Gravitation: Track 22

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Yaoi Zowee! Today we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 22, which starts volume 6! I forgot to mention that track 21 was the last chapter of that volume. The chapter opens up with K helping Hiro escaping from (or to, it's not quite clear) somewhere, chased by a group of fans. Once again the pacing in this manga is all over the place. What happened with Shuichi and why was he crying? Apparently it's not important enough to talk about. How much time has passed? Impossible to tell. Either way, Hiro and K arrive at the recording studio. Sakano and Suguru are discussing Bad Luck's first album, "Gravity" (subtlety does not exist in this manga) is number 16 on the charts. Shuichi hasn't come into work this morning (and hasn't shown up all week in fact) and K decides to check up on him. Since K is planning on being a bit rough with Shuichi (as is his wont) Hiro goes in his place since he needs to talk to Shuichi about something anyway.

                                        Shuichi is less than pleased

So of course Shuichi is just playing sick. What I find odd is that he's playing sick at his mother's house. His mother completely overreacts and tells Shuichi to stop acting like a child, playing sick and suddenly I see where Shuichi gets his manic personality from. Hiro tells Shuichi it's time to come back and Shuichi points out a poster in his room that Hiro and Shuichi had skipped school to stand in line for because Shuichi needed it by any means necessary. Hiro asks why he's being so sulky and why he's crying when he basically just realized his dream of singing with his favorite band. It's because he's jealous of Ryuichi. Hiro gives him a bit of a pep talk and Shuichi regains his confidence.

The scene shifts to K talking to Yuki about Shuichi. Yuki is irritated because K is bothering him while he's trying to work (and I just realized that, much like how we never hear any music, we haven't read anything Yuki has ever produced either. Yet he's an award winning novelist and seems to know what he's talking about since he critiqued Shuichi back in chapter one. I would like to read SOMETHING he wrote. Anything at this point) and Shuichi isn't there. K is basically saying that he didn't think that Shuichi could ever reach Ryuichi but now he sees that Shuichi does have that talent. Yuki immediately catches on to what K was doing. He's hoping to get a huge effect from this. He doesn't think that aiming for Ryuichi won't be enough to make him truly great. Nor will money. Only one thing will. Yuki quickly catches on to what K is saying and thinks he's crazy. Later on, Shuichi comes back to Yuki's place with a new haircut.

                                     Boo new haircut! Although I'm now reminded about Tibet's plight.

Yeah, I do not like this hair cut. For those who can't tell, it's the style that was on the first image of Gravitation I showed on this blog. Thus the first step on his feminizing has occurred. I have to agree with Yuki who says he looks like a middle school girl. This is just not a good look for Shuichi. I understand the idea behind it and it's a great one. Since Shuichi is no longer trying to copy Ryuichi, he cut his hair so he won't look like him anymore. I still don't like it. Yuki compliments Shuichi on his haircut and every time he starts acting like his normal self, mysterious gun shots appear in the wall surrounding him, prompting him to act more lovey dovey with Shuichi. It's clear that K is somewhere, watching them. His plan? Yuki says that if Shuichi can sell a million copies (go Platinum) then he'll take Shuichi out on a date. Shuichi FLIPS OUT in excitement at the idea of going on an actual date with Yuki and K congratulates himself on a job well done.

The next day Shuichi is back to his normal exuberant self, nothing but sunshine and cheer. All according to K's plan, Shuichi burns through every single publicity opportunity to make sure Gravity sells as well as possible. Suguru and Hiro both eventually catch on to K's plan. K then brings up a good point. We all know that Shuichi's world revolved around Yuki...but what exactly does Shuichi mean to Yuki? Hiro informs Shuichi that they've sold 400K albums already though Shuichi is slightly discouraged by just how much further he has to go. Sakano and the group discuss the plans for Bad Luck going on tour and K tells them they have another television appearance to put in. Just as Hiro and Shuichi get all excited about the chance to be in the top spot on an actual music show...K tells them that it's a cooking show. This band just can't catch a break with its TV appearances.

Shuichi asks Yuki to help him cook and...I'm sorry, Shuichi just looks too much like a girl. It's ridiculous! Actually...he kind of looks like Demi Moore now that I look at it. Well now I'm just going to be thinking of Shuichi and Yuki making a clay pot together every time I see them. Awkward. The cooking show is apparently some kind of celebrity competition where teams compete against each other. Shuichi is determined to win and the chapter ends with K seeing that someone named Tetsuya Ukai is going to be on the show with Bad Luck. If I remember correctly, Noriko's last name is Ukai. So I'm guessing this is her brother then. K seems surprised by this but we'll have to wait until next chapter to see what the big deal is.

Again, there's precisely zero conflict in the story now and while there were some funny parts in the chapter, I found this to be kind of a slog to get through. Not to mention that Shuichi now has that God awful haircut. There had better be some kind of conflict soon or I'm going to entirely lose interest in this series.

Tomorrow we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 23! See you then.

Gravitation: Track 21

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Yaoi Zowee! Today we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 21. The chapter starts with Ryuichi and Shuichi meeting up before the show starts and it is SO AWKWARD. Of course Ryuichi just happily tells Shuichi to do his best and...Shuichi immediately forgives him and all the problems between them are over. Well that was anticlimactic. The author even tries to fake us out by having the "Track 21 End" graphic on the second page before K grabs Shuichi and tells him that things can't be solved that easily. He warns him not to get too chummy with Ryuichi since it's a dog eat dog world and Ryuichi already practically has victory in his hands. Nittle Grasper (seriously what does this name even mean?) begins a sound check and everyone turns to watch Ryuichi sing. Once again the audience is shafted as we can't hear Ryuichi sing (but, like always, we are assured that it is very, very good) but Shuichi realizes that Ryuichi was actually holding back so as not to embarrass Shuichi with his skill. Shuichi is PISSED that Ryuichi would do such a thing and refuses to be considered the underdog anymore. The show will begin in five minutes and K thinks it's ridiculous that Shuichi thinks he can beat Ryuichi while Sakano tells him to stop being such a dick about it. K responds that they both know Ryuichi well after being his manager for as long as they have (Sakano when he was with Nittle Grasper and K when he was going solo) and is pushing Shuichi to be the best he can be by pitting him against Ryuichi.

Hit Stage finally begins and the hosts introduce Bad Luck.

                                           Something about Shuichi seems...off in this picture

Before things get truly underway, Shuichi tells Hiro and Suguru to not go easy on Ryuichi tonight because he won't go easy on them. The song they're going to perform is called "No Style". And thus begins what to me is the weakest part of the manga. The music. Sure the characters say that the singing and playing is really good but the readers don't get to experience it at all. It feels like the very heart and soul of the story is missing. Pretty pictures of posing pretty boys does not a good concert make (well, to me anyway). This is probably why the anime is more popular (that and I have a sneaking suspicion it's far more subtle in its Boys Love tones. This series had to get that reputation from SOMEWHERE damn it!). It doesn't help that Shuichi apparently just consistently makes up lyrics as he goes in stressful situations. It's all very muddled and confusing at times. They finish their performance and Ryuichi gushes to Shuichi about how awesome he was and asks for his autograph while Shuichi just stares on in confusion. Noriko drags Ryuichi away so they can perform and Ryuichi declares that he's buddies with Shuichi who is beginning to suspect that Ryuichi never hated him in the first place (which we, the readers, already know is true. Suddenly this whole subplot is feeling very pointless).

