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A Capable Man
Adorable romance
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Hinako Takanaga
105 books329 followersTakanaga Hinako (高永ひなこ) is a Japanese author of Boys' Love manga.
She has also provided illustrations for several BL light novels by other authors, including The Guilty by Katsura Izumi. Her first manga story, 合格祈願 (Goukaku kigan, Prayers for a passing grade?), was published by Hanamaru Comics in 1997; it was later reworked as the first chapter of Challengers. Most of her works have been translated into foreign languages. She was a guest at YaoiCon 2007, invited by Juné, the US publishers of her popular series Little Butterfly.
When not making Boys' Love manga, she spends her time collecting Wallace & Gromit merchandise and playing Final Fantasy. Takanaga doesn’t like beer and people who are ignorant.
She comments that her biggest influence on her art and writing-style was KOUGA Yun, a famous shoujo manga artist whose works she read as a teenager.
She has also provided illustrations for several BL light novels by other authors, including The Guilty by Katsura Izumi. Her first manga story, 合格祈願 (Goukaku kigan, Prayers for a passing grade?), was published by Hanamaru Comics in 1997; it was later reworked as the first chapter of Challengers. Most of her works have been translated into foreign languages. She was a guest at YaoiCon 2007, invited by Juné, the US publishers of her popular series Little Butterfly.
When not making Boys' Love manga, she spends her time collecting Wallace & Gromit merchandise and playing Final Fantasy. Takanaga doesn’t like beer and people who are ignorant.
She comments that her biggest influence on her art and writing-style was KOUGA Yun, a famous shoujo manga artist whose works she read as a teenager.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 30, 2018
The third and last revisit to an oldy by Takanaga. Originally read in 2007, "Traumboyz" (Dreamboyz), subtitled by me as "A Collection of Short Stories on Creepers and Rapists", is a manga I wished I hadn't touched again. The first story is about two high schoolers. The Seme is the "Sonnyboy" who becomes the "Honeyboy" but I'd rather call him "Rapeyboy" because THAT'S WHAT THIS FUCKER DOES: he rapes his best friend and secret crush in the first few pages.
That's the moment I noped out of the manga and just flipped through the pages because I'll be damned if I continue reading another story where one person rapes another and love somehow magically makes this okay.
Fuck. This. Nonesense!
The next story is about a teacher and his underaged high school student in a serious and sexual relationship played for laughs.
No. A teacher banging his underaged student is a teacher raping a minor. End of story.
The next story is about a sous-chef who developes a weird crush/kink for his boss. It's the least revolting story and it's almost a pitty that the boss doesn't agree to a kink relationship because honestly, how food plays a role in this story and how the characters develop a kink relationship in mutual agreement...that could've been intriguing. In the hands of another writer, that is.
The last story is about a student stealing things from his crush, like a used tooth brush (Oh...dear Lord...) and ends with sex. And the finishing touch is a few pages about the first two characters (you know, Rapeyboy and his victim) with stupid nudity jokes and sex.
That's the moment I noped out of the manga and just flipped through the pages because I'll be damned if I continue reading another story where one person rapes another and love somehow magically makes this okay.
Fuck. This. Nonesense!
The next story is about a teacher and his underaged high school student in a serious and sexual relationship played for laughs.
No. A teacher banging his underaged student is a teacher raping a minor. End of story.
The next story is about a sous-chef who developes a weird crush/kink for his boss. It's the least revolting story and it's almost a pitty that the boss doesn't agree to a kink relationship because honestly, how food plays a role in this story and how the characters develop a kink relationship in mutual agreement...that could've been intriguing. In the hands of another writer, that is.
The last story is about a student stealing things from his crush, like a used tooth brush (Oh...dear Lord...) and ends with sex. And the finishing touch is a few pages about the first two characters (you know, Rapeyboy and his victim) with stupid nudity jokes and sex.
June 28, 2024
the hell?
April 23, 2009
If you are into man on man action here's a story for you about an obssessive, a masochist and sadist and a kleptomaniac all in love!
July 14, 2018
Not Takanaga-sensei’s strongest work, to be honest. The title story has some weird consent issues, and the extras didn’t impress me much either. Art is still good but just in general it doesn’t live up to Awkward Silence, which is my favorite of her stories — I’m assuming A Capable Man was written earlier.
October 15, 2019
So we got 4 different stories, the first one is non-con, the second is a weird student-teacher arc, the third is about some dude who really, really wants someone to step on his face, and the last is about some thief who steals all his friends stuff so all in all these are all pretty bad.
May 28, 2023
Mehrere kleine Short Stories, die alle eher so mittelmäßiger Natur sind. Nette kleine Ablenkung aber nicht wirklich ein Kaufgrund. Außerdem finde ich die Glorifizierung von Vergewaltigung am Anfang schrecklich!
March 5, 2021
Nope. Absolutely not. These stories were straight up irresponsible filth.
October 10, 2016
Review originally published at mangaupdates.com in December, 2008.
