Yamakami Riyu: Koroshi Monku wa Futari Kara

The title story was rather mediocre until right before the end and then it just sank again.  Even the ménage à trois was disappointing. The second one, which was about a cross dresser and one of my least favorite character types, a door mat, was boring. The last two stories are what kept this book from being a total failure. The third story was about two childhood neighbors who reunite. This was more of the flavor that I prefer of Yamakami’s offerings: a brash and confident uke and a one-track-mind seme. The last story is an extra for an older story that I enjoyed, Aisaretaino.

The Aisaretaino extra looks like typical Yamakami and was drawn around the same time as the main work, 2005. However, the artwork for the original works that were drawn between 2010 and 2012 are… well….  The first two stories, 2010 and 2011, respectively… they look as if she was either leaving more work to her assistants or she was actively trying to tweak her drawing style during production rather than practice illustrations and random sketches. It’s more awkward than her already awkward style. Fortunately she seems to have recovered or found her groove with the third story, 2012. Her lines look as if she managed to soften her angles and tame some of her exaggerated poses a bit, but it still looks like her hand.

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