juicelina's review
3.0
Honestly crazy that Asumiko Nakamura is the same person that wrote Doukyuusei because their other works are so different.
I'm not quite sure how I felt about this one. You've got two guys with the same name who've known each other since high school. One bullied the other into becoming his "dog" and the dog follows him around and follows all his orders. It starts off with one mitsuo calling up the other to tell him he murdered a woman and it goes from there. It's a story about obsession for the most part. One mitsuo is obsessed with the other. The other mitsuo is stuck in some bad shit. I kind of hate that they have the same name. I get why she did it, but it just makes it confusing to me. And I don't think it played into the whole we are one thing quite enough.
This was okay. I think the obsession aspect was interesting, but the story itself feels like it's missing something.
I'm not quite sure how I felt about this one. You've got two guys with the same name who've known each other since high school. One bullied the other into becoming his "dog" and the dog follows him around and follows all his orders. It starts off with one mitsuo calling up the other to tell him he murdered a woman and it goes from there. It's a story about obsession for the most part. One mitsuo is obsessed with the other. The other mitsuo is stuck in some bad shit. I kind of hate that they have the same name. I get why she did it, but it just makes it confusing to me. And I don't think it played into the whole we are one thing quite enough.
This was okay. I think the obsession aspect was interesting, but the story itself feels like it's missing something.
morebedsidebooks's review against another edition
dark
Simply put Double Mints is of the adult, dark side of Asumiko Nakamura’s work. I was first intrigued by the scenario of Double Mints beginning with a seemingly normal man receiving a call out of the blue from a former classmate, the caller confessing to murdering a woman. An erotic crime drama playing with its currency of violence and sex, this story about former classmates who share a name is both captivating and disturbing. The duality of these two Mitsuo Ichikawas is nuanced, and the domination/submission feature of their bond unlike typical stereotypes. The Mitsuos are more than simply victim and perpetrator caught in violent, abusive and manipulative dynamics.
Nakamura alludes in a good part of the comic to a myth from Plato’s Symposium. There Aristophanes’ speech explains human beings were once part of a whole pair, separated by the gods because of unjust behaviour. So what we think of as Love is this yearning for completeness and such desire integral and ancient. It’s a relatively romantic notion, on the surface at odds with the brutality and carnal expression of Nakamura’s narrative. If the first ride through the story left aspects that were a bit puzzling I’ve found it beneficial to revisit. It’s also been made into a good live-action film. Double Mints should appeal to those interested in a psychological crime drama and eroticism.
Worth noting: unfortunately the English edition of the comic, like other releases of her works in English by the same publisher, is missing two extra chapters and an afterword (one chapter is an unrelated short, but the other entitled “Rain” is a special epilogue to Double Mints.)
Nakamura alludes in a good part of the comic to a myth from Plato’s Symposium. There Aristophanes’ speech explains human beings were once part of a whole pair, separated by the gods because of unjust behaviour. So what we think of as Love is this yearning for completeness and such desire integral and ancient. It’s a relatively romantic notion, on the surface at odds with the brutality and carnal expression of Nakamura’s narrative. If the first ride through the story left aspects that were a bit puzzling I’ve found it beneficial to revisit. It’s also been made into a good live-action film. Double Mints should appeal to those interested in a psychological crime drama and eroticism.
Worth noting: unfortunately the English edition of the comic, like other releases of her works in English by the same publisher, is missing two extra chapters and an afterword (one chapter is an unrelated short, but the other entitled “Rain” is a special epilogue to Double Mints.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Rape
Moderate: Bullying and Blood
A character is also drugged.
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