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JUNJO ROMANTICA Volume 1: (Yaoi) (v. 1) |  | Author: Shungiku Nakamura
Publisher: Blu
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $5.57
as of 9/9/2010 13:52 CDT details
You Save: $4.42 (44%)
Seller: thermite-media
Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 338803
Media: Paperback
Edition: illustrated edition
Pages: 200
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 4.9 x 0.6
ISBN: 1598167197
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5952
EAN: 9781598167191
ASIN: 1598167197
Publication Date: October 10, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Misaki is struggling to pass his college entrance exams, and has taken up a tutor: the cool and sexy Akihiko Usami, who also happens to be a famous boys' love novelist. At first, Misaki is disgusted by Akihiko, but slowly, Misaki realizes he may be developing feelings for the older man. And so begins the bumpy relationship of this odd couple, filled with comedy and pure romance...
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 17
 The Only Scared Rabbit is Misaki! May 31, 2010
The Kimi-Chan Experience
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The title literally translates as Pure Romance, so that gives a rather big clue what the book is going to be about. A look at the cover readily tells you that this is no sweet shojou manga, however. Yep, it has two guys on the cover. So, this is definitely going to be either shonen-ai (like Gravitation Collection Volume 1), or yaoi. Well, let me tell you, sweet it may be, and it may focus a lot on the interpersonal relationships, but this is no shonen ai. If you blush easily, this is NOT the book for you, as trousers and pants go flying, and hands do more than roam. Not that this is porn by a long shot. No, the sex scenes are actually important to the plot. Or rather, I should say plots, as the book contains two parallel stories.
The main story is Junjou Romantica. High school student Misaki is a sweet but not very academically capable student who is in his last year of high school. This means he is at crunch time, as this is the year that focuses on preparing and taking exams that not only help them graduate from high school successfully, but ones that are for entry into the universities they wish to try for. Misaki lives with his older brother, who is 10 years older than himself. Their parents died rushing home one evening in the rain, in a hurry to bring back gifts that Misaki had asked for from their trip. Needless to say, Misaki has some feelings of deep seated, albeit irrational, guilt over this, and it affects how he interacts with others as he afraid of causing more tragedy or upset from being "demanding". Misaki's brother had been accepted into a certain university, and gave it up, choosing instead to take care of the small Misaki, so Misaki really wants to make it up to him by attending this same university. Big brother Akihiko simply adores little brother Misaki, so when he comes home with mock exams scores that barely scrape the bottom of the proverbial barrel, he turns to his best friend, Usami, asking for help.
Usami is ideal for tutoring Misaki, he thinks. He thinks of Usami as kind hearted as well as brilliant. An award winning novelist who speaks English like a native, and who always got only the top marks in school and university, Usami is surely the family friend who will understand Misaki and be able to impart some knowledge into his cute little head! Unfortunately, the Usami that Akihiko knows is not the entire story, as Misaki discovers in the first few pages. For one thing, he is scary when awoken, and he likes to sleep in. Enough so that he gave Misaki the code to open the door to his five bedroomed penthouse. After all, Misaki will be living with him while he studies, so that every spare moment can be spent cramming information into Misaki's otherwise empty head. This is where it goes from bad to worse. For Misaki enters, finds two stacks of books from Usami's publisher, and discovers a secret. Usami not only writes those award winning novels, but boy's love novels as well under a pen name. And upon the table is a stack of boy's love novels entitled "The Romance of the Student Council Room". And the characters of the book are named Akihiko and... cue a major temper tantrum that entails Misaki storming to the upstairs and flinging open a door. He finds a room filled with children's toys, and a very, very evil Usami who decides to make him pay for waking him up, and for the words that come flying out of the very unfortunate Misaki's mouth. Not the most promising start between a couple, yet one that very much hints at the almost sitcom nature of this manga.
