#blcd reviews

Title: Zanzou Slow Motion (残像スローモーション)

Author/Artist: Janome

Shop: CD + Manga

Release Date: 2021/05/28

Cast:

Furukawa Makoto x Nakazawa Masatomo

Eguchi Takuya

Satou Gen

Tadokoro Hinata

Yasuaki Takumi

Matsuoka Yoshitsugu

Ichikawa Aoi

Yanagi Kouhei

Karino Sho

Synopsis:

What happens when two rival directors who hate each other's guts are forced to share one roof? And what if one of them has a secret he's been harboring for years? Throw in a shared love of movies, BL manga, and an accidental kiss, and you've got the next heart-pumping love story in Midorigaoka High and the sequel to Twilight Out of Focus 1. Jin Kikuchihara, third-year director, main actor, and president of the film club, and second-year director Giichi Ichikawa see eye-to-eye on very little. Jin is flashy, flirty, and focused on keeping everyone happy, while Giichi expects the best from himself and others, and will compromise nothing to see his vision through. Constantly at each other's necks, the two can hardly stand to be in the same club. But what will happen when family trouble forces them to live in the same room? Will their shared interests bring them closer as friends, push them further apart as rivals, or something else entirely?

Review Proper

I love Tasogare Outfocus, but this is actually my favorite Janome.

The second installment curse strikes again!

UGHHHHHHH THIS WAS SO WHOLESOME. Don't get me wrong, Tasogare Outfocus is written pretty decently, but I really don't like how Janome just glossed over Hisashi's SA and grooming like that. It reminds me a lot of Etude vol. 1. I can still get over Etude vol. 1 'cause it's not that uncommon to see in sports and Ichi-san's deal with Futami was given some closure in 2, but given how short Tasogare Outfocus was, Hisashi felt like he just lmao byed his teacher. 😔Doesn't help that it kinda doesn't matter anymore in overlap even though it hasn't been long since it ended. Is my son Hisashi really okay now? 🥹

I'm old, so DK BL doesn't appeal to me that much anymore. It's also hard to find good DK rivalries nowadays that aren't just about fucking or delinquents. Zanzou Slow Motion, however, just checked all the right boxes for the category: simple, no drama, and no loose ends. That coupled with Janome's element of touch?

And can we talk about this monologue?

Ugh.

I will say Jin's suspenders, Ichikawa's snatched waist, and the ABO shout-out greatly influenced my decision too. Y'all should get suspended in high school, not wear suspenders!

Onto the technicalities...

I don't think I've heard these two co-star before (or I just don't remember), so I was a bit skeptical especially 'cause last I heard Makonyan in a DK was in, well... Given as BLCD!Ritsu. And where else did we hear Yuuma star in a DK too? Yuuma as Anime!Ritsu. We just had Given Anime!Ritsu in Tasogare Outfocus being somewhat friends with Ichikawa and now we have BLCD!Ritsu (thanks to ecargmura for catching this!) trying to romance him. They used very different tones for Ritsu, but the vibe was the same overall. THEY'RE THE SAME PERSON. Makonyan and Nakamo also played tops in the last works I heard of them (Makonyan as Takaba in Kurui Naku and Nakamo as Yakumo in Nu:carnival), so I was concerned about a lot of things. Thankfully, however, instead of Makonyan going for his Ritsu tone or his lighter Kimitte Yatsu for a more youthful vibe, he went all shounen in here lmaooo.

His bwakame was so funny it reminded me of this:

I love roasting Makonyan more than any other seiyuu out of fondness, but I'm really proud of how far he's gone. He's gotten so much better in his delivery, and it's obvious in his budding anime career, too.

But...

I didn't expect there would be improvements in his bedding techniques too...

What the fuck was that? HAHAHAHAHAHA. WAIT. No, y'all don't understand. I have most of this man's r-18 otome CDs and BLCDs, and I have never heard him this... this hot before???? Jin is such a smooth flirt, so I had some expectations on the delivery, but FURUKAWA MAKOTO HISSES. HE HISSES!!! SIR IS THIS APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR FOR A HIGH SCHOOL BOY??? THEY DON'T EVEN SHOW THEM DO THE DO FOR MORE THAN A MINUTE??? WHERE WAS THE NEED?!

