365 Days of Manga, Day 346: Cross x Break

CROSS X BREAK • Go! Comi • Duo Brand • 16+
The artist pair Duo Brand (White Guardian) started in yaoi before moving to mainstream titles, and it shows in this action-adventure manga populated mostly by hot studs. Sometime in the near future, Japan has instigated an American-style presidential system. The president’s sons are Akito, a spiky-haired young boy with supernatural-level musical talents, and Shinkai, a handsome older boy who lounges around the house with his shirt off and makes suggestive comments. One day, Shinkai arranges for his brother to be drugged, and Akito and his female friend Yaya awaken in a dark cavern lit by glowing mushrooms. They soon realize that they are in a different world, a world where Warlocks—ruthless, handsome enforcers armed with chain-scythes—oppress the ragtag population of cave-dwellers. Akito and Yaya end up on the run from the Warlocks, aided by Neon, a cheerful bug-eater who’s sort of the Mr. Tumnus of this subterranean Narnia. Meanwhile, back in “our” world, the secrets of Shinkai and the parallel worlds (not to mention the seemingly arbitrary president-of-Japan connection) are tantalizingly hinted at for the entire first volume. In fact, so much is left unrevealed that it’s difficult to evaluate Cross x Break by volume one alone, but on the whole this is a good mainstream debut. Duo Brand are excellent artists, portraying both the bizarre landscapes of the other world and the cast of invariably hot, seductive (if sometimes gorilla-handed) guys who populate it. Basically, the series manages to function as a real story, not just a clotheshanger for man-on-man shipping fantasies, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Unfortunately, the English edition was canceled in midstream after the closure of the publisher Go! Comi. (This review of Cross x Break vol. 1 was originally printed in Otaku USA magazine.)
** 1/2 (two and a half stars)
Today’s winner is… SHIRLEY R. of Indiana! Congratulations, Shirley!