TEN COUNT | テンカウント [MANGA]
PUBLISHED: 2013-2018
VOLUME 1-3
Rihito Takarai’s popular 6-volume manga Ten Count is soon ascending to the exclusive ranks of Boys’ Love anime adaptations, and no surprise. Licensed in English by SuBLime, the series has garnered quite a reputation for its love story postmarked with mental illness. Ten Count is so mainstream I found my copies on the shelf at my local public library. (Thanks for the yaoi, tax-payers.)
2018 has staggered to a close, and pushed newborn 2019 straight out into the traffic in its rush. We live in a confusing time. Amidst political discord threatening upheaval of democratic values around the globe and impending environmental doom, it’s hard to say what the new year will bring. But remember, there is good in this world, and that good is a thing called yaoi.
Papa Datte, Shitai (パパだって、したい) is our first contender, rolling in for the 2019 winter season and debuting its first episode this week.
Episode 24: The Catcher in the Rye | ライ麦畑でつかまえて [FINALE]
The finale is here, under the banner of J.D. Salinger’s most famous work – and Salinger, of course, is also the author of A Perfect Day for Bananafish, the series’ namesake. The Catcher in the Rye’s famous imagery has already been used for the second ending’s visuals, in which Ash watches over Eiji in a field. This innocuous metaphor turning titular screams an ominous literary device as the curtains part for the final time.
Episode 23: For Whom the Bell Tolls | 誰がために鐘は鳴る
We’ve reached the penultimate episode, which means this is the final chance to watch the unlucky romance of Ash Lynx and Eiji Okumura and assume everything will work out exactly the way you want it to next episode.
Episode 18: Islands in the Stream | 海流のなかの島々
This episode has everything you’ve grown to love about Banana Fish – Ash/Eiji romantic insinuation, gunfights, literal and figurative explosions. But you might hate it anyway.
DAKAICHI – I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year | (抱男1位に脅されています (Dakaretai Otoko 1-i ni Odosarete Imasu)
Episode 2: Is He Sick of Me Already? | あいつ、もう俺に飽きやがったのか？
It’s an unfortunate truth that not every 18+ erotic yaoi manga gets adapted into a BL anime. Sometimes, it’s for a reason. Sometimes, that reason is seeing this stuff acted and animated gets really weird, really quick.
So with that, it’s time for Dakaichi Episode 2.
Continue reading Review: DAKAICHI – I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year (Episode 2)
Episode 14: Tender is the Night | 夜がやさし
If you’re catching onto the bumpy Banana Fish narrative formula of bloody carnage/brief respite/bloody carnage, then you should know after last week’s bloodbath it’s time for a break. But “breaks” in the jam-packed Banana Fish are really a matter of perspective. We wouldn’t want you thinking for even a second that Ash Lynx is going to catch a break.
Double Decker! Doug and Kirill | ダグ＆キリル (Episode 1-3)
Release: 2018
When I started this blog, one of the anime I wanted to rewatch and critically assign gay points to was Tiger and Bunny. Before I could get around to it, Double Decker came crashing majestically into view. By the same studio and rumored to be set in the same universe, Double Decker is a spiritual successor, if not literal sequel, to the colorful, cartoonish crime-and-cape comedy and a hot tip says this time, it’s gay. Um, gayer.
So crank up the jazz and grab your donuts because we are going full frontal buddy-cop. Move over, vigilante superheroes, because we bought these gainfully employed protagonists with our own damn tax money. Meet Kirill, the aspiring hero whom no one, not even the narrator, takes seriously, and Doug, the standoffish hyper-intelligent veteran detective who misses the killshot in the first three minutes of the show. Add a sparkling posse of lady detectives, at least some of whom are possibly lesbians and-
Wait, are we shooting for both BL and GL here? Aw man, this really is a double-decker!
Continue reading REVIEW: Double Decker! Doug & Kirill (Episode 1-3)
DAKAICHI – I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year | (抱かれたい男1位に脅されています (Dakaretai Otoko 1-i ni Odosarete Imasu)
Episode 1: In the World of Show Business, It’s Eat or Be Eaten
Release: 2018
Big reveal: the official English title of Dakaretai Otoko 1-i ni Odosarete Imasu, the latest BL manga-turned-anime, is Dakaichi – I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year, earning a spot in the ranks of currently trending long-sentence anime titles. What a mouthful.
The curtains open on our top two thespian bachelors in the Japanese entertainment industry. Takato Saijō, a cool and conniving A-list actor since childhood, knows how to play the game. He has carefully cultivated his public appearance to maximize his celebrity appeal, and viciously cuts down the opposition in the process. His handsome looks and top-notch acting skills have earned an array of accolades. But his most treasured achievement is his five-year streak of being voted “Most Huggable Man” in an annual fan poll in some random gossip magazine.
But his world comes crashing down around him when a younger and less experienced actor, Junta Azumaya, beats him in this year’s “Most Huggable” poll, knocking him down to a humiliating second place. What’s worse is the pair have been cast to act together in an upcoming movie, and Junta, not Takato, will be playing the lead.
Ready, and action! (Yes, you’d better believe that’s innuendo.)
Continue reading REVIEW: DAKAICHI – I’m being harassed by the sexiest man of the year (Episode 1)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro | キリマンジャロの雪
After waiting an extra week for the next episode, we are officially rolling into the second half of the series. It’s Halloween night, and Ash is going trick-or-treating. Well, it’s like trick-or-treating, but instead of going around getting candy from strangers, he’s single-handedly massacring an entire mafia faction. His costume is that he’s a badass and he’s armed. Ooh, spooky.
![REVIEW: Ten Count [Manga] (Vol 1-3)](https://gayanimesymposium.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/tencount-banner.jpg?w=825&h=510&crop=1)
Gay Anime Symposium 