PUTS THE GODDAMN FU IN FURUKAWA MAKOTO ALRIGHT!

First it was Ono Yuuki, now it's Makonyan. Is Nakamo's ass really that good that his tops go all in???

I admittedly don't have a lot to say about Nakamo because that man always slays. I was afraid that Makonyan would overpower him during their Netflix and chill, but as soon as I had that thought, Nakamo pushed back like??? THEM SHAKIRA HIPS DON'T LIE!

HOW DO I LEGALLY MARRY GINGER RECORDS???

I didn't read the scan or the official English release 'cause I actually had the raws, so I can't vouch for the translation. As for faithfulness to the manga, however, I need to stress that there were a lot of rearranged events and cut dialogue. One notable instance was Ichikawa's message for Jin. It was placed after their kiss in the last chapter, so I believe that these changes are quite significant. It is still possible to read the manga while listening to the BLCD, but I suggest reading the manga once first so you're aware of which pages you need to jump to.

Title: Tasogare Outfocus overlap (黄昏アウトフォーカス overlap)

Release Date: 2021/06/18

Shop: CD + Manga

Author/Artist: Janome

Cast:

Uchida Yuuma x Matsuoka Yoshitsugu

Nakazawa Masatomo

Ichikawa Aoi

Yanagi Kouhei

Otsuka Takeo

Furukawa Makoto

Satou Gen

Tadokoro Hinata

Synopsis: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Review Proper

That's it. That's the review.

Y'all know I love Janome and this series to death, so I won't be talking about the plot. Am I looking forward to the anime? No.

Yuuma and 2gu-2gu slayed their roles as usual. I can't believe this wasn't nominated during chil-chil 2022. What a huge disservice! How are y'all nominating Takasaki Boscos and Momose Ans on that shit and not Janome?! Yuuma was nominated for 16th best seiyuu for Hisashi and landed right after Matty, but I think he deserves to place higher.

I MEAN, HELLO???? THE NIPPLE PLAY ON HIM???

I don't know what to feel when the normies think of Yuuma as Kaveh and not Mr. Sex-on-Legs himself. I love Yuuma as Alhaitham's a bottom, but Hisashi's just—UGH! He's so sexy one minute, then so soft the other. 🥹

I don't plan to listen to Taiyou-kun, but 2gu-2gu should've been nominated for this instead. 2gu-2gu's range as Mao is just insane. It's also funny that he sounds more like Etou-san than Yuuma lmaooo. I am obsessed with Yuuma as Hisahi ngl, but 2gu-2gu was the star of this BLCD.

UGH.

I really want to marry Ginger's casting director. They don't miss. 😌

I will say that it was a struggle to read the manga along the BLCD. I was a very good girl these past few years 'cause resisted the urge to read the manga beforehand, but my resistance might've added to my struggle lmao. I was jumping from page to page 'cause I didn't know where the BLCD started (actually starts in chapter 3 of the overlap tanko). I wouldn't have been confused if I read the table of contents, but I clearly can't read.

Title: Old-fashion Cupcake with Capuccino (オールドファッションカップケーキwithカプチーノ)

Author/Artist: Sagan Sagan

Shop: CD + Manga

Release Date: 2021/12/22

Cast: Azakami Youhei x Okitsu Kazuyuki

Review Proper

What to say? Maybe it's the ADHD or the fact that I just came from two long BLCDs, but I'm always in a bad headspace when I listen to OFC. 😅 The second volume just went the second route of sequels: misunderstandings/insecurities featuring third-party appearances. I really get where Nozue-san's coming from and I'm not saying that his insecurities are invalid or whatever—it's just that he's the one who wanted to make their relationship low-key, but he was doing the worst job at it. 🙄And like what I've said in my review for volume 1, they don't have a big age gap, so this age gag with Nozue-san just annoys me. It doesn't help that they mention it every five pages or so. The more Sagan Sagan does it, the more Nozue-san's age sounds more like an excuse than a gag.

