Spring Fever

Don't believe the back cover of Yugi Yamada's Spring Fever, published in English by Deux Press, when it claims to contain "two torrid tales of yaoi passion." The book does contain two separate stories, and some passion may be involved, but to call them "torrid" is vastly overstating the content of these tales of confused men struggling to define what love is and make it work despite their difficulties. That is not to say that Spring Fever has nothing to recommend it, but these stories, "Spring Fever" and "Wildman Blues," focus more on the tangled and bewildered men and the emotions they struggle to sort out, than it does on passion and sex.

"Spring Fever" is the main story of the book, a "classic oyaji-uke" tale as the back cover proclaims. Yusuke is our teenage protagonist, the son of a calligraphy school owner who works an extra job to support himself, and who tends to fall in love with anyone who briefly catches his fancy. Hirozaku is our "oyaji" (the Japanese word for "uncle," used to refer to men older than about thirty, much to their chagrin), the 38-year-old single father who moves in next door to the calligraphy school with his 4-year-old son, Yu. Of course, Yusuke immediately falls for Hirozaku's gentle nature and his kindness as a father, and begins to befriend both little Yu and his dad. Neither the twenty-year age difference nor the fact that this is Yusuke's first crush on a man can sway him from his pursuit of Hirozaku. Beyond his attitude of quiet kindness, no reason is ever given for why Yusuke feels the way he does, and Hirozaku certainly seems to wallow too deeply in his guilt over his ex-wife's death to pay much attention to Yusuke. A relationship between the two, full of so much potential for beautiful growth and development, never really connects. The addition of little Yu popping up just when the two grown-ups start to get intimate really throws a metaphorical bucket of cold water on the reader. It may be fun to imagine a sexy older dad being overwhelmed by a hot young man, but not when dad's kid starts crying in the middle of the scene. Still, the story wraps up nicely with a sweet ending sure to melt the heart of even the least romantic reader.

"Wildman Blues" is the shorter but far more interesting story of Spring Fever. It starts off slowly as the tale of two young neighbor boys: Naoki, a high school student, is ostracized by his classmates for being gay, and his only friend is junior high school student and neighbor Ayu. The first chapter tells an uncomfortable tale of their early friendship and difficulty relating to one another, but in the second half of the story, Naoki and Ayu are grown up, and Naoki has fully come out and become a fabulous, fashionable gay man secure in his identity. Naoki's flamboyant yet ultimately sweet personality steals the show and steals Ayu's heart, must to Ayu's surprise. "Wildman Blues" satisfies the need for a whole, complete story in a compact package much more than the somewhat plotless rambling of "Spring Fever."

Yugi Yamada's art would seem very much suited to shoujo manga as her character's fashionable outfits and expressive eyes stand out the most. The style of Spring Fever, first published in 2001, seems somehow too rounded and too sketchy to really express sexual passion, but sex isn't the focus of these stories. Yamada-sensei's depictions of the neighborhoods where her characters live, their surroundings, their clothing and their expressions are what tell her emotional tales. A few intimate scenes are sprinkled about for interest, but they are neither expertly drawn nor vitally important.

The confused relationships and emotional struggles of the characters in Spring Fever drive the two tales of the book, but they seem to be driving on a road to nowhere, or at least, nowhere new. Yugi Yamada's stories are sweet, but best suited to a mild palate looking for a slice-of-life love story without too much spice.