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The Man of Tango
“Life is like tango; there are infinite steps.” Although hailed as “The Man of Tango,” Angie has never truly felt the deep, fiery passion of the dance until he met Hiro, a half-Latin, half-Japanese office worker who’s in no way interested in men. Angie feels a seething lust for Hiro the first time their eyes meet, and slowly, Hiro finds himself drawn to the Latin dancer who makes him feel the nostalgia of his birthplace. Before he knows it, he begins to open his body and heart to him. Drawn to carry you away in the passionate tango of when a man loves a man, this revised special edition of Tetuzoh Okadaya’s debut volume, The Man of Tango, includes previously unpublished content.
256 pages, Paperback
First published October 29, 2008
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82 people want to read
About the author
Tetuzoh Okadaya
3 books4 followersOKADAYA Tetuzoh: 岡田屋鉄蔵
Former doujin writer who has been writing regularly in Hanamaru ( Hakusensha, " SEN - RASEN NO JYOU").
Former doujin writer who has been writing regularly in Hanamaru ( Hakusensha, " SEN - RASEN NO JYOU").
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 13, 2013
I love it when a yaoi/bl novel takes me by surprise, and this was one of them. Overall I'm not into overly buff men, but I can say honestly that I have been waiting for this manga for a long time; even thought for a while that it was not ever going to be released. After reading this I am thoroughly happy that this story was finally told. For me it was not the physical aspect of Angie or Hiro that caught my interest, the beauty was in their past, their history, their dance.
Watching these men come together was at times fun and sexy, but it was also beautiful. How they managed to know love and learn to be loved was depicted with great emotion and depth. I think my favorite scene is when Angie is practicing solo, the art and the feeling that came across was stunning to witness. Though a great tragedy finally brings them together completely, it was wonderful to seem them still partners in every way in their advanced years.
Watching these men come together was at times fun and sexy, but it was also beautiful. How they managed to know love and learn to be loved was depicted with great emotion and depth. I think my favorite scene is when Angie is practicing solo, the art and the feeling that came across was stunning to witness. Though a great tragedy finally brings them together completely, it was wonderful to seem them still partners in every way in their advanced years.
September 15, 2019
#favorite 🖤
July 24, 2014
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
"Drawn to carry you away in the passionate tango of when a man loves a man" is a great description of this self contained story of cool and confident Angie Almodovar and unsure, lost salaryman Hiro. The story compiles all the episodes of the story and then adds an epilogue, giving a nice ending to the story that so many have been hoping for over the years.
The story is a slow burn, more a meditation on life and love than a "let's hop into bed" so prevalent in this yaoi genre. Don't get me wrong - this is a very graphic novel illustrated in a realite type of style. But amidst the dancing and sex, this is really about one man broken by his family and another man alone and unable to bring himself to feel the love his partners give him - before giving up on him and leaving. The story is intelligently written and definitely meant for adults and not giddy teens out for titillation.
The illustration style is interesting - a realistic and yet idealistic rendering at the same time. The characters are very solid and beefy - even the women. In fact, I thought the main female character was a male in drag until she was shown wearing a tight tank top. I couldn't imagine anyone hefting that soft amount of women over their head (think Russian communist shot putter from the 1970s and you get an idea). But readers of this genre aren't doing so for the women - it's in the men that this really shines.
I rate this 4 stars - 1 short of 5 since it does wax poetic a bit too much with the tango metaphors and because of the silly naming (Almodovar for a latin name? Next we'd need a Spielberg for an American or Fellini for an Italian).
In all, a wonderful, mature, and captivating love story set in Japan but with a strong Latin influence that the author clearly researched well.
Received as an ARC from the publisher.
August 7, 2014
Probably one of the most sexually explicit yaoi mangas I've ever read. It might actually be more bara then yaoi. Lots of dubcon and noncon but overall it was a unique and creative story where tango dancing provides the cultural context for romance between an Argentinian emigrant and a half Argentinian and half Japanese man. I enjoyed their dynamic and the supporting characters were well thought-out.
May 2, 2018
I found this little prize in a Free Little Library near my apt and it is total, complete, unabashed smut —with more than decent art and visual storytelling. Somehow, this seemingly highly unlikely tale of a straight mixed-heritage office worker and a gay tango dancer who fall in ... something (lust? Love? Marriage?) is also sweet, funny, and melancholy. But, yeah, tropes GALORE. Plenty of sexist and ageist assumptions to get your liberal, Western blood pumping in a different way. Harlequin ain’t got nothin on The Man of Tango.
January 30, 2022
This classic has a new life with the added bonus story, the epilogue showing Angie & Hiro 30 years later still in love, still dancing the Tango, surrounded by their grandkids. I love the artwork. It shows the reality of men, not glamourized pretty boys. Some may think it’s too bara, but I find it extremely sexy.
