Kissing

I have to say right off the bat that I love Kissing and no I'm not being facetious, Kissing is the title of this manga. From the time I first read it, it has rated among my top favorites. Why? For starters, the story. Written by Teiko Sasaki, it has all the right elements. There's the sweetly innocent, cute and clueless uke and the dark haired, gorgeous and popular seme. Along comes a declaration of love which brings confusion, fear, anger, frustration and finally realization and acceptance. In short, angst galore.

It all starts when Kazushi, our seme, is being hit up for a date by a fellow and female college classmate. To dodge her invitation, Kazushi latches on to his best friend, Haru, our uke, and tells the girl that he's already seeing someone. To Haru's total shock, Kazushi confesses, "This is the guy I'm in love with" and to top it off, kisses him.

At first Kazushi passes it off as a way to get the girl to leave him alone and Haru, though unhappy about the incident, accepts his explanation. Oh to be so blind! It's their mutual friend, Minota, who points out that they act like a couple. The two have known each other for so long, they share food off the same plate in the cafeteria. According to Minota, it's just not normal and makes them look like partners, or as he puts it, like there's something going on between them. This is where Haru gets a first inkling that his relationship with Kazushi isn't "normal."

Later that evening Haru and Minota hang out in a bar where Kazushi is working one of his many jobs. As the evening draws to a close Minota has left, leaving Haru and Kazushi to make their own way home. During the course of the evening Haru had been watching Kazushi while he worked, noting all the girls who were after him. Curiosity getting the better of him, he voices a question out loud, "Why do you never date anyone when you're so popular?" Kazushi's answer is at first a simple "they're not my type," but then he goes on to elaborate that it's about realizing that you love someone. After further expounding on the subject of love, Haru realizes that Kazushi is already in love with someone. Confronted with Haru's demand that he confess who his love interest is, Kazushi puts him off by saying, "Can't tell you just yet."

As I'm sure you can guess, very soon thereafter, Kazushi admits to Haru that he is in love with him. What follows is the real meat of the story. Kazushi's confession has Haru running through a gamut of emotions from shock to fear to sadness. He goes on a voyage of discovery, not only about his own feelings but about Kazushi. He comes to realize that there were too many things he's taken for granted and that he's been selfish for not seeing beyond the surface where Kazushi is concerned. I loved seeing this awakening in Haru. He's a really sweet guy who's just suffered a tremendous shock and had his head yanked out of the clouds. While there are some bumps in the road, he recovers nicely and shows us his loving and generous nature.

I have to say too that I have nothing but praise for Kazushi. He's the sweetest, most understanding and tender seme it's been my pleasure to come across. Instead of pushing and prodding Haru into jumping headlong into something he fears, Kazushi allows him to find his own way. There is a scene in which Kazushi, knowing how upset Haru is about their rocky relationship, apologizes for being in love with him. You would think Haru would be happy to hear this but he gets angry and accuses Kazushi of not being serious. As if that's not enough he further accuses Kazushi of giving up just because he, Haru, doesn't like what's happening and if that's what Kazushi's going to do, he should never have confessed at all as it's ruined their friendship. Let's face it folks, after a speech like that, he's practically begging Kazushi to force him into something.

In typical seme fashion, Kazushi gets angry that Haru thinks he's not serious and decides to physically show him, taking Haru at his word, even if he hates it. When Haru gets frightened and starts to cry, Kazushi backs off saying "it's just wrong." Oh man, that scene totally gets to me. Much as I like those forced seduction scenes, the fact that Kazushi has such consideration and love for Haru to stop himself from going further is just plain heroic. That one simple act shows his love for Haru more than a thousand spoken I love you's could ever do.

There is one sex scene in the book. It's not one of those hot and heavy things but very sweet, tender and loving. Just what you'd expect from the tone this story has set.

Oh and I have to say something about Minota. He's a fabulous secondary character and is the perfect foil for Haru and Kazushi. He's that friend who see's things from both sides and provides insights, especially for Haru, which help him to open his eyes and see beyond his own feelings and confusion.

Kissing was produced by Juné, a subsidiary of Digital Manga Publishing. It's one of those gorgeous over-sized volumes with a glossy dust jacket. I have to admit I found holding them awkward at first but now that I'm used to it, I love these large volumes. I always take the dust jacket off and set it aside when I'm reading them. It makes handling the book easier and preserves the pristine quality of the dust cover.

As for the artwork in this manga, it's wonderful. Drawn by Shoko Takaku, it's expressive, detailed and totally conveys the mood of the story as it moves along. The illustrations are bold and interesting. I really got a sense of Haru and Kazushi's world via the scenes from their homes, the school, the city and etc.

The characters' emotions are so clearly seen in the way their faces are drawn that even had the story still been in it's original Japanese, I would have had no trouble deciphering their current state of mind. Have I seen more beautiful faces? Yes, but who cares? Kazushi is a handsome young man, Haru is a little cutie and even Minota is a good looking guy. I was happy to see faces on the lesser characters rather than shaded eye-holes and blank outlines. Too much of that kind of thing creeps me out. It's perfectly understandable though, why artists wouldn't want to waste great faces on characters who have such minuscule roles.

Teiko Sasaki and Shoko Takaku, with the help of Juné, have combined their story and illustrations in such a way that has made Kissing a heartwarming winner. I highly recommend it.