But I'm Your Teacher

When you pick a manga by Takakura Row, you know you'll be getting pages full of sweating, panting, gorgeous, passionate sex between her incredibly beautiful guys. What you might not expect to find are the positive, warm emotions and the true earnestness of the relationships between her characters. But I'm Your Teacher gives us six stories of passion and love, and how one feeds the other. Takakura-sensei eschews angst and cruelty completely, leaving only positive, sexy, feel-good stories that still portray real, developing relationships.

"... But, I'm Your Teacher" is the longest of the six short stories, and the namesake of the volume. This is the story of Yahiro, an adorable young substitute high school teacher, and Koga, the student who seduces him. Sweet, delicate sensei is the uke in this story, and the one who worries the most about his relationship with his broad-shouldered, sexy student. The couple experiences a few typical misunderstandings so that we see the inner workings of their relationship, but most of the focus is on their sexual relationship, which is really the way these two express and discover their feelings. The sex is hot and beautiful, and also worked in well with the story of the couple.

Like most of Takakura-sensei's ukes, Yahiro is small and sweet-faced, prone to blushing. Koga has a devil-may-care attitude in public, but in private with Yahiro, can be sensitive and tender, caring for his teacher's needs. Sure, these are typical yaoi manga stereotypes, but rendered in Takakura's expert, detailed style, they take on a life of their own.

The real downside to this book is that most of the rest of the stories are short, predictable one-shot fare. The only story that really stands out is the absolutely adorable "Happy Honey Baby," which explores what happens when a new gay couple have to take care of a relative's baby together. Tomoya and his new, older boyfriend, Tsukasa, get to play house while taking care of Tomoya's infant niece. The real sweetness of the story is in watching the couple interact with the baby, and how the shared cares and concerns bring them closer together. The concept of "family" isn't explored often enough in yaoi manga, but "Happy Honey Baby" gives us a truly adorable glimpse of what gay family life might be like in the yaoi world.

In a world of yaoi manga that seems to be filled with either heart-wrenching angst stories or cloyingly sweet tales with barely a kiss to be seen, But I'm Your Teacher fills a completely unique space. The collection of short stories are both sexy and emotional, both fun and believable. The true gems are few, but make up the largest part of the book, while the rest of it is simply enjoyable when one needs a pleasant dose of sex and romance wrapped up together.