Idol Pleasures
By Fuhri Misasagi
Published by Deux
ISBN-13: 978-1934496671
Review by April Kimm
Fuhri Misasagi is the mangaka of “Curse Project,” “Kichiku Megane,” “Oyaji Kairou e Youkoso,” “The Next Door I Moved To,” “Beasts,” “Kimi ga Nokoshita Kimochi,” “Kimi to Kare to Watashi,” “Kimi wo Dakishimeru Ryouude,” “Kimi to Ayumu Nichijou,” “Yajuu Shugi,” “Ameiro no Ibasho,” “Cross Light,” “Gobousei no Saku Kisetsu,” “AB Motion,” and “Love Miracle.” “Idol Pleasures” is a manga with five chapters and an afterword by the author. It’s shonen-ai with implied soft yaoi.
The main characters are popular idol Koju Yagihashi and his new manager Hisaya Amagi. Amagi’s older sister, the president of an entertainment company, ropes him into becoming Koju’s manager in order to set him up on a blind date with a divorced actress. Amagi has been divorced for two years and has a daughter. Due to the circumstances of his last case as a detective, he has been unemployed since he quit, which was around the time of his divorce. Because of Koju’s aloof personality, he’s unable to get close to people, and all his previous managers had trouble working with him. Koju collects teddy bears, because his father gave him one before he left him as a child. When Amagi tells Koju that his lonely eyes remind him of his daughter’s, Koju takes a liking to him. Like Koju’s father, Amagi also gave his daughter a teddy bear when he got divorced, but she ended up not liking it. Unlike other people, Amagi accepts Koju for who he is instead of mistaking him for his cool image.
Rito Matsuyuki is Koju’s costar and has a crush on him. She confesses, but Koju only thinks of her as a friend. Nevertheless, she encourages him to go after Amagi after he gets depressed over his rejection. When Koju interrupts Amagi’s blind date with Namiko Isozaki, the divorced actress that his sister set him up with, Amagi gets annoyed enough to French kiss him to teach him a lesson, because he could tell that Koju was a virgin from his previous innocent kisses. Amagi’s sister orders him to get Koju to do a CD and tells him that she accepts his gay relationship. Koju reluctantly does so after Amagi wagers his kisses if he lands a number one album for his debut.
The past finally catches up with Amagi when Hinosaka attempts to rape him for giving the order to fire shots at a criminal, which resulted in the death of Hinosaka’s criminal friend back when Amagi was a detective. Fortunately, Koju hits Hinosaka on the head with a rock to save him. Koju had waited until they were in a compromising position in order to take embarrassing pictures to blackmail Hinosaka into leaving Amagi alone.
Fuhri Misasagi is a hit or miss type of mangaka. If you don’t like “Idol Pleasures,” she has better manga. In this manga, the shorter oyagi is the cool seme and the younger one is the innocent and aggressive uke. Do not expect any decent smut scenes or any depth to make up for it. It’s not a bad shonen-ai manga- just a pleasant, forgettable read without any excitement.