Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese/Kyuuso wa Cheese no Yume wo Miru Review
April 8th, 2008 by Lianne
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Reviewed by: Lianne Title rating: 18+ only for graphic (but not gratuitous) sex scenes: gay, straight, and somewhere in-between - 1 volume of manga (2006), complete |
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Boy’s Love/yaoi is one of the most bizarre genres of its size. Every well-read manga fan has tried at least one title, and the ladies who like their porn non-threatening and basking in the objectification of pretty men have stacks upon stacks on top of their copies of Ouran High School Host Club.
But like most manga – and other forms of media – Sturgeon’s Law applies. And then a disproportionate number of Boy’s Love (BL) titles are also pornographic and complete trash, since they aim for the lowest common denominator of its audience – and considering these are boyxboy love stories for young women looking for porn, that denominator is a very, very strange mix of power plays and gushy love confessions. Most BL titles usually sidestep the angst of being gay in a straight world, changing your sexuality, or being assaulted by your senpai in favor of ridiculous tales about boys who fight, have sex, and then confess their feelings while crying like schoolgirls. It’s…strange. And more often than not disappointing.
Setona Mizushiro’s The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese manages to capture a whole slew of feelings and situations that are perfect for the BL genre but are so often steamrolled for greater porn potential. This a josei title about a gay non-relationship that’s mean, strangely touching, and decidedly sad. The sex scenes in it are graphic, but brief, and serve as actual character development. The book isn’t yet available in the West, but it’s everything a BL for the older reader should be…which is weird, since the mangaka is known in the West for her mediocre shoujo. But we get what we get. (And we get Love Bus Stop!)
Cornered Mouse focuses on two men in their late 20s: the straight, married, pushover “nice guy” Ootomo and his closeted gay underclassman from college, Imagase. Imagase harbored a hopeless crush for Ootomo in college that he never really got over, and when working as a private investigator years later, he finds himself investigating Ootomo’s extra-marital affairs. Imagase briefly reconnects with Ootomo and then immediately (although half-heartedly) blackmails the older man into some physical affection in return for hiding Ootomo’s multiple flings. Ootomo is mortified, but, afraid of losing his wife and easily bullied, he follows Imagase to a hotel. The resulting sex scenes then further the plot. You heard me – graphic sex scenes that further the plot. And that’s how we define non-gratuitous, kids. I’d go into more detail, but this is a PG-13 site here.
From that point on, the book traces the incredibly complicated relationship of the two men as they travel through that late-20s reflective period where you realize a.) you’re getting old and b.) you still don’t know what the hell you’re doing with your life. Let’s call it “the early single career man/woman’s mid-life crisis.” The manga poignantly captures how much unrequited love sucks (especially when you’re an adult and can recognize that the situation is actually hopeless), how hard it is to be gay, how hard it is to be neither entirely straight nor entirely gay, and everyone’s favorite – a pair of friends where one is hopelessly in love with the other and the other simply can’t move out of the Friend Zone. I think everyone can relate to that, because there are a million reasons why two people can’t be together sexually even if they get along in every other way, and having one friend try to go for it when the other doesn’t results in LOTS OF BAD. BL does focus on this theme fairly often, but rarely with such care, subtlety, and realism.
That realism is one of the reasons this comic succeeds so fully. Being bullied into a gay relationship by a friend isn’t going to end in hearts and flowers, as most BL wants it to. This isn’t “yaoi land,” where women somehow don’t exist and every man is hot and wants sex from other hot men. Ootomo has a number of female lovers who are characters in this book, and they have their own place in the story – including getting hurt when he cheats on them with Imagase. Ootomo considers homosexuality a very negative thing and uses derogatory terminology when referring to it. This book is full of people being mean, hurtful, and selfish…but it also has them loving each other despite that, and trying to find a way to make things work. It’s sad and sympathetic, and awkward in the way romantic relationships in real life are awkward. (And to prove that last point, the book includes not one but TWO hilarious gay outings in front of Ootomo’s various female affairs.)
And although Mizushiro has always been a decent artist, she absolutely shines in this manga by fully utilizing the graphic novel format. She packs the book with strong imagery and dramatic settings: Ootomo watching his reflection in mirrors and store windows to rate how others will see him with a man (or woman) by his side, his mounting discomfort as he watches another couple through the fish tank in a restaurant, and a climactic scene in the back of a cab during a rainstorm that absolutely floored me. There are also symbols and allusions all over the place, including a fantastic recurring one to The Fall in the Garden of Eden and Christianity’s general disapproval of homosexuality, which works very interestingly in a comic with no Christian characters. And the cover-backspread design of this manga is amazing. It’s sad, erotic without being pornographic, and provocative as hell. Which are pretty much the reasons why the entire manga is so good.
