OH MY FREAKING GOD, such a brilliant manga! WHERE HAS IT BEEN ALL MY LIFE, LOL. This is THE yaoi manga of the year for me, no questions asked - just - oh my gosh, the plot, it's so interesting and gripping and unique... The yaoi isn't even the point, it's just an awesomely told ghost story wrapped in a time-travel story wrapped in a mystery that is half-architecture, half-occult...
Akihiko, the mild-mannered if rather geeky protagonist, embarks on a curse-breaking journey that spans generations of his bishielicious family. There are ghosts! There are fox deities! THERE ARE MAD TIME-TRAVEL SKILLZ! It sounds cliched, but for some reason it isn't - I don't know, it's just how the plot is executed that's unique, in a very unconventionally light, crisp way... Despite the fact that there is so much potential horror and tragedy lurking around the edges, the storytelling is still somehow very clear and light and not depressing at all - it's spooky, sometimes (well, it IS a ghost story!), but it's not heavy or morbid. Instead, it's very approachable and realistic and even the internal monologues are refreshingly snappy - actually, that's what makes all the creepy supernatural stuff believable, because the people in the manga react to it in such an authentic, human way. Lots of motivation to suspend disbelief, you know? So much so that even someone like me, who doesn't normally like ghost stories, found myself swept along easily and without any resistance at all.
Part of the reason for that ease is the "casting" of this manga. The characters are fantastic and full of life; they're sardonic and real, and even the guy with the curse on his head, while being reasonably worried about it, isn't uber-angsty or melodramatic about it; in fact, he even retains a kind of spazzy sense of humor that I really love. AND THE BISHIE FROM THE PAST IS SO HOT OMG, I CAN'T WAIT TILL SOME KIND OF ROMANCE DEVELOPS BETWEEN HIM AND AKIHIKO! It already seems to be doing so... Ren is so cute in his charmingly creepy, randomly lustful emo-ness, but - OH, HIS ANCESTOR IS SO DAMN HAWTTTTT. Choose the ancestor, Akihiko! ANCESTOR-SAAAAAN.... <3
/spazz
Lol, I'll come back and leave a more coherent review once I've seen how this manga ends. Or maybe a less coherent review, if the ending is even more amazing than the manga has been thus far! And so far, it's been pure, unadulterated entertainment. It's just SO FREAKING RARE to find a mystery manga of this quality, not just in yaoi but in any demographic...
Fingers crossed!
Stay alive, Akihiko! Stay alive, Ren-kun! Bless you both!