Shout Out Loud! 5

叫んでやるぜ ! / Sakende Yaruze! / Shout Out Loud! #5

by Satosumi Takaguchi

In this final volume of Shout Out Loud, Tenryu and Shino finally make the call on their relationship! But Nakaya isn't so sure he can accept his father's new romance, and he decides to confront Tenryu about the relationship... Family drama, broken promises, and fear of the unknown--the conclusion to Satosumi Takaguchi's sizzling love triangle is filled with enough emotional angst to fan the flames of boy's love aficionados everywhere!

Genres: Manga, Yaoi, LGBT, Comics, Japan, Romance, Gay

184 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1996

About the author

Takaguchi Satosumi (高口 里純)

Blood Type: A

She was born on September 30th, 1957, in Kanuma City, Tochigi prefecture. In 1979, she debuted with "Akai Shop" in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume. At first, she was mainly published by Hakusensha. The sequel to her big hit "Hana no Asukagumi!," named "Shin Hana no Asukagumi!," is currently very popular!

Yamada Yugi was her assistant at one time.

Reviews

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultimately a pretty good series, so I'm glad I already had the rest on hand and kept going after that weird blip of volume 2. I'll have to try it again with the full context, I guess.

There are some loose ends, and Takaguchi even admitted to completely forgetting about a couple characters in the final chapters, which is part of that weird messiness I kept noticing throughout. Mizusawa still isn't married, and there are some hints that it might not go through, although we did see at least a glimpse of his fiancee's hair, so she definitely exists. And I was super surprised that Nakaya went back to his grandmother's house instead of jetting off to Canada to get his boyfriend back...but there's potentially a bit of hope that they could pick things up again a few years down the line.

Or maybe they won't. Maybe that's the point, that relationships end and heartbreaks happen, and that doesn't mean they weren't worthwhile. Even the future of Shino and Tenryu is left up in the air, since their relationship is new, Tenryu's already been through one divorce, and who knows what will happen a decade or two down the line. But for now, they're happy, and I did like that Nakaya stepped up to be sure he and his dad would always stay in each other's lives, no matter what. He did some definite maturing over the course of these volumes, while Shino opened up his heart a lot more and let himself go after the things he truly wanted.

I also, unexpectedly, ended up liking the grandma, who apologized to Shino and doesn't actually have a bad relationship with Nakaya. Too bad none of this happened while Nakaya's mother was alive, and I wish there'd been more of an explanation of why she never got in touch with Shino during all these years, when she expressed to Nakaya that she'd like to see them meet. But again...loose plot threads that weren't ever going to be gathered together with the way this mangaka writes. (Lots of interesting ideas that just get dropped, changed partway through, or entirely forgotten about.)

Tenryu losing all access to his child and not fighting for the ability to see her is still a bit weird and something you'd think he and Shino would talk about, but I guess they're too wrapped up in the newness of being with each other to spend a lot of time talking about stuff like that. Maybe that'll come later on in their relationship.

This series still feels like it was trying to wear too many hats - is it a gritty, sad, realistic story about mature relationships, or a silly humor manga about a buncha guys lusting after a uke VA? The different volumes kinda went in wildly different directions, but I do mostly like where it ended up. Not perfect by any means, but I like the art, the characters, and the way their stories made me think.

And the art was especially nice in this final volume - Takaguchi went all out on the scenes with Shino and Tenryu in particular, which added depth to the progression of their relationship and really made it feel like something substantial and important. Not all of the characters are perfectly happy, but they're trying, and that's worth something, too.

(I will say that if you're going to run a little side story about a "chubby magical girl" show that you excitedly talk in the end notes about kinda wanting to turn into a real anime, she should actually be...something other than completely stick thin...but y'know. That's a separate issue.)

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a pretty underwhelming series and the 3 stars feels a bit generous for some of the issues I had with this series, specifically that I never liked the main love interest. But I do mostly like the father and son dynamics and there were some moments and observations throughout the series that I found moving.

[Theresia · Rating 3 out of 5]

First thing first, this is NOT a series about seiyuu (Japanese for voice actor). It's pretty much your story about relationships whose leading characters happen to be seiyuus. If you expect to see the seiyuu world, I'd suggest Nitta Youka's Boku no Koe for a more detailed account of a day-to-day seiyuu life--though it also not faring too far in male/male relationship views.

That being said, I still have to prop this series for its distinct portrayal of parental relationship (of which young-father-and-teenage-son interaction, please note, isn't very rare to find in Japanese mangas). This series also shows a well-managed, good pacing relationship between couples, and realistic happenings that include residence moving, marriage deal and familial edginess.

Surprisingly, one of the most refreshing character, though still stereotypical, I find in this series is Nakaya's grandmother. Her reaction towards finding that Nakaya's biological father (her daughter's unmarried spouse)'s dealing with BL drama recording is well dealt with. Most scenes with her are what gain my respect for this series.

[Veronika KaoruSaionji · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet story about two main hero: the older is divorced middle aged voice actor who looks much younger (as high schooler)and the younger is high schooler, he looks as bishonen (long hair, tender face) but play ice hockey and he is son of the first one. :o)Father and son must after death their mother/ex-wife to live together. The father because more money works at BL CD and the son is strictly against it - the more when he sees that his dad´s two coworkers are in the love with him (one is gay and beautiful biseinen, the other bisexual and handsome cool macho). But then the boy fell in love with new couch of his team (who is gay)... And father is stictly against it and the boy hates it very much because he wants his freedom. :o)
Bittersweet romance about love and tolerancy. And about the sad fact that very big love could not end happily (the boy sleeps with his beloved gay lover who leaves him after that because "he is not for monogamous relationship" - cruel truth about life which is sadly no fairy tale). And about work in voice actors´s studio, which is very interesting. Good and interesting manga.

[qx · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rating is only for the Japanese version, but that info's now been merged with the US published version.

Read the Japanese manga, didn't read the US published version so I have no idea as to the quality of the translation/cover art/paper/etc. for the US version.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing too surprising here, just a good, solid ending.

[Alyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plain, but hopeful ending?