Yoneda Kou's spoiled me to the point that I can't accept anything less, it seems. 🤷Don't blame me for comparing, they also have a Togawa over there.

Anyway, that's enough of the plot.

Chil-chil 2023 was a lie. There is no way Okitsu placed fourth while Youhei placed 13th. If anything, they should be reversed—and that's coming from me, one of the biggest Okitsu whores on this site. But being an Okitsu simp also means I know how that man sounds like, and that man sounds awkward af in this tone. His Nozue-san is too slow and too light for him. Nozue-san does have moments where he'll explode in panic or anger, but considering how light and slow Okitsu's portrayal of him is, you would expect his explosions to be more on the lighter side, right? WRONG. HE GOES FULL JONATHAN JOESTAR TO DO IT LMAO

SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIVE!!!

I failed to mention in my first review that Nozue-san looks like Italy from Hetalia which is why I wanted NamiD for him... if he wasn't so problematic. Anyway, thankfully, we have a live-action. I very much prefer Kouhei Takeda over Okitsu as Nozue-san. HAHAHAHAHAHA

Youhei was the true MVP of this BLCD. I don't get how he placed so low. He was very stable, and his sex appeal shined throughout the CD. It kind of reminds me of Maeno's tbh. Chil-chil 2022 might've robbed him, but this man has earned his seat at the "tops you should look out for" table in my view. Congratulations!

The BLCD was pretty accurate to the manga. Read-alongs are indeed possible with it, but I will say that I had an issue with SuBLime's localization. For one thing, the second volume wasn't consistent with the first. Togawa calls Nozue-san "Mr. Nozue" in the first volume while he calls him "Nozue" in the second.😑I don't want to go on a long rant about honorifics, but when it comes to stories where age is an important factor, I am firm in my belief that the Japanese or a close English equivalent should be used. It's a Japanese story set in Japan; it's not your culture to localize. There, I said it.

Also,

Yes, we stan being redundant even when the original wasn't. 😌 I wouldn't be nit-picking if y'all just licensed Koi ga, SuBLime.

Title: Ikigami to Donor (イキガミとドナー)

Author/Artist: Yamanaka Hiko

Shop: CD + Manga

Release Date: 2021/12/03

Cast: 

Nakajima Yoshiki x Saitou Souma

Yamashita Seiichirou + Kawanishi Kengo

Kobayashi Chiaki

Yashiro Taku

Komada Wataru

Hayashi Miho

Shiozaki Tomohiro

Higa Ryosuke

Abe Ryouma

Torashima Takaaki

Oota Kensuke

Nakashima Takuya

Fujita Mami

Miyama Mari

Souya Kazuki

Synopsis: 

"Your blood and flesh, all of it is mine." An ikigami and a healer, together their souls support each other, blooming into love...

In the distant future, ordinary teacher Yoshino learns that he is a "donor" for the strongest species, the "ikigami." These warriors are tasked with protecting the country. "The unique ability of a donor is to use their bodily fluids to heal ikigami." Yoshino learns this fact and is shocked. Thus, Yoshino is forced to live with Kidou... At first, he is like a beast, demanding Yoshino's bodily fluids, but slowly, the underlying loneliness begins to show...

"Someday, if I met a donor, could they come to love me? That thought is the only reason I survived..."

Review Proper

I can’t believe Yamanaka Hiko’s been terrorizing me for over twelve years now. OH MY GOD I’M SO OLD. And true to the Yamanaka Hiko brand, this turned out to be another fantasy masterpiece (read His 500 Years of Suffering Romance). This was definitely the type of thing that would do great even without the BL aspect of it. Now, I did have an issue with Kidou being an asshole (he's almost killed Yoshino more than once), so I’m not excusing it. But I do get how and why he turned out to be like that and I'm aware that it's important for his character development. The world-building was great, don't get me wrong, but it's definitely dubcon 2015. I would strongly advise you not to get into it if that's a deal breaker for you.

Anyway, onto the voice work.

Souma used a tone so close to Gucci's that I kept imagining Gucci being Yoshino. Yes, I didn't read the manga while listening to the BLCD. It was like after graduating Karasuno, Gucci went on to become a teacher, then a donor lmao. His Yoshino panics more like Honda-san, however, so my final verdict is that his Yoshino is half-Gucci, half-Honda-san.

