Kirepapa [Paperback]

This offering by mangaka Ryo Takagi is most definitely a light hearted romantic comedy. Chisato is a stay at home father who works as an author. Despite the popular idea that authors must be clever people, Chisato none the less shows that being book smart is not necessarily an indicator of being life savvy. He is truly an airhead of a character, so intent on the forest that he quite misses the trees. Those actually ARE his son's school friends, but the reason they want to hang out at the house is most definitely NOT Riju. He tends to jump to sudden conclusions and like a dog with a bone, refuses to let go. Of course, this means he gets himself into some situations that are rather amusing to observe as they range from the merely awkward to the downright bizarre, and without it, this would be just another by the numbers romance story in the boy's love genre. As it is, what we get is a light hearted piece of fluff that not only fulfils all the desires of a sweet toothed romance fan, but actually contains just enough substance to raise it above a mere morsel to a proper snack. It is volume one out of a set of three, with volume 2 still on publisher Deux Press' TBA list, and hopefully we won't have to wait long.

In the meantime, it is worth coming back to the book just to admire the lovely art. It is simply full of eye candy. Page after page after page of beautifully rendered males in the bishounen tradition, and wearing outfits to fulfil many a fancy. Casual everyday wear, school uniforms, business suits, kimonos, nothing at all, I am telling you, it is a fan girl's delight. In fact, there really is not much of a background to be seen in the vast majority of the panels. This is definitely fantasy land, and while far from smut, it definitely is not grounded deeply in reality either, but who cares? The layout and visuals make it so much fun to simply romp through the pages laughing as you go that any more attention to detail would have detracted from the reading experience.

Now, I don't usually gush praises about packaging, but I am going to make an exception here. Deux Press have really pulled the stops out, presenting a volume that screams quality just from merely touching it. The cover is heavy glossy card, and the paper is quality acid free paper which is substantially sturdier than many of the cheaper published offerings elsewhere. Likewise, the inner pages are bound sturdily within the cover in such a manner that it actually has a proper spine that extends to the back and front covers, so that the spine doesn't scrunch up easily from the book being opened and read, and reread. Given the length of time that can elapse between volume publications, this is a definite bonus, as most manga readers will pick up previous volumes and have a quick re-read to reacquaint themselves before cracking open the latest volume. Not only that, but it keeps the book looking nice and fresh after you've read it instead of looking like something unspeakable happened to it on the train one night.

It does come with an advisory on the front proclaiming explicit content, but relax; it's pretty lightweight as this genre goes. No full frontal nudity at all, just some "artistic" posing during some decidedly adult situations (ahem). There is nothing most persons haven't seen before in 15 rated films, so unless you are really shy and inhibited about skin and references to sex, you probably won't pop your clogs after turning only a page or two. In fact, these guys are so pretty and you see so little of their actual anatomy, that if you did not know better, a casual glance would get you forgiven for thinking at least one of the two in a clinch was a woman. You might die from laughing however, especially if eating or drinking whilst reading, so approach with caution when accompanied by food and beverages and if in a crowd. And for goodness sake, if you have kids, keep it on the top shelf. Oh yes, and the long awaited sequel, Kirepapa vol 2, is now out, awaiting stock.

I've been mulling over this review for a few days now because it isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. See, I watched the OVA before reading the book like most of us have so it's almost a bit of a letdown. Chisato's crazy overreactions to everything and his facial expressions are just so funny when animated. Not that they aren't funny here because they are, it's just different seeing it animated. Well, let's see what I can tell you if you aren't familiar with this title at all, shall we?

Kirepapa is all about Chisato, our single dad, trying to prevent horny boys from attacking and molesting his son, Riju. He goes as far as putting laxatives in cookies he feeds to Riju's friends. One of them, Shunsuke, is onto Chisato's tricks and is quite adept at avoiding them. This, of course, infuriates Chisato who is certain Shunsuke is out to get poor defenseless Riju. However, knowing Shunsuke is onto his tricks and still sticks around makes him wonder if he really could be a true friend to Riju.

I really do like Kirepapa primarily because of Chisato's character and his crazy antics. Shunsuke certainly doesn't hurt the story either as he's quite a fox. There are a few relationships in this story and volume one covers all of the first OVA and some of the second, if you've watched them already. Sex wise, I actually think the OVA's might be a touch more explicit than the manga. I wouldn't say the manga is overly explicit but there are a few sex scenes, one being more explicit than the rest. I liked the illustrations more for their humor than how well done they are. Translation and readability seemed fine to me.

Kirepapa is an ongoing series but the fate of the rest of the series is up in the air right now. With how volume one ends, it works fine as a stand-alone so I would still recommend picking it up. No cliffhangers here.

Plot = A-
Characters = B+
Illustrations = A-
Sexual Content =B
Translation = A

Overall Grade = A- but just barely