Jazz

I have to disagree with the previous reviewer's take on Jazz by Tamotsu Takamure and Sakae Maeda.

The plot does follow high school senior Naoki, who suffers from chronic asthma. He does fall in love with his Dr. Narusawa, when, during a terrible episode, the doctor has the nerve to stand up to Naoki's overbearing mother. There is a "rape" scene at the beginning of the manga, when Naoki, overwrought by love for his doctor and afraid of losing him, slips a drug into his wine and has sex with him. In truth, I almost put the book down after this, because I don't condone rape in any context.

However, directly after this, there is a not so subtle indication that the doctor has been drawn to Naoki from the beginning, that without such force, he would never have indulged his own attraction for Naoki.

In truth, Naoki's love for Doc is obsessive, overbearing, ungentle and possessive. Doc, afraid of his own emotions, of any emotions, wittingly plays the victim throughout. He's in love with Naoki but too emotionally distant to admit it fully to himself or to Naoki at all. In the end, Doc runs away, not because of Naoki's obsessive love, but because of his inability to deal with his own feelings for his lover.

This isn't a manga for everyone. It has its own kind of complicated subtext that can be read in a myriad of ways. The relationship between the two men is not typical and not "healthy" either, but as a reader, I can't help but be attracted to the interactions between these two men. On the surface it might seem that Naoki is the cruel player, that Doc is submissive, abused even, but in truth, Naoki is the one being played by a much crueler character, Doc.

I also like the artwork in this manga. It's not typical. The characters are bigger and stronger, manlier than most "yaoi" type characters. Often the art conveys what the text does not. Jazz is probably an acquired taste in terms of other types of yaoi manga, but it bears further reading and should not be written off.