This isn't Nakajiki and Souma's first rodeo, but I'm glad to say that their performance/dynamic here is different from Mikeneko and XL Size. I expected Kidou to be a mix of Amano and Anaconbayashi-kun 'cause the former was cocky and the latter was stoic, but Kidou was only 50% of that mix and 50% brooding, suffering, I'll-protect-you top. Am I even making any sense? Again, I listened to the BLCD first, but the sound direction they gave Nakajiki was very different from what I thought he'd sound like after I read the manga. It’s almost like what happened with OnoD’s expressive Hasebe-kun in the Kotonoha BLCD vs the more stoic Hasebe-kun in the manga. 

The voice work of our two leads was 👌. This might just be my fave out of their pairings 'cause the sex isn't over-the-top like XL Size and Mikeneko. I will say that I wasn't completely sold on Yamashita Seiichirou as Shibata-san 'cause I feel like he speaks too slowly, but I'm sure it'll grow on me by the time I listen to their spin-off. KawaKen was fine. My heart broke for him every time Shibata-san rejected him, so it's safe to say he's got Taki-kun down already.

Oh. I did have a slight issue with the sfx too. Why was it so watery??? Lmao. Even r18 otome cds aren't that wet. But it's not so glaring that it'll turn you off.

The BLCD was almost perfectly accurate to the manga. I highly recommend this to those learning mid to higher levels of Japanese. Futekiya has licensed volumes 1 & 2, so please try to support the official release if you can. I'd be lying if I said that I agree with how they translated it so... literally?, but I think it's also important to see how things are translated that way if you're aiming to dip your toes into translation aside from studying the language. For example, they used "Living God" throughout the manga instead of "Ikigami." It's correctly translated, but I personally prefer retaining the original title. You know, like how Viz uses "Kaiju no. 8" instead of "Monster no. 8?"

Title: Nikurashii Kare (憎らしい彼)

Author/Artist: Nagira Yuu

Shop: CD + Manga

Release Date: 2021/07/23

Cast:

Ono Yuuki x Saitou Souma

Morikawa Toshiyuki

Matsumoto Takuya

Matsui Akiha

Maeda Hiroki

Tonozaki Yuusuke

Horie Shun

Sahara Io

Miyama Mari

Kumagai Mirei

Yamane Masashi

Tamano Shouyo

Miki Shinichiro lmaooo so random

Synopsis: Second installment of the series.

Review Proper

My brain too smooth for this. Don't get me wrong—it's good, but I don't have the patience to sit through three CDs of this. 😂 I fell asleep 5 times. A new record!

It would've been better if Hira just stopped talking to me in formal Japanese 'cause it makes my brain crash. He says a lot of deep things when he can't even grasp the shallowest of concepts. I also have a love-hate relationship with Hira's train of thought 'cause how can he jump to all these conclusions but never the right ones? He's still absolutely sad in the head, but idk, I'm here for it lmaooo.

The same goes with Kiyoi. Like boi, you're the only one with half of a functioning brain here, so idk, use it?

Kiyoi: "I don't wanna be with you anymore."

Hira: *leaves

Kiyoi:

Like in the first BLCD, I still can't figure out if I should feel concerned for him or Hira. I mean, if someone I knew had this relationship, I would personally ask both of them to leave each other and see a shrink. 😂 I dare say that their relationship would be the most normal one there is if Kiyoi wasn't such a tsundere and if Hira was just less of a weirdo.

How are we bringing your parents into this already when you have a wack-ass relationship???

But hey, nothing like a good kidnappin' and one mc almost dyin' to solve communication issues, right?

The things you do, Nagira Yuu.

As usual, the voice work is phenomenal. Saitou Souma won as best voice actor for Kiyoi at the chilchil 2023 awards while Ono Yuuki placed 2nd for Hira. There's just something special about Saitou Souma and Ono Yuuki in Utsukushii Kare. Their chemistry is good and so natural! It's like they bring out the best in each other. I especially love hearing Ono Yuuki come undone under Saitou Souma's Kiyoi but immediately get his revenge in disc 3.