October 15, 2020
I have read a lot of Yaoi/BL and honestly as a gay man I started to kind of dislike it. A lot of them are always the same basic story, same basic coupling and because of it they never felt real. Also can you please stop drawing the men as crying and saying no with every sex scene. I know they are written mostly by women for women, but I would like the world to know that we as men enjoy sex. It feels good, I want it and I don’t cry during it lol Just a weird trend I noticed. Also quick note a lot of the writing is always sub par and the men always resemble women.
Then comes this wonderful book. 1) the men are drawn so hot, the author obviously has studied the male physic. 2) the characters feel grounded and real. 3) it’s written well and has a great flow. 3) even the side characters are great. 4) the sex is hot and much more realistic. 5) the author obviously has talked with and knows gay men. It feels much more authentic. 6) we are given the story from beginning to beautiful and slightly bitter sweet end (with no homophobic weirdness I might add). My only complaint is how often the one guy says “but I’m straight”. It’s realistic the first couple times as that does happen quite often, but by like the fourth time, I was like come on man haha Although it was refreshing to have Angie comment about how he wished he would stop saying it lol
In conclusion. Great art, great story, great characters, great sex, and very authentic feel. One of my fave Yaoi/Bl so far (not including all the amazing Gengoroh Tagame and gay authored work). I will gladly read more by this amazing author. She kicks ass!
Then comes this wonderful book. 1) the men are drawn so hot, the author obviously has studied the male physic. 2) the characters feel grounded and real. 3) it’s written well and has a great flow. 3) even the side characters are great. 4) the sex is hot and much more realistic. 5) the author obviously has talked with and knows gay men. It feels much more authentic. 6) we are given the story from beginning to beautiful and slightly bitter sweet end (with no homophobic weirdness I might add). My only complaint is how often the one guy says “but I’m straight”. It’s realistic the first couple times as that does happen quite often, but by like the fourth time, I was like come on man haha Although it was refreshing to have Angie comment about how he wished he would stop saying it lol
In conclusion. Great art, great story, great characters, great sex, and very authentic feel. One of my fave Yaoi/Bl so far (not including all the amazing Gengoroh Tagame and gay authored work). I will gladly read more by this amazing author. She kicks ass!
August 8, 2025
A few years ago I was getting back into manga and I really wanted to read some more "old-school BL/yaoi" in a similar vein to Junjou Romantica, Volume 1 or 恋する暴君 1 Koisuru Boukun . Call it nostalgia or just wanting to see if these older works still hold up, but I added a whole bunch to my to-read at the time and that's when I came across this manga. The physical manga in english is now out of print, but I got lucky and found it on marketplace. It just took me a few years as per usual to actually sit down and read it. I can see the appeal and why people love it. It reminded me a bit of the art style of Gengoroh Tagame. I just never quite got the sense that they actually liked each other. It felt like it was purely sexual especially because Hiro right up until the epilogue was denying he was gay. Now I don't mind reading dubcon at all, but if they're actually going to end up together at some point the dubcon needs to end. I would have liked a chapter before the epilogue that showed a bit more of the emotional connection between them and some acceptance on Hiro's end of the relationship and his identity since this is a one-shot.
August 8, 2017
Let's just start off by saying that this is an explicit manga, and to not read it in public or in your living room while your family's there. Take precautions.
I have never read a standalone manga before, let alone an mlm one, so this was interesting! It was cool to have the story more contained than the previous series I've encountered. I found this novel in a pile of my sibling's old school books, presumably from a Gender Studies class.
I enjoyed the story in this, and the way that tango was tied to life. Also the little pun with "giro" and Hiro's name.
What put me off was the focus on this being "Boy's Love" and no mention of bisexuality anywhere. Yes there was the description, but no saying of the word. And I know that Haiti can't just suddenly know his feelings, but the "I'm not gay" line got old quick. Yeah, you're not gay, you're bi. It's a thing that you can totally be, Hiro.
Also!! Dubcon warning! Angie super goes for things without explicit consent, and yeah Hiro EVENTUALLY ends up liking it, but it's painful going through pages of him saying to stop.
And then the blindside with Bene. 👀 I could've done without that and been happy. But I liked that they grew old together and had a family!!
I have never read a standalone manga before, let alone an mlm one, so this was interesting! It was cool to have the story more contained than the previous series I've encountered. I found this novel in a pile of my sibling's old school books, presumably from a Gender Studies class.
I enjoyed the story in this, and the way that tango was tied to life. Also the little pun with "giro" and Hiro's name.
