Kizuna Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 (Yaoi)
Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing (Juné imprint)
Release Date: October 2010
Price: $19.95
Creator: Kazuma Kodaka
Format: 400 pgs.; B&W; Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-5697-0177-5
Age Rating: Mature
ICv2 Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5

It’s been almost twenty years since “Fierce Love,” the doujinshi story which makes up the first chapter of Kodaka’s yaoi classic Kizuna, first appeared.  Over the intervening years, yaoi styles have changed, but fans in the United States remained hungry for the complete Kizuna to be released.  They were unsatisfied by an edited release from Central Park Media’s BeBeautiful imprint and were left hanging when that line ended abruptly, before the last volume was released.  Now DMP’s Juné imprint is releasing the entire eleven volume series in five deluxe volumes with new translations and gorgeous, collector-worthy covers.

The love story between injured kendo prodigy Ranmaru and yakuza heir Kei Enjouji is fraught with angst, passion, and complications and their family is surrounded by violence and sex, including rape.  Though the trademark K2 (as her fans call her) arch eyebrows and model-beautiful men are on display, the artwork painfully shows its age in awkward body lines and odd page layouts, especially when compared with the newer bonus story at the end of the book.  Additionally, yaoi clichés such as "rape = love" and the stereotypical seme-uke divide are a too prevalent, but the impact of Ranmaru and Kei’s openly gay relationship—revelatory in 1990s yaoi—can still be felt even today.  For yaoi collectors, this is a must.  For K2 fans, hopefully it is only the beginning of her U.S. releases.

--Snow Wildsmith: Writer and former teen librarian and ALA/YALSA committee member.