BL Review: Anata wo Hitorijime
Yesterday, I finally got my translation for this manga I’ve had over two years now. [Dude…took you long enough, right?] I’m a huge Uchida Kaoru fan, and the wait was worth it. This is my new favorite title from her…I’m in awe of it’s greatness. I honestly think this is one of her best ones [and I adore her Soredewa Minasan series]; the themes are her usual- the older muscle-bottom and his younger lover, but her stories are still all BL, and follow the same sort of ‘for ladies’ plot devices–despite her manly characters.
This book, published in 2004 from Bamboo Comics, called “You Are My Only Dear Man”, is a collection of shorts about students who love their teachers [I ordered this right after I wrote ‘King’s Masterpiece’ for Yaoi Press…I wanted to explore similar themes], but this book was an extra treat because there are other stories that take place outside the student-teacher spectrum [construction workers mostly] and they’re all about ‘the older-guy as uke’…G*d that’s hot. [Note: fen term is “Oyaji Uke”.] The stories are just remarkably exciting.
The book seems to revolve around the same school – and examines different couples in different scenarios…it starts with this one kid who’s a real player with the girls, he ends up falling for his principal, a divorced man who’s much older [about 40?]. Anyway, the principals ex-wife shows up to tell him that she’s getting re-married; they’re such good friends that he wishes her well and hugs her…and student lover sees it and gets massively irate. He looses his temper when they’re alone and rapes the principal. [Remember, in BL- rape means 'I Love You'.]
The next story is about this hunky student who falls for the school nurse. Yep, nurse is a beefy sweetie too, and he’s middle aged [OMG in his 30’s! Jesus Christ I love BL.] Anyway, the boys crush gets so great that he starts skipping important classes by playing sick, just so he can tool around the nurses office. He confides in his friend [boy from story 1?] who lets it slip to the principal he’s banging [[before the angry rape]] that he has a hard-on for the nurse. The principal tells the nurse…wow—this school is a hotbed for gay men seeking careers in education. Oh noes, now the nurse is aware that this kid isn’t just a hypochondriac, he actually just wants to get it on. The nurse seems to have some issues about seducing or being seduced by this student. 0_0. Is that sort of realized morality even allowed in BL?
The next story is about a guy that just lost his wife, and lives alone. His next door neighbor kicks out a young hustler, literally—the punk ends up falling into widowers arms outside. Hustler comes for the occasional hot sex, but is unwilling to commit—and has the nerve to blame the widower for his own unwillingness to commit—he claims that the man is too attached to the memory of his dead wife. How stupid—and the widower thinks so to, but the man is smart enough to still get it on whenever huster shows up! ^_-
The stories break off a bit from the school, but slowly at first–a student falls for a construction worker—he convinces him that life at home is horrid, and the guy feels sorry for him enough to take pity on him—they get to a quiet place and the student gets him hard, and sex ensues. Those damn senior high boys, they’re all whores. The rest centers around more construction site drama, all the young ones seduce the older ones…the cutest art is in the one where the new kid on the job falls for the older hardware shop worker with the ‘big muscular ass’. ^_^ The kid is definitely an ass-man.
One story [would’ve been my personal favorite if there was older-bottom SEX!] is about this food delivery kid who delivers to this cop on a protective stakeout [he’s sitting on a witness]. After a few deliveries, the kid gets to know them, and talks about ‘being gay’, I guess…trying to find the right guy, that sort of stuff. [In BL, everyone is gay—no one has to say it!] Anyway, the kid falls hard for the detective, everything about him–the way he walks, talks, and…smells.
As the book closes out, it ends up back at the school! I was wondering when we’d get back there…nothing worth highlighting really; I think Uchida might’ve hit her stride on these by the end. I love how the mangaka always makes this very beefy, hairy, and older uke and pairs them with these young clean-shaven studs that barely look like their capable of jacking-off than satisfying a real muscle-bottom.
Uchida’s men are very manly for BL—despite having hair, beard, moustache—they aren’t like the ‘bears’ found in gay manga. [I think the slang term for that male style is hige-kuma…don’t quote me on that.] Her older men are aesthetically pretty, despite their obvious manliness, there is no better BL mangaka for ‘gay manga fans’ than Uchida Kaoru.
