Rin!

Second year high schooler Katsura has suffered from anxiety attacks since he was little, and only thing that helps him calm his nerves is a "squeeze" from his older brother Yamato's best friend Sou. And Katsura has some cause for anxiety and big shoes to fill - he's in the school's archery club, and as Yamato and Sou as the captain and the vice-captain of the club are preparing to graduate Katsura and his friend Kouichi are expected to step in and follow these legendary two. At the same time Katsura is preparing to free himself from Sou's help and is determined to start an independent life it turns out that Sou has more than friendly feelings towards the boy, and matters are complicated also by the fact the Katsura's best friend Kouichi seems to consider him to be a more than just a friend.

Rin! is more than just your average school boy romance manga. The setting in itself is slightly unusual as it's mostly happening in and around the archery club - this adds a lovely flavor to the story in the form of the traditional Japanese hakamas the boys wear as the archery uniforms. But most importantly, Katsura isn't the stereotypical blushing undetermined uke who is reluctantly taken for a ride - he is slightly bewildered by the attention he's getting in the beginning, but he also knows what and who he wants, and especially in the last volume shows an unusually strong resolve to be his own person confident in his love towards a person of his own choosing. Sou as the handsome top seme is lovely too - not perfect by any means, and given to jealousy and manipulation, but at the same time loving and considerate. And the Kannagi's story isn't the usual will-they-won't-they that would end with the predictable "of course they will" - the main couple actually gets together in the first book, and the tension for the rest of the story comes from them learning to know each other in completely different way.

The original story covered two volumes and a chapter, so it was decided that to publish it in the three volumes we're getting the last volume needed an extra story. And it turns out that this extra story, almost an entire volume in length, is my favorite part of the whole series. Before that Katsura hasn't had to make that many decisions actively, but in the last story with the appearance of a third and much more insistent suitor puts him into a position where he really has to stand up and take ownership of his life. And it helps too that the last story contains the longest and the most explicit sex scene in the series - the series is rated 16+ so it never gets too racy, but the final scene should leave any reader more than satisfied.

The main reason originally I bought this series is that I absolutely adore Yukine Honami's art - and Rin! doesn't disappoint. No one draws school boys quite as pretty as Honami, and here the hakamas give it just the extra spice. I especially love the sensitive way she draws expressions and poses: emotions are almost palpable at any point, but especially in the sex scenes between the two inexperienced but determined boys they are breathtakingly beautiful. She also has a superb sense of composition with her panels - she uses lot of unusual shapes and floating panels that are esthetically extremely pleasing. Honami pays a lot of attention to details, and I really enjoyed the archery theme and all the details of the bows, poses and dojos that were clearly well researched. Juné's release of Rin! lacks nothing - the translation is flowing and uses honorifics, the print quality is good and each volume contains some words from the authors and some extra artwork.

Rin! really is BL at it's best, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone - I would much rather give this series to someone who wants a gentle introduction to the genre than any other soft-core title I have read. It's got all the themes you can wish for: beautiful artwork, nice likable characters, real emotions, gentle love story, minor conflict and minimal knowledge of Japanese culture and it's quirks is needed. But it's not just for beginners - this series should delight any reader regardless.