The main story was quirky, fast-paced and a page-turner. It had a quick taste of all the elements I like: non-con, a losing control seme, and a ridiculously naieve, good-natured uke. This mangaka always keeps it surprisingly light and witty without losing the tension of the story or becoming too silly or baseless that I was no longer interested.
With Something Secret: the balance didn't work for me. The 'funny' ending in the last 1/4 of the story was a unlikeable surprise after experiencing the first 3/4 of the story in (excellently dramatic and HOT!) serious mode. I'll grant that it did mimic real life though, in the sense that we work ourselves into a tizzy (uke) or deny ourselves uncessarily (seme) with assumptions on both sides. It wasn't to my preference though.
Suggestion For A Tsubo Jar was a humourous highlight for this anthology because it worked. The story never put on the premise of seriousness, so I didn't expect it; therefore, I wasn't disappointed like I was in Secret. This one is littered with awesome oneliners. Obviously this Sensei eats densefruit-i-oos for breakfast every morning. Freaking Funny. I didn't know watching someone taste test could be such an immediate, erogenous viewing experience, resulting in (sadly never illustrated, but I'm sure it was there) immediate rush of rock-hard hard-ons! Meaning flowers while he bit in to the SPRING ROLL? *gurgling with laughter still*. It had a rooting/grounding element too with: "Kunuki's desire is looking for a direction to run." (What about a normal 'confession?' Nah, too easy.)
The art was competent, expressive and told the story effectively, but not outstandingly. Takanaga-sensei certainly does excel at drawing guilty faces and faces of supremely obtuse food samplers that are being perv'd on.
The main story was quirky, fast-paced and a page-turner. It had a quick taste of all the elements I like: non-con, a losing control seme, and a ridiculously naieve, good-natured uke. This mangaka always keeps it surprisingly light and witty without losing the tension of the story or becoming too silly or baseless that I was no longer interested.
With Something Secret: the balance didn't work for me. The 'funny' ending in the last 1/4 of the story was a unlikeable surprise after experiencing the first 3/4 of the story in (excellently dramatic and HOT!) serious mode. I'll grant that it did mimic real life though, in the sense that we work ourselves into a tizzy (uke) or deny ourselves uncessarily (seme) with assumptions on both sides. It wasn't to my preference though.
Suggestion For A Tsubo Jar was a humourous highlight for this anthology because it worked. The story never put on the premise of seriousness, so I didn't expect it; therefore, I wasn't disappointed like I was in Secret. This one is littered with awesome oneliners. Obviously this Sensei eats densefruit-i-oos for breakfast every morning. Freaking Funny. I didn't know watching someone taste test could be such an immediate, erogenous viewing experience, resulting in (sadly never illustrated, but I'm sure it was there) immediate rush of rock-hard hard-ons! Meaning flowers while he bit in to the SPRING ROLL? *gurgling with laughter still*. It had a rooting/grounding element too with: "Kunuki's desire is looking for a direction to run." (What about a normal 'confession?' Nah, too easy.)
The art was competent, expressive and told the story effectively, but not outstandingly. Takanaga-sensei certainly does excel at drawing guilty faces and faces of supremely obtuse food samplers that are being perv'd on.
March 13, 2020
~3.5 Stars
Because of how much I love Awkward Silence, I keep trying Takanaga's other series; the one I can get ahold of, at least. The Tyrant Falls in Love is basically impossible to find at this point, so I've given up on that one, even though it's the one everyone apparently loves.
The first couple chapters feature two childhood friends, and when one grows a little jealous during a conversation, quickly grow into more. It gets pretty steamy pretty quickly, too. No complaints here.
The rest are one-shot stories, one with chefs, another with a couple that might be making a step forward in their relationship. They're all pretty fun, but don't stand out too much. The steamy scenes are pretty good, and definitely aren't lacking in this one.
This was an easy, fun yaoi one-shot volume. Definitely an earlier work of Takanaga's, but better than some of her others.
Because of how much I love Awkward Silence, I keep trying Takanaga's other series; the one I can get ahold of, at least. The Tyrant Falls in Love is basically impossible to find at this point, so I've given up on that one, even though it's the one everyone apparently loves.
The first couple chapters feature two childhood friends, and when one grows a little jealous during a conversation, quickly grow into more. It gets pretty steamy pretty quickly, too. No complaints here.
The rest are one-shot stories, one with chefs, another with a couple that might be making a step forward in their relationship. They're all pretty fun, but don't stand out too much. The steamy scenes are pretty good, and definitely aren't lacking in this one.
This was an easy, fun yaoi one-shot volume. Definitely an earlier work of Takanaga's, but better than some of her others.
November 6, 2014
A collection of short stories, but I can't say I liked them that much - none of the stories particularly caught my interest, and the characters look too young for me to be comfortable reading this. I mostly read it because it was lend to me and I always feel kind of obligated to read it.
March 29, 2017
This book was reviewed on my blog: http://wp.me/p87mzW-Kl
April 5, 2017
A collection of 5 short stories. I enjoyed the first two the most - they follow the same two characters. The third and fifth story are OK, but the fourth story is just strange.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews