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Hi, Makoto speaking! Minako-chan let me jump in and write the information page for Koide-sensei because I adore her that much. I hope this page is helpful, and please email me if you have any questions! Okay, let's go~!
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| Koide Mieko has a somewhat bipolar approach to storytelling. Her works cover the range from a sweet love story involving a haunted apartment to darker stories of love within obsession. From the beginning of one of her manga, it is often difficult to discern what type of series it will be, as she keeps many secrets as her tale unfolds. Her stories are generally set in everyday life with ordinary people, although occasionally she throws in a bit of the supernatural to keep you off balance. Her works involve exclusively homosexual male pairings, handled with a realism that the genre rarely sees. Koide-sensei's works can usually be found in either Biblos or Chara comics, and she regularly publishes doujinshi with her circle "KK Company". I highly, highly recommend the Chara series Yatteranneeze, the collaboration of Koide-sensei and Akizuki Koh (Fujimi Orchestra). It really sets the standard for "coming-of-age" school stories, and every time I pick it up, I can't put it down until I finish. |
| Koide-sensei made her professional debut in 1992, but Houkago has the unique distinction of actually beginning many years before that. The series began as a doujinshi (although an original work) and continued, in one form or another, for over a decade. In fact, the story is still continuing in the series Katakoi Paradise, which follows Mitsuo's younger brother; a new installment was released for the December 2001 Comiket. Biblos has reprinted many of the original doujinshi which set up the basic "After School in the Teacher's Lounge" storyline, more or less in chronological order by story timeline, but not necessarily order of release. The story which Minako-chan translated, Spring Spring, is a prequel to the main storyline. As odd as Kazama's logic may seem, it's how he functions in life; he isn't happy unless he's taking care of someone, and Kawase (who is painfully naive) fits this position almost too well. The story continues with Kazama asking Kawase out on his birthday for a date. Kawase assumes that Kazama is just teasing him again, and assents so as not to be the brunt of the joke. Kazama soon proves himself to be entirely serious, perhaps overly so, and their relationship begins in this confusion. So it is only natural that their life together is hectic as well. Now, if you're asking yourself, "Why the prequel? Why not the later stuff? It gets juicy, right?" then you've probably seen the anime, and I pity you. Actually, of all the Houkago installments I've read, this is far and away my favorite. The glimpse into Kazama's past, and his motivation, really defines him as a character. In addition, this is one of the later stories, published in 1996, and Koide-sensei's writing style has matured beautifully and the story is wonderfully paced. I only recently saw the animated version of Houkago, and I was, in a word, horrified. It took the characters that I've grown so attached to for so long and stripped them down to the very worst stereotypes of the shounen-ai genre. It broke my heart. So rather than have the English-speaking world know Koide-sensei and her characters solely through that travesty of an OAV series, I asked Minako-chan to translate a chapter of the original work. And I can't thank her enough. I hope you enjoy it too. Thanks for reading! |