Review 29: Rin!

Art: 9
Plot: 8
Characters: 8.5
Sex: 8.5

Rin! features a main character - Katsura - who suffers from an anxiety disorder, the only temporary cure for which is a hug from his older brother's best friend, Sou Shibata. Sou reluctantly helps out Katsura whenever he gets a panic attack and needs help calming down, but at some point the hugs stop helping. Why? Because hugging Sou makes Katsura nervous for another reason... hhhrrrrmmmmm.

The art is quite lovely in this one. The lines are smooth and the eyes are beautiful. There's something about the way movement is drawn that seems unusually natural in a manga.

The plot is relatively predictable, and much of the dramatic scenes are frustrating and a tad cliche. But the underlying plot is still slightly interesting, so it gets a basic score.

The characters are very nicely developed, especially Katsura and his childhood memories. His actions and words add to his definition and make him a very likable, realistic character. His older brother is also notable for being a sympathetic character and a support for Katsura. Sou is difficult to decipher at first, but he ends up making some sense later on.

The sexual tension is illustrated remarkably in this manga, and the sex is much more realistic than it is in most yaoi. This lends it extra points for not pulling the usual cliche of the somehow-already-used-to-sex-despite-being-a-blushing-virgin uke. With Rin!, such scenes are given the appropriate awkwardness and level of pain that is, naturally, more realistic.

All in all, 34/40. Pretty good score, especially for a multi-volume series, as they tend to run out of steam.

Recommendation: read if you want something more realistic. Have I mentioned it's realistic? Also great for those into the realistic yaoi. Seriously, though, it's a decent manga regardless.