Shuichi lashes out at K who had been fueling his worries about Ryuichi hating him in order to get a better performance out of him. Shuichi refuses to believe that someone who is always so gentle could be as rude as he was being the time he told Shuichi to move. Shuichi must live a sheltered life. K is inclined to agree telling him that if he thinks Ryuichi is gentle than he's clueless. Well when you have a character who dresses like a rabbit in public, carries a stuffed animal around, and constantly gushes it's easy to make that mistake. If that's not his true personality it must be exhausting putting a show on like that all the time. I have to wonder why he even bothers. Before Shuichi can argue further Nittle Grasper takes the stage. Ryuichi flashes Shuichi a friendly victory sign before he goes into serious mode.

                                               SUPER serious mode.

And, joy of joys, we have yet another musical performance where everyone says how great and wonderful the band is, how Ryuichi is totally different from before now that he's singing (it's called a stage persona it's not like it's that big of a deal) and Shuichi is of course awe struck by their talent. Shuichi remembers listening to this band every day and watching their videos and wishing he could be Ryuichi. K gently reminds him that he shouldn't change what can't be changed and should just take his personality and strengths and work with them rather than trying to model himself after Ryuichi. He has a point. It's pretty blatantly obvious that Shuichi has been copying Ryuichi's style. Being energetic when he's offstage, then being more "cool" and in control when he's onstage. So now I'm curious how much of Shuichi's personality is his genuine personality and how much of it was just him slavishly copying Ryuichi. Suddenly everyone saying how much Shuichi and Ryuichi are alike is taking on a weirder tone.

K urges Shuichi to go out and sing with Ryuichi and Shuichi is all too happy too do it now that he knows Ryuichi doesn't hate him, only to be intimidated by Ryuichi's stage presence. Sakano panics and tries to rectify the situation while Shuichi panics and tries to do something that won't embarrass himself further since he doesn't have a mike to sing with. So he dances. Very poorly I might add which just seems to piss Ryuichi off. Ryuichi comes over to Shuichi and...

                                  Of course it's a happy ending, what did you think was going to happen?

Everyone practically wets themselves in excitement over how they sound almost the same (is that a good thing? I don't really see how that's a good thing. Isn't it important to be unique in this industry?) and when the song is over everyone is saying how awesome and amazing it was, Ryuichi hugs Shuichi and tells him that was amazing...and Shuichi starts crying. Which is how the chapter ends.

Alright, I'm not sure why Shuichi is crying but my guess is that he's had some kind of epiphany regarding Ryuichi and the way he's been modeling himself after Ryuichi. That, or he's just really overwhelmed by fulfilling his dream and singing with Nittle Grasper onstage which is something he's wanted to do for the better part of his life. I have to admit, I'm not as interested in the band aspects of this series. I'm more interested in learning more about Yuki and his past than I am about whether or not Shuichi is going to be successful. I mean, with all these high end music industry people surrounding him and the audience constantly being reminded of his talent it's kind of expected now that Bad Luck is going to do really well. There's not much conflict there. In fact...there's not much conflict anywhere anymore! Something new better come up, fast, or this whole series is going to be a chore to get through. I would say it's impossible to drag a story on for hundreds of pages with no conflict but I've read Twilight. I know better.

Tomorrow we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 22! See you then.

Gravitation: Track 20

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Yaoi Zowee! Today we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 20. The chapter opens with Hiro and Shuichi reading a magazine article about the reformation of Nittle Grasper. Shuichi, despite the fact that Nittle Grasper is their rival, is impressed by how well they're doing despite having broken up three years ago with nary a release or appearance. Hiro tells him to focus and Suguru introduces the new music they're going to be using for their appearance on Hit Stage. Shuichi is a bit perturbed by this, since he's normally the one who runs the show in regards to the band and doesn't appreciate Suguru remixing his work. Suguru explains that because Nittle Grasper hasn't performed in three years, they're expected to be mediocre so Suguru wants them to do a song that will really make Bad Luck stand out. He's very quality over quantity. Sakano really likes Suguru because he's similar to Seguchi in demeanor (and he has a huge crush on Seguchi) and we also learn that Suguru is only 16. They begin to perform the song but Shuichi and Hiro do not care for Suguru's condescending attitude.

Later that night, Shuichi complains to Yuki who doesn't get why Shuichi is so annoyed by Suguru. Shuichi just says that there's something about him that he doesn't like and that he refuses to appear on Hit Stage with him. Yuki does not take any of Shuichi's self indulgent pity party.

                                                        Yuki doesn't have time for your bullshit.

Shuichi gets mad at Yuki for saying something so cruel, but I have to agree with Yuki here. Shuichi is being overly defensive about Suguru's involvement. He shouldn't be so concerned  over who is leading the group but what's best for the group as a whole. It doesn't help his case when we remember last chapter where Shuichi actually, physically DID run away from Ryuichi! Sorry Shuichi but you're in the wrong here. The scene shifts to the next day at the studio, everyone getting ready for a photo op or a radio show or...something. It's not very clear. In another example of the manga's odd pacing, Shuichi has a flashback...that continues the previous scene. Wouldn't it have made more sense to just keep the scene going and then switch to the new one? Anyway, Shuichi yells at Yuki that everything he told him about his past was a lie and that Shuichi thinks Yuki doesn't really love him at all. Yuki, naturally, shouts at him and tells him to get out if he actually believes that. Shuichi knows he screwed up and Suguru figures out that Shuichi is in a bad mood because of a fight. Suguru says that "gay boys" like Shuichi are bad for Yuki and they should just break up. Well...I suddenly don't like Suguru at all. Shuichi is of the same mind, vowing to find out what Suguru's deal is and to make sure he doesn't get too close to Yuki.

The scene shifts to Suguru telling Yuki that the problems with the letter that Taki got have been solved and Yuki wants to know if that was really the only reason he was there. Shuichi, who is also there, wonders the same thing. They get into a discussion about Yuki's past again but Suguru doesn't care about his past, doesn't care about Yuki seeing Shuichi, and doesn't care about Taki. All he cares about is making sure Shuichi is able to perform at the best of his abilities. Oh, and we also learn that Suguru is Seguchi's cousin. Which explains why they're similar in looks and personality actually. Suguru cheerfully bids Yuki good night and Shuichi apologizes to Yuki for eavesdropping and for saying such nasty things. Yuki tells him that he had left out a detail regarding his past and wants to know if Shuichi wants to hear it. Shuichi says he doesn't. Not yet. Yuki tells him to do his best to make peace with Ryuichi and sing with him. And if he can't then just move past it and don't worry about it. Yuki then gives Shuichi a gift: A locket that has his picture along with a picture of the man he killed.

The scene just ends there and we move on to Sakano being shocked that Suguru is Seguchi's cousin (and I just realized there are a lot of "S" named people in this series). Of course, since Sakano has such a crush on Seguchi, Suguru can do no wrong in his eyes.

                                                  "Bizarre" doesn't even BEGIN to describe it

Shuichi is in a fired up mood and ready to sing at Hit Stage, but internally he's torn up. He's not worried about Yuki's past but he IS worried about what happened in Yuki's past to make him change so much from the picture Yuki gave Shuichi.

                                     This is the picture by the way.

The rest of the group find out about Shuichi and Ryuichi and Shuichi is determined to make things right with Ryuichi, ending the chapter before the show is about to begin.

This chapter...Eh, this chapter didn't excite me. It's nice that we finally got to see the man Yuki killed (and I notice he appears to be older than Yuki which makes me wonder how they knew each other) but beyond that nothing really super big, exciting, or important happened.

Tune in tomorrow for Gravitation Track 21! See you then.

