Pet on Duty

This is possibly one of the weirdest settings for a romance that I've ever come across, so kudos to Nase Yamato for imagination.

The young and hapless Mizuki loses his job and temporarily moves in with older brother Koichi, a young businessman who lives in a company-owned dorm complex. No visitors are allowed, so Koichi and his dorm-mates have to keep Mizuki secret, in return he cleans, does errands, and acts as the dorm "pet" (even in as much as they all treat him like one and bring him little presents). In front of this bizarre backdrop, a relationship blossoms between the well intentioned (but somewhat hopeless) Mizuki and roommate Kudou (the reserved, dark-haired, silent type). This extremely cute tale then evolves with the standard misunderstandings as the fundamentally insecure and unsure pair tentatively feel their way along the first steps of a relationship; both of them being far too worried about what the other is thinking.

This would really be a very standard yaoi, if not for two things: 1) The bizarre, but incredibly endearing setting, and 2) Its strange mixture of childish and adult silliness. To illustrate, at one point Mizuki decides he has been mooching off his brother for quite long enough and is being a burden to all the other guys in the dorm, so he gets a job in a bar and moves out. Unfortunately, it's pretty much a topless lap-dancing club and he has to stand outside on the street with a sign saying "Only $30" and serve drinks to elderly businessmen who perv over him dressed in a kitten outfit. It's a both hilarious and weird mix of adult and childish humour. This bizarre mixture is what gives Pet On Duty so much charm, and what excuses the utter bizarreness of the premise. You're willing to ignore the randomness and just enjoy it.

The artwork for Pet On Duty quite nicely reflects the tone of the book. When Mizuki is being treated particularly pet-like he's drawn with little kitten ears, at other times he's being very childish and you get the standard "character as a child" depiction, and so on. All the characters are handsome and nicely distinct, the sex scenes are surprisingly hot (if a little restrained) and my only complaint is that Mizuki is just slightly too girly. Then again Nase Yamato occasionally gives him these expressions which just make your heart melt, so I can't complain too much.

One of the most interesting aspects of the artwork is the attention to detail; one of the first things you notice when reading Pet On Duty is just how dark the pages are, simply because there's so much ink on there. The pages are all absolutely stuffed with art and text, the backgrounds to scenes are always fully drawn and shaded; it's all just a pleasure to look at.

The only other Boysenberry title I've read is Delivery Cupid, but between these two they seem to have cornered the market in yaoi stories that are not only cute and funny, but pretty hot too. If you can get over the weirdness of a load of businessmen vying for the affections of a young guy as if he were a little cat, then you'll enjoy this. Plus I blatantly want to steal Mizuki's boyfriend Toru.

(Oh, just a small gripe as a PS. Chapter four opens with a picture of Mizuki wearing an open shirt, with his wrists bound together by one of Toru's ties. Such a scene never occurs in the manga, and I must protest most strongly, on behalf of all yaoi fans everywhere, at the extraordinary injustice of this.)