Party cover image is courtesy of Anime Castle Books.

Rated “M” for “Mature Audiences 18+”

In the yaoi manga, Party, from manga-ka Tatsumi Kaiya (Love Training), the theme is that someone can have everything he wants and still be unhappy.

After summoning enough courage, Mamoru Ishii was able to tell his friend, the easy going Natsu Sugiura, that he was in love with him.  That could have been the beginning of “happily ever after,” but insecurities began plaguing Mamoru.  He believes that Natsu might actually be in love with a boyhood pal, Megumu “Kei” Yaguchi.  When those gnawing suspicions lead Mamoru to committing a rash act, he may find himself really losing Natsu to Kei.  Add gossiping, noisy friends and Mamoru really has trouble.

While Party has several sex scenes, befitting yaoi manga, it is mostly a conventional boys’ love (BL) manga.  It plays with the ins and outs of this gay relationship treating the male lovers as if they were just any hetero couple in the midst of relationship problems.  What makes Party interesting is that the story is told through the eyes of one character in particular – Mamoru, a character so afflicted with insecurity that it is kind of funny watching him make a disaster of everything.  His insecurity is not merely some plot contrivance because Tatsumi Kaiya presents the beginnings of the romance in such a way as to make everything that follows, especially Mamoru’s troubles, seem genuine.

What Party lacks is characters with feisty spirits, which is what makes Kaiya’s Love Training so enjoyable.  However, fans that enjoy reading about rocky relationships and the gossipy friends that make them worse will enjoy Party.

B

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