary merit with its beautiful, luscious prose that meanders slowly through one of the most heartrending tales of friendship and love I have ever read. Danny and Petey's friendship develops through the book in hand-picked events from grade school to their early thirties. Their love story is slowly strengthened through the discovery of Petey's "otherness" and seemingly forever unrequited love of Danny. As Danny struggles to come to terms with Petey's sexuality, Danny begins to question his own. From there the book's all close misses at mutual love and happiness. Only at the end of the book, when the narration finally reaches a present-time setting, do the two arrive at the same place. 

[Spoiler: Unfortunately the book never explicitly states that Petey and Danny ride off into the sunset together, but the book leaves the reader with such abiding hope that you could paint their lives after the book ends as vividly as if the story continued.]

Disclaimer: none

Endless Game by Gengoroh Tagame

Quick Rating: B

Purchase: Amazon

Blurb: Gengoroh Tagame is one of the stars of manga. His stories are among the best in this genre and until recently have only been published in Japanese. Bruno Gmunder is pleased to publish two of them in English for audiences around the globe. - Gengoroh Tagame is one of most succesful artists of bara-manga. - In May 2013, a compilation of his work was published successfully in English for the first time. - His work explores the issues of men's sexuality, domination, and submission. Trend: Adult comics.

Review: Endless Game is light on story but full of hot, raunchy sex. I felt like I was checking off a list of how many sexual scenarios, positions, and toys could be fit into the pages of one volume. Very steamy, very well drawn. 

Going from memory, here are some things that happen in the comic: rimming, double penetration, backroom sex, sex for money, multiple partners, vibrator wands, anal beads, dildos, nipple clamps... even sexy go-go boy dancing.

There was a surprising amount of colored art. Enjoyed that, and the continuity of this volume much more than The Passion, but at the pricepoint ($25-35) I can't recommend Endless Game to anyone but a diehard fan.

Very minimal complaint: I was annoyed with the way sound effects were handled.

Disclaimer: none