Like the best cup of cocoa I hesitated to buy this book at first because the cover was unappealing (silly me). However, I had been reading the artist's other work, Black Sun Silver Moon and was enjoying it tremendously. Soon after I realized Beyond My Touch was by the same artist! So on a second go-around I decided to give this book a chance.
The book contains three very sweet stories. The and first story, which is titled the same as the book (Beyond My Touch) is overall the best one (they're all good~). It focuses heavily on the loneliness of a young man's soul and how a ghost(dead) can breath life back into him by haunting him everyday. Or something like that. The artist displays her talent for portraying inner emotions quite well in this story.
The second story I feel is the weakest of the three. Although I loved reading about the protagonist Hoshiba's feelings and sexual confusion. His reaction to his friend (a boy) kissing him for the first time was very believable, "Next time I see him, I'm gonna punch him a couple more times. I'm gonna say every cruel thing I can think of. And then... And then...What am I gonna do after that? ... Is that the end of it? Can we go back to the way we were - as if nothing happened?"
The third story was very cute and hyper, which is not the artist's usual style but she pulls it off. A young man bakes sweets for his childhood friend everyday to get him to say "it's delicious" not just "tasty". At first he treats his baking as a challenge to prove his self-worth - but eventually he finds out that he wants to bake sweets for his friend for different reasons ;)
At the end of the book the artist actually apologizes for the stories not being smutty enough. She also says this was her first try at boy's love and understanding homosexuality. I think she portrayed human emotions perfectly and therefore made a perfect boy's love manga ... no smut necessary :)
This book is great. Like the best hot cocoa.
My favorite Shounen Ai title - about learning to live and love I bought this book because the summary sounded interesting/strange enough that I may as well check it out. I read it at the same time as several other titles (including Antique Bakery, Only The Ring Finger Knows, and Yellow vol 1) and found it to be very refreshing. There is no forcing of love from one to another in this, but it is definitely shounen ai, and not yaoi. The most that happens in the entire manga is kissing and hugging.
This book is actually three stories, which really confused me at first because there is not a clear distinction between the end of Beyond My Touch and the beginning of Cool Lips. There is only a small title in the corner, which I thought was just the title of a new chapter. Plus, the dark-haired, bespectacled boy could have passed for an older version of Mizuno, which I mistook him for at first. All three stories have similar-looking main characters (in that there's always one dark-haired long-banged boy and one messy-haired blond boy) but I didn't find it to be too repetitive. There is enough difference that even if they were all lined up next to each other, I'd be able to distinguish them. Tomo Maeda *does* work with .. somewhat similar character types, but they are not all carbon copies of each other. There tends to be one quiet, aloof character, and one upbeat one, but there are differences in their personalities that do appear, and the characterization is worked into the plotline differently each time. The distinction between the second story, Cool Lips, and the third, Recipe, is far more obvious with a large cover page.
The main storyline is about Mizuno, a quiet, dark-haired boy who remains aloof in the corner of his high school room. At the funeral of his recently-deceased classmate, Mamoru Takayama, he finds himself rather surprisingly haunted by Mamoru's ghost. Mamoru's one regret from life is that he never got to know Mizuno better (specifically, he never kissed him), and so he must follow Mizuno around until he can fulfill his wish so he can pass on. Mamoru is now hell-bent on kissing Mizuno, who seems more interested in ignoring the hyperactive ghost than working with him, and wondering why in the world he's been cursed with this ghost's grudge when he wants to lose himself in silence.
Despite how that sounds, Mamoru does not force anything on Mizuno, and over time Mizuno comes to realize what he really feels for Mamoru, and how empty his life was before. Mizuno lives alone, so he is accustomed to having no one around... but now he can see what life could be like -- silence and being alone can become loneliness, and it could take a ghost to make a person become truly alive.
I absolutely *loved* that first story. There are some really cute moments, other places made me laugh, and other scenes were bittersweet or.. heartwrenching, except not quite so strong a word. Mamoru is upbeat and cute, and Mizuno is pretty and quiet. It's funny to see the two interacting, since they have such different personalities, and it was also fun to watch where Mamoru's body faded away (usually around his feet). There are some very nice expressions in this, especially of Mizuno; enough that I remember thinking there were a few panels that would make good icons.