What put me off was the focus on this being "Boy's Love" and no mention of bisexuality anywhere. Yes there was the description, but no saying of the word. And I know that Haiti can't just suddenly know his feelings, but the "I'm not gay" line got old quick. Yeah, you're not gay, you're bi. It's a thing that you can totally be, Hiro.
Also!! Dubcon warning! Angie super goes for things without explicit consent, and yeah Hiro EVENTUALLY ends up liking it, but it's painful going through pages of him saying to stop.
And then the blindside with Bene. 👀 I could've done without that and been happy. But I liked that they grew old together and had a family!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2019
Beware of spoilers because this review will have them from top to bottom.
So, this was a HOT manga. Very hot. Not Ranmaru Zariya's level of hot BUT extremely close.
One of the things I love most about The Man of Tango is that they all live in a world where everyone is fitness. And muscular. And that's why it is so hot.
The story advances pretty quickly, and as such, you don't even know if what Angie and Hiro feel is love, lust, or [insert other words you can think of]. Only in the epilogue someone can finally tell what it is...
Speaking of the epilogue, the was so unexpected that it felt kinda forced? I know the author said she didn't have the opportunity to conclude the story how she wanted it but still... and what about ?...
Anyway, if you don't focus on these little details, the story is pretty good. Overall it was good reading.
So, this was a HOT manga. Very hot. Not Ranmaru Zariya's level of hot BUT extremely close.
One of the things I love most about The Man of Tango is that they all live in a world where everyone is fitness. And muscular. And that's why it is so hot.
The story advances pretty quickly, and as such, you don't even know if what Angie and Hiro feel is love, lust, or [insert other words you can think of]. Only in the epilogue someone can finally tell what it is...
Speaking of the epilogue, the was so unexpected that it felt kinda forced? I know the author said she didn't have the opportunity to conclude the story how she wanted it but still... and what about ?...
Anyway, if you don't focus on these little details, the story is pretty good. Overall it was good reading.
July 8, 2019
This one didn’t do much for me. I wish it did; it felt like it should have, and everyone else rates it so highly. But it just felt like we were missing several pieces of the story, and in the end I like my couples to get together in a more consensual way, and to stay together because they wanted to, not as a result of an off-handedly-mentioned tragedy. (Which also, what? Why is that there? Why did it need to be? WHAT.) The characters themselves are deep and seem interesting, but they didn’t particularly seem interested in each other? I did not feel passion here, which seems counterintuitive and underwhelming given the narrative/comparison to the tango.
April 9, 2019
Grandiosa historia de Ángel y de Hiro; el dibujo me ha fascinado, la historia es entretenida e interesante, los detalles extras del manga cierran el círculo perfecto de esta maravillosa historia.
Manga yaoi que tiene tendencia a pertenecer al genero bara, pero que ha sido tan cuidada que los desnudo y las escenas de sexo no son vulgares ni espontaneas. Todo tiene una justificación y es por eso que le doy las 5 estrellas.
Definitivamente sera parte de mis mangas favoritos.
PD. El Epílogo ha sido legendario.
Manga yaoi que tiene tendencia a pertenecer al genero bara, pero que ha sido tan cuidada que los desnudo y las escenas de sexo no son vulgares ni espontaneas. Todo tiene una justificación y es por eso que le doy las 5 estrellas.
Definitivamente sera parte de mis mangas favoritos.
PD. El Epílogo ha sido legendario.
August 7, 2015
Tango is that most potent of dances. A story woven between two people, it echoes with all the sorrow, joy, loss, passion, fierceness of its Argentinian creators. This manga adroitly captures the riveting movement of tango as well as the commitment of the people involved in it.
The central love affair of the two men involved is as arousing as the dance itself. The illustrations are terrific, featuring bara men, the type you don’t always find in yaoi manga. There are no willowy bishounen here, only buff, burly dudes, complete with body and facial hair. But they have their own grace and splendor in their carriage and their love for each other is as poignant as their love of the dance.
The artist doesn’t stop at mere youthful passion (although both men are past the first blush of youth) but carries the story into old age, when they are surrounded by their family. The illustrations show that life has been hard for both of them but also full of quiet joys and pleasures. This is unusual since many romances usually end with marriage or perhaps children. Taking the story into the twilight years is a bold but welcome step, as it points out the inevitable progress of a love that weathers all storms and lasts beyond fiery ardor.
This book may have limited appeal because of its subject matter but, for the discerning reader searching for really original and splendid material in yaoi manga, it is definitely something to savor.
The central love affair of the two men involved is as arousing as the dance itself. The illustrations are terrific, featuring bara men, the type you don’t always find in yaoi manga. There are no willowy bishounen here, only buff, burly dudes, complete with body and facial hair. But they have their own grace and splendor in their carriage and their love for each other is as poignant as their love of the dance.