I'm already nominating this as Souma's best match up in 2021. Sorry, Makonyan. Let's see if someone else rises to the challenge.

As for the accuracy...

So I've actually tried listening to this back in 2022. Yes, I'm writing this review in 2024, and this is the very CD that caused my burn out lmaooo. From what I read from the trial, it doesn't start the same as the novel, so I was confused. I didn't take the liberty of buying the whole novel, so I'm not sure if they really do have the same content. They do have the same name, though. Idk. Again, Hira speaks in formal/old Japanese, so the struggle made me put this off. 😅 And it just snowballed from there 'cause I'm loyal to my log. I don't keep up with the manga either, but I think the third volume is still at Utsukushii Kare and not Nikurashii Kare.

Long story short, I can't say if it's accurate to the source material, and I won't be able to recommend read-alongs for both Utsukushii Kare and Nikurashii Kare.

The two installments are equally interesting. Both are jam-packed with nicely paced content. I feel more comfortable with Nikurashii Kare, though, 'cause Hira made me uncomfortable in Utsukushii Kare, while it was Shitara who made me uncomfortable in Nikurashii Kare lmaooo. I loved Hira's little character development here, and I wish I could say the same for Kiyoi.😂The comedy and action were also good, and Moririn's presence made it 100 times better. It might not make my 2021 faves, but it's definitely one of the best-produced ones—it won best BLCD at chilchil 2023 for a reason.

Title: Unmei no Tsugai ga Omae da Nante (運命の番がお前だなんて)

Author/Artist: Haruta

Release Date: 2021/06/25

Cast: 

Okitsu Kazuyuki x Masuda Toshiki

Taito Ban

Tsuchida Reiou

Kobayashi Kousuke

Matsuura Yoshiyuki

Tanaka Tomomi

Watanabe Yoshimi

Synopsis: Free-spirited omega Shishikura and straight-laced alpha Kotani have disliked each other since middle school, so neither are pleased to learn they will both be working at the same company. Shishikura is even less thrilled when he discovers that he and Kotani are a fated pair! The two men take verbal swipes at each other every chance they get, yet still wind up in bed together again and again. Both chalk it up to biology and refuse to admit that deeper feelings might be involved, and Shishikura begins looking into other potential marriage partners. Will this tsundere couple ever get their act together, or will destiny be derailed by their own stubbornness?

Review Proper

Finally, the thing I mistook for Yukyuu Omega is here. *exhale*

If y’all know me, you’ll know that I absolutely abhor omegaverse (you can thank Kurui Naku Ban Beta, Sayonara Alpha, and Erito for that). Literally everything you could do in an abo has already been done. I don’t see a point in making more of these. Mangakas: Okay, let’s do domsub instead But hey, am I not a Okitsu whore? No. Anyway, even though I was excited about listening to this, I knew I was going to hate Kotani because he was an asshole. 

There’s only one thing worse than an abo.

AN ABO WITH AN ASSHOLE CHARACTER.

But, in spite of myself, I actually enjoyed this. 

I’m having a moral crisis, help.

JK. Unmei no Tsugai doesn’t sell itself as a serious plot, so it shouldn’t be taken seriously either. Unlike our deep try-hards. I mean, it’s your pretty run-of-the-mill dumbass gets an excuse to fuck the asshole, falls in love with him, the asshole becomes more of an asshole, the dumbass drags a third party to make him jealous, the asshole becomes more of an asshole, poor third party gets led on and dumped, and the dumbass and asshole finally gets together without the asshole even apologizing, medetashi, medetashi. But the way that Haruta wrote and movic set it all up was fantastic. 

Now this is how you do comedy. I initially had some doubts ‘cause the narration in the first track was kind of strange lmao. It went from medieval style to traditional Japanese and it was narrated by someone who sounded like a news broadcaster wth. Is this a densetsu??? The CD later turned out to be a whole vocal flex for Massuu and Okitsu ‘cause goddamn. 

