In the community of tanbi_, you can find the translations of 4 chapters of the first novel. Since the translation is taking a while, and I know that most of you are dying to know how it's going to end, I thought a summary would be nice. To those who never heard of this story: Answer 1+2 is written by Sakiya Haruhi and illustrated by Yamane Ayano. Sakiya Haruhi also wrote the popular Shinayaka series, in the dramacds starred by Miki Shinichirou and Kamiya Hiroshi. Answer is about Hatano Yukio, a male kindergarten teacher in the 30's, who went to a class reunion and is then suddenly raped by a stranger he helped on the streets after he got drunk. That stranger is Mashiba Takaaki. Mashiba seems to have it all, good looks and a good brain. But on the night he meets Hatano, he just came back of the wedding of his previous lover, Ikawa Yukio, who got married without even telling Mashiba face to face. Since Hatano and Ikawa have the same name (Yukio), the drunken Mashiba decides to mess with Hatano. After the rape, Mashiba threatens Hatano with telling the kindergarten where Hatano works at what happened between them to continue their sexual relationship.

Answer 1:
Up to ch4, I suggest to read it here. I'll start my summary from ch5. From that day on, Mashiba didn't make contact with Hatano. In late autumn, Hatano calls Kamata. From Kamata, Hatano hears that Mashiba hasn't looked good ever since they went drinking together. Hatano then asks for Mashiba's adress, and then goes to visit him. Hatano finds a surprised Mashiba, who smells of alcohol. Hatano then inquires about the reason, could it be that Ikawa is involved? Mashiba snorts that it's none of his business. Feeling that he isn't welcome, Hatano leaves, but Mashiba insists on sending him home. When they arrive at the station, and Hatano was saying his goodbyes, Mashiba suddely holds Hatano very thight. "Don't go... I.... I love you". Being very aware where they are, with all the eyes on them, Hatano suggests to go back to Mashiba's apartment. Hatano gives Mashiba a sermon: what is he thinking, doing such a thing in his own neighbourhood! Also, he thought that Mashiba got tired of him, which is why he didn't contact him for such a long time. But it would be natural; Mashiba being young and handsome, why would he choose someone plain like Hatano? All they know about each other is their bonding through flesh after all. Mashiba embraces Hatano. They should return to his apartment, because what he has to say, isn't meant for others to hear. There he apologises, he's unable to leave Hatano, he loves him. Hatano replies he doesn't need to apologise, because he... also loves him. Mashiba wishes if only he can bear him a child, that way he'd be able to complete Hatano's happiness. How stupid, Hatano reacts, the children in the kindergarten and Mashiba are enough to exhaust him. For the first time, Hatano takes initiative to lick him. They have sweet and gentle sex. Hatano is still very insecure, but Mashiba assures him that Ikawa and him is something from the past, and while looking in his eyes, Hatano feels secured, just by the passion in Mashiba's eyes. May he always look at him with those eyes...

Answer 2: tomorrow or later

A few posts down I wrote something about gay penguins. I came on that article when I stumbled on a more recent one, about a gay penguincouple stealing eggs in a Chinese Zoo. They were secluded from their colony after this deed. The zoo got protests of those animal activists, and they were finally given 2 eggs and turned out to be very good fathers. Oh well, read the article yourself ^_^ About all those homophobes who argument that homosexuality is against nature, once again, a counterproof!

link

I had to laugh about the "description" under the pic... sure, reporters now know penguintalk XD

Their interpretation:
Who's the daddy? The segregated penguin couple, right, are seen here in their own enclosure quarrelling with another male over stolen eggs

My interpretation:
seme-penguin: HE'S MINE! SCRAM! AND DON'T LOOK AT HIM WITH THOSE LUSTY EYES!
uke-penguin: ??? (dumb penguin eyes)

Volumes 1 + 2 click!

Volume 3: Umareboshi


( onwards )

I admit, after noticing the last article by luck (about the gay penguins), I was fascinated by other gay animals, and first thing I did afterwards, was searching for swans. As some of you may know. swans (+ geese and other animals I don't know of) pair for life (with a divorce rate of 6%), what do you think of this little article?  There are other gay animals featured on that site, but I was more interested in the swans because of the "one partner for life"-attitude.  (the penguin is on page 9)
After reading this, don't you suspect that most of the BL plots are stolen from the animal kingdom? XD
At least the "alpha"-attitude of the BL seme can be explained from their animalistic nature, harharhar

Here's a little story:

"Another swan who had a nickname was "Patch," a sweet and gentle soul who lost an eye, and as he aged, his sense of direction. He was getting a little senile."

