Laugh Under the Sun

by Yugi Yamada

After seriously injuring an opponent in a boxing match-Sohei quits his dream of ever being a pro boxer. Ten years later, after a string of failed jobs and relationships, his friend Chika finally convinces him to get back into boxing. But where Sohei was once champ material, he is now 25 years old (over the hill in boxing years) and must play catch up with all the 18-year-olds at the gym. To make things worse, Chika’s been secretly in love with Sohei for years, and has about had it with waiting for Sohei to figure it out. With his upcoming pro test, his squabbles with the youngsters in the boxing club, and Chika’s increasingly bold advances, will Sohei finally find some direction and happiness in his life?

Genres: Yaoi, Manga, Comics, Shounen Ai, Sports, Boys Love

200 pages, Paperback

First published August 16, 2005

About the author

Associated names : 山田靫

Name (in native language) : 山田ユギ

Zodiac : Aries

Blood type : B

Ex-assistant of Satosumi Takaguchi.

Reviews

[Stephanie Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually own this manga! I bought it in 2010.
So I feel like I liked it way better this time re-reading it? Like, it's a pretty generic storyline (lovewise) but I really liked how realistic the characters felt. It wasn't too much of a cliche and it just felt refreshing to read, plus the artwork had me feeling all types of great nostalgic feels! The smut was nicely drawn too! Solid 3.5 for me. Naoki is such a mood too LOL

[TT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this mangaka!

[Mosley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yugi Yamada's work is hit or miss for me. I could have got behind the story of a sensitive boxer but there was a lot of homophobia that took away from the story.

[Briana Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just when I thought I read everything possible in the boy’s love genre I’m given this story about boxing, of all things. Yugi Yamada is good at doing stories that deal with not just boy on boy love, but real life situations. The characters aren’t two dimensional and aren’t the typical “confused uke” and “demanding seme” that are a common trend in the genre. The plot itself goes beyond the unrequited love between Chika and Sohei, it deals with Sohei’s dreams and his life as a whole. But it’s not just about him, we get to learn about and care for Chika and Naoki too--especially if you’ve read “Glass Sky” and experienced Naoki’s painful story.

There are a few problems that I have with this manga. I fear that there’s so much going on in the story that certain events in the plot feel unnecessary, such as Naoki randomly kissing Chika and Sohei catching them in the act. It felt like a cheap cop-out to get the main character to realize his feelings, but it wasn’t needed in the story because Sohei had already realized that he loved Chika. It built up this odd love triangle that didn’t really exist.

There are also parts that I wanted more details about, such as the incident that made Sohei stop boxing. Why did it effect him so much? Yugi Yamada is so good with her characters, her plots, and her descriptions that I wanted that sort of attention done to every aspect of the story, especially one that was a major turning point in the main character‘s life. And I kind of wanted Sohei to deal with his feelings for another man when, throughout the entire story, he had been sleeping with women. While I do enjoy the “love is love no matter what” message that lots of boy’s love titles advertise, it seems like it would’ve been a bit more realistic for this very heterosexual man (who slept around with women and made lots of “fag” comments to Naoki and Chika) to react more to falling for another man. There were, of course, moments when he freaked out, but it seemed like it was because his best friend kissed him, not because it was another man kissing him.

Despite its problems the story is still rather enjoyable, probably moreso if you read “Glass Sky” beforehand. But even if you don’t read “Glass Sky,” this manga is still a good read on its own.

Original, longer review appeared here: http://www.mania.com/laugh-under-sun-...