This is nowhere near your typical BL because the guys are too boyish for the story to be even remotely romantic. If it hadn't been for the first chapter and a couple of other scenes here and there, Yarouze would easily have qualified as slash shoujo.
If you're expecting dramatic love confessions or something, don't read this - you'll only be disappointed and give it a low rating. Though there are three very slashy pairs (Kusanagi and Fuwa, Kusanagi's brother and Jin Kouga, the company president Ekuni and his secretary) - none of them are canon. In fact, this is the only BL I've ever read which eventually made me forget it was supposed to be a guy x guy romance (nice!)
As for lifeincircuit's complaint about the lack of an actual pairing; I personally find it more believable this way. Because, no matter what Fuwa says or thinks it's obvious that he isn't gay (or even bisexual); his thought processes are weird in that he seems to think if he likes someone, he must want to sleep with them too...and it's what he's been doing for heaven knows how long. This is what we seem him skirting around in the first couple of chapters; and Kusanagi, with his canonically stated complete disinterest in romance, puts up with it only because he's determined to keep Fuwa with him (this makes better sense in context).
But I love how at the end of chapter 2, Kusanagi decides he wanted to be Fuwa's partner -- not his experimental subject, and Fuwa decides he'd rather have a friend than a toy.
His one-track-minded obsession with motorcycle racing is what I love about Kusanagi, and what sets him apart from the protagonists of most shounen-ai manga. It makes him so much cuter than the so-called 'cute' boys you find in all those other BL, because his is a cuteness that doesn't feel forced for the sake of gaining the "Kyaaa factor", as I call it.
The plot is good, and not at all typical. And yes - it actually has a plot. Quite a novel concept considering how 99% of the manga in this genre focus solely on the sappy, mushy romance between two utterly unrealistic depictions of teenage boys (who don't behave like any boys I've ever seen). Not so this one. Each character has something interesting about him; and save for the ambiguous sexuality issue that lifeincircuit mentioned, they have very fun personalities.
I love the way Ishihara Satoru does both "good boy" and "bad boy" characters and actually manages to pull it off without making the good boy an annoying, whiny brat or the bad boy a hateful bas***d. It isn't something most mangaka can do, believe me.
In short - a very funny, very tough manga with plenty of grit. The jokes tend to veer off towards the trashy yaoi region every so often, but if you can put up with that, this is one of those rare shounen-ai manga which is actually worth reading twice. I even found myself wishing that it had been longer. If this was het romance instead of almost-BL, it could've gotten at least ten volumes or so. (But in that case, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much...)
A little hint to would-be readers; take note of the English translation of the title. Kusanagi's last line on the last page of chapter 10 will have a better impact on you if you do. (And no, it isn't anything perverted -- I don't believe the Japanese context carries that kind of meaning at all; it refers to aiming towards achieving some kind of goal with spirit and determination)
(-28)