Massuu, for starters, used a tone slightly above his Hirokuni but slightly smoother. I haven’t read the manga before, so I wasn’t sure how things were going to go, so I was very surprised that he pulled his shounen (aka his Kirishima) voice later! I loved it. His changes were dynamic, chaotic, and very fitting for Shishikura. AND! AND! JESUS CHRIST HIS SEXAY MONOLOGUES!!! HELLO??? WAS HE PAID EXTRA??? Y’ALL GOTTA HEAR ALL THE BEDROOM SUBJUGATIONS!!! I didn’t know he had that in him tbh. I was just blown away. He has never bottomed this chaotically before, if I recall correctly. It’s evident that he had a lot of fun recording this (as did Okitsu as per the cast talk) and I love that! It makes me wish this had a second volume so we could hear more of this kind of Massuu.

Onto Okitsu,

Y’all already know what I’m gonna say. 

Is my bias over Okitsu making me like this? Who knows? But it’s undeniable that my man has, once again, slayed this role. I won’t talk about his perfect performance much ‘cause I’ve already run out of praises years ago, so just know that if you’re not an Okitsu bitch by now, you’re really missing out lmao.

ALSO

I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT WE’VE WITNESSED OKITSU PLAY TWO BETAS, A PRETEND OMEGA, AND NOW FINALLY AN ALPHA!!! We don’t count the disrespect that was Shounen no Kyoukai

-Chesk, 25, hates abos but will listen if Okitsu’s in it

Anywho, these two also had great chemistry with each other. They’re more or less in sync during their mattress mambos, so I really wasn’t spazzing out during Smoky Nectar. I was thinking maybe I was asking for too much. 😂 Idk what to feel, knowing that this is Fatgum x Kirishima

Title: Kuroe to Mesu no Sono (クロエと雌の園)

Author/Artist: Chifuyu

Release Date: 2021/11/26

Cast:

Tachibana Shinnosuke x Yamaya Yoshitaka

Masuyama Takeaki

Komatsu Shouhei

Kakiage Haruna

Aikawa Natsuki

Kisui Shio

Shibuya Ayano

Fujisaki Yuuta

Amano Hirosato

Kanze Noriaki

Synopsis: Sonogi, an employee at the host club "Eden," is in the biggest crisis of his life. He's woken up with female parts in addition to his male ones! After hearing that the number one host at the club, Kuroe, with his beautiful face, baritone voice, and relentlessly womanizing nature, went to med school, Sonogi tries confiding to him in private. Not only does Kuroe wildly misunderstand him, he's weirdly intrigued. Even after hearing Sonogi's story, he's still keen to "study" up on what's happening inside Sonogi's pants! A scary-faced, lovable psychopath toys with a vulnerable, shaved, and untouched new "girl" in this gender-bending romance!

Review Proper

You know, for however stupid that initial plot was, Kuroe to Mesu was actually, dare I say, great.

I know. It’s annoying lmao.

On the surface, it’s like something Momose An or Takasaki Bosco would pull, but it’s unnecessarily deep. 😂 It’s like Ouran High but smutty BL. There. I said it. It doesn’t help that Tachi’s execution of Kuroe was very Mamo-chan Tamaki. I can’t say I can fully forgive the stupid futanari plot, but this shit was funny when it was funny and sad when it was sad. The BLCD’s much more dynamic for obvious reasons, but it maintains the same energy throughout both paper and audio, so I recommend reading the manga along.

Anyway, onto the technicalities,

Dang. Welcome back, Papá Tachi. I was initially annoyed with this casting ‘cause y’all know Tachi’s one of my fave bottoms of all time (Ten Count hello???), and I hate that he only ever gets top roles whenever he comes back to the scene. But if y’all know me, I’m also a whore.

