Yokan: Premonition Volume 1 cover image is courtesy of Anime Castle Books.

Drama/Romance; Rated “18+ Mature”

Yokan: Premonition is a yaoi manga from prolific creator, Makoto Tateno.  Set in the world of Japan’s visual kei rock scene, the story revolves around a haughty singer/songwriter and the actor-singer who captures his heart.

As Yokan: Premonition, Vol. 1 opens, the rock band Charon currently rules the music world of Japan.  The band’s charismatic lead singer, Akira, also writes all the band’s songs, and he considers himself to be the best at his craft.  Akira refuses to sing any song not written by him, but after he hears the haunting song, “Voice,” he becomes obsessed with it.  He believes that it is the perfect song, and his obsession with it sends him into a period of writer’s bloc.

Then, the song’s creator, Hiroya Sunaga, a hugely popular actor who sings on the side, offers the song to Akira – for a price.  The cost is Akira’s body, and while he initially resists, Akira relents and finds himself not only caught in the Sunaga’s arms, but also entwined in the actor’s shadowy past.

[This volume also includes the story about lovers getting high, Sinsemilla.]

THE LOWDOWN:  Like many Makoto Tateno titles, Yokan: Premonition is thick with melodrama and overwrought character drama.  As usual Yokan: Premonition, like the other Tateno titles, is also a good read.  The emotions may be a bit high-strung and the characters may be a tad too sensitive, but readers know that, in Tateno manga, love means love and sex ends with bodies drenched with sweat and sore for exertion.  Sadly, the manga cannot convey the passion of the music of and performances by Charon and Sunaga’s old band, Nun, as it doesn’t come with a CD.  However, Yokan does capture the passion of creativity, power of longing, and the intensity of grief.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers who want romance, yaoi, and melodrama will find it in Yokan: Premonition.

B+

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