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

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.

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.

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. ^_^

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!

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.

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 ^^