MY GOD. IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I’VE HEARD CHAOTIC TACHI. I really went from “stop it, Tachi” to “step on me, Tachi” back there lmaooooo. It’s like I forgot that one of my fave BLCDs was Shihaisha no Koi where he tops Hirarin (which you should all listen to if you haven’t ‘cause FUCK). I also put him in the “sounds like a bottom but will top you 100%” and “younger guy that will 100% dubcon you”. HIS NAME IS LITERALLY TACHI YANNO (also look at just how accurate my lists are). 😂 Kuroe’s much more of a sadist kookoo-path than Rasheed who’s much more of an ass who thinks he’s hot shit just ‘cause he’s the prince yanno, so there is a bit of a difference in how Tachi performed them. Though, I am sure movic cast him as Kuroe with said performance in mind. I’ve read the manga before I listened to the BLCD and I did have a different idea of how Kuroe would sound like, but when Tachi hit me with that first “Sonomeroooo” I just fell in love. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA SONOMEROOOO I WILL NEVER GET OVER IT. I might not love Kuroe as a character, but shit, this was such a genius portrayal I can’t.

As for Yamati, I can’t believe it’s been 4 years since I last heard him HAHAHAHA THE FUCK. I remember him performing well in Knocking, but he was just ill-suited to that role that it spazzed me out. Thankfully, he was perfect for Sonomero here and had great chemistry with Tachi. Now that’s how you cast! True to his Hanae Natsuki range, the dang man showcased just how good he could squeak here. And even though I majorly dislike those types of bottoms that kinda tread the line of girl almost losing their minds during sex in hentai, Yamati made it so that I didn’t hate Sonomero in bed too much. Tachi himself has stated that he was very impressed with Yamati performing so well when he hadn’t been around that much. Idk. Maybe you’re born with it, maybe it’s Yamati. 

Title: Derail (ディレイル)

Author/Artist: Aiba Kyoko

Release Date: 2021/10/27

Cast: Azakami Youhei x Yashiro Taku

Synopsis: Haru & Hikaru are childhood friends who keep scheming to keep each other by their side. But things escalate when Hikaru brings a girl to the apartment they share.

Review Proper

Well,

would you look at that? It’s 2003 again.

I’m sorry, but look me in the eye and tell me this wasn’t a 2003 DK transitioning into fake emo blown out of proportion story. It’s like Aiba Kyoko thought that adding more toner and shading to the art was magically going to make this shit psychological. Psychologically bullshit, maybe. I MEAN, HARU WAS A GODDAMN EDGELORD WHEN HE’S THE ONE BEING PLAYED!!! Yo, just put some clown makeup on Haru this’ll instantly be the “Joker”. 💀

Idk ‘bout y’all, but this plot is just horrible. I can’t believe I said in my review for Pheromone Tantei that Aiba Kyoko’s a better writer than Maruki Bunge. 😂 Thanks for proving me wrong, sis. 👏👏👏 Anyway, just know that the boys here can’t differentiate between love and lust and it should have ended at chapter 2. If I had to choose to waste my time with much ado about nothing stuff, I’ll gladly choose Hello Morning Star. You should too cause wtf.

Onto the technicality of things, I have to say that the BLCD’s pretty much accurate to the manga sequencing wise, but there was a lot of added dialogue on there. What’s the fucking point? It might prove not to be beginner-friendly. 

As for the voice acting, Yashiro Taku was great, as always. It’s been a while since I’ve heard him that high. Part of the reason why I got this was because Haru seemed like he was going to be similar in personality as Onegai, Sonna ni Kamanaide’s Igarashi and it’d be interesting to see how he’ll bottom for such a similar character. I’m really sorry, Horie Shun, but let Taku show you how it’s done. 😂

Now, for Azakami Youhei...

BRO WHAT THE FUCK???

HE BREATHES ON THE MIC WITH HIS NOSE

WHO ALLOWED THIS??? WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS???

Idk if y’all can understand, but you can clearly hear him breathe through his nose on the mic. It comes out as a sniff. AN ILLEGAL SNIFF THAT SHOULD ONLY BE ALLOWED IN R18 OTOME CDS!!! WHAT THE FUCK IT’S LIKE HE’S TALKING DIRECTLY IN YOUR EAR!!! Whatever possessed Frontier to allow this??? Somebody tell Youhei never to do this ever again in a BLCD. Do it in an R18 otome cd instead and I’ll buy everything three times His performance here actually was more reminiscent of a lighter Nakajima Yoshiki than a Taku-chan’s Igarashi-kun. Worked great, though.