Play Boy Blues

In the first few pages of Play Boy Blues, the main character, Hishiya Shinobu, wraps up an all-night date with his supervisor at a construction company, and comes home in the early morning hours only to be pushed up against the wall, fondled and undressed by his live-in lover, Aki Junsuke. Junsuke, or "Jun" as Shinobu calls him, doesn't take kindly to his lover's fooling around, but then again, how can he argue? Jun is the Number One male host at Club Dandy, making his money entertaining rich women both as an escort and in the bedroom. While neither of them feel they have the right to admit to jealousy, neither of them are willing to admit to the feelings that cause that jealousy, either. We readers are treated to the heart-poundingly hot action as Jun and Shinobu struggle to express themselves emotionally by expressing themselves physically.

One of the best things about Play Boy Blues is that easily half of the story is carried out through physical scenes, from steaming hot kisses to passionate sex scenes and everything in between. Every time Shinobu and Jun get close to admitting their mutual love, they shy away from emotions and return to the sexual expression they both seem most comfortable with. However, sex isn't always enough, as the couple begins to discover. Jun wonders if Shinobu cares about him despite his philandering, and Shinobu can't seem to crack Junsuke's solemn demeanor. What's it going to take to get these two macho guys to open up?

Shiuko Kano's men are real men, broad-shouldered, strong-jawed and well-muscled with rippling six-pack abs and beautifully defined bodies. Every time they take off their clothes it's an exciting adventure of toned flesh and incredible facial expressions. The characters' faces add so much to the story, giving life to the dialogue. You can practically hear the tones of their voices, just by looking at the angle of that chin or the little curl of that smirk. Shiuko Kano's excellent use of expression, position and gorgeous bodies take Play Boy Blues from a typical adult yaoi story to something much more engrossing and interesting to a reader who loves hard yaoi.

In addition to the main stories about Shinobu and Junsuke, there is an extra story, "Manly Construction Training," about the experiences of a spoiled little rich boy who gets sent off to work construction for two weeks during his summer vacation. "Manly Construction Training" is cute, if obvious, though not nearly as sexy as the main stories.

Despite all its great points, Play Boy Blues is marred by a couple of points of confusion. The first problem is that the story of Shinobu and Junsuke starts at the second chapter of their tale. It's explained in a side note that the first chapter of Play Boy Blues is contained in the manga "Gaten na Aitsu," which might also explain the seemingly pre-existing relationships in the extra story. It isn't too confusing, because the high points of Shinobu and Junsuke's meeting are told later in flashbacks, but it does make it a little difficult to get into the book when the reader doesn't know who the characters are.

Secondly, the book suffers from a fair amount of confusion about who is speaking when. At worst, some of the intimate scenes need a second read-through to get straight -- not exactly a problem here!

Play Boy Blues doesn't do anything spectacularly innovative as far as storyline goes, but the men are gorgeous, the art is steaming, and the sex scenes are absolutely on fire. Be Beautiful has done a good job with another sizzling, sexy yaoi story.