"It was also a rough day for Buddy, who got his nickname through his relationship with Patch. The program's first openly gay swans were "quite a pair" who shared a pen at their winter home and many close calls near the Rideau Falls.

After Patch's death, no one knew what would happen to Buddy. There was an odd number of swans that year, so Ms. Hartig always assumed he was the odd man out when she checked in on the birds on the river. But when they picked up the swans at the end of the season, they found that Buddy had moved on to a much younger male swan."
source

Imagine this:
Pachi and Butano, two made-up names derived from the swans' ones, are a loving couple. Pachi was like a fatherfigure for Butano, who took care of Butano after his parents died of eh... of an aircrash. Yes an aircrash, most of the parents die of aircrashes or caraccidents isn't that right? Anyhow, Pachi felt guilty, as it was his brother who put decafeine instead of cafeine coffee on the plane, which is how the pilotes fell asleep without their cafeine doses. Pachi didn't take responsibility for the other dead passengers' familymembers, as he wasn't THAT rich. He chose Butano because he was looking for a boy-toy anyway.
Twenty years pass, ofcourse Pachi took advantage of his position, and *** Butano. Butano didn't know any better, and he firmly believed he was in love with Pachi. He would never discover the truth behind his parents' dead, and there would be never an angsty tum-tum-tum-confrontation between Pachi and Butano.
One day, Pachi was walking on a road, when a car fell on him, yes fell, a crane holding a car lost electricity. By miracle, he didn't die, but turned blind in one eye, and the first symptoms of senility were appearing. In the end, he died of the complications, despite the loving care of Butano, and leaved Butano alone in this cold world.
However, a whole new warm world opened for Butano already after a few weeks! He didn't know he was so very attractive, as Pachi was very dominating, in such sense, that nobody dared to come close. A fresh stud came by, and eventhough Pachi was still hesitating at first, after a passionate pursuit of 3 months, he embraced a new love in his life. He never forgot Pachi ofcourse, otherwise that would make Butano a bastard.
The End.

It's an old article, Silo and Roy probably have already died. Still, after reading it, I really felt sorry for poor little Roy. Especially this sentence struck me:

"On Thursday, Roy, all alone, sat disconsolately at the edge of the penguin area, staring at the wall."

Article

Or maybe Silo started to miss Roy after a while, and turned jealous when he saw Roy getting attention from the other (male) penguins. So, maybe 43,5 days after breaking up, he leaves the girl, and pleads to Roy to start over again. Angst all over, but in the end Roy forgives him. Then the woman turned pregnant, and Silo needs to choose between real parenthood or the love of his life. While still debating, a sealion enters their cage by accident, and the woman got eaten, right after she lay her eggs. Since all obstacles are gone, Roy and Silo live together and raise the baby penguins with the two of them...

Maybe I'm being too sentimental, or maybe I read too much BL.

Perhaps we should ask wiki

Yes! The ending has reached, and it didn't dissatisfy me at ALL! I'll summarise volume 3 one of these days.

Originally, I planned to only review the last volume, but I forgot what happened in the previous ones, and started to read them again. I was struck by the awesomeness, and decided to review the whole series ^_^

The first volume has been scanlated by Nakama, and introduced me to this wonderful series. The plot is simple, the interrelationships between characters aren't. The manga takes it's time to show the reader their past, and by doing so, it explains how the characters grew up to who they are now. It's filled with symbols and daily life, that all contribute to the story and big events. Nothing comes as a surprise, the mangaka takes it's reader serious. Everything is part of a whole.
The story is wrapped in a cloud of mystery. What really happened, what's going to happen. It starts good, the buildup is slow but meaningful, and the mangaka takes her time to end the story.
What makes this manga also stand out, is the art. It's dark, it's raw, it pierces through your skin. The mangaka used her techniques well to obtain certain effects. There are a lot of close-ups that will stir you up. It softens up a bit with each volume, but the hard edges are never gone.
Having said that, it's not a totally dark series. There are a lot of cute moe moments too. The creator makes use of cute chibi's and little children, and some scenes are simply adorable.

My summaries doesn't do this serie any justice. There are too many details and symbols, and they can be interpreted differently as I have.

Mangaka: Meiji Kanako
Mimuro no Musuko

( Volume 1  )

Deki no Waruiko


( Volume 2 )
Volume 3 + thoughts: coming

That was one of the methods I used for picking a dramacd. If I found one I liked, I'd skim for all other dramacds based on novels by the same author. If I didn't like it, I'd skim them too, but would vow never listen to them. Well, I'll be breaking with this habit! Because I found that in case 1: it's not always good, and in case 2: they're not all bad!

