In Love’s Key, Reprised Review
“No, no, no!” Kiri Azuma, stopping the rehearsal. “I said pianissimo! How many times do I have to repeat myself? It’s still much too loud.”
Kiri Azumi, conductor of the W Symphony Orchestra, is far from well. Stressed and unhappy, he’s been taking his feelings out on the long-suffering members of the orchestra, so when he’s forced to take medical leave, he decides – in the middle of winter – to go back to his roots in the country. Arriving in a snowstorm, he goes to lay flowers on his mother’s grave, only to find that the electricity has not yet been reconnected to the empty family home. Rescued from the freezing cold house by Osamu, from the Mitsuya Market grocery store, Kiri wakes up to find himself in the warmth of a comfortable bed – with none other than the young grocer beside him! It turns out that Osamu is a long-time fan of Kiri and collects the CDs of his recordings – and even though Kiri is feeling at his lowest, believing he’ll never work again, Osamu convinces him to conduct the little choir at the local junior high for a Christmas concert; his younger sister Lala is a member.
However, Lala is feeling resentful toward Kiri for all kinds of reasons and persuades the other members of the little choir to boycott the rehearsals. Returning to his mother’s grave, Kiri realizes that it was only her love and support that kept him going. It’s no use… I’m a miserable failure of a human being. If he can’t even succeed in conducting a choir of junior high students, he says aloud to the empty graveyard, “This might be the end of the road for me…”
Two reasons persuaded me to pick up In Love’s Key, Reprised: the first being that one of the main characters is a classical musician (and a conductor at that!) and the second is that the mangaka is Guri Nojiro, whose distinctive graphic style is very appealing. Her other BL currently available in English print from Tokyopop is the supernatural fantasy A Beast’s Love is Like the Moon and her beautiful character art is especially well suited to the yokai depicted there. On the classical music front (and the school choir as well) the mangaka creates a convincing portrayal of a sensitive musician (over-sensitive, even?) who’s allowed the stress of directing an orchestra to cause him to take it out on the players in rehearsal (never a good move). It’s not said in so many words, but the death of his mother seven years earlier has obviously affected him tremendously, especially as she seems to have died unexpectedly in an accident – and he feels very alone. It’s this hidden side to his personality that shows through when he meets Osamu and the younger man’s sunny, optimistic outlook on life begins to change the way Kiri feels about himself. The arrogant ‘maestro’ side we see of him at first is not an attractive one at all – but the mangaka is soon hinting that this is not the real Kiri, it’s just a protective outer shell he’s developed to deal with his stressful professional life. The warmth and acceptance shown to him by Osamu and his family contribute to the beginning of the healing process – but there’s a difficult decision to face as he comes to realize that he has developed feelings for Osamu just as his career in Tokyo calls him back.
Translation for Vertical/Kodansha is by Jessica Lange with lettering by Elena Pizarro Lanzas and their work leads to a smooth read of a story that’s very much dialogue-driven. With its 18+ rating and shrink-wrapping, this Boys’ Love has some explicit scenes but everything is consensual and sensually drawn by Gui Nojiro. There’s the inevitable question hanging over the story: if Kiri goes back to his Tokyo life and his busy conducting career, will this bring the relationship that’s grown between him and Osamu to an end? Or are their feelings for each other strong enough to make this more than a brief fling? If you’re looking for a Boys’ Love manga that explores the feelings of two adults in a believable and sympathetic way, then this could be your next favourite read!
Read a free preview at the publisher’s web site here.
Our review copy from Vertical was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).