Gravitation: Track 19

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Yaoi Zowee! Today we'll be looking at Track 19. The chapter opens with Seguchi talking to Sakano about his plans to reform Nittle Grasper (Oh God, I know I said I wasn't going to say anything about the band name but now that they're reforming it's going to come up a lot more often now and I CAN'T STAND THE NAME IT'S SO DUMB) while ASK is on hiatus (because of Seguchi committing MURDER) and Sakano thinks it's a smart move. This whole thing was apparently Ryuichi's idea. He proposed it to Seguchi after the whole live television appearance thing that happened a few chapters ago. Seguchi reminds Sakano that he's not Sakano's boss anymore. They are both producers and Seguchi promises that he'll be working his hardest to make Nittle Grasper number one in Japan again. He advises Sakano to do the same with Bad Luck. Oh geez. So not only is Nittle Grasper reforming but now they're going to be direct rivals to Bad Luck. This could get very messy. I'm extremely wary of Seguchi now after what happened last chapter. Everything he does, says, and proposes makes me wonder what his true motives are.

The scene shifts then to K waking Shuichi up.

                                          And I thought getting woken up by my parents was bad.

Shuichi and K get into a fight/argument until Yuki gets completely fed up and runs inside Shuichi's room to yell at them. Of course this is the first time Yuki has actually met K who promptly introduces himself. Yuki asks him where he came from and K tells him not to worry about it. Before K can drag Shuichi off, Yuki asks him when he's going to be back and that he'll wait to eat if Shuichi wants him to. Shuichi is touched by this gesture and before things can get sweet and cute and wonderful, K drags Shuichi away. They talk for a bit and it eventually comes out that Shuichi and Yuki are lovers. The news shocks him so much he rear ends a truck and Shuichi claims that, as an American, he should be more understanding. You don't know a lot about America do you Shuichi? Anyway, Shuichi asks him why he decided to be his manager and K bribes him with an appearance on a TV show called "Hit Stage".

Shuichi immediately introduces K as their new manager as soon as he gets to the recording studio. Hiro is skeptical and Shuichi goes about trying to convince him with his usual theatrics. They're looking at 30 minutes of air time here which is nothing to sneeze at. While Shuichi shouts and jumps around Hiro quietly introduces himself to K before Noriko comes in and drops a bit of a bomb on them: They're opening for Nittle Grasper on Hit Stage. K explodes, telling Noriko that the deal was that Bad Luck would be the big guest. K suspects that Seguchi had something to do with this, but Ryuichi arrives at this point to say that it was his idea.

                                       ...What's with the bunny?

Shuichi thinks this is a malicious attack on Ryuichi's part because of what happened during the live show. Shuichi runs off in tears and Hiro asks if Ryuichi hates Shuichi. Ryuichi assure them that he does not. He just wanted to be able to sing with Shuichi. Miserable and upset, Shuichi runs through the halls of the record studio, lamenting that this is the end before it even began and ends up crashing into a young boy in the hall, knocking him clean over.  Shuichi apologizes and it turns out the boy is older than he looks (though how much older is not specified but he is still in school) and when he recognizes Shuichi he introduces himself as Suguru Fujisaki. Shuichi is confused and only gets more confused when Suguru asks to be introduced to the other members of the team. Shuichi finally asks him what he's doing here and Suguru tells him that he's the new keyboardist for Bad Luck.

                              Suguru Fujisaki: Continuing the tradition of incredibly cute men in this manga.

Shuichi talks about his problems with Yuki and they have a little playful banter before Yuki moves in for the kiss. Yuki tells him to have faith in the people who he's working with now and they make out a little before Shuichi asks Yuki if anything is wrong. Yuki tell shim he was comforting him because he asked to be comforted and is insulted that Shuichi would imply he's in a bad mood. They have a minor argument before making up with a round of sex that lasts about three panels and is very coy with its imagery. The chapter ends at a hospital with us finding out that Taki actually survived getting hit by a car (and with nary a bruise on his pretty face, shock shock) and that, of all people, Suguru is visiting him, telling him to leave well enough alone.

Okay, so, my biggest question is how do Suguru and Taki know each other? I'm glad Taki didn't die since I didn't think it was necessary for that kind of turn. It's bad enough that we have GANG RAPE to worry about, we didn't need cold blooded murder. I'm still wary of Seguchi. I also have this feeling that Taki could be redeemed in the manga and I really hope the author doesn't go that route. There are certain lines that characters cannot cross and be redeemed. Orchestrating GANG RAPE is one of those lines. The best I can hope for is Taki to give up and quietly leave the scene, wiser, never to be seen again. He can't even be a good villain anymore. Shuichi stood up to him, Yuki kicked his ass, and Seguchi nearly killed him. He's not a credible threat after all that. I guess I'll just have to keep on reading to find out!

Tune in tomorrow for Gravitation: Track 20! See you then.

Gravitation Track 18

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Yaoi Zowee! Today we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 18. The chapter starts out with Taki (oh joy I'm so excited to see what happens already) ditching the recording studio to do something (evil) and his manager telling him he's being selfish for dumping recording because he just doesn't feel like it. He finds...something, some kind of piece of paper and frowns at it before the scene abruptly shifts to Shuichi. I have no idea what that was but we'll probably be finding out about it soon enough. Shuichi is depressed because he's convinced that Ryuichi hates him now and, with him being so popular and influential, he feels like this is the end of his career. And he's 25 minutes late to recording as K is helpful enough to remind him. Wait...what is he doing there?! He tells Shuichi that Sakano, Noriko, and Hiro are all already there and Shuichi asks what HE is doing there. He's there for Ryuichi and says that he's going to be Shuichi's manager from now on. Shuichi brushes him off but Sakano confirms this to be true as he's just heard about it this morning. Shuichi goes ballistic and demands to know what the heck is going on.

K says that he admires Shuichi's bravery and the luck he's had that brought him this far but the way he currently is he'll have no chance of rising in the ranks and reaching the top levels. He scoffs at the idea that Shuichi could actually reach Ryuichi's level. Before Shuichi can respond (and I'm positive he would have given this guy a verbal dressing down) Douche 1 walks in and says he wants to speak to Shuichi. The scene shifts and we see Taki visiting Yuki.

                                       I hate you so much. Just learn to quit.

So it turns out that the paper Taki found was a letter telling him about Yuki's secret. Which is he now gloating over. Taki says that Yuki doesn't know the first thing about who actually knows his secret. I'm sure he thought this was going to make Yuki break down into a nervous wreck over who does and doesn't know but Yuki just shrugs and basically says that Taki is right. He doesn't know. He didn't know until recently thanks to everyone helping him remember. He then questions why Taki should even care and calls him nosy. Bless you Yuki. he then says that Taki is being stupid, digging his own grave by coming here. Taki blows up and demands that Yuki admit that what the letter says is true. So yeah, Taki is still trying (and failing) to ruin Yuki's life. So then Shuichi breaks through the wall and kicks Taki right in the head.

                                                      More badass than words can convey.

Shuichi yells at Taki for daring to raise a hand against Yuki and Taki calls him an idiot. Taki then reveals his master plan: circulate the information about Yuki's crime which will mean the end of his career which in turn will weaken Shuichi since Shuichi is at his weakest when Yuki is in trouble. Do I even need to reiterate how much of a petty asshole this guy is? I love how Shuichi basically says "Well duh he's a killer! So what? Even killers deserve to live sometimes." This is a good point. We don't even know the nature of Yuki's crime. He could have easily killed someone in self defense. Then Shuichi says this.

                                                    Shuichi does not take your bullshit.

I love how Seguchi, Yuki, and now Shuichi just refuse to acknowledge Taki as any kind of real threat. He's just a pathetic excuse for a human being, trying to bring down others rather than try and raise and improve himself. Taki has the oh so wonderful come back of "Shut the fuck up!" and then runs away like a pansy. Douche 1 and 2 run into Taki on the street and Taki rails on them, calling them traitors for telling Shuichi what Taki was doing. Douche 1 just says that it's all over. Taki refuses to give up and Douche 1 just says he's gone too far. Shuichi has already won. Taki listens as well as you'd expect. Meaning that he doesn't listen at all and runs away again. He ends up in a phone booth to call a publisher to release the story of Yuki's past but while he's dialing...

