JEALOUSY AND UNLIKELY LOVE IN MANGA

 
Jealousy and unlikely love rivals in manga!

Ichi - Eerie Queerie
Officer Berkley Rose - Fake
Wolfram - Kyo Kara Maoh!

Jealousy comes in many forms - even in yaoi novels. When the green-eyed monster rears its ugly head, you know there will be a bad boy at the hear t of the problem, but take officer Berkley Rose from popular manga novel series Fake by Sanami Matoh. In volume 2, Ryo and Dee take a trip to England where they check into a hotel where a murder takes place and as soon as they investigate, Ryo sees Berkley on the stairs wondering who he is, and when he tells Dee, he gets instantly jealous. He tells him he shouldn't be thinking about another man, his focus should be on him and him alone.



Dee spends most of Volume 1 and part of Volume 2 trying to seduce Ryo, succeeding only when they are alone without Bikky, JJ and Carol around to annoy him. Although Berkley doesn't actively seek Ryo out, Dee sees it that way and it annoys him. It's bad enough there's a murderer on the loose at the hotel they are staying in, and they are the only ones there at Reynard's pleasure.

As we know the course of true love doesn't always run smooth even for Ichi in Eerie Queerie. He is haunted by the loss of a girl at his high school and blames himself for her death. She in turn doesn't see things his way and possesses his class mate Mitsuo. Her reason for doing this is clear, though as she wants him to get over her death and move on with his own life. She liked to see him playing soccer and became sad when he stopped playing. Mitsuo isn't used to being possessed by pesky spirits even though spirits and ghosts have a knack for liking him a little too much. He is good friends with Hasunama who is in love with him and helps him out with his special 'charm cards' which ward off dangerous as well as pesky spirits. As Ichi had a crush on Natsuke, when she possesses Mitsuo, he starts to fall for him and it gets him into a whole lot of trouble with Hasunama.

One of the more endearing aspects of this series is the relationship between Mitsuo, Hasunama and Mikuni. Mikuni knows the other two have feelings for each other, but don't say it, and he likes to cause trouble for them in order to convince them they are lovers.

A similar unlikely match occurs in Kyo Kara Maoh! with Wolfram and Yuri. Yuri Shibuya is a high schooler who is picked on by bullies who can't get enough of humiliating him. One morning they catch up with the unsuspecting Yuri and dunk his head down the toilet where he falls through into another world, a world where demons called Mazoku rule. Adalbert finds Yuri passed-out in her world and takes him in as their new ruler, the Maoh or demon king. It takes a bit of adapting but Yuri finds the Mazoku's hospitality top notch, especially the orchid scented bubble bath he finds! He gets a chance to see what kind of Mazoku Wolfram is when he scolds him for saying nasty things about his mother, though slapping Wolfram isn't the best thing he could do as in their world, it's a marriage proposal - even if it's to another man!

All three novels are a fun look at how the Japanese see the paranormal, cop dramas and period dramas and to be honest I don't think I could be without any of these books as they are my favorites.