Review 7: Darling

Plot: 8
Characters: 8
Sex: 8.5

(I won't be using the Art category for now, for reasons explained in the previous review.)

'Darling' focuses on a quiet, glasses-wearing uke named Rio, who apparently hasn't figured out he's gay even though he worships one of his male teachers and carries around his picture in his planner. Enter Tomo, the studmuffin transfer student, and everything changes. Tomo dates all the pretty girls, but one day he runs up to Rio and tells him he dropped a planner. When Tomo discovers the picture of the coach, he suddenly gets 'angry' and claims that he will 'cure' Rio of his gayness. Right.
Needless to say, Tomo's actual motive is just to have opportunities to sex up Rio. Eventually, however, they figure out that they're in love (like usual).

I've always had a love/hate thing with this one. When I first read it, I thought the idea of Tomo 'curing' Rio was outrageous, not really because it reeks of homophobia (it does), but actually because Tomo isn't even being truthful about it. It's like saying, "How dare you eat leeks! Leeks are the root of all evil in this world! ... Here, let's eat leeks together to make sure you never even think of eating them again." Wait, what? Exactly.
The plot gets a solid 8 only because of the humor thrown in, which is surprisingly worthwhile. (Any yaoi that has the line, "And then, he unexpectedly f***ed me." is bold with its humor.)

The characters I don't really care for at all. I would have given it a 7 except for Tomo's deviation from normal seme-behavior in the scenes (frequently) where he loses his composure and gets flustered, something that you don't often see with other semes. Rio, on the other hand, wins no awards for originality. Though he's likable enough, he fits very neatly into the sparkly, tearful uke who thinks things like, "W-why do I feel so... warm?" Indeed.

The sex is predictable but quite acceptable due to the pleasing appearances of both Rio and Tomo, and the way the art makes certain body parts oddly beautiful ("Is it a fruit, or a penis!?" ~Tomo). It may be nothing new, but at least it is done artfully and is relatively tasteful.

Overall, a 24.5/30. Pretty decent, which is a bit of a shock. I guess I really do have different opinions of it at different times, though.

Recommendation: If you enjoy a humorous (almost to the point of eye-rolling ridiculousness) yaoi with plenty of 'action', this is a good one. If you just can't stand stereotypical ukes, go someplace else.