                                                    Commence the pants crapping.

The scene shifts before we can see what Seguchi is planning on doing to Taki, back to Shuichi and Yuki. Shuichi asks him if anything is wrong and Yuki breaks down and CRIES. In front of Shuichi! This freaks Shuichi out who tries to comfort him and Yuki reveals his fears: He can't remember the exact details of the time he killed so what if it WAS all really his fault? He doesn't want to end up betraying Shuichi or going back to killing and he's deeply afraid this might happen. He cries into Shuichi's chest as the scene shifts back to Seguchi. Something he says disturbs me quite a bit: "I wouldn't care if you beat or killed Shindou-san but not for something as stupid as your wrongly directed resentment". So...he's saying he doesn't care if Shuichi gets killed if the person has a good reason for doing it? Bwuh? What kind of person talks like this?! Seguchi, my love for you has fallen with that statement. That's a cruel and dispassionate way of looking at the world. Seguchi says that if Taki is a good boy and behaves then he'll get the future he was promised. The only future I want for him is a shallow grave but it doesn't look like I'll be getting that. Seguchi tells Taki that Yuki and Shuichi wouldn't be the only ones who would be hurt if Taki got his revenge.

The scene shifts back to Yuki and Shuichi and they get into an argument that is completely adorable. Yuki is embarrassed that he's crying in front of Shuichi since he hasn't done it in years and tries to act tough while Shuichi tells him to just accept that Shuichi is trying to make him feel better. The scene shifts back and forth between Seguchi and Taki and Yuki and Shuichi. Seguchi tells Taki that he won't be the one to heal Yuki's wounds. Well, he says "he" so I'm assuming the "he" is Yuki. But does this mean they had a relationship or something in the past? To make matters MORE confusing it turns out SEGUCHI sent Taki the letter! My head hurts. Taki demands to know why Seguchi is going through all this trouble to protect Yuki when he's a killer and Seguchi...pushes him out in front of a car! And says that he loves Yuki the most of anyone in the world! Wait...I...wha...WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! Holy shit Seguchi just straight up KILLED TAKI in cold blood! I know I said I wanted him dead but I wasn't serious! I was expecting a punishment for what he did but seeing it actually happen it's...surprisingly grisly. I'm retracting all my love of Seguchi for now. He seriously is freaking me right the hell out.

The chapter ends with Sakano telling Hiro and Shuichi that, thanks to Shuichi's singing during the live broadcast, Bad Luck's popularity is rising. Noriko uses this moment to tell them that she's officially leaving Bad Luck and rejoining Nittle Grasper.

I admit it, I got shivers reading this chapter. Seguchi is one cold customer. I really don't like that he admits that he loves Yuki. Although it does make his statement about not caring if Shuichi is killed make more sense. He needs him around to keep making him money for N-G records but he's also blocking Yuki from him. It makes me wonder though...what's he going to do to Shuichi? I feel very uneasy. Noriko leaving Bad Luck to rejoin Nittle Grasper also makes me wonder. Are they making a comeback? That would be an interesting development! It's unfortunate that the week is over meaning I'm going to have to wait a whole weekend to find out what happens! Oh well. Perseverance!

On Monday we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 19! Have a great weekend and I'll see you then.

Gravitation: Track 17

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Yaoi Zowee! Today we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 17. The chapter opens up with Shuichi trying to wake Yuki up but Yuki is not having it. After annoying Yuki sufficiently Yuki smacks him as he wakes up. Shuichi tells Yuki that today is the day Bad Luck's CD gets released and that Yuki shouldn't eat dinner before he gets back. There's some playful banter between the two (which is refreshing to see) before Shuichi bites Yuki on the ear and runs off. This affects Yuki more than you'd expect, causing him to blush with wide eyed shock. Seguchi suddenly appears and says that he didn't know that was a weak spot on Yuki. Yuki jumps and asks him what he's doing there and Seguchi gives him a bottle of...something as a housewarming gift. Yuki admits to Seguchi that he told Shuichi about his past, expecting Shuichi to want nothing more to do with him. But there's something wrong. Yuki apparently doesn't actually remember the events at all and it causes him to break down. Seguchi comforts him and says (or thinks? Could be either one) that he can't expect Taki to keep his promise (no shock there).

The scene then shifts over to Shuichi happily running to the recording studio. He's thinking to himself and reiterates that he doesn't care that Yuki killed anyone and now that Ayaka is out of the way there's no obstacle that he can't overcome! He rides the elevator up to the recording studio and someone calls out Ryuichi's name causing him to get all worked up before some random guy hugs him, thinking that Shuichi is Ryuichi (easy mistake to make).

                                       This is what happens when you look like a celebrity

Shuichi is barely able to call out to Noriko as he is whisked away by this mysterious man. He's deposited into a car and before he can demand to know what is going on, the man shoves a stuffed rabbit in his face and tells him that he shouldn't have come to Japan and demands an apology. Shuichi tries to explain to him that he's not Ryuichi but the man very scarily tells him to apologize while holding a GUN. Okay, so this guy is probably Ryuichi's bodyguard and Ryuichi has gotten away from him. That would make sense. Otherwise this is a very frightening development. Shuichi apologizes and we find out that the man is actually Ryuichi's manager (eh, close enough) and is finally able to tell him that he's not, in fact, Ryuichi. The man then demands to know where Ryuichi is and Shuichi tells him to keep his eyes on the road. They nearly crash into an oncoming truck, nearly giving Shuichi a heart attack in the process, though the man just laughs it off. I like this guy. The manager tells Shuichi that he was a good double for a prettier Ryuichi. Shuichi doesn't think so, since Ryuichi is too cool (so he's the only one who DOESN'T think he looks like Ryuichi). The manager is in a bit of a pinch. Ryuichi is scheduled for a live broadcast in an hour and he can't find him.

                                        Sure, THIS is the most logical solution...

Then the scene shifts and we see a rather bizarre scene of Tatsuha hanging out at a zoo with Ryuichi and a bunch of kids...only Tatsuha is dressed up like a bear and Ryuichi is dressed up as a bunny. This...it's very, VERY strange. But it's also kind of sweet since Tatsuha's taking time away from his monk duties to take Ryuichi out for a day of fun (though he has his own reasons for doing so, because of his crush on Ryuichi). Tatsuha gets a call from Seguchi asking how they're doing and Tatsuha reveals the reason for the costumes: they're disguises so that Ryuichi can walk around without being mobbed by fans. Okay, that's good enough for me! Seguchi warns Tatsuha to make sure that Ryuichi makes it to the live broadcast on time since things are getting a little frantic around the studio. The manager keeps on with his plan to put Shuichi on in Ryuichi's place even though they found Ryuichi. There's just no time. We also find out, via Noriko, that Ryuichi's manager is American and everyone is calling him K. Which I'm thankful for since saying "the manager" over and over again was getting awkward. Seguchi is confident that since Ryuichi is now so close that Shuichi won't have to go on.

Famous last words of course as K throws Shuichi out in front of the camera to stand in for Ryuichi to the horror of everyone gathered. Shuichi realizes that they're closing the curtain on him and, panicking, he tells them that he's just there to fill time until Ryuichi arrives. He plays some kind of word games with the people on the show who are a bit afraid of how crazy he is. Hiro tells Noriko that this is just what Shuichi does in these situations. While Shuichi keeps trying to fill time, Tastuha arrives at the studio with Ryuichi. Just as they do, Ryuichi hears Shuichi singing his song. This is another one of those moments in the manga where we really need sound to get the full effect of this act. Shuichi is now being heard around the country which is going to give him a lot more exposure. Ryuichi is a bit miffed at Shuichi's taking his spot and he rushes towards the camera, demanding a mike.