The artist doesn’t stop at mere youthful passion (although both men are past the first blush of youth) but carries the story into old age, when they are surrounded by their family. The illustrations show that life has been hard for both of them but also full of quiet joys and pleasures. This is unusual since many romances usually end with marriage or perhaps children. Taking the story into the twilight years is a bold but welcome step, as it points out the inevitable progress of a love that weathers all storms and lasts beyond fiery ardor.
This book may have limited appeal because of its subject matter but, for the discerning reader searching for really original and splendid material in yaoi manga, it is definitely something to savor.
July 1, 2021
CW: Death of a Family Member, Child Abuse in the Past, Dubious Consent with Alcohol, Suicide.
This is one of my favorite boys love comics, I've read it several times and it still hits me hard. Angel Almodovar is a master of tango. One day he meets Hiromasa Koga, a half Japanese man born in Colombia. Sparks fly between the two and a passionate dance of love ensues between them.
Hiro and Angie both have dark childhood pasts that speak to my soul. I know what it's like to be in an abusive relationship, and this comic illustrates that beautifully and honestly.
I love the art, Okadaya Tetuzoh sensei is a master of her craft. The muscle men in this BL are beautiful and spicy. I would love to draw muscles like her one day.
I will say the dubious consent in the story did bother me a little more on this read through. However, I can't deny that this story spoke to my heart. I highly recommend it.
This is one of my favorite boys love comics, I've read it several times and it still hits me hard. Angel Almodovar is a master of tango. One day he meets Hiromasa Koga, a half Japanese man born in Colombia. Sparks fly between the two and a passionate dance of love ensues between them.
Hiro and Angie both have dark childhood pasts that speak to my soul. I know what it's like to be in an abusive relationship, and this comic illustrates that beautifully and honestly.
I love the art, Okadaya Tetuzoh sensei is a master of her craft. The muscle men in this BL are beautiful and spicy. I would love to draw muscles like her one day.
I will say the dubious consent in the story did bother me a little more on this read through. However, I can't deny that this story spoke to my heart. I highly recommend it.
September 17, 2013
This one really stands out. There is a maturity and depth in the characters and story line which I really like. I did wish there are answers to what happened to certain supporting characters, a puzzle easily forgiven once you read the mangaka's notes of all that had transpired during the years of serialization. I love the romance and chemistry between Angie and Hiro and I am so glad the sex scenes are completely uncensored. Explicit, hot, sexy and sensual it is every yaoi fan's dream, lol... Wonderful artwork and I am talking about real men physiques here! But the story is more than a gay romance, it is also about a a great bond among 3 friends and the epilogue is just so impactful and touching. It has been a while since my last Yaoi and I am so glad to have this one in my collection
August 19, 2016
A phenomenally beautiful and unconventional yaoi. Yes, very explicit in a couple of scenes, and that is as well drawn as the dance scene, which capture the movement and strength of tango in art. Both the art and the story are high intensity. The relationship between the two men builds beautifully, and existing relationships of both deep friendship and past lovers are well drawn.
A must-read for yaoi fans.
A must-read for yaoi fans.
September 2, 2015
Knew I was going to like this one. Thoroughly enjoyed Nakama’s translations of Okadaya’s works including the first chapter of this and was not disappointed at all. Loved the stories by the author about how the story came to be. Hot sex, great love story and likable characters. This one is a keeper. Hope they publish more of her work!
August 16, 2016
One of my favorite mangas of all time incl Boys Love.
There's not alot of manga that have old men (40 following their lifes till their 70)
And it's amazing. I loved it so much, especially the way they illustrated them all.
One of the best mangas I've bought!
There's not alot of manga that have old men (40 following their lifes till their 70)
And it's amazing. I loved it so much, especially the way they illustrated them all.
One of the best mangas I've bought!
July 27, 2014
This is a lovely graphic novel with an actual story, a feeling that the characters move forward as people in time, and that powerful things can come out of admitting to ourselves what we really want.
September 30, 2013
I brought this a few hours ago and I am already gone reading it. Its one of the best love stories I ever. I wish there is anime adaption because I really like to see Angie, Hiro, and Bene dance.
December 14, 2015
There is a subtle beauty to this story. By the time I reached the ending I was crying. It was an excellent and immersive read that completely took me in.
May 30, 2014
The author note is a gigantic spoiler for the epilogue. I still can't get over it. SOB
May 2, 2017
I guess yaoi is not my type of manga. I was expecting more of an actual storyline and less actual porn. Everything in this is just an excuse to draw some naked muscled men - which don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with that, but I could get the same kick out of browsing xhamster. The story seemed fake, the characters are just a silly girl's dreams and the moments of depth were cringeworthy.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews