Dash!

Isaku Natsume's Dash! contains two stories: the title story Dash! takes place around a high school judo club. Saitoh is the star member of the team, and the reason Akimoto applied to that particular school. However on closer inspection the master judoka isn't quite what Akimoto had expected - he seems to be lazy and spends no time in the dojo practicing. However, he takes Akimoto as his gopher and the boy spends a lot of time following him and obeying his orders. As Akimoto's feelings towards Saitoh take a turn from friendly to lusty, he also discovers Saitoh's dark secret the older boy has been hiding.

Another half of the book is a story called "Cheeky!" and it's about basketball-playing Taka whose younger cousin Yoshirou suddenly appears on his doorstep claiming to have run away from home after getting in trouble with a boyfriend. The cousins haven't seen each other since they were kids, and Yoshirou seems certainly very different to the last time Taka saw him: promiscuous with both men and women and cheeky, yet behind the curtains deeply insecure and anxious. He comes on to Taka repeatedly, but although the introverted Taka brushes him off jealousy starts to raise it's head when Yoshirou starts flirting with his teammates.

Although I prefer to have just one story with a single set of characters in one book, the premise of two longer stories works for me too. The stories are just long enough so that you get to know the boys, there's time for a little bit of character development and the climax. These stories are not too complex and follow the standard BL formula of "boy meets boy, falls in love, doubts his feelings and gets past them" - but the characters themselves are much more than that. Especially Natsume's ukes deserve three cheers for their cheekiness and attitude: both Saitoh and Yoshirou have spunk and don't fall into either the timid blushing uke nor the angry aggressive uke stereotypes but are very much their own characters. Saitoh with his adorable grin is strong and independent. Yet he doesn't see anything wrong with submitting to the younger boy, and even better doesn't change into a blushing bride after the deed but retains his authority as the sempai, almost topping Akimoto from the bottom. Yoshirou is a little bit more traditional uke character, but he's very much instigator and the aggressive party in the relationship. Semes are a bit more forgettable: Akimoto is the large and slightly clumsy and blushes cutely when he dotes after Saitoh, and Taka is yet another big dark-haired somber seme.

I really like Natsume's art - it's very clean, drawn almost in shonen style and reminding me a lot of Yellow Tanabe's Kekkaishi (and Saitoh is a spitting image of Kekkaishi's Yoshimori). Personally I much prefer this kind of style to more flowery and shoujo-like style on the other end of the BL spectrum. Natsume's boys are athletic and personable - not quite men yet, but built well enough that they don't look like children either. As a 16+ title, kisses and passionate blushes are the hottest thing Dash! has to offer - although both couples do go all the way, there isn't any nudity and closest we get to it are wonderful flashes of pecs and abs. For me it's a bit of a tease as I don't normally go for anything under M, but the nice art and characters make it worthwhile.

Dash! is the usual high Juné production quality, with the exception of slightly thicker and heavier paper. Sound effects have been translated (although not always replaced) but honorifics haven't been kept except for senpai and kohai that have been kept untranslated without explanation to their meanings. Translation is flowing and natural.

Dash! is delightfully cute: light on the plot but saved by more interesting characters than your average BL manga. It doesn't include any non-con elements or graphic details, but is not sickly sweet or innocent either - thoroughly enjoyable fluff.