While Mamoru knows he likes Mizuno from the start, the story is about Mamoru developing just like Mizuno does. Both are becoming used to the other, learning things they never knew (Mizuno barely even knew Mamoru existed until he died, even though they were in the same class), and in general just slowly falling in love. A lot of it is just plain cute, like how Mamoru keeps trying desperately to make breakfast for Mizuno, but since he's a ghost things fall through him suddenly, making a mess on the ground while Mamoru looks sheepish. There are little side comments in many of the panels, and though it seemed like a lot of information the first time I read through, most of them were cute or amusing.
The only problem I have with the first story is that it ends too soon. There is a resolution, which is done well enough and makes sense with the story, but there could have been so much more. It's rather like Demon Diary, I suppose, in that the ending worked, but I really just wanted to read more about these characters so it was disappointing that this was it.
The second story, Cool Lips, is about quiet, dark-haired Natsuo Ozuki, who is generally considered a weird guy. He sits in the corner and doesn't say much. Light-haired Hashiba Toda, who is fairly popular, all but forgets about Natsuo until one day Natsuo suddenly mentions that they live near each other, and invites him to walk home. They become friends, until Natsuo kisses Toda unexpectedly. Confused, Toda rejects Natsuo and spends a few days feeling irritated and angsty. But then Natsuo disappears from school, and when Toda realizes it's because he's ill and in the hospital, he becomes very upset and has to question why he reacts that way.
The third story, Recipe, is about Takashi (the dark-haired one) and Minoru (the light-haired one), childhood friends. Takashi bakes delicious desserts every day and presents them to Minoru at school, hoping for an excited reaction. Instead, all he gets is a blank-faced, "This is good," which frustrates Takashi immensely. He becomes obsessed with making the best treat ever, while classmates swoon in the background and take all the food that Minoru didn't finish. Takashi decides he will not stop until he can get the same reaction from Minoru that he used to get from childhood.
All three stories are cute, with Beyond My Touch having a nice range of emotions (centering on sweet and sad), Cool Lips a little angstier, and Recipe fairly light and humorous.
Beyond My Touch is my favorite shounen-ai because it has a good plot, there is definite character development, and I just really enjoyed the art style. Mizuno is especially beautifully rendered, and when he gets shocked or upset, his all-dark eyes turn white when his pupils contract, which may sound weird but made for an emphatic change in his visual emotions. And Mamoru, who is generally grinning and bright-eyed, looks beautiful when he truly smiles from the heart. I have rabidly been trying to search for anything else by this mangaka, because I would pick it up in a heartbeat, even if I thought the plot sounded weird. I have definite faith that anything else would be great, because there are few manga that I find myself rereading sporadically and still loving just as much.
If you like Only The Ring Finger Knows, or Little Butterfly (both of which I also highly recommend), then I think you should give Beyond My Touch a try. Like I said, the only problem I really had with it is that the first story could have gone so much longer. Initially, I was disappointed and irritated that those two extra stories were in there if the main storyline wasn't going to be continued, but in the end they were decent stories so it's alright. I just wish Tomo Maeda would make more manga.
Beyond My Touch The stories are segmented into parts. I really wished it was one novel itself--it would have been easier to read.
A good break in-between! I have a tendency to reread my mangas after a while. Beyond my touch was no expection. On first reading in 2005, I like it and rated it 4 stars. But on second & third reading in 2006, I appreciate this shounen-ai manga simply for its sweetness and innocence. Beyond My Touch is a good break when one is into Yaoi/Slash/Gay romance & eroticas like me. Also, I love this mangaka's fluid and graceful artwork, especially the facial expressions which are vividly alive.
Definitely "shounenai". Pros: Not a series (this book finishes it), GREAT artwork, adorible stories, humor and cuteness. Cons: Softcore (if that's not what you're looking for), stories are short (again, if that's not what you're looking for).
To sum up, if you're a fan of Eerie Queerie (aka GHOST) or HANDS OFF! (I haven't read it, but I've heard that it's similar), then you'll probably like Beyond My Touch. This book includes Beyond My Touch, a three episode story - Gift, a short epilogue to BMT - Cool Lips, a one episode story - and Recipe, another one episode story. The plots for all three, especially the last two, are very original and well-done. The first one is a bit cliched, but the adorible-ness and interesting way it's done make up for it. For the record, the farthest any of these stories gets is a chaste kiss. Which is totally fine if you're looking for fluff, which I actually really like. But if you're looking for the more "hardcore" stuff, then this isn't it. Sooooo, final verdict...
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