Moon and Sandals 2

I got this in awhile ago, and even though I KNEW it was good since Fumi Yoshinaga wrote it, I put it off since the first volume was probably my least favorite of her works.

This was actually a lot like the second volume of Ichigenme. After the first volume, which has the main storylines about the couples getting together, the second volume is full of mostly comedic short stories and a lot of fanservice-y sex (though there was a lot, LOT more of it in Ichigenme). Some of the stories were very funny and weird, and only a few pages long. Some of them do offer up a bit of plot or details on the characters, though there were no huge drama-tastic stories, or really anything other than how the character’s lives are progressing. One of my favorites was one of the first stories, which made you think that that a certain character was forced to marry a coworker’s daughter. He has long, rough sex with his partner, then reveals that the information… was not as dire as you thought.

A few stories are even about the female classmate. Gives you rest inbetween all the sex.

Some of the more dramatic plot points involve how the characters come out at work and to others. These are mostly dealt with with one chapter, but they’re dealt with in an extremely realistic way. Nothing’s exaggerated or hammed up for laughs, and that’s what’s nice about Yoshinaga.

I liked it a lot better than the first volume, but it still probably ranks at the bottom of my list of Yoshinaga series… which still puts it high above most other things I’ve read.

Moon and Sandals 1

Much like finishing a volume of any of Fumi Yoshinaga’s works, I wanna let out a big “awwwww” afterwards.

This one’s more a BL series than Flower of Life or Antique Bakery, and starts and ends with a love confession that gets shot down.  Both men move on to different lovers, and while there is a chapter or two dedicated to the teacher, who has an established relationship more or less, most of the book is dedicated to developing a romance between the other character and the brother of his best friend.

There’s just… Yoshinaga does a really good job of displaying emotion.  When someone who you don’t love back tries to tell you their feelings, real people don’t launch into long-winded explanations, they blush and say “I’m sorry,” then offer a hug, just like is done here.  There are some things which perhaps are unlikely, but nothing felt too far off the mark.  It’s just about the people hanging out and discovering their feelings for one another.  It read kind of like a gay Flower of Life, but I liked that series more somehow.

I didn’t like this one as much as the other three series I’ve read from Yoshinaga.  I feel like I can’t pick a favorite out of the others (Antique Bakery, Flower of Life, and Gerard and Jacques) because they’re like comparing apples and oranges somehow, and I liked them all equally in different ways.  But this one I know I liked a little less.  It was still awesome though, and it lets me know that perhaps mediocre for Yoshinaga is still a ton better than anyone else.  I can’t imagine where the next volume will go, because everything wrapped up so nicely here, but the thing about Yoshinaga’s work is that all of it could go on indefinitely, and yet is complete.  We’ll see.