You and Tonight v1 - BL Bookrack Review

A few weeks ago, Melinda chose You and Tonight as her Pick of the Week , and as her review on BL Bookrack indicates, she was not disappointed!

I’ve developed a bit of a love affair with Keiko Kinoshita’s work as of late, and this series has only deepened my feelings. Written in the same vein as her earlier two-volume series Kiss Blue, You and Tonight is a thoughtful, quiet manga about the delicate balance between love and friendship, and how two lifelong friends deal with the complications that arise when that balance is disturbed. Also like Kiss Blue, You and Tonight lets its characters process this sloooowly, which is one of the things that makes Kinoshita’s romance work so well. She isn’t afraid to let her characters wallow in uncertainty, and she certainly takes her time, but there’s never a sense that the story is dragging. On the contrary, there is tension in each moment, even the quietest ones. [Read the rest]

Rainy Review - SBM

Connie at Slightly Biased Manga couldn't help but be charmed by Rainy Day Love!

It’s a well-told, very light, very humorous, and very romantic book. I usually have more of a taste for dramatic BL, but I couldn’t help loving this book. It’s been one of my absolute favorites of the DMG releases so far, and I would encourage anyone looking for a light read on eManga to take a look. [Read the rest]

DMP iPhone App and Nook Desktop Reader

Ok, now these posts are getting eclectic. There are too many new devices to keep things organized! I'll leave it to the summary page linked from the sidebar to handle organization, and my posts will cover things as they arise.

Yesterday, DMP released an iPhone app similar to the app for iPad. As expected, the iPhone interface has been scaled down for a smaller screen, and some of the features have been lost. Now there is a scrub bar for jumping forward or backwards through pages, but no thumbnails like the iPad version. Also, the storefront is just one big list of (unordered) titles instead of being collected by genre and imprint (DMG, June, 801) like the iPad version. What really surprised me was the quality of the image, and I suspect Apple's retina display may have more to do with this than DMP's file quality. Of course DMP is serving a high quality file, but man, 326 ppi makes the text looks nice and crisp! Another fantastic feature of this app is that you can pinch to zoom in (again, everything is instinctual and responsive to touch), and you can swipe to the next page without zooming back out. This may seem like a trivial thing, but it's not! It makes for a much more enjoyable 200-page reading experience.

Details and small text look great while zoomed in.

Double tap to zoom back to full page.

I also found out recently that Nook has a desktop reader for your computer, too - similar to the Kindle desktop reader. There aren't any surprises here. Quality is what you should expect by now - solidly good. The downside is that you can't zoom in beyond the actual file size of ~700 px. So if small side text is hard to read, you find yourself squinting and leaning closer to the monitor. I was really surprised by this oversight. With B&N's emphasis on comics and graphic novels, hopefully they will improve this feature to work better with images (and not just text).

Nook Desktop Reader on left, eManga on right

The point still goes to eManga for best DMG reading experience on the computer. Nook, like Kindle, was made for reading left to right.

Amazon & Apple Pull Titles, Android & BN Still Uncensored

First, Apple decided to restrict the books that DMP could sell in their iTunes app. While disappointing, I don't think anyone was terribly surprised since Apple is known for its primness and properness when maintaining its gated community.

Then, Amazon refused to sell one of the edgier, BDSM titles from DMG. One of the localizers reported that DMG was asked to remove pages or cover up naughty bits or both. And now, apparently, Amazon is refusing to list anymore DMP titles until the censorship situation is resolved. I'm wondering if Amazon finally realized that the previews of DMG titles often had explicit sex in them and were available for viewing by anyone. He's Mine (localized by Mi3) starts off with a threesome, and anyone in the world could have read that scene. If that really is the case, I don't blame them for panicking since businesses and ukes alike need to CYA. Someone with a young child and a penchant for litigation (read "half of America") could have a field day. And it's possible that Amazon's panties are in a twitch over something completely different, but whatever the reason, they should have addressed it when the books were initially released and not create a huge problem for everyone now. As for the greater issues of possible LBG prejudice, censorship in general, and Amazon's role in publishing, I leave those for the more articulate and passionate people. I'm just here to compare digital readers.

So how do these changes affect buying and reading DMG titles? Well as I'm sure you know by now, Kindle quality is so-so, and if you didn't know this, click the link on the sidebar to see a comparison of the different digital platforms. What really broke my heart was the censorship of titles in the DMP iTunes app since the files were HUGE, which made for the best quality available. The good news for some is that the Android market remains a bastion of unfettered freedom. The DMP Android app is just as high quality and well designed as the iTunes version, and all DMP titles are available. For those of us who already own an iPad and won't be purchasing an Android tablet anytime soon, fear not. Barnes and Noble has not restricted any titles, and the quality of the Nook app for iPad is very good even though the pages are not optimized for the screen. And for those who don't read the super-explicit 801-ish titles, well, just keep doing what you're doing :P

Samsung Galaxy Tab running DMP app

Galaxy Tab again

If anyone has a different Android tablet and has installed the DMP app, please send me some pics! I'm always curious to see if fragmentation is really an issue or if it's just something people like to blow smoke about. Just a photo with your cell phone is fine, and you can load up a free preview of any book as an example ;)

Tiptoe Still Going Strong! - Amazon Reviews

Four months later, The Rule of Standing on Tiptoe is still going strong on Amazon and consistently staying in the top 100 manga titles on Kindle. Thanks to all the people who left reviews!