                                              Okay, so maybe "pissed" would be a better word.

I feel bad for Shuichi. The poor boy was kidnapped, forced onto camera, and tried to make the most of it only to get brushed aside by Ryuichi. Hey, Ryuichi? You want someone to be mad at, be mad at your manager. Or hey, be mad at yourself! You were messing around dressed like a rabbit when you had a schedule to keep! This isn't the first time we've been told that Ryuichi is a bit of a flake when it comes to his schedule. He really should be mad at himself. Noriko said that it was good Ryuichi made it but Seguchi said he would have been happy even if he hadn't. The chapter ends with Taki pissed off that Shuichi was able to sing even under circumstances like that. He's slowly being forced to realize that Shuichi is not just some upstart but the real deal. Yeah, that's right Taki! You're going to be beaten down and forgotten!

I'd like to think that Shuichi will help inspire Ryuichi to be more passionate about is music again. He just seems so ambivalent to everything while Shuichi is still giving it his all to climb the ladder. It's a nice contrast but I felt annoyed at Ryuichi's reaction to seeing Shuichi singing in his place. I wouldn't like it if someone usurped my spot on a TV show either but it really was entirely his own fault. He shouldn't be taking it out on Shuichi, especially since Shuichi is such a big fan of his!

Tune in tomorrow for Track 18 of Gravitation! See you then.

Gravitation Tra--Oh wait...

Not nice is it? You were expecting to come here for some comedy, information about Gravitation, and all that good stuff. Perhaps I would rant about a plot event or sigh happily over something romantic, with a few pictures with witty captions to break up the paragraphs. But if SOPA gets passed, this whole blog will just disappear. Even though I have ready access to physical copies of Gravitation, I don't have a scanner and use images from various web sites to illustrate my points. Because of this I could easily get shut down for "copyright infringement". Even if I'm completely in the right and everyone agrees that I'm in the right, since I'm part of this whole website any blog that is found in violation of SOPA's incredibly vague wording could get EVERYONE here shut down!

The point is, even if this blog only mildly interests you, there are so many websites that we use everyday that help us seek information that will be completely destroyed if SOPA passes. So please, contact your representatives and tell them to fight this bill!

Yaoi Zowee will resume as scheduled tomorrow with Track 17.

Gravitation: Track 16

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Yaoi Zowee! Today we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 16. The chapter starts out with Shuichi reacting to the news that Ayaka and Yuki are going to get married. Naturally, he's shocked. Ayaka is a bit haughty in her response that Yuki won't be returning to his home address anymore. I'm assuming they're going to either be moving to Kyoto or into the temple where Yuki's parents live. I think she genuinely is disappointed in losing Shuichi as a romantic rival. I have to  half wonder if she was pulling for Yuki and Shuichi to be in a relationship...Well, that doesn't make a lot of sense but who knows? I'll have to see as I read on. Hiro says that he knew Shuichi was still into Yuki and warns Ayaka that her words have only spiked his determination. She says that she knows. Oh, so I was right! She did plan on that. We also get her reason: Everyone else is looking out for Yuki. Awww, so she's looking out for Shuichi even though they're rivals. She's such a sweet girl.

The scene shifts to Shuichi running to Yuki's house (okay, so they ran into Ayaka not at Yuki's house like I thought but somewhere else. Not a big deal, my mistake) and hurries to find the key to open the door, expecting to see Yuki there as he always is.

                                                       He's....not.

That is probably the most depressing panel in this manga so far. There's so much white space and Shuichi looks so small up in the corner there. You can tell that he half expected to see this but didn't want to even think the possibility out loud. The next panel is just as bad! This is so depressing! Shuichi freaks out and kicks over a box, screaming curses as Yuki for leaving him like this. He yells at him (or rather shouts to himself since he's alone in the house) about Yuki just used him for his body and how Shuichi protected him even when being GANG RAPED. Shuichi has a right to be pissed especially if Yuki really is just leaving without a word. Shuichi dissolves into tears and hugs someone who just appeared and Shuichi says he doesn't want to give up. Of course, we're led to believe that Yuki is the one he's crying into.

                                               It's...not.

Shuichi tells Tatsuha that he needs to see Yuki again whether Ayaka likes it or not. Tatsuha tosses Shuichi a motorcycle helmet and says that Ayaka told him to go find Shuichi. Shuich wants to know just what the heck is going on and what her reasoning is and Tatsuha tells him to just get on unless he wants Ayaka to marry Yuki. The scene shifts again to the temple where Yuki is talking with his father. He's telling Yuki that the marriage is very important to Ayaka's parents since she is their only daughter. Yuki is as airy and dismissive as ever, to his father's dismay, but Mika tries to keep the peace between the two. Tatsuha shows up at this time saying he brought Ayaka. Of course he actually brought Shuichi who...is in drag again pretending to be Ayaka. I'm starting to think Shuichi is looking for excuses to be put in drag now. Everyone just stares blankly at him except for Mika who is shocked as can be. Since Yuki's father hasn't seen Ayaka since she was a little girl he actually believes it's her and Shuichi says that he wants to call off the engagement while Yuki and Mika look on in total horror. Yuki's father tries to convince "Ayaka" to reconsider but Shuichi keeps to his guns. When Yuki's father insinuates that Shuichi is the cause of all the problems Shuichi loses it and announces that he's Yuki's lover. By showing off his privates to Yuki's father. Yuki has the best reaction of everyone.

                                              I'd probably try to leave at this point too.

This whole scene is pure silly craziness and after the angst of the last few chapters (and the earlier scenes of the empty apartment and the crying) it's completely welcome. Yuki's father blows up and yells but the scene shifts to Shuichi (dressed normally) sitting outside the temple with Yuki. He still has things he wants to say. He tells Yuki that it doesn't matter what kind of person he was in the past. He also asks Yuki to tell him everything. Yuki did, in fact, kill someone when he was 16 and living in a different town. Now I had already had an idea that Yuki probably did kill someone since multiple people had heard the story and something like that would be easy enough to find out with a little research. However, I was surprised to hear that Yuki had killed multiple people. He doesn't give specifics but he says that he killed "them". After saying this, Yuki says that Shuichi now knows everything that he didn't know before. Well...you know except who they were and why you did it. You're not very good at telling stories Mr. Award Winning Writer. Anyway, Shuichi says that it doesn't matter what Yuki did and it doesn't matter what Yuki says. Nothing will keep him away. Yuki then tells him that he didn't need to say anything about the marriage and we have a Gravitation first! Yuki calls Shuichi by his first name (no brat or kid or anything like that) to his face. Shuichi is as happy as you'd expect him to be!

The scene shifts over to Mika talking to Ayaka. Mika asks her if she's really alright with cancelling the engagement and she says she is. Ayaka says that Yuki wouldn't have been happy with her anyway since she believes he truly likes Shuichi. She says that she only ever saw him smile once (if I remember correctly it was during the live show when Shuichi shouted Yuki was his but I may be wrong). The scene shifts one last time to the airport (people sure do seem to fly in a lot in this series) where Seguchi is waiting for Ryuichi to arrive. Ryuichi excitedly greets Seguchi who says that its been three years since they've seen each other. Wow, really? Three years? Has it been THAT long since the live show? Or did Seguchi just not see him that time? If there's one major problem this manga has it's the time frame. It's almost never clear exactly how much time is passing.

