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What I Just Finished Reading
竹光侍 1 - 松本大洋 (Takemitsu-zamurai vol. 1 - Matsumoto Taiyo)
I love this series (a brief overview of vol. 1 is in last week’s entry here). Matsumoto’s art is in a class of its own. For example, one scene features Seno Soichiro (our samurai protagonist) and Kankichi, the carpenter’s son he’s befriended, chasing a butterfly in the fields outside of Edo. Kankichi tries to “fly” like the butterfly, Soichiro criticizes his technique, and then comes this. Is this what Kankichi thinks Soichiro would look like if he were a butterfly? What Soichiro thinks he would look like? There are hints throughout the volume that Soichiro is a fox – is he and has he actually transformed himself? Can only a child like Kankichi see it? Or is Kankichi imagining Soichiro is a fox that can transform into a butterfly, like a child might? The way this mangaka plays with visuals, and chronology, and symbolism, and perception and shifting realities…just, guh.
竹光侍 2 - 松本大洋 (Takemitsu-zamurai vol. 2 - Matsumoto Taiyo)
Volume 1 introduced several characters and situations that at the time seemed little more than establishing shots of classical Edo. Here, Matsumoto weaves them into a larger narrative in ways I doubt many readers would have anticipated, and sets up further events that won’t become significant for several volumes down the road. He also continues to establish Soichiro as that rarest of protagonists – a decent human being – in ways that are so subtle it’s hard to catch them all on the first read-through.
ふかい森のなかで - 水原とほる (Fukai Mori no Naka De - Mizuhara Tohoru)
I’m glad I stuck with this book, because it ended up being so much more than the sum of its parts. The whole thing takes place in two rooms, between two characters that start off as little more than standard genre tropes. But Mizuhara puts them through the ringer in a way I don’t think most BL authors are brave enough to do (and that absolutely requires the 50-odd page denouement for the reader’s sake as much as the characters’). She breaks the protagonists down and rebuilds them in a way that makes what came before and what develops after believable and touching, with much more showing than telling. It’s also incredibly hot in a very raw way. I will be keeping and rereading.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Goblin Emperor – Katherine Addison
A reread, because I decided to drabble this for International Fanworks Day. It’s always interesting to see what my brain does with books on the first read, when everything is new and I’m not focusing on anything in particular. For instance, I paid the most attention to Maia and Setheris in the early chapters because I assumed the novel would center on a reconciliation between them. I seem to have aged Csevet, Cala, and Beshelar up to early thirties as a result, and was surprised to find on this readthrough that he isn’t. It’s a bit of a disappointment, as younger master/older servant is a big kink of mine, but only a very small one.
Secrets of the Samurai – Carol Gaskin
This book had an amazingly outsized influence on my life. To be honest, I was afraid to reread it, because what if it was horrible? I’m pleased to say that so far it is holding up extremely well.
幸村殿、艶にて候 4 - 秋月こお (Yukimura-dono, En nite Soro vol. 4 - Akizuki Koh)
This was to be my commute book this week, but it took a very unexpected (albeit hot) turn, and even though I know no one else can read it, just…not on public transit. So I’ll be returning to it on evenings and weekends for the time being.
Silver Diamond 24 - 杉浦志保 (Sugiura Shiho)
I’ve hit a bit of a wall with this one – the volume features a lot of exposition that’s probably setting up something big and cool, but in the meantime, it’s a lot of exposition.
What I'm Reading Next
終点Unknown 3 - 杉浦志保 (Shuten Unknown vol. 3 - Sugiura Shiho)
This is volume 3. The series ends in volume 5. What the hell, Sugiura? What. The. Hell. I just…don’t know what I’m going to do, knowing you aren’t writing another 25-plus-volume series. Actually, I’m pretty much heartbroken that you aren’t.
竹光侍 3 - 松本大洋 (Takemitsu-zamurai vol. 3 - Matsumoto Taiyo)
In which we will encounter a formidable antagonist.
(…other volumes TBD as the mood strikes me.)
