When I read the description, I thought “Oh my god, such a perfect story!”. Then I got to the first page and saw Aya dressed up as a girl and thought “I hate this. Yaoi’s about gays, so why do people insist on making them cross-dressers??!”. The only thing actually good about this was that even dressed as a bride, Aya still looked like a guy, which, for me, is a positive point, since it means the art to their faces is very masculine.
But turns out the description was the right one. It’s a little predictable, but I couldn’t care less: it’s just my favorite type of yaoi plot! I could see this kinda of story a hundred times and I’d still love it!
And…I.Totally.Love.Shingyouji’s.Personality~! He’s so sexy, and pushy, and straightforward, and dominant, and possessive! -
I love the way he makes es at Aya in the “you’re doing whatever the hell I want” way! That’s just how I like semes.
And Aya isn’t bad either, at all! He’s so stubborn and difficult to catch! And he’s sexy too, really lovely face. I love how he gets all defensive once he realizes he’s getting too into Shingyouji. And he even keeps on working at the same place (before he knew about the photos) even though he could just easily move and work somewhere else! He so wants it it’s even silly (in a good way, of course) xD And it’s adorable how he despised a kiss so much and then suddenly realizes Shingyouji doesn’t kiss him and gets all pissed. And I love how the “he doesn’t kiss me” thing is one of the main issues. That’s just one of the things I happen to find more adorable! But I especially liked that Aya didn’t jerk off when he thought about Shingyouji. He just thought about him, innocently. About a kiss. I totally loved how he has such a childish feeling, even pretending to be tough.
I love the subtlety of some things, like physical sex vs ionate sex. When Shingyouji suggests something as simple as holding hands while doing it, or when he tells Aya there's no coming back if they have sex after they've kissed for the first time...that's the essence of love, shown so aggressively, yet so subtle...
I have to add, though, I thought this manga was similar to Totally Captivated to begin with, but when Shingyouji called Aya a “wild cat” (while in TC it’s “fox”) and Aya called Shingyouji a “beast” (same as TC), I realized it really IS too similar. Not that I'm complaining, since TC my favorite manga ever - though Leopard Hakusho is not as good, of course.
Even the complaint I had about Leopard Hakushou turned out to be a good thing. I thought everything was way too explained in the first chapter and that it would stop the story from being interesting, with just the seme chasing after the uke. But it wasn’t like that. Then Aya fell too quickly for Shingyouji and I thought that was it. And now the engagement...it stopped for a long time and I was DYING to know what was gonna happen!!
I thought the way they got together was a bit too abrupt, though. Aya should've suffered more instead of getting a confession right away.
Even so, to me this was perfect, because it’s all of my fetishes together (S/M! -). It’s a really beautiful manga, but since it does have a lot of cliches, people who are looking for a innovative story might not like it that much.[/b] Well, I'd still hughly recommend it!
Then comes the second volume. OH.MY.GOD. If the first one was good already good, this one's freaking promising!! I though it'd still be about the first volume's couple, which would suck, since they're story's already over and it'd be a drag...buuut! It's about my beautiful, beloved Rinka, whom I loved since the beginning, when he didn't ever appear much. He’s so cute!
And, from the first chapter we got, I don't even know who I'm gonna love more, him or Yakushiji!
He's the bad ass uke I love! Not that Aya isn't, but...seems to me all the semes and ukes in this manga are my type!! -
Yakushiji totally got me fooled too! I can't WAIT for more!!
