Wednesday, May 12, 2021

REVIEW: The Rose and the Black Cat (e-manga, vol. 1) by Kii Yugine

The Rose and the Black Cat appears to be contemporary m/m romance, but it's tough to tell in this first volume. I got it in a Humble Bundle.

Review:

Shun first got into dancing when he was a kid, starting with break dancing and eventually going on to a dance studio when he was 15. He had dreams about becoming a professional dancer, but now that he's an adult working at a karaoke place, he feels like more of a wannabe than anything. He doesn't entirely know how to handle Eisuke, a (terrible, off-key) karaoke regular who seems to genuinely admire his dancing and basic singing skills.

I like the fact that this seems to be aiming for a more realistic, slow-burn kind of romance - in fact, if I hadn't gotten it as part of a yaoi manga bundle, I don't know if I'd have realized that's where this story was going to go. This first volume is really just intended to set the stage. 

The bundle didn't come with any other volumes besides this, and the characters and story didn't really grab me enough for me to want to seek the rest of the series out (plus I don't generally buy much digital manga). The artwork wasn't terrible, but I had a hard time telling the characters apart, and the flashbacks and scenes involving groups of characters took way too much effort to follow.

It seems okay, if a bit confusingly presented, but it's not entirely to my taste. If the bundle had come with more volumes, though, I'd have at least tried the next one.

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