Yaoi Menace: Total Surrender, or Just Because It’s Japanese Doesn’t Mean It’s Good
When you look at Total Surrender, it seems pretty inoffensive (by my standards, anyway). It really doesn’t contain any of the common yaoi elements that I hate; no one is underage or looks underage, there’s no coerced sex or blackmail, and no one is raped. No, Total Surrender’s mortal sin is something else altogether: it’s boring.
Total Surrender is a collection of seven short stories by Hiroko Ishimaru, crammed into a scant two hundred pages. The first story contains one of those not technically incestuous stepbrother romances (it may not be technical, but it’s damn creepy to see two guys having sex and calling each other ‘Brother’).
The second story involves two lovers who work in the same store, but in different departments. When a work emergency interrupts their planned day trip to a hot springs, they decide to move in together so they can spend more time together. Story three has a high school student who’s bored with his gently, considerate boyfriend. But when the boyfriend obliges him by trying to be aggressive in bed, the student decides maybe gentleness isn’t so bad after all. Next a spoiled young heir to a powerful corporation tries to figure out how to tell his loyal valet he’s in love with him. And then there’s a doctor’s assistant who’s got a thing for his boss…
The last couple stories in the volume involve the same characters. Yuya has a crush on his boss, and it’s seriously affecting his work. He even moves to his boss’ neighborhood (stalker much?). After seeing that his crush has a dog, Yuya kidnaps his sister’s Pomeranian and then just happens to run into his boss on a walk. The plan seems to be working until Yuya’s sister shows up wanting her pet back. Will the boss be disgusted by Yuya’s deception, or charmed by it? If you can’t figure it out, you haven’t read much yaoi. The final story is one of those humorous side tales about Yuya and his new boss-lover.
Some of the stories in Total Surrender have the potential to be engaging, if they were longer and had more time for character development. As it is, the characters in each tale have names and faces and little else. Some of the stories, however, wouldn’t work no matter how long they were- the story of the retail workers and the one about the high school students are particularly uninteresting and offer almost nothing in the way of conflict. The rest are simply flat and predictable.
The art is nice, but nothing special. All the men look like men, the few women look like women and they’re all gorgeous in a bland way. Digital Manga has done a great release job as usual. Their large format is distinctive and easy to read. The dustcovers are an elegant touch. The cover is classic yaoi: two guys (I’m actually not sure which characters they are…no wait, it’s Yuya and what’s-his-name) cuddling before a pastel background. The back cover could use some work though, as a busy background and pastel text make the description difficult to read. As always, DMP’s translation is smooth and simple to follow, with few to no typographical errors (quite and accomplishment considering some of the sloppy typesetting I’ve seen lately in manga from much larger publishers).
Everything about Total Surrender is quality…except for the actual content. There’s enough sex to satisfy the average fangirl, but if you’re looking for more, you won’t find it here.
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