That brings Track 16 and volume 4 to a close! This also brings the Ayaka Marriage Arc (as I call it) to an end. It was altogether satisfying and we learned a bit more about Yuki's past! Still, there are a lot of blank spots but we've got 8 volumes left to go through so there's got to me SOME mystery left. I'm eager to see where the series goes from here!

Tune in tomorrow for Gravitation Track 17! See you then.

Gravitation: Track 15

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Yaoi Zowee! Today we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 15. I hope everyone had a good weekend and is ready to jump right back into things! Things start off heavy with Yuki telling Shuichi that he's leaving him with a very heart breaking look on his face. Shuichi, just as sadly, doesn't freak out or demand to know why or anything like that. He just kneels there on Yuki's bed and says that he understands. I would like to point out that it's a bit difficult to take this super dramatic turn of events very seriously since Shuichi is STILL dressed like a school girl and it's a bit distracting since I keep giggling. Shuichi ruins the drama of the moment anyway by yelling like he normally does (but that's part of Shuichi's character and it makes more sense all things considered) and we find out that it was Maiko who told Shuichi to dress like this (please, please, PLEASE let one of them explain just what the mindset was behind this because my theory last post makes no sense now that we know Maiko dressed him. Maybe it was just plain fanservice on the part of the author).

                                                     Little by little we learn more about Yuki

Of course after saying this Yuki and Shuichi begin to make out...Okay, Yuki? If you really want to leave you're going to have to stop making out with Shuichi. The way that Yuki constantly says he needs to leave and doesn't deserve Shuichi and all that yet never actually does leave shows that he really doesn't want to leave. He feels like he SHOULD but he doesn't WANT to. What needs to happen is Shuichi smacking some sense into the man. Or Yuki needs to let Shuichi know exactly what he's all about. It's not fair or right to break off a relationship without giving some kind of reason for ending it beyond some nebulous "I don't deserve anyone" baloney.

The scene shifts to the recording studio again where Shuichi and Hiro are celebrating the completion of their CD. Noriko breaks up the self congratulation to say that it took them way longer than it should have thanks to Shuichi's issues and how he's saying that he was going to quit Bad Luck twice. Shuichi promises that he's fine now and that won't happen again.

                                               Suuuuure you did. Let's see how long this lasts.

Everyone is understandably shocked and Shuichi explains that because he won't be fighting with Yuki anymore he won't be unable to sing and therefore won't cause any trouble. Shuichi, however, feels bad because of how sad Yuki looked. He doesn't feel comfortable ending things without knowing more. We flashback to when he was in the bar talking with Mika about how he wants to hear about Yuki from Yuki and Mika tells him one thing: the Yuki Eiri he knows is a fake. Now that is interesting. Yuki, it seems, remade himself. Different name, different personality perhaps, and who knows what else? This knocks Shuichi off kilter a bit but he reminds himself that, despite knowing nothing about Yuki, he still fell in love with him. Not the best defense of your relationship Shuichi. Most people would call that infatuation and not love. You'd best be learning more about him before you make any long term decisions. I'm thinking way too hard about this now. Moving on!

Yuki has, once again, returned to his parent's home. His father knows that Yuki can only find peace here and Yuki, while not denying or confirming this fact, acts as nonchalant as he usually does (which I'm not thinking is probably just an act. Who can say anymore? Mika threw the whole thing into question). His father wants him to properly join the temple, shaving his head, stopping smoking, drinking, and dating and of course Yuki refuses to do any of these things. And apparently he dies his hair blond. So he lied about that too. You are a very suspicious person Yuki. He says that he didn't return to succeed his father and that the temple does not bring  him peace but rather gives him the chills. Oh, and he also mentions that he hates Japan. Just what the heck happened to him?

The scene shifts to a hospital where Douche 1 is being visited by Taki. I swear to God author you will NOT make me like these people no matter how many times you show them and try to make them comedy relief. You can not have a character set up the GANG RAPE of another character purely because he's a jealous jackass and then think you can redeem him. I won't stand for it!

                                        You're apologizing to HIM?! You miserable piece of SHIT!

Oh, you're sorry Taki? Sorry that because you orchestrated a GANG RAPE of an innocent teenager, potentially scarring him for LIFE, your douchebag best friend got his ass kicked? Go to Hell Taki Aizawa. I hate you, I always will hate you, and nothing you do will change it. Okay, I've got to move on or else I'm going to just keep ranting and raving all day. Douche 1 tells him to leave Shuichi alone (THIS IS GOOD ADVICE TAKE IT YOU JACKASS) and Taki still wants to go after Yuki in revenge. See? Irredeemable asshole. The woman who gave Taki dirt on Yuki in the first place also told him that Yuki has a hatred of everything associated with Japan. They say he's a murderer and that they remember some kind of story relating to how Yuki killed someone and Douche 1 insists that Taki should stay away from Yuki. As Taki leave, Douche 1 gets a call (from I'm assuming Douche 2) saying that he thinks everything is going to be alright. Then we get this page.

                                                FNASDLKFJDSLKAFJLKDSJFSDLAKFJSDKLF!!!

I hate Taki more than most other villains in media. He's just so completely loathsome! He's petty, he's vindictive, he's just plain evil in the things he does, and probably worst of all, he thinks he's justified in doing these things to these people. If he was a real person I would not hesitate to slam my fist into his face.

Then suddenly there is justice! SWEET, SWEET JUSTICE! It turns out Douche 1 is talking to Seguchi and Seguchi pretty much says that he's dropping their douchey asses because Taki's disgusting and unnecessary need for vengeance is going to cause too much trouble for him. Seguchi point blank says that if Taki goes anywhere near Yuki he...oh, let's just let the picture do the talking.

                                                   So badass! And such pretty eyes!

I'm giving you all the love Seguchi. Destroy Taki's life like he's trying to destroy Yuki and Shuichi's. After that delicious bit of wonderful the scene shifts to Shuichi and Hiro as they celebrate the completion of their CD by drinking. Well, Shuichi had three drinks (three barely alcoholic drinks I might add) and is already smashed. The humor of the situation is smashed unfortunately by Shuichi asking Hiro if he should really give up on Yuki. Hiro says he should and Shuichi flips out at him. Hiro says that he should stop asking him that question since he doesn't act or look like the kind of person who is over Yuki. This discussion is interrupted by none other than Ayaka! I'm a bit surprised to see her to be honest. Hiro tells her that she's lucky since Shuichi is giving up on Yuki. She looks surprised and asks if it's true and Shuichi says he guesses it is. She keeps pressing him and he finally yells at her and says that he doesn't care about Yuki. Ayaka smacks him right across the face. She's disgusted that he would give up so easily after she had been so understanding about his feelings. She says that he won't have to worry about seeing Yuki ever again if that's what he really wants since she accepted Yuki's proposal.

That brings Track 15 to a close! Wow...a lot of stuff happened here! Seguchi was very clear about what will happen to Taki if he interferes but if he's the villain I think he is he won't give up so easily. Shuichi...well he's going to have to talk Yuki out of the marriage. The question is, how? I really have no idea where this is going to end up. And what exactly happened in Yuki's past?! I need to know!

Tune in tomorrow for Gravitation Track 16! See you then.