The second story in the book is really an introduction to the Junjou Egoist plotline. Just as Usami is outed as to having feelings of unrequited love for Misaki's elder brother Akihiko, main character Hiroki suffers from a broken heart due to a mistake he has made while trying to salve his own unrequited love for Usami. Yes, THAT Usami. Taking place earlier than the story in Romantica, Egoist shows us a snapshot of Usami in university and the impact he has had on Hiroki. Poor down in the dumps Hiroki actually breaks down in tears in a public park, where he is noticed by Nowaki. Nowaki's name means typhoon, and boy is it apt. He literally blows generally sharp tongued Hiroki's defences away, while Nowaki himself is forced to address his own insecurities in order to try to be a "perfect fit" for the man he now loves. Misunderstandings ensue, and plenty of giggles and head shaking to be had here as well, though nowhere as humorous as Romantica. For while Romantica's Usami (nicknamed Usagi or Rabbit, strangely enough) is larger than life, Hiroki and Nowaki actually closely resemble people you might actually know in real life. It makes a nice counterpoint, and also makes Usami more believable. He becomes that rich out there eccentric guy that nearly everyone knows one of (or at least has heard of), and saves him from becoming a strange caricature of a human being.
Both stories are endearing in their own way, and I found myself really cheering for the couples to succeed. I loved the fact that the each character was fully fleshed out, though not quite in full, so that we get to know more of the inner workings of each character as they themselves discover new things about each other. The plot lines move solidly along the paths of the development of each couple's actual relationship take as well as that of personal growth, making this a highly enjoyable read. Being adult relationships, yes, sex is involved, and being a graphic novel, one does get an eye full. It is all tastefully done however, and veers well away from the hentai end of the market. Think of it as an adult rom com in book form as opposed to being on the big or small screen, and the shock value quickly wears off. Perfect for a light bit of reading, but being yaoi, best kept out of reach of children.Oh, and if you like anime, you can watch Junjo Romantica Season 1 Dvd Collection too.
 Two Loves; Too Disjointed. December 24, 2009
Kathy S. Luzzi (Bethesda, MD USA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
"Junjo Romantica," I purchased and just read. Some parts of this manga book I had to re-read, think for moment, to figure out what was going on with the characters, storyline, plot, even a few illustrations. The characters aren't clearly defined, some appear and disappear like the wind. Who was that? The first story and second story in the same book are dijointed. What happened? Where, when, did the first story, relationship end? And what happened in between the two stories? This book has no "flow" of storyline. New characters pop up like gophers, hang around, what is their purpose?
Let me get to the first couple action in this book: "rape fantasy." Romance, love, being with your best friend, lover, spouse, isn't "rape." And, I know a few authors use that vehicle as a way to engage the interest of readers. There will be readers for "rape fantasy" books, I understand there is continuing interest in this type of fiction/fantasy.
What really concerns me about this type of fiction is the reaction of gay and lesbian teens. The rate of suicide among gay and lesbian teens, especially those teens who have been rejected and or abused by a family member, is nine times higher than the average. All suicide is painful to us.
What ever happen to the tender, loving, gentle love story, the kindness, the warming romance. Don't gay and lesbian teens deserve that too?
Junjo Romantica December 24, 2009
BL Addict
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I absolutely adore this series. I recently came across this work and I read the scans first and now own the series. The stories are heartwarming and filled with love and romance. It is the best romance read I have enjoyed in a long time!
 Boring and Unoriginal November 14, 2009
PirateCat (Knoxville, TN)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I've heard a lot about this series and was excited to read it but quickly discovered that it was remarkably dull. It's very predictable and while it mixes things up with two couples neither of them are particularly interesting or likable. The characters tend to follow the idea of the typical yaoi couple and have no outstanding characteristics. While some yaoi can redeem themselves somewhat with their sex scenes, Junjo Romantica just provokes a mere yawn. The art is fine but nothing about really stands out as special. It's like the rest of the manga, just boring. Unless you're a huge yaoi fan this should definitley be avoided.
I enjoyed it =] September 30, 2009
Lady Kohaku (My Head)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really liked this one. Only thing I didn't like was that theirs like two stories in one and i got confuzzled :p.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 17
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