Border 1 [Anglais] [Broché]

It seems to me that Kodaka Kazuma looked at the yaoi fan community which has arisen around the 90s anime/manga/drama CD series Weiss Kreus, and decided to just go ahead and rewrite it as an actual yaoi. The plot revolves around four young men who investigate crimes which the police cannot touch, instructed by a disembodied and anonymous voice who contacts them over a computer connection. There's the impossibly genki young computer specialist Kippei (Omi), the buff, sporty Sogo (Ken), tall and overtly sexy hairdresser Tamaki (Yohji), and the detective agency president and ex-military man Yamato (Ran). There's also a police detective, Makita, interested in finding out who these vigilantes are.

The first volume comprises two chapters of investigation showing how the team use different identities to solve cases, a long section of deliciously angsty backstory for Yamoto, and to conclude, two shorts also about Yamoto's backstory.

Overall this is a definite cut above most yaoi. There's a plot, and actual character development. The art shows a strong competant hand, which works with the dialog to always make the action clear. There were no translation or editing problems. There isn't much sex; one teaser scene on the first page and 11 non-explicit pages in the backstory chapter. All the sex is consensual and affectionate.

I found it really refreshing to read, and although it definitely stands alone I see this book more as a set-up for future volumes. The interaction between the four main characters has lots of potential, and no doubt in future volumes we will learn more about who is pulling the strings.

EDIT 12/7/11: I thought I might clarify a few points as ai_chan1 and I seem to have differing ideas about the sex scenes; I described it as not explicit, and ai_chan says it has graphic sex. So, to me, graphic sex is as depicted in the Stepping Stone and Maiden Rose series: Border is nowhere near as graphic as those. It's less explicit than U Don't Know Me, and just slightly more graphic than Little Butterfly, when Kojima and Nakahara finally get together.

Also ai_chan1 calls it small. I don't know if she means short, or literally small in dimensions. It is slightly smaller in height and width than some other yaoi although this doesn't seem to me to negatively impact the art. However in length terms it's a bit longer than most other yaoi GNs. Cheers!

I love her other great work Kizuna, and I was pleasantly surprised by Border! Kazuma Kodaka's art gets better and better! The art is beautiful, the characters are DEEP and the story is well paced and I can't wait to see what happens next!

First, let me say that the guys are great looking, and the handsome main character on the cover prompted me to buy ;D. I love that the main character is openly gay and admits to it. Very refreshing from characters who claim never to be gay at all while kissing guys. I love that he's a uke, I love seeing confident ukes so if you do too, then you will really like it. I enjoyed the friendship between the main character and his friends.

However, it still wasn't enough to rope me into the story. I found myself picking up and putting down the book more often than I typically do and it's because while I enjoyed everything above the story itself seemed a bit disjointed and uninteresting. It had a bit of comedy, and action, and sex but the comedy parts threw me off because they sort of spring from nowhere and was the typical 'make funny faces' type comedy which I don't really like, then you have one friend trying to jump the main character's bones often while the main character seems to flirt and tease all his friends. I sort of don't like stories where the main character has a harem of potential lovers among their friends. So that threw me off. While I enjoyed their friendship the side characters seemed more like comic relief than real people so I couldn't get into them.

The only section of this story that kept me reading was Mission Four, when we get a glimpse into the main character's past. Great story, more tolerable and diverse side characters, sexy as heck seme, the main character was still hot but more beautiful, no out of place comedy,Plus I have a thing for sexy guys in uniform XD! If the entire story centered on his past I would be hooked!
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Reviewed by Rochelle H. Ragnarok of Game Boys: Boys in Love (Yaoi Novel) and Hell City Hills: A Novella