Unfortunately, the first chapter of Cornered Mouse is the weakest, so it’s easy for someone to read it and write the book off as simply a slightly-better-than-average BL. But don’t be fooled. This manga is what more BL should be like. This manga is what more josei in general should be like. And it’s definitely what more Setona Mizushiro manga should be like.
The Drama CD is solidly produced, and even though it slims down the manga a bit, the amazing performances by Yusa Kouji (Imagase) and especially Nakamura Yuuichi (Ootomo) bring a whole new facet of feeling to the manga. The downside of an audio version of the story is you don’t get Mizushiro’s imagery, but the upside is that the fights, confessions, and violence really come to life. There are some things that just work better in audio – Imagase getting a glass thrown at him for his infidelity, or his flashback being cut off with the sound of his head hitting the wall during a sex scene. The background music is decent and appropriate…although if memory serves, it has a porn music track that’s a little distracting. When music like that starts up, the mood’s always ruined by my laughter. I think the CD was going for darkly funny in some places, though, which might explain the music choice.
A fair number of Westerners have tracked this manga down, so you’ll find bloggers mention it now and again, but I have no solid review link to give you. (Alas.) You may actually have an easier time finding information and opinions on the Drama CD, courtesy of the very active BL Drama CD fandom. And I know I’m not supposed to link to this…but whoops! My finger slipped.
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Overview: This is an excellent manga. I have to deduct a few points for the comparatively weak first chapter, but the book and CD really capture the unique successes and problems of grown-ups, something even popular josei (which is supposed to be for adult women) can easily screw up. I’d recommend this to any adult manga fan: male, female, gay, straight, whatever. You don’t have to be a BL fan to appreciate that love can totally blow. 4.75 stars out of 5.  |
I can’t believe you found Nightmare after school mediocre.. I read up until volume nine and I admit it’s strange, but it’s a lot deeper than it appears… and every one of the characters is crazy. Hm, maybe that’s because I like it.
I loved “le jeu du chat et de la souris” but I didn’t think it was that deep… maybe I have to reread it
I linked to my review of After School Nightmare when I called it mediocre so people could see my argument (I know the series is popular and my distaste is in the minority). I liked the beginning, but as of Volume 4 I found the main love story unbearably bad, and it hasn’t gotten much better in Volumes 5 & 6. I’ve read a fair amount of unlicensed Mizushiro titles (although not the one you mentioned), and I think she’s much better at writing short stories or series that end at two volumes or less. Much longer than that and she can’t keep up the touch-and-go, creepy, biting tone that she’s good for. I always thought she’d be much better at full-on josei instead of the older shoujo stuff she often does, anyway, and I think Cornered Mouse fulfills that prophecy.
Ah, I’m sorry.. le jeu du chat et de la souris is cornered mouse. It’s just the french title, which means the game of the cat and the mouse. ^^;
Yeah, I know what you mean, nightmare is not perfect but in fact I love that the main character sticks to his point of view long enough, normally most shoujo characters change their attitides.
So, have you read S? I liked it a lot, though it really was unusual. I think, I have to read Diamond head, sounds promising but it’s more of shoujo stuff.
Hm, there’s not much more that’s translated in french except X-day. I’m glad that nightmare was such a success in France. 
*wants to read her angsty stuff*
*subscribed to the comments so that she can reply faster
*
Can I ask what you didn’t like about X Day? ^_^
Personally, even though I loved the series in general, there were some things that really bothered me in it too. I’d love to hear your opinion. ^^
I’ve gotta mention that i love this comment feature. I’ve been visiting this site since way before the format change, so it’s nice to be able to comment ^^
Suzu – By S, do you mean the novel series? The one where “S” stands for “spy”? If so, I read that recently, and yes, it was surprisingly interesting.
Sora – Sleep is for the Weak’s staff has a long history of making fun of X-Day, because it’s about sad kids who want to blow up their school and we hate that emo crap. I will admit, though, that the manga is very good at times – it just can’t keep itself together, as is a common problem in Mizushiro’s works. The theme loses clarity toward the end, some of the side characters become really one-note in order to force forward the development of the main characters (and thus the situations are really contrived), etc.