これで以上です。
竹光侍 1 - 松本大洋 (Takemitsu-zamurai vol. 1 - Matsumoto Taiyo)
I love this series (a brief overview of vol. 1 is in last week’s entry here). Matsumoto’s art is in a class of its own. For example, one scene features Seno Soichiro (our samurai protagonist) and Kankichi, the carpenter’s son he’s befriended, chasing a butterfly in the fields outside of Edo. Kankichi tries to “fly” like the butterfly, Soichiro criticizes his technique, and then comes this. Is this what Kankichi thinks Soichiro would look like if he were a butterfly? What Soichiro thinks he would look like? There are hints throughout the volume that Soichiro is a fox – is he and has he actually transformed himself? Can only a child like Kankichi see it? Or is Kankichi imagining Soichiro is a fox that can transform into a butterfly, like a child might? The way this mangaka plays with visuals, and chronology, and symbolism, and perception and shifting realities…just, guh.
竹光侍 2 - 松本大洋 (Takemitsu-zamurai vol. 2 - Matsumoto Taiyo)
Volume 1 introduced several characters and situations that at the time seemed little more than establishing shots of classical Edo. Here, Matsumoto weaves them into a larger narrative in ways I doubt many readers would have anticipated, and sets up further events that won’t become significant for several volumes down the road. He also continues to establish Soichiro as that rarest of protagonists – a decent human being – in ways that are so subtle it’s hard to catch them all on the first read-through.
ふかい森のなかで - 水原とほる (Fukai Mori no Naka De - Mizuhara Tohoru)
I’m glad I stuck with this book, because it ended up being so much more than the sum of its parts. The whole thing takes place in two rooms, between two characters that start off as little more than standard genre tropes. But Mizuhara puts them through the ringer in a way I don’t think most BL authors are brave enough to do (and that absolutely requires the 50-odd page denouement for the reader’s sake as much as the characters’). She breaks the protagonists down and rebuilds them in a way that makes what came before and what develops after believable and touching, with much more showing than telling. It’s also incredibly hot in a very raw way. I will be keeping and rereading.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Goblin Emperor – Katherine Addison
A reread, because I decided to drabble this for International Fanworks Day. It’s always interesting to see what my brain does with books on the first read, when everything is new and I’m not focusing on anything in particular. For instance, I paid the most attention to Maia and Setheris in the early chapters because I assumed the novel would center on a reconciliation between them. I seem to have aged Csevet, Cala, and Beshelar up to early thirties as a result, and was surprised to find on this readthrough that he isn’t. It’s a bit of a disappointment, as younger master/older servant is a big kink of mine, but only a very small one.
Secrets of the Samurai – Carol Gaskin
This book had an amazingly outsized influence on my life. To be honest, I was afraid to reread it, because what if it was horrible? I’m pleased to say that so far it is holding up extremely well.
幸村殿、艶にて候 4 - 秋月こお (Yukimura-dono, En nite Soro vol. 4 - Akizuki Koh)
This was to be my commute book this week, but it took a very unexpected (albeit hot) turn, and even though I know no one else can read it, just…not on public transit. So I’ll be returning to it on evenings and weekends for the time being.
Silver Diamond 24 - 杉浦志保 (Sugiura Shiho)
I’ve hit a bit of a wall with this one – the volume features a lot of exposition that’s probably setting up something big and cool, but in the meantime, it’s a lot of exposition.
What I'm Reading Next
終点Unknown 3 - 杉浦志保 (Shuten Unknown vol. 3 - Sugiura Shiho)
This is volume 3. The series ends in volume 5. What the hell, Sugiura? What. The. Hell. I just…don’t know what I’m going to do, knowing you aren’t writing another 25-plus-volume series. Actually, I’m pretty much heartbroken that you aren’t.
竹光侍 3 - 松本大洋 (Takemitsu-zamurai vol. 3 - Matsumoto Taiyo)
In which we will encounter a formidable antagonist.
(…other volumes TBD as the mood strikes me.)
これで以上です。