Escape Journey, Vol. 1: Volume 1

I'm really jaded, full on rape scenes are so ubiquitous in yaoi and manga in general that I keep reading when they show up. But it does lower my opinion of a story. The art here is beyond sexy, I found the characters relatable and relatively realistic. I'm glad that the female characters in this manga were nice and not screeching evil harpies like a lot of women in yaoi. The story is pretty simple, but it has enough drama and heart to keep me hooked. It's just that damn rape scene that knocks a star off for me.

Good quality book, and arrived promptly. The storyline itself... Wasn't that bad. The artwork is pretty and the English is excellent.

I ordered the first three volumes to together in a deal and all of them came fully wrapped and in great condition.

Finally, an manga by Ogeretsu Tanaka in English!! I love her art style, stories and this is one of my favorite series by her. If you like BL, this is highly recommended!!

Escape Journey v1 is one of those manga you pick up and are just immediately hooked to it from the start. The artwork is beautiful, the character designs are greatly appealing, and the plot is immediately compelling with its main cast and secondary cast that really help carry the plot and enhance the main character relationship, while some of the secondary cast do have their own plots that are somewhat interesting. I enjoyed this story mainly because of the lead characters Naoto and Taichi who are great friends but seemingly terribly as lovers who get on each other’s nerves due to differing desires what they want out of the relationship. Their definition of love varies which plays into this and leads to some disagreements, however with the people around them trying to make a move on Taichi, Naoto is moved to quickly reassess what he wants and make some types of moves. Most of the manga I’m like screaming at them to just sit and talk things out and to stop having sex so much as there is more to a relationship than that and it seems the time they do try to sit there as lovers and do something other than sex that they kind of just do it all wrong, completely wrong that it becomes extremely emotional and intense with the sexual assault thing, though it wasnt for gratification and what not. Fortunately characters do grow and develop in a natural way here so things don’t end on a sour note and we even get some learning from the characters as Taichi eventually has a moment where he meekly suggests going out and doing something other sex for once, yay progress. Overall really lovely manga, the side plot with another relationship trying to happen with Taichi and Fumi was compelling and emotional and I kind of liked the friendship that developed. Was also really interesting that she was supportive of them since she kind of figure that Taichi and Naoto was a thing. Nice to see this type of friend support in a manga.

Compré la versión en inglés de "Escape Journey" (SuBLime Manga) porque esta obra no está licenciada en España (espero que algún día llegue a estarlo) y porque la edición francesa de Taifu Yaoi estaba fuera de mi alcance. La historia es fascinante, pues el dibujo de Ogeretsu Tanaka es hermoso y el desarrollo de los personajes es profundo y está muy trabajado. Además, los personajes secundarios juegan un papel muy importante en la trama y el trato a las mujeres es respetuoso (esto es algo poco común en obras BL/yaoi). El ritmo narrativo es excelente a lo largo de los 3 volúmenes. Este manga presenta una historia realista en la que dos chicos (Taichi y Naoto) vuelven a encontrarse en la universidad después de haber sido pareja en el instituto y haber roto su relación debido a una fuerte discusión. A partir de entonces se enfrentarán a la decisión de volver a intentar ser pareja y también se esforzarán por aprender a manejar discusiones y conflictos, y a madurar como personas. A través de la historia, se muestra el modo en que la sociedad considera e influye en las relaciones homosexuales, y los problemas que tienen que enfrentar las parejas para poder ser felices. Los volúmenes son bastante gruesos: los 2 primeros superan las 200 páginas, aunque el 3 tiene menos (160 aprox.). El envío de Amazon fue perfecto: rápido y bien empaquetado. ¡Gracias por su trabajo!

Pacchetto arrivato in anticipo e in condizioni impeccabili. Storia davvero carina, scritta in un inglese di facile comprensione. Non vedo l'ora che mi arrivi il secondo volume!

First off, don't read it if you have issues with consent. It's yaoi, and this is one of the few yaois where "no" actually does mean no. I'll say that much w/o spoiling it further, but you probably shouldn't be reading yaoi if you're some PC person who can't chillax for unrealistic female-geared hotties getting it on through a very dominant fashion. Now for the manga: the art is simply captivating. The expressions and feelings of the characters are captured so well, with such perfect timing in the panels to make for a dramatic effect. The love scenes are so rewarding and some of the hottest among the plethora of yaoi that I have read (I loved it so much I bought an actual copy for once!). The buildup to those scenes really lets you sense the deep passion in the characters and just makes the incredibly talented art of the naked male body so utterly delicious. The story is nothing extraordinary, and the manga is mainly carried by the ability of the art to convey the emotions of the story so well. The characters themselves are actually pretty unique, both in appearance and in personality. The manga really plays out the flaws and cute quirks of each of the characters, and even in their most stupid moments, you can't help but feel a sense of understanding for their inherently imperfect nature. The supporting characters are all really pleasant, and they actually serve to add to the story without taking away the beloved time with the two main characters.