Golden Cain

Rating:
Summary: Worth the money
Review: I have been waiting for this book for a while. It is from the first company that has dared to publish explicit Yaoi. So far, they have been sticking to SHounen-ai and more subtle relationships. That is not the case fot this manga.

Golden Cain has beautiful art work and the men are absolutely gorgeous. The art is a little shoujoish, but wihtout all the girly aspect. It is, as I said, explicit. About 40% of the novel is dedicated to scences between Cain and Shun and the rest to their problems and relationships. Of course, it's not all just sex, and there is a story line and several conflicts and a twist at the end that makes it more interesting.
I wish that it had a sequal. You even says that she was pondering what might happen if the story continued.

This is absolutely not for people who dislike boyXboy graphic relationships. Most of yaoi fans are girls anyway. Anyway.
So, if you want a great story with some hot sex thrown in and beautiful, manly boys running around, this is the story for you. Go and buy it today.
Also, can you guess who plays the seme/uke? It's really easy to tell.

Rating:
Summary: beautiful artwork and a boatload of angst
Review: i've been prowling around amazon.com in search for the explicit yaoi genre published in the states (most that got licensed are mild shounen-ai), and only recently have any luck in finding them. golden cain is one of those books. you asagiri's trademark art is breathtaking as usual, with softlines and defined background.

story wise, this manga is very angsty. shun, all around perfect guy is, as the blurb say, is trying to live up to his brother's legacy, who was involved in a serious incident a few years back. however, no matter what shun does, his parents were more or less ignoring his presence, and thus put our pretty boy in super-angst mode. so in his spare time shun goes all out trying to release all his compounded sorrow and guilt by hanging out with the wrong crowd.

in enters cain, the mysterious blondie dude who so happened helped shun one night. after that it seemed that cain is a permanent fixture in shun's life, much to his chagrin and annoyance (at least for a while). why is cain intent on attaching himself to shun? there are obvious mysteries swirling around and shun can't help but feel insecure...

anyways, i'm trying not to reveal the plot too much (plot, what plot? joking). all in all, the story is more than a bit unrealistic, but hey, it's enjoyable. and the twists in this one are pretty darn good, once it's bared all and sundry. i sure didn't see that coming... heh heh heh.

i find shun a bit melodramatic, but i guess that what's happened when you got such insensitive parents (boy, they pissed me off). i admit that i pretty much can't believe how they're treating shun, no matter what had transpired before. come on, he's just a kid.

and be beautiful obviously changed the setting from a highschool to college, i guess because of the explicit content (god perish the thoughts of highschoolers indulging in sex) *sarcasm* oh well, it works since the story doesn't revolve much around the school anyways, unlike in "selfish love," another of be beautiful's title.

all in all, this is a rather good read, if you're into dramas, gorgeous boys, angst and of course, yaoi. and since this is a you asagiri work, the quality is impeccable and the story entertaining. another good yaoi manga worth spending your moolah on.

Rating:
Summary: this isn't quality literature people
Review: it's great when you come across a yaoi thing that not only offers an excellent story, insightful plots, well-developed characters, or wonderful comedy. it can be said that it's equally great to grab a title that offers very little of those things- if that's what you're into. i appreciate both storytelling and smut and let's be honest folks, this title is definitely the latter.

there really is no story and what you do get is so unimaginable and silly you couldn't possibly take it seriously. boy meets model at perhaps a pretentious goth club (? i'm still trying to figure out the purpose of the character from the club ?) relationship ensues, but model boy knows my brother? que the doubt, que the soap opera like drama involving the hospitalized- hell this IS a poorly written soap opera. anyway, it all comes down to the fact that the plot is horrendous and because of that I suppose you could find some humour in it.

but never fear, for like i said, this is a wonderful title if you're after pointless sex, and there is indeed pointless sex abound. no copping out with this one. the question is, are you willing to spend the money for something that only offers eye candy.

Rating:
Summary: Only if You're Desperate
Review: So you're browsing on Amazon.com, for the recent spate of Yaoi translation releases, and *Golden Cain* comes up on every list.

Now, I've reviewed both *Desire* and *Only the Ring Finger Knows*- both excellent volumes. *Golden Cain* in comparison is a disappointment. If you're looking for lovely art and angsty boy-love storylines, *Desire* and *OtRFK* will be a much better choice. Lovely art, angsty boy-love, PLUS explicit scenes, wait the 3-5 months for Takakura Row's *Skyscrapers of Oz*.

Because, in the end, even if you want honest to goodness "yaoi", you don't want something that's frankly ridiculous -in story, in dialogue, in characterization. No, yaoi is not where you look for "deep" meaning and pretentious high literature, but neither should it make you toss it aside half a dozen times while reading it because it's just a bit too stupid.

Without spoiling too much, here's the basic premise: boy with issues over perfect brother starts strange relationship with gorgeous model, angst ensues, and denouement explains away brother's role in all this with boy's model lover.

Painful (not in a good way), more cringeworthy melodrama between family members, inexplicable self-loathing, buckets of tears. I'm a firm believer in tears and torturing your lovely bishounen. After all yaoi just feeds on good angst. But this is a bit too embarrassing.
On top of that there's this strange side story with freaky Satanist kidnappers. If this sounds mildly intriguing, sorry for the confusion. Some yaoi can take fantastic, over-the-top elements (bizarre plot, gorgeous rockstar characters, mystery, obsession, etc.) and transform them into something that strangely fits together, and makes it cool. This one fails. That surreal "coolness" factor is missing from *Golden Cain*.

You Asagiri's style is popular, though not my style- the eyes are too sharp, a bit sloppy, and a bit girly. And for a story that involves a fashion model, the clothing sketches are just unpleasant.

I'd wait until the publishers select a better volume of Asagiri. This one is the first yaoi purchase that made me regret it.
Quite unfortunate.

Rating:
Summary: Finally ...yaoi is here in the US!!!
Review: This book definitely has yaoi, and the love story is great. Thanks Be Beautiful for finally giving us women what other publications have been giving men forever..we want men with men but with a love story attached not just sex!!! Japanese women love these graphic novels...with gorgeous men together!!!AND finally we get to enjoy them too! These are stories written BY women for women. I can't wait for the rest of Be Beautiful's books...especially Finder (Viewfinder) and Haru wo daiteta!!!