Case2: Sakiya Haruhi
There was a time, that I've been avoiding this Sakiya Haruhi's works like a disease. Through the translation of Suzume posted in tanbi_, I became acquainted with Answer. In the beginning, I really enjoyed it. It was a guilty pleasure, I knew it wasn't good, but went along with the premise. My opinion hasn't changed much, and I'm looking forward for the rest of the translations. In short, I didn't have a bad first impression of her.
But then! I landed on a blcd review site, and read some summaries of a few of her works (Amai Yuuten and Neijirata Edge); hated them, and was utterly disgusted. The reviewer liked them, but I just hated such stories. So, by only basing on the storylines, I didn't try them and immediately categorised them and the author as "bad", treating Answer as a guilty pleasure. It took a year and a recommandation of a friend that I tried the much praised Shinayakana series. Which was surprisingly good, no thanks to the actual story though. Miki Shinichirou is one of my fav seiyuu, and through Kotonoha no Hana I came to appreciate Kamiya Hiroshi. The characters were very likable, and the development was surprisingly good. Yet, I still wasn't fully convinced and still condemned that author as bad. The change came when I randomly downloaded a dramacd and a manga that I ended up adoring them. I loved the awkwardness in Kimi to Te wo Tsunaide and Koi wa Ranhansha Suru. They're both very sensitive described, and in Kimi to Te wo Tsunaide, I couldn't help but find the voice that Takeuchi Ken used.... cute cute cute! Despite him being such a useless bum, I actually came to like the uke.
In Koi wa Ranhansa Suru, it was the gorgeous art that caught me first, but then I became touched by how they're both such cowards, and how they both try so heart to stay unhurt, yet they end up hurting them-selves even more. I became tired of the endless love-at-first-sights and courageous love-confessions. Because, when you're serious, aren't they really hard to make? I'll maybe review Koi wa Ranhansa Suru, and hope that a scanlator is interested in this manga ^_^. (hopefully it will be dramatised too!)
Anyway, after discovering who the author was, I changed my mind about her and reconciled with this author.

Case1: Kouzuki Matsuri and Fushino Michiru
Respectively authors of my fav-nr2 and fav-nr1 dramacd. About the first one: I can't say much as only her comedies are dramatised, and I still like them. However, I've read some reviews of her novels afterwards, and I must say, her dramas sound downright silly and unconvincing. They fit in comedies, but in serious stories...? No thanks!
Fushino Michiru has written several spirit-like stories, and unfortunately, I don't like those. Her other work, Tsukuru Shounen, Kuu Otoko, wasn't my type of story as well, though I must admit, that the build-up was as good as Migite ni Mesu.


I still think it's a good method to choose which dramacds to listen to though, I only must be careful not to judge an author by 1 or 2 of her books.

Pairing: Okiayu Ryoutarou x Suzumura Kenichi (Enami Kousuke x Eifuku Atsuomi)
Rating: 10/10

Well, I thought I should take it easy for my first review (this ended in fangirling though XD), and start with a drama-cd that has already been translated in English. That way I don't need to give a summary, and make less Eng mistakes (hopefully). See right bar with links "Namona drama translations" to find a summary and the translation. I'll be referring Eifuku by his first name "Atsuomi", as that's the way Enami calls him, and to avoid confusion as their names both start with E. No helping about it, they followed each other up alphabetically in university.

It's a very simple story about how two friends become lovers, all catalysed by a rape. Sounds so typical right? I totally agree. But think about it, how many simple stories are done right? I can't speak for others, but I don't care for great plots and twists and whatever, all I want are two types of stories: those that can touch my moe-points and have characters who stay true to their-selves instead of going the way the author wants them to go. And those who just simply amuse me, by their outrageousness, or because of the comedy. In my opinion, Migite ni Mesu belongs to the first type.
Not only does this dramacd cover my favourite theme (friends->lovers), there are so many moe-moments and the seiyuu of the main-couple have such great chemistry. The story is so sweet and so very sincere, I like it that it's not plot-driven, but more character-driven. They stay loyal to their personalities, likable, but still not perfect. I listen to the drama-cds of this serie over and over again, and everytime I find something new, or look it through another perspective. I blame it on the simpleness of the story, since there are no adventures to pounder about here :D
( Spoilers ahead )