Gravitation: Track 14

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Yaoi Zowee! Today we'll be looking at Track 14. Luckily I have had time to cool down after the heinous, reprehensible, completely evil and irredeemable acts that Taki inflicted on poor Shuichi physically and mentally and am ready to move on with a cool head. The chapter opens with Shuichi waking up in Hiro's house, his memory of the night previous fuzzy (after the GANG RAPE) and Shuichi is...surprisingly over it. Ugh. I had hoped this wouldn't happen. The author has used rape as a means of drama but refuses to actually acknowledge any of the long term effects that would be associated with such an act. Shuichi shouldn't be looking back on it so nonchalantly. Frankly I find it disturbing when authors so carelessly use rape for purely dramatic purposes. Rape, in my opinion, should never be used unless you are willing to take it seriously and portray it in a realistic light. To be quite honest unless you have a DAMN good reason for including it you probably shouldn't. Now, to be fair, Shuichi might just still be in shock and there might be ramifications later on stemming from this. We'll just have to wait and see.

While Shuichi ponders his situation (mostly concerned that his relationship with Yuki is now surely over rather than worrying about the GANG RAPE) Hiro travels on his motorcycle to Yuki's house in order to talk to him. Hiro tells Yuki what happened and Yuki, true to his character, shows no reaction outwardly. Hiro asks him if he even cares since he cut all ties with Shuici. He says that Shuichi being talented isn't his fault and he shouldn't be punished for it. I love how they're really just ramming it home how much of a jealous arrogant prick Taki is. I'm really hoping that he gets his just desserts in the end! Hopefully sooner rather than later. Hiro continues berating Yuki, saying that if he didn't want to be in a relationship with him he should have broken it off before Shuichi became so seriously in love with him. Then this happens.

                            Somewhere, Taki is crapping his pants in fear and he has no idea why.

The scene shifts to Shuichi going into work, both Noriko and Sakano looking surprised to see him. He tells them he's feeling better (they were told he had a cold) and asks where Hiro is. Noriko tells him that Hiro has been missing for two hours. She then asks if Shuichi recovered his vocals or if he made up with Yuki. Shuichi answers by offering them farewell gifts. Since he doesn't want Yuki or N-G records to be slandered he's deciding to give up working in Bad Luck. He doesn't tell Noriko and Sakano why exactly but tells them they'll know soon enough (when the photos are published I assume). At that moment Hiro comes in and says that he's refusing to let Shuichi go. After all, he did say he wasn't bad and that's enough for Hiro. True friendship! It's so beautiful. Hiro tells Shuichi that Yuki is actually in the building, in Lounge A and he's ready to kick the piss out of Taki. This gives Shuichi new strength to go on!

The scene then shifts to Yuki being a total badass, beating down Douche 1 until he realizes who Taki is. Rather than let himself get beat up, Taki surrenders the negatives to Yuki. Taki asks him why he went easy on him when he beat Douche 1 so ruthlessly. He remarks that just by looking at Yuki's eyes he knows he's more than just a novelist.

                                                    What demons lie in Yuki's past?

Yuki brushes off the accusation as Shuichi begins to pound on the door, demanding to be let in. Yuki calmly strolls out of the room before yelling at Shuichi to shut up already. Shuichi is...uh...well Shuichi is...I'll just let the picture do all the talking.

                                                     Why Shuichi? Just...why?

Now I'm not stranger to dressing in women's clothing myself but I have to wonder what Shuichi's mindset is. I don't think this is the appropriate time for something like this. Yuki just stares blankly at Shuichi for awhile before turning and walking away leaving a dejected Shuichi behind. Shuichi gives chase and shouts after Yuki, asking him why he's running away. Is it because he's a bad guy? Or just because he's a guy in general? Suddenly, I understand his mindset just a bit. He's dressing like a girl because he loves Yuki and he thinks Yuki hates him because he's a guy so he's dressed up like a girl in order to appeal to him. It's a warped way of thinking but in character for Shuichi. I would also like to mention that Yuki thinks Shuichi has really nice legs. Just because Yuki almost never compliments Shuichi. All of this excitement is too much for Shuichi who promptly pukes and passes out. He expects Yuki to be furious with him but instead he has a gentle look on his face which surprises Shuichi. Yuki tells him he passed out due to lack of rest and orders him to take it easy. Shuichi jumps up and says that since he's a guy he'll be alright and will just leave. Then Yuki shouts at him that he's had enough. Shuichi braces for impact and Yuki tells him that he doesn't care that Shuichi is a guy. That's not why he broke up with him. He's doing it because he's leaving.

That's where the chapter ends. Damn cliffhangers! And on a weekend too! Frustration! Well, at least we got a straight answer out of Yuki for once. He's leaving somewhere. There is no elaboration on what he means (we'll probably find out next chapter) but I'm guessing he's leaving the country and, as such, he didn't want to hurt Shuichi by getting involved with him and then leaving so he broke up with him. This was a STUPID move and he probably ended up hurting Shuichi worse over all but I'm willing to cut him a break if he explains himself well enough. I have to admit I loved seeing Yuki kick ass for Shuichi's sake and while Shuichi dressing in a schoolgirl outfit was bizarre it was completely hilarious and Shuichi does look good in it. I'm also intrigued by the hint to Yuki's past. Has he actually killed someone before? If so what's the story behind that? What were the circumstances? So many questions! Hopefully we'll get some answers.

That's all for this week of Yaoi Zowee! I hope everyone has a great weekend! On Monday we'll be looking at Gravitation: Track 15! See you then.

Gravitation: Track 13

Hey everyone! Welcome back to Yaoi Zowee! Today we'll be looking at Gravitation: Track 13. This will be the first chapter of the fourth volume of Gravitation. Track 13 opens with Yuki telling Shuichi that it's all over, calling them pretend lovers. Shuichi wants to know what the problem is and Yuki tells him it's everything about him. That he hates him. Yeesh! Harsh Yuki! Oh, and they both talk about how not gay they are despite the fact that they sleep with men. This is an annoying habit that earlier yaoi stories tend to have. Namely that the men are not really gay, their love just "transcends gender boundaries" which sounds lofty and everything but is a cop out to me. It's like assuring your audience (namely heterosexual women for the most part) that the hot guys they're seeing aren't really gay because that would imply they couldn't themselves have a relationship with them. It's incredibly superficial, like guys enjoying watching two women make out. I just find it incredibly annoying. You're writing a story about two guys in a relationship. Just make them gay! Rant/.

Anyway, Shuichi talks to Hiro about it and wonders what he could possibly have done to warrant this hate. At band practice Noriko yells at Shuichi for his poor vocals but understands what he's going through. Apparently this is just how Yuki treats people who are in relationships with him. Guys got issues. Hiro admits that because this whole thing is making Shuichi cry he won't forgive Yuki. Awww, now see THAT'S what true friends are made of! Sakano mentions that this is the worst possible time for a problem like this to arise and decides to postpone the release date of the CD until Shuichi can work the problem out. Shuichi decides to visit Yuki again to apologize and at the train station runs into a little problem.

                                                       Shuichi's first taste of fame.

Of course it doesn't help that he looks like Ryuichi as well. Soon enough he's being chased by a whole group of women (as well as what appears to be a man. Looks like Shuichi's reputation for sleeping with men proceeds him). Shuichi runs away and barely manages to escape when who should he run into but Taki. He advises Shuichi to be more careful in public now that his popularity has risen higher than ASK's and Shuichi...doesn't recognize him at all. Which makes me laugh and laugh and laugh. Taki screams at Shuichi, telling him who he is which of course alerts the crowd and now they're both being chased.

The scene shifts to Yuki entering the bar with plans to meet someone. He thinks it's a woman but it's actually Sakano who apologizes for tricking him, saying he's doing this as a favor to Seguchi. Yuki takes this about as well as you'd expect him to, prompting Sakano to apologize even harder. He explains to Yuki about Shuichi, telling him that he's depressed and can't record and that Seguchi wants Yuki to patch things up with him. Yuki point blank asks Sakano if that's really alright, considering that Shuichi being gay would hurt record sales. Um...yeah, I doubt that personally but who knows. Sakano, in turn, asks Yuki if he's really okay with not seeing Shuichi anymore. Yuki abrasively dodges the question.

