Hana Yakou is BL (Boy's Love) author of Japan. Birthday: June 2, Zodiac signs: Gemini, Blood type: B. Born and live in Saitama, Japan. First published work: 「月を抱いた」2004. She writes a different Light Novels works (not BL) by another name "Hikari Hanaya" ※But, the books on English page are considered pirated editions.
"Bug" is a pretty cool plot-heavy series of BL novels. As of yet, two volumes have been released and it seems like the third is supposed to be the conclusion.
It's part crime-novel, part horror - especially if you're not that into bugs. Actually, I don't have a problem with bugs IRL, but I found the bugs in this novel really creepy, so stay alert if you read on, okay?
Nanami is a detective of the Toyko Police Department, and recently a series of mysterious cases have been troubling him and his partner Nomura: a room that clearly looks like a murder has taken place, what with all the blood splattered around - but there's no body to be found. During their investigation, Nanami and Nomura encounter Mozuku, from the special investigations team. Never having heard such a thing even existed, Nanami is curious, but it seems to be impossible to find out more about Mozuku - especially since Nomura's memory seems weirdly spotty when it comes to him..
When Nanami finds out Mozuku has the power to manipulate people's minds, he's shocked. When it turns out he is the only person that power doesn't seem to work on, he's even more shocked. And if that wasn't enough, Mozuku tells him what's really behind the mysterious cases: bugs use people as their host bodies only to eat them after a couple of days, leaving nothing behind but a sea of blood. Mozuku is part of a family who has been hunting that kind of bug for ages - and it seems like Nanami has a special power that could be really helpful to Mozuku.. but that isn't the only reason Mozuku wants to keep Nanami close to him.
Even though it seems like I already spoiled a lot, this is actually only the tip of the iceberg. Despite it being really creepy, it's a very cool plot that had me postpone reading another book because I just had to know more about what was going on. I really enjoy reading plot-heavy BL, even if the romance takes a backseat. The way the romance is weaved into the story isn't 100% satisfying, but part of that has to do with the relatively weak characters. Nanami is really likable, but I think she misses a few chances to make him even more interesting. Mozuku is a bit too weird and I always felt a certain distance to him. As for the other characters, they too don't compare to the side characters of an Eda Yuuri book, for example. There are also a few superfluous repetitions - one reminder of Mozuku's powers per book is enough, I think. And at the end of volume two the wrap up consisted too much of telling rather than showing.
Still, the gripping plot makes up for a lot. I'm really looking forward to reading the conclusion, and I definitely want to check out other of her works.
Oh yeah - part of the reason I ended checking it out was because of Komizu Kiyo's illustrations, which were great as always.