note 1: If you're here for BL this isn't that, not exactly. I would say this is a work that zeroes in on identity/projection/extreme codependency with queerness being a component rather than the main focus. Their relationship from the start goes far, far beyond friendship (others commenting that "this is not normal"). Not trying to erase the gayness because it is undeniably there, but if you're looking for a traditional BL this is not it. Actually, the fact that it's a queer work that focuses so hard on other things is one of the reasons I adore it, since the queer experience can be so much more than just straight forward romance. This is about the contents of your soul.
note 2: normally for an ongoing work I'd put my rating at like an 8 since anything could happen but the journey so far (up to volume 5 as of writing this) has been so unique and masterful that even if it ended tomorrow it wouldn't affect my feelings on the rest of the work.
Anyhow, can ya tell that I like it?
DOUBLE is an intense character study autopsy on a pair of actors-- Yujin and Takara-- and the relationship they share. Or better said, the ego they share, or maybe the performance, or the vision, and/or where it contradicts. Yujin is a passionate, by-the-books man who quite the knowledge of the stage but unfortunately he seems to lack some kind of glimmer that would make him truly successful. Takara, on the other hand, is a being of nothingness, a walking blank canvas unable to take care of himself, a puppet of Yujin's and a mesmerizing actor. They work as a single unit, with the brilliance coming from the moments Takara "betrays" Yujin by adding his own flourishes. This is exactly what they need to succeed, and exactly what will tear them apart.
As a work about theater, every chapter is named after a play with the exception (I think) being Hanshin-- Half God, a one shot written by the incredible Hagio Moto. If you've read it then I think that gives you a good idea of what the work is going for. Besides just the titles the plays performed appropriately reflect the struggles of that characters and helps propel their development, with everyone using their roles to express what cannot be otherwise expressed or learn what they had hidden deep inside. If you're a theater/literary buff then this is going to be a ride for you.
The art and paneling is of course stunning. Noda draws people that are willowy and crazy and heartbroken and bright; they are both realistic to the point of uncanny and serenely beautiful. So much of the work rests on the concept of the "profile", a state of being where the viewer can bask in the beauty of another person, and it's captured in a way that makes you understand completely. As the characters fall further into their roles and anxieties, the lights begin to focus on them and elements of the play come to life. Due to the intensity of Yujin and Takara's relationship, there's lots of unsettling moments where one will manifest another from the darkness. It's good storytelling that smudges the line between reality and feeling according to the moment.
While the focus is on the two male leads the female characters are given a lot of time to shine and explore their own relationships to theater (and in turn, themselves and their desires). There's the film director who seems intent on quickening the inevitable heat death between the leads in order to create something brilliant; there's the ever dependable manager who stoically puts up with a lot but whose own struggle and passion for the stage mirrors Yujin; and most importantly there's Aki, an ex-idol who is going into acting. She's a great character and the exploration of her place as a woman in a male-dominated space as well as her insistence on herself, as a person in a sea of the ingenuine was a highlight for me.
Wow that was a lot. But DOUBLE is a lot and it never really stops, it just keeps evolving and leaping forward, digging further, and biting down harder. For theater freaks, Moto lifers, drama hounds and people with something Deeply Wrong With Them. Could probably do a year-long book club around this.. Something something, "imitation really is the highest form of flattery!"
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