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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Love Quest GN
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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You know a title is bad when the reviewer is scraping the bottom of the barrel in an effort to provide positives. Ouch. |
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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Hoshino Lily's artwork is definitely an acquired taste and not my favorite style, personally. It seems like many of her uke characters could pretty easily pass as girls, which sort of defeats the purpose of reading BL (to me, at least). I did like the fantasy one-shots in Alone in my King's Harem but if I remember correctly they were more whimsical than salacious.
Oh well. Thanks, Casey, for taking the bullet for the rest of us, especially since I know these manga are not provided to you free. |
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rxreika
 Posts: 11 Location: New York, NY |
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Casey says in her LJ that this particular one was a review copy provided by Yen Press. |
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kailegh
 Posts: 66 |
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thank you, you've probably just saved be from a lot of pain |
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poisondusk
 Posts: 69 Location: Brighton, UK |
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Wow - I wasn't expecting it to be good, but most of the worse BL can at least pull some points for the art even when everything else is awful.
It surprises me how many of Hoshino's titles have been licensed - maybe her sales speak differently, but most of the BL fans I see tend to dislike her works because they feel the characters look too much like girls. I can see Alone in My King's Harem having been reasonably popular since at the time it was released, there was very little BL manga commercially available in English, but I really didn't think she was a popular creator. |
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Rika-chama
 Posts: 87 |
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Why is it that crappy BL is always brought over but actual good yuri never is
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caporushes
Posts: 16 |
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Aww... I really liked Love Quest. The premise is not exactly deep or brilliant, of course. But that's not really what I was going in looking for, and it's certainly not Hoshino's strong suit.
I wouldn't say "everyone" who likes her style finds it an "acquired taste". I certainly didn't. I find her character designs interesting and her art style charming and refreshing, and I have from the get-go, so. (Even if her super-ukes really, really look like girls.) I even bought the artbook. And Along in My Kings Harem had some charming fairy-tale storytelling in them. So yeah, not necessarily an acquired taste. |
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IAmZim
Posts: 15 |
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“I'm not gay; I just think you're pretty!”
This is why I can't enjoy BL like Hoshino Lilo's, her stories are really just heterosexual romance disguised as M/M. Not only do her Uke's look like girls, they act like it too; I guess the only reason she even does BL is cause she'd rather draw two cute guys. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Is there any big difference between the plots/characters in these BL manga? They always seem to take place in modern metropolitan Japan with no supernatural elements. I can't imagine they're anything more complex than fabulously pretty boys runs into somewhat more diminutive but also fabulously cute boy. What makes one title better than any other?
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IAmZim
Posts: 15 |
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I think both BL and yuri are pretty medicore genres, but every now and then there's an author who does something new with the dynamic. I quite like Miyamoto Kano for this, her characters really don't follow the formula you described at all. And of course, every now and then there's an author who takes the "pretty boys runs into somewhat more diminutive but also fabulously cute boy" premise and actually makes an enjoyable work out of it. Hinako Takanaga's work, for instance, isn't anything original, but its still well told and enjoyable. And if your looking for something which doesn't take place in Modern Metropolitan Japan, there's Ai No Kusabi, which as well as being BL is also really good sci-fi. And of course anything written in the 70's, back then it seems all BL took place in European boarding schools. |
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poisondusk
Posts: 69 Location: Brighton, UK |
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Didn't you post something almost identical this last time there was a news post related to BL? Not to mention you don't seem to have even read the review before you posted. It clearly states that the manga, regardless of its quality, has plenty of supernatural elements, and partially takes place in a fantasy world! There are actually a lot of BL titles that take place in settings other than modern Japan - there's endless supernatural titles, a lot of historical BL, plenty of fantasy BL, titles set in other countries, and even some sci-fi (and some of them are even good). Salaryman or schoolboy BL does make up the majority, but only for the same reasons that there's a lot of high school drama in shoujo manga and other demographics - it's popular, and easier to write and draw than something like high fantasy romance. The thing that makes a title stand out (as far as I'm concerned) is the writing and the execution of the concept - exactly the same as for any manga, BL or otherwise. A really good writer can take a tired, cliched situation and make it interesting again. If you're not just trolling the BL topics, and you actually want some recommendations of good BL, we can give them to you - go ahead and ask. |
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escahime65
 Posts: 88 Location: Iowa |
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You can count me as NOT a fan of Lily Hoshino. I think Alone in My King's Harem is a major stinker also and it's not just because of the art or the feminine uke. Even if I pretended the uke was a girl and thought of it like shojo manga, there is no getting around the uke's robot-like personality and ridiculous storyline. What a waste of money. And now with this kind of review you can be sure I'll avoid this title also.
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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... Did you READ the review? The boys are sucked into a sword & sorcery RPG-like world. I'd call that sort of supernatural, or at least sci fi-ish. There's the schoolboy stuff & the Office Worker stuff, bit to mention the Construction or Yakuza takes on the modern Japan stuff. Antique Bakery is in the BL-ish, but not BL. There's a gay character who was turned down by a guy who later hires him to work in his bakery, but they never get together. I know of a couple BL ghost stories that have been brought over. There are some Princes which tend to be past eras. A few BL knights. Some BL pirates. Some BL vampires & gods/demons. Some succubi/incubus. Cat boys. Dog boys. Snail boys(not brought over--saw that in BeBoy). Swords with human forms in love with one another. Priests/temple stuff. At least one Priest/Demon story comes to mind & a Western priest type with Japanese priest. Actually a few priest/demon stories come to mind. Angel/demon. I actually liked this better than the other Hoshino stuff DMP brought over. I'd say it's at least a C. I've seen worse. I have worse. |
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poonk
Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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As an aside, I'm sort of curious now as to what is so dang offensive about the included one-shot...
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yblees
 Posts: 165 Location: New Zealand |
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Awww, the story's not THAT bad (- although I wouldn't pay $12 for it).
"Alone in my King's Harem" is actually a bad example of Hoshino Lily's work - apart from being "whimsical". I think she's better known for amazingly smutty/satirical BL - think Hentai in BL with lashings of comedy. It helps to consider "Love Quest" a black comedy making fun of those "protagonist slips into alternate reality and instantly becomes hero/sorceror/guardian of the realm" stories. In this case, the protagonist becomes a power supply for the heroine of the realm - by engaging in "ecch" activities... as I said, Hentai for BL. EDIT: "offensive about the included oneshot" I haven't seen it, but my bet's on "AMAZINGLY SMUTTY". |
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