5.0 out of 5 stars Yaoi must!!!, November 30, 2011

By 

lynn -Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Rule Of Standing On Tiptoe (Yaoi Manga) (Kindle Edition)

I'm a hard core Yaoi fan. But this manga is so sweet,cute and a repeat read. I would keep this as a permie in my kindle. Will keep. A sudle unsure love. Wonderful art.

Ending so sweet I had to aw

Very light Yaoi.
Sure to enjoy!

5.0 out of 5 stars Completely adorable., January 5, 2012

By 

Wordwok -This review is from: The Rule Of Standing On Tiptoe (Yaoi Manga) (Kindle Edition)

I love yaoi/BL and this was a definite great read. It's a soft, cute, and absolutely adorable manga! The artwork is cute and well done. The story line is great, as well. I'm glad I purchased this, it was definitively worth the buy!

 

5.0 out of 5 stars A Charming and Enchanting Read!, February 5, 2012

By 

Michelle A Moody -Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Rule Of Standing On Tiptoe (Yaoi Manga) (Kindle Edition)

I found this book to be a charming and enchanting read! It is a coming-of-age story about how two boys friendship turns to love. It is cute, light-hearted and a true BL over yaoi story. If you have ever read the manga series La Esperanca, you will definitely enjoy this manga! Overall, it is well worth the buy, because I know I shall be reading The Rule of Standing on Tiptoe several times over! I highly recommend it and it's a good read for a day you want to feel good.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Manga, February 27, 2012

By 

cat_pack (Junction City, Ohio) -Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Rule Of Standing On Tiptoe (Yaoi Manga) (Kindle Edition)

This is a amazing manga, you really feel like you can connect with the characters. There is alot of comic antics throughout that makes it a very entertaining read. I don't really feel that it should be classified as a yaoi manga as nothing "intense" actually happens aside a few innocent kisses. So for those of you expecting the usual in depth scenes may be disapointed but it's a worthy addition to any shonen ai/yaoi collection.

Kindle for Mac vs. eManga - Reading on Your Computer

eManga is Digital Manga Publishing's online storefront that directly sells DMG titles. Purchased titles are streamed through your browser via their online reader, so books are not downloaded as files. The image quality on eManga is very, very good, and you have a few page size settings to choose from. In the screenshot below, eManga is on the left and is zoomed to 800 pixels high. The small side text in a handwritten font is easy to read, and there are almost no compression artifacts. You can view one or two pages at a time, and of course, when you view two pages, they are oriented right to left like native manga.

As mentioned in previous posts, Amazon's Kindle format has some image compression that creates artifacts, which makes some side text difficult to read and makes some of the gray patterns ugly. The image quality is comparable to the Kindle iPad app, and there's no way to zoom in. Full screen mode puts the pages side by side, but they are left to right like English books, and I haven't found a way to only show one page or swap orientation while in this mode. Don't use full screen mode.

The bottom line is that eManga is optimized for reading manga and has no file size restrictions since it streams one page at a time. Amazon limits file size and so the quality suffers here and on other devices. If you enjoy reading on your computer and do not mind streaming, then eManga is your best option.

eManga on the left, Kindle for Mac on the right

See all the small gray dots around the text? Those are compression artifacts. Notice that the gray tone on the right has some weird plaid patterns, too. Those shouldn't be there.

Rainy Day Love - BL Bookrack Review

To be fair, I'm going to post the bad reviews along with the good, and here's one by Michelle Smith at Manga Bookshelf, who was disappointed by Rainy Day Love. Michelle likes more serious BL and was hoping that the title alluded to a melancholy story, but in reality, Rainy Day Love is a fluffy, fast-paced romp with little drama or angst.

I won't lie, there is no subtlety when it's sexy time. Here is an excerpt straight from the script:

PAGE 90

90.1

Shizuno:        I want to...

Shizuno:        ...Have sex with you now.

FX:        [SUBTITLE] Bam

90.2

Yuta:        Eep!

FX:        [behind the boy] Roar

FX:        [on the floor] Plop

So here is Cynical Pink's warning to all prospective readers out there: THIS BOOK MAY MAKE YOUR TEETH ACHE. It is a cute story - silly in some places, funny in others, but sweet all over. 

Those looking for a more serious read should take a peek at You and Tonight v1. The focus is on the two main characters and their internal development as well as their struggle as a couple. It is a quiet drama, not angsty or slashy. I guess you could call it a slice of life for yaoi businessmen.