The art is pretty most of the time, but Kae Maruya only has two character models: Hot Guy and Cute Guy; every seme has the same face, as do the ukes (who also occasionally look like they have exotropia). All the plots are paper-thin and based on misunderstandings, there are no personalities to speak of except "seduces" and "is seduced", and the romances are rushed and bland.

Onozomi no Mama ni - predictable, with a lot of plot points that fizzle out with no meaningful resolution. Out of the many "guy inherits fortune from family" stories out there, this one is among the more shallow.

A Season For Three - Yukihito comes across as sympathetic (if only because he's only 16...), but Tetsuya steals more time with him than his actual boyfriend is given, while Reiichi is basically a cardboard cutout. The couple barely have chemistry.

The Imitation Lovers - the most interesting one (which isn't saying much). The forced misunderstanding took time away from both Yuusuke/Hiroaki's side and Ichikawa's, so the entire thing feels even more unfocused than the first story.

maruya's art is beautiful and detailed (i could wax poetically about the folds in her clothing, *heh*), but her story telling skills are unfortunately not on par, not even close. the plots are way too often driven by really stupid "misunderstandings", and people generally behave in very stereotypical (and not endearing) BL ways. her characters are almost never interesting. for example in season for three -- what is it about reiichi that yuki even likes? i'm ok with the "childhood friend" trope if the loving behaviour isn't all in the past. in the now reiichi doesn't do anything with or for yuki; oono spends way more time with him. reiichi is much older than yuki, but acts so dumb that i just want to slap him -- if your being seen with some beautiful model/actress is a mere publicity stunt, don't you think you might actually want to TELL your brand new, inexperienced lover with whom you have not even gone all the way, so he's bound to feel insecure?

in imitation lovers the plot centers on deception to make people jealous. *yawn*.

in onozomi no mama ni the whole setup is unbelievable to start with, and deception by a third person is used to initiate the misunderstanding.

in general maruya's uke get on my nerves; supposedly they're innocent-but-wise, but in reality they're dense, weepy, and believe third parties more than the one they supposedly love. it's just not very adept storytelling. and all the gorgeous art can't make up for that.

... Last updated on March 16th, 2011, 6:06am

normally i hate triangle books, but the third guy was so endearing, i really liked him, maybe even more than Reichi , i still dont understand why Reichi would let Yuki worry rather than tell him that the rumors were a publicity stunt (you'll understand if you read it) i mean Yuki is his partner how can it not be his business if theres a rumor like that going around? Yuki was way too weepy, but i like that he didnt allow anything to happen between him and Oono , most weak uke's would have just cheated on thieir partners rather than be faithful, so i liked that. the extra was a complete waste of pages, i would have liked to know what happened with Oono if he found himself another partner. i feel like he cared more about Yuki than Reichi did he thought Yuki's happiness was more important than his own, and Oono was shown more in the manga than Reichi. Reichi started off as a guy that treasure Yuki more than anything and was even willing to accept and support him if he found someone to love, but he ended up seeming distant and cold to me.

... Last updated on March 14th, 2009, 9:06am

The art was GORGEOUSSSSS!!!!!!!! But definitely more shounen ai then yaoi. (but in some of the stories i would have love to see a little extra yaoi in there ;D) but alas, shounen ai (a kiss or two) is pretty good too ^ ^