                                                       You are fooling NO ONE.

Then we switch focus back to Shuichi and Taki who have managed to escape from the crowd and are now chilling out in what I assume is Taki's apartment. And they're drinking. And judging by the blush marks on Shuichi's face he's drunk. This is going to end very badly I can already tell. Taki asks Shuichi how he likes it and he says it's fine but doesn't like how you have to be sneaky about everything. Shuichi says it's too hard to be in a relationship under these conditions and doesn't want to be with anyone. Taki asks him if Yuki and Shuichi broke up and Shuichi asks him how he knew about Yuki. This is all Taki needs for confirmation and tells Shuichi that he intends to get pictures for black mail purposes.

                                                          Oh shit.
  
This has major bad news squick written all over it. Taki is of course relishing every moment. He's just loving it and it makes him even more despicable in my eyes. I seriously hate this guy. If he was real I would give him such a good punch in the face! Shuichi now has a choice. He can agree to quit the recording industry altogether or Taki will take pictures that will force him out anyway. Shuichi refuses to leave the recording industry of his own free will, he doesn't care what happens to Yuki when word of his sexuality gets out, and tells them to just get it over with.

The scene then shifts to Shuichi sitting outside Hiro's house, calling him and telling him to help him into the house since he can't walk anymore. When Hiro helps him he totally breaks down, asking why it's such a horrible thing to love someone. Just because Yuki is a guy and famous he can't love him? Is Shuichi really that bad? Shuichi tearfully asks these questions of Hiro who embraces him and tells him that, no, he's not bad. This is terribly heartbreaking. Shuichi was just gang raped. GANG. RAPED. And all just because of one stupid, selfish, jealous, asshole! Taki is irredeemable in my eyes. The man is a monster.

                                            Burn in Hell Taki Aizawa. 

I mean, even Douche 1 and 2 think it's bad what he did. I've gotta talk about something else or I'm just going to LOSE it. Hiro goes into practice the next day and overhears Taki talking. He pretty much says that he's going to release Yuki's name in concordance with Shuichi's with the hope that Yuki's connections will lead to Shuichi BEING KILLED. WHO DOES THIS?! Douche 1 says that Taki needs to stop this madness. Taki says that because he's the vocalist he will never stop.

Thank God that ends Track 13 because I couldn't take much more. I am so angry right now I can't...You know what? I can't even think straight.

Tune in tomorrow when we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 14. See you then. 

Gravitation: Track 12

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Yaoi Zowee! Today we'll be looking at Gravitation Track 12. The chapter opens with the game show considering Shuichi's proposal while Sakano, predictably, freaks out. Even Noriko doesn't think it's a good idea but the people running the game show decide to allow it. And why wouldn't they? I mean, Bad Luck wins and they exchange 100 million yen with just singing a song. The game show proceeds and the scene shifts to ASK. Douche 1 rushes in to tell a man called Taki (the third member and group leader of ASK as far as I can tell) to turn on the game show and watch Bad Luck without saying explicitly why he should.

                                                                         Taki Aizawa

 Hiro begins to answer the questions one by one without even trying, a testament to the guitarist's intelligence. Taki immediately understands what's going on. Shuichi has found a way to perform on a show that's not a music program. Then he basically whines that Shuichi is more popular than him and acts like an aging prima dona peeved about a rising ingenue. It's like he's Carlotta and Shuichi is Christine (I wonder if anyone has ever done a Phantom of the Opera/Gravitation crossover? Huh...). We switch back to the game show and Shuichi has to do a physical challenge while answering questions. The problem is Shuichi is...well to be quite blunt he's dumb as a sack of rocks. It's a good thing he's good at music otherwise I have no idea what the heck this kid would do for a living.


The scene shifts to the producer of the game show in the booth and we discover that Shuichi being chosen to answer these questions is no coincidence. The producer is aiming to make sure Bad Luck loses since he doesn't want them to sing on the show. Luckily Seguchi arrives to save the day! He knows that the producer is only concerned about the number of viewers watching. So Seguchi proposes something simpler than a come from behind victory for the other team. One that will draw a more exciting conclusion. Of course, in order to keep suspense, we the readers don't find out immediately what Seguchi has in mind. Instead we turn back to Shuichi and Hiro who are now trailing in points. Noriko and Sakano have already written the show off as a failure since Shuichi obviously doesn't know the answers to any of these questions. However, we finally discover Seguchi's plan with the last question worth double points.

                                                         Oh, I WONDER who that could be?

Shuichi runs like a bat out of Hell to answer the question that anyone reading this series would also know: Yuki Eiri. So of course Bad Luck wins the game show and it's a big celebration. Taki is confident that Bad Luck won't be able to sing because they don't have the proper equipment on the game show and since it's a live broadcast they don't have time to set everything up. Seguchi is one step ahead of everyone though and hands a guitar and microphone to Shuichi and Hiro much to the shock of Sakano. They've got three minutes of live broadcast to work with so they move fast. Shuichi and Hiro immediately begin and Sakano faints from the stress of it all (I feel for this guy. It can't be easy being a manager for such an unruly group).

Taki is a stink about this especially since Shuichi is getting a lot of attention. He's immediately suspicious (of course he is, characters like this are always suspicious) since Shuichi managed to know the answer to that one question and none of the others. Douche 1 points out a magazine article to him reporting Bad Luck's first live show when Shuichi shouted out that Yuki was his. Uh oh. Taki is getting some unsavory ideas about what to do with this information. I'm thinking...black mail. It's so slimy and diabolical and I wouldn't put it past a guy who hangs out with douches.  

                            And then Taki got an idea. An awful idea. Taki got a terrible, awful idea.

Noriko thanks Seguchi for his help giving Bad Luck a chance to perform and Seguchi is extremely modest about it. Noriko isn't buying it and starts going over the events of Bad Luck's inception. Noriko joins, Ryuichi throws in during the live performance, the game show, it all points to Seguchi showing more attention to the group than he's letting on. I guess he can't be too overt with it since he's also working with ASK and as an executive at N-G records he can't show favoritism. A clearer picture is being made when Seguchi tells Noriko that Sakano had felt a certain gravity from Shuichi and Seguchi, trusting Sakano who he's been working with for 3 years (more or less), is supporting Bad Luck. He admits to Noriko that, the way the business world works, only ASK or Bad Luck will be able to survive. Whoever is the most popular will continue to make music. The other will be dropped.

The scene shifts to Taki, enraged by Bad Luck's success, getting a phone call from a friend of his. He's at a bar with a rather seedy looking woman who tells Taki that if he wants dirt on Yuki, she's willing to talk. She tells him that lately Yuki has been going out with guys, specifically that she heard the name Shindo in regards to who Yuki is seeing. So now Taki knows their secret and he has the look of the predator on his face. The scene shifts to the early morning where Yuki is reading a magazine about Bad Luck while Shuichi sleeps. He talks to himself about how, come tomorrow, one week will have passed and that their time together will officially be over.

And that brings Track 12 and volume 3 to an end. Hey! We're officially a quarter of the way through Gravitation! Awesome! I don't like this development of Yuki being done with Shuichi after a week. It's especially aggravating since a great plot point has been introduced with the jealous Taki having information to black mail Yuki and Shuichi. It would be such a great test of their relationship! And now it looks like the whole thing is being tossed aside because Yuki is being a DICK! Welcome back dick Yuki! NO ONE MISSED YOU!

Ahem. But I digress. We'll just have to see what happens.

Tomorrow we'll be looking at Gravitation:  Track 13! See you then.