Review 62: Keep Out

Art: 8
Plot: 6
Characters: 8.5
Sex: 7

This is another Akira Kanbe piece, and frankly it reminded me of a Nicholas Sparks novel right off the bat. Of course, this is probably because the title picture (above) features men in sweaters and hanging potted plants in the background.
Okay, so I lied, there's nothing Sparks about this, unless it's the sparks that develop between our two main characters (oooh, pun!). Although... the sparks here are quite slow to develop. We have an icy uke who doesn't want connections to anyone, never mind a romantic relationship, and a persevering, cheerful seme who doesn't know when to give up. Until he does give up, of course, and the only thing I can say about that is... When you walk out of someone's life, don't do it in a Hawaiian shirt. Let's be serious.

This is Akira Kanbe stuff, so of course the art's great. Although I don't really like how either the seme or uke look in this one. I guess it's a matter of preference.

The plot is horrific. Plot device after plot device is used shamelessly to drive poor, relationship-phobic ice-prince into the arms of the cheerful and lovey seme. First it's 'oh, they live in the same apartment complex', and then it's the good ol' 'Jumping in Front of a Car to Save Someone' ploy. After that, it's the 'Helping Someone Recover From an Injury' dealio, which flows smoothly into the part where they start living together, which is then completely blasted by the realization that the seme is actually a fresh new actor on the verge of a debut, which of course just can't be ruined by a gay relationship. Enter operation 'Break His Heart Using a Conveniently-Placed Cousin to Make it Look Like He's Cheating on Him'. Which is when I stopped reading because at that point I just. Couldn't. Take it. Any. Longer.

The characters are regrettably decent. There's a lot of depth to them, or at least to the ice prince uke, who strikes a chord with those of us who feel the same dispassion towards relationships in general. Even readers who aren't relationship-phobic, however, can still identify with the uke's hesitancy and misgivings about a relationship that seems too good to be true. The seme is less-developed, such that one can't tell what his true motives are (apparently he just really, really likes the uke, but is it ever that simple?).

There was no sex up until where I stopped reading (see the 'plot' paragraph), so I'm going to assume it was typical of Kanbe's works and was relatively decent. Ta-da.

All in all, 29.5/40. Something tells me it doesn't deserve that... unless... it was DESTINY. Which, by the way, was also one of the worst lines in this manga.

Recommendation: If you're a Sparks fan - nah, just kidding. If you for some reason just love the twisty soap-opera quality plots, and yet still like the setting to be extremely... normal... try this out.