365 Days of Manga, Day 215: Blue Sky

BLUE SKY (Aoi Sora ga Are ba Sore de ii) （青い空があればそれでいい) • Yuko Kuwabara • DMP (2008) • Libre (2007) • 1 volume • Yaoi • 18+
Yoshimi, the aloof “Beautiful Prince of Ice,” and Kihara, the mischievous “Prince of Warm Spring Sunshine,” share a dorm room at their private academy, a typical yaoi boys’ school where everyone is gay and the students have nothing to do but gossip endlessly about each other. The plot is a string of yaoi clichés, but it moves briskly and with charm. The tone is gentle and romantic, with lots of dramatic gestures, heartfelt confessions, and blushing–and no on-panel underage sex (a couple of older characters are introduced to provide sex scenes). Once the heroes predictably confess their feelings, the second half of the volume pairs off the secondary characters in cute one-off stories. Of course, that the manga has secondary characters makes it a masterpiece of complex plotting compared to most yaoi. (Review by Shaenon Garrity)
** 1/2 (2.5 stars)
Today’s review, originally printed in Otaku USA, is by my good friend and fellow manga lover Shaenon Garrity!

Today’s winner is Joseph D. of North Carolina — congratulations! This photo isn’t of Joseph — it’s of Jill K., one of the previous 365 Days of Manga winners. (Two Tomoko Taniguchi winners in two days! Yes, I was clearin’ out my Taniguchi collection…) Thanks for sending your photo!