The Tyrant Falls In Love Volume 5 (Yaoi) [Paperback]

I'm going to be honest. After the emotional roller-coaster of volume 4, I was disappointed to find that in volume 5 not only had Morinaga and Soichi not made any further progress in their relationship, but they seemed to have BACKTRACKED significantly. I'll try to summarize without revealing too many spoilers.

Life gets back to normal (as much as it can be) for our two heroes after Soichi's house is burned down in volume 4. They now live in an apartment together. Of course, being so close to the object of his love is too much to bear for Morinaga at times and tries to charm his way into Soichi's room numerous times. Soichi gets sick of it and decides to run away from Morinaga. Well...actually, he goes to Canada on assignment from school, but the implication is that he took the assignment to get away from Morinaga for a month.

Morinaga is unsurprisingly devastated by this, but Soichi finds himself in a bind as well when HE starts to miss Morinaga as well. It doesn't seem like the time apart does either of them any good really, and Morinaga ends up taking an assignment from school as well - to Seattle though - just so he can see Soichi again.

The second-half of the volume is devoted to Morinaga's older brother. Fresh off an unexpected divorce, Kunihiro is unsure of the life he had designed for himself, done in the way under his parent's pressure. While out drinking with coworkers, he has a surprise run-in with Masaki, his former best friend and Morinaga's first love. From here, the reunion takes a dark turn of events as Masaki holds Kunihiro captive in his apartment, looking to extract vengeance for what Kunihiro did all those years ago. The pain is fresh in both men, and Masaki becomes disgusted with himself over many things. Kunihiro however, finds himself drawn to his former friend, leaving room to wonder if something more can grow between them.

I didn't like this volume as much as 3 and 4. It's starting to get annoying all the backtracking between Morinaga and Soichi. Progress has obviously been made in their relationship, but every time I open up a new volume of 'Tyrant', it's 'same-old, same-old' between the two. I'm not expecting Soichi to give in to his feelings so readily for Morinaga because he IS homophobic, and he has to be struggling with his sexuality and feelings. But Morinaga doesn't help matters by trying to force the issue over and over again, and yet he continues to come out smelling like roses. Even without expecting these things, I was hoping for SOME progress in their relationship. But the tenderness shown at the end of volume 4 between the two of them has already been forgotten, as if it never happened. I feel like we're getting thrown bread-crumbs of progress, but nothing else.

I didn't care for the Kunihiro and Masaki story at all. I don't find Kunihiro to be interesting, and after reading the arc I absolutely loathe Masaki. All this arc showed me was that Masaki can be quite sadistic when he wants to be, and yet he comes out looking like the victim. I can tell that Takanaga-sensei is setting them up to be a couple, but their story was so twisted and devoid of any positive emotions that the thought of their getting together makes me sick to my stomach. At least with Morinaga and Soichi we know that Morinaga genuinely loves Soichi, and Soichi is slowly but surely coming around. But Kunihiro and Masaki? I would've preferred if Takanaga-sensei expanded more on Morinaga and Soichi's relationship and had not explored this couple at all.

Despite its flaws, for the most part this was an enjoyable book. I'd like to see more "emotion" between Morinaga and Soichi other than their fighting and sex. And hopefully I won't have to see Kunihiro and Masaki's relationship.

I just love this series <3 It's honestly amazing and I can't wait to finish buying the last 3 volumes to complete my collection!

I think the title of this review says it all. Tyrant is well drawn, funny, the plot is a good balance of comedy and drama, and the sexiness tasteful. Anything this author touches turns to gold. Read it.