My Paranoid Next Door Neighbor

After finishing Kazuka Minami's My Paranoid Next Door Neighbor, I couldn't help but wish that all yaoi manga schoolboys could be like this. High school yaoi manga all too often runs the risk of becoming too cute, too tame, too fraught with angst, or too unbelievable to the point where the characters don't look remotely high-school-aged. Cute boys in Japanese school uniforms doing rude things to each other - isn't that what schoolboy yaoi is supposed to be about? That's exactly what My Paranoid Next Door Neighbor delivers!

Yukito, the main character of the book, is a pretty-faced high school senior with a bit of an attitude, and a problem: his dad has invited Yukito's childhood best friend, Hokuto, to live with them while the boys complete their college entrance exams. The problem is that Yukito and Hokuto haven't really been friends since the sixth grade, and now they're like strangers. However, as soon as Hokuto and Yukito are alone in the house, Hokuto starts coming on to Yukito out of the blue! Yukito doesn't seem to mind too much, until a couple of Hokuto's new friends, an international student and an English teacher, drop hints to Yukito that Hokuto is their sex buddy. It's refreshing to see that Yukito is more upset about Hokuto being too free with his body than he is about getting naked and getting off with his childhood friend. Hokuto's aggressive nature and his practiced, knowledgeable manner give fuel to the fire of Yukito's fear and paranoia that he's just another conquest to Hokuto, which he can't stand because deep inside, he really does care about Hokuto.

Honestly, the details of the plot don't matter all that much. An appropriate amount of stress and conflict arises between Hokuto and Yukito, but the angst never overwhelms the simple story of struggling affection and attraction. The real high points of the manga are the achingly sexy intimate scenes between Yukito and Hokuto. Hokuto, with his self-confident demeanor and CEO-in-training glasses, seduces Yukito with just a touch, a word or a taste. Minami-sensei's art and style bring out the absolute most in her characters, placing a hand on a cute little bottom, fingertips on a round nipple, tender lips on a cheek. Sensual affection drips from every intimate scene, smoothed with the innocence of high school love and charged with the heat of adolescent desire. If only all yaoi schoolboys were this hot, and this unrepentant about it! Every touch, kiss and lick will leave you fanning yourself and eagerly turning the page to see what Yukito and Hokuto do next.

The English version of My Paranoid Next Door Neighbor from 801 Media is excellent, as usual. 801 has proven themselves as a high-quality publisher, featuring nice tight full-color dust jackets that aren't in danger of sliding off of the books, as well as a nice color insert page, and a clean translation. It's especially nice that all of the sound effects are translated, because this really adds a nice flavor to the manga, filling in the action a little more here and there. The dust jacket cover image is the same as is used on the original Japanese version, with English text, and the graphic designer in me must applaud 801's graphic designer for fitting such a long title with rather long words like "paranoid" and "neighbor" on the cover without obscuring the best part of the cover art: Yukito in his "Calvin Klain" briefs and no pants.

My Paranoid Next Door Neighbor has helped to restore my faith in naughty yaoi schoolboys after endless volumes of high school angst resolved with barely a kiss. Yukito and Hokuto are hot, dirty and delicious, but not so mature-looking and model-beautiful that you'd never believe they're in high school. Steamy sex scenes and fantastic sense of artistic composition make this manga a feast for the eyes for anyone who loves Japanese schoolboys exploring their sexuality. And really, who doesn't love that?