I’m not really sure why this is called Reversible. In BL, reversible is a term referring to a couple who embraces role reversal in between the sheets, i.e. either partner can be seme or uke. I didn’t get the feeling that any of the couples were capable of that or rather written that way. Also, it really was a “grab bag;” some of the stories felt unfinished or like I was reading the abridged version.
When I first read it, I was familiar with about a third of the contributing mangakas and by the end, I hadn’t really read any stories that made me want to read more by the new-to-me mangakas. Not that they were awful, but I was expecting bait-worthy content; the kind that gets you salivating for more. And it’s just as well because, unless they were using an alias that no one has discovered yet, a number of the mangakas only have 1 or 2 entries in MangaUpdates–including this title. On the whole, it wasn’t that bad, but I think that it was a wasted opportunity. They could have made better use of the theme and if there was a hard limit on pages, I would have preferred there be fewer contributors and longer stories.
Here’s the line up:
- Fujimoto Haruki (hers was my favorite)
- Goroh
- Hatori Misora
- Ikezawa Shiori
- Kazuha
- Koizumi Neri
- Nishiogi Midori
- Saito
- Takakura Tomoko
- Takarai Saki (cover artist & first story)
- Yonekura Kometa
I wish we would get more anthologies but this one kinda poisoned that well since it wasn’t that popular (or good).
I remember having a conversation with someone about licensing anthologies and they said they don’t do well over here. My thoughts are that you can’t base that on the existing examples because they were poor choices to begin with. I think this was sometime around when Nakeru BL was coming out. Basically, they’ve never been given a real chance.