Ten Dollars

$10
By Uida Shiuko (artist) and Kano Shiuko (author)

Overall: Mediocre
Smex Factor: Sexy Sexy
Art: Different
Status: 1 Volume; Complete

Review: The art’s pretty old-school, similar to Hanagumi Ninkyouden, but with enough modern flavor that it actually looks pretty good.

The first story is about childhood friends and miscommunication, and I have written so many reviews for that, it’s just ridiculous. What I can say is that the uke guy is a total asshole. Way to hit ‘em and quit ‘em, dude! Although if all women are as terrible as the ones portrayed in the manga, I can’t exactly blame him for treating them so badly. Still, lady-hate in BL manga is a real problem! What’s with the lady-hate?!

As for the second story: The metaphor about the lizard’s tail and the sea cucumber went right over my head. Maybe that’s just because I’m tired, but I really couldn’t understand what Katsu was thinking. Was he saying that… He’s a lizard, and that in order to escape a dangerous situation, he must leave his boyfriend behind like a lizard tail? That sounds the most probable out of any of the situations I can think of, but the buildup was unnecessarily confusing. And I always feel bad for the guys that get in the middle of these pretty lovers’ quarrels. Man, it’s not their fault. No need to PUNCH the dude. (And those poor, poor sea cucumbers.)

The third story is out of left field. Twisted! It might as well be the guidebook on how to develop an abusively codependent relationship (without being a vampire). This story doesn’t fit the tone of the other two stories at all, and it’s deceptively cliché at first. And then it turns into a psycho drama! The story definitely gets points for being interesting, but I can’t help but feel like it would’ve been a lot shorter if they hadn’t used a ridiculous amount of sex scenes as padding.

Also they have an entire conversation, completely seriously I might add, with a character sitting on the bed, completely naked. Masamichi and Suguru are just sitting there, chatting, balls out, this ain’t awkward at all… It’s a little hard to take seriously.

Finally: What’s with all the women in this manga being terrible bitches?? I guess Michiko turns out…okay after a while, but, as a woman, I can’t condone this kind of portrayal and treatment of women in manga!