Lethal Dose of Love Review
I wished for just one thing – for those precious memories of him to remain unblemished. Yuu
What do you say when your best friend unexpectedly blurts out that he likes you? Back then, Ryousuke was unable to stammer out a reply – only to discover that Yuu had left school and moved away, leaving no contact details. Unable to forget Yuu, years later, Ryousuke (now a college student) is astonished to pass his friend in the street – and even though Yuu at first denies that he remembers him, Ryousuke is not so easily deterred. But when an older man appears and speaks in a very familiar way to Yuu, Ryousuke realizes that his friend has moved on. But Ryousuke is not the kind to give up so easily; he needs to understand why Yuu spoke to him so frankly back then. Yuu eventually invites him in to the apartment he’s sharing with his older lover and Ryousuke haltingly says, “I wonder if we could start over again…as friends.”
©Yosumi, Yen Press
Of course, Ryousuke is kidding himself. He has long been harbouring feelings for Yuu and the more time they spend together, the more he realizes that he wants them to be together. But Yuu is unable to allow himself to accept Ryousuke’s feelings and tells him bluntly, “If you truly care for me… then I need you to leave me be…”
What do readers look for in a story centred around a relationship? Whether it’s Boys’ Love, Girls’ Love or a CisHet romance, we’re looking for that doki-doki moment, that unbidden tear in the eye. We’re looking to relate to the difficulties faced by the central couple (and it usually is a couple in a standalone like Lethal Dose of Love) as they move toward establishing a relationship. Or… maybe don’t. Nothing should be certain. The old ‘Boy Meets Boy, Boy Loses Boy, Boy Gets Boy Back Again’ can still be a winning formula in the hands of the right mangaka or novelist. This is the first manga by Yosumi to be published in English, so does it pass the test?
©Yosumi, Yen Press
On the plus side, the characters are attractively drawn and sympathetically portrayed; Yosumi is good at conveying emotions through facial expressions which enhances the impact of the story. Ryousuke’s coming to terms with his feelings for Yuu is believable and touching, as is Yuu’s slow thawing of the heart as he learns to trust Ryousuke.
©Yosumi, Yen Press
On the minus side, though, is the feeling that several of the situations that arise are very familiar from other BL manga. That scene where the pair go on impulse to the seaside in winter and – surprise, surprise, it’s freezing cold? Similar scenes have occurred in Given and I Cannot Reach You to name but two (in translation) that spring immediately to mind. The same with Yuu’s traumatic abusive childhood backstory; if this is fresh to you as a reader, then it will probably resonate more powerfully but rather too many similar tragic backstories have haunted BL protagonists. (Mothers have a great deal to answer for in BL!) Of course, in the hands of the right mangaka, this kind of story can still pack a real punch but it can also seem like something of a cliché and, even though it’s disturbing and affecting in equal measure, it feels a little too much like an implant in the story to make us feel sorry for Yuu. The damage caused by such an abusive childhood would almost certainly take a long time to recover from and it all resolves swiftly and neatly in a way that’s a just little too pat.
The only other characters to play a role in the present-day story are Ryousuke’s college friend Tomoka-chan and Honjou-san, Yuu’s older, married lover. Tomoka has feelings for Ryousuke but nobly puts them aside to encourage him to follow his heart and pursue Yuu. Honjou is also rather too understanding when Ryousuke turns up, wanting to whisk his young partner away. This triangular relationship feels as if it needed another volume or two to play out; a more experienced mangaka like Tanaka Ogeretsu (Happy of the End) or Kyuugo (Acid Town) would have explored the complicated feelings that are glossed over rather too neatly in this single volume. With a Mature rating from Yen Press, there are a couple of brief scenes of sexual nature (light sabres) which are consensual. Perhaps, though, there should have been a Trigger Warning for child abuse (implied, not graphically depicted).
Lethal Dose of Love benefits from being a trade paperback which shows off Yosumi’s art to good effect; the cover art is striking but sadly, there are no colour pages. The translation is by Amber Tamosaitis and reads well, aided by a good range of appropriate lettering by Dietrich Premier. There’s a very brief afterword from the mangaka after the short bonus chapter ‘What Happened After’.
Even though Lethal Dose of Love resolves its characters’ issues rather too easily, it still makes for a sympathetic BL read. It will be interesting to see how Yosumi develops as a mangaka in the future.
Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