In other news, Mizushiro recently published a new chapter of Cornered Mouse; it takes place 6 months after the end of the book. And it does NOT fulfill the prophecy of “the longer Mizushiro continues a story, the worse it gets.” The new chapter of Cornered Mouse is surprisingly awesome.
OMG… you hit the nail on the head in your review of this manga. Yes, I’m one of those female who “like their porn non-threatening and basking in the objectification of pretty men have stacks upon stacks on top of their copies of Ouran High School Host Club.” However, I hate stupid porn for the sake of porn and there is so much Yaoi out there like that that I don’t look at nor do I waste my money on. Having said all of that, let me get back to my point…
I love “the cornered mouse dreams of cheese” because it had a damn good story line, the artwork was beautiful and the graphics were just right. The characters captivated me, the angst and realism of gay/straight relationships vs men/women relationships made me stop and think about how I view those relationships. I could see myself as Natsuki-senpai trying to manipulate Ootomo with my vile words about how disgusting it would be for him to be “gay” instead of being with her. The guilt that women use on men (straight or gay) is painfully true. The games people play in relationships can be mean and pleasant at the same time. When these things are woven into a story along with beautiful artwork it makes the manga worth buying and KEEPING. Since there isn’t an english version of this manga I have downloaded both Japanese and Scanlation and keep them in my frequently read file. I often go back to this manga just read it over and over again because IT IS THAT GOOD. If I had to recommend a Yaoi manga to a non-Yaoi fan, this would be my first choice as an introduction. Yes, the 1st Chapter is quite slow but as you mention in your review, once you get past that the whole story keeps you wanting to read more.
Thanks for the Review… Your insight, critique and summarization are SPOT ON!
Hoku -
I agree that this is one of those comics one can “keep coming back to.” Every few months I put the drama CD back on my mp3 player, marvel at how it’s just as awesome as the first time I heard it, and then go back and read the comic again. Cornered Mouse is a keeper.
I can only say the same about two other yaoi – the Tyrant Falls in Love series, and the S series. Both of those are so solid that I go back and re-read them every few months just so I can get obsessed again. How often can one say that about yaoi? Like you mentioned, you have to read through a lot of crap to find the gems. ^_^
let’s all take a second to notice that the leads in this look EXACTLY LIKE Sou and Ichijou from After School Nightmare.
I absolutely love this series. I love both volumes and yes Mizushiro does put a hell lot of imagery and definition in a homosexual loves straight relationship. This is most likely my favorite yaoi manga so far and I hope she continues to bring us even greater stories in the future.
Honestly I think it’s a disservice — however often it’s done — to conflate “yaoi” and “porn.” I understand the distinction is not clearly defined, but I would say porn is real people really having sex, while the best kind of yaoi, BL, or however you want to qualify something like TCMDOC, is fantasy, made up, not reality-based, etc. plus has great characters and compelling storylines along with aesthetically appealing sex scenes.
I think it might be important to make the distinction, because a lot of people — maybe especially women — see the word “porn” and are immediately put off, and miss out on the depth and experience of the best of this genre.
Maybe better is to qualify some yaoi as PWP, and save the word “porn” for porn.
Hello! Meanwhile a second volume of it came out (in the french version at least, “the carper on the chopping block jumps twice”) and a note I liked from Presencedear was that this wasn’t published as yaoi, but in a josei magazine, so it might just be a love story about two guys not being directly yaoi (though to me, the fact that there are explicit sex scenes makes it one)
Heehee,
If I ever update this article, I’ll talk about the sequel (The Carp on the Chopping Block Flops Twice), because it’s AMAZING. I didn’t know it ran in a josei magazine…that explains the lack of genitals in the sequel, I guess? This series reads a lot like a josei, and I always recommend it to people who are looking for a josei…because even though it’s about a male gay couple, it definitely has appeal for adult women who are looking for something adult but not pornographic. This story has very little in common with most yaoi, other than the “it’s about boys getting it on” part.
LOL! I recently read The Carp on the Chopping Block Flops Twice & listen to the dramacd. and I have to say. Imagase was flippin crazy! XD;; he’s like a whinny highschool girl! you get to see a different side of him. and omg… Ootomo turned into a beast O_O!!!!!! xD somehow I like that. xD
it terribly sad. the ending wasn’t exactly happy luffy, but that was what give it a realistic feeling. Ootomo had to let go of his love, to give Imagase a chance… . haha. You need to do a review on that! XD