Manga Monday: No Touching At All
Kou Yoneda
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No Touching At All is a yaoi manga about a shy guy named Shima who begins a relationship with his boss at the office he just started working in. Shima's first encounter with his boss is as the stinky hungover guy in the elevator on the way to his first day on the job, but over time, he begins to see past Togawa's tough exterior, and they see signals within each other that lead to the affair. I was pretty impressed with this title. This is a cut above a lot of yaoi manga out there. The characters feel very real, and converse naturally with one another, relationships forming pretty much before our eyes organically. The work relationships are nice, but of course, it's the intense love-hate relationship between Shima and Togawa that really makes things interesting, especially given Shima's self-loathing and his past that keeps him at a distance from people. The story moves along pretty slowly, which only adds to the overall authentic feeling that you get from the relationship that builds over time, from a sudden fit of passion, to deeper feelings that get stronger with each passing day. Of course, like every good romance, there are a few wrenches thrown in the couple's path along the way, but overall, this is a nice fun read with enough depth to lift it a notch above other yaoi titles.
This was also my first graphic novel that I read on my nookcolor, which I was pretty excited about. I feel like the art was just as beautiful on this screen as if I'd had a physical copy in front of me, which was nice. And it seems that a lot of titles are being added to their catalogue, mostly manga for now, but it's nice to have the option to buy a graphic novel if stores are closed and I'm just in the mood. My only complaint with reading this was that some of the smaller font type, usually said under a character's breath, was a pain to read. I had to kind of strain to get that full effect. You can't pinch the screen bigger like you can with internet browsing, and the device doesn't take you from panel to panel like the Mouse Guard app does, so you're kind of stuck with the images on the screen as-is. But that was a minor gripe for me, as the occasions when this came up were few and far between, and the convenience kind of makes up for it. Perhaps we'll see a software upgrade to fix this in the future, but I really see myself buying manga this way in the future with no problem.
This was also my first graphic novel that I read on my nookcolor, which I was pretty excited about. I feel like the art was just as beautiful on this screen as if I'd had a physical copy in front of me, which was nice. And it seems that a lot of titles are being added to their catalogue, mostly manga for now, but it's nice to have the option to buy a graphic novel if stores are closed and I'm just in the mood. My only complaint with reading this was that some of the smaller font type, usually said under a character's breath, was a pain to read. I had to kind of strain to get that full effect. You can't pinch the screen bigger like you can with internet browsing, and the device doesn't take you from panel to panel like the Mouse Guard app does, so you're kind of stuck with the images on the screen as-is. But that was a minor gripe for me, as the occasions when this came up were few and far between, and the convenience kind of makes up for it. Perhaps we'll see a software upgrade to fix this in the future, but I really see myself buying manga this way in the future with no problem.
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