Reviews

Fake, Volume 1 by Sanami Matoh, Nan Rymer

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tea_literature's review

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adventurous lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

abookishwonderer's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

kaitkstokes's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I adored this manga series in my teens and coming back to it as an adult was certainly an experience.

There's a lot about the setting and language that certainly isn't for the modern day and in hindsight Dee's advances (especially in this book) are not okay.

Yet I still can't shake the soft spot I have for this series. It was so crucial for the time in my life in which I found it and so many of the characters are loveable and well written despite theor very obvious flaws.

The dialogue feels very charismatic and funny and it has some of my favorite acts of the series (namely act 1 and 4)

claudia_marcela's review

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funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

shanaqui's review

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adventurous lighthearted

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

As a nostalgia reread, this was a lot of fun! Of course Dee's behaviour is horrible and he won't take "no" for an answer, and that reallllyyyy can't be viewed as romantic. But reading it with an eye to the context, though it doesn't make it okay, leaves me still able to enjoy it.

That said, I'd forgotten how horrible Bikky is about anyone gay, yipes. His relationship with Ryo is kinda heartwarming, if you subtract all that.

unluckyprimes's review

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2.0

I reread this entire series tonight as a tribute. I've owned some of the volumes for nearly 18 years and as I get ready to move house, it's time to say goodbye to them. I'm going to use this as my series review.

This was the BL series from my teenage years. Well, this and Gravitation. So there's a lot of inherent nostalgia to this series. But it's also very 90s and very typical of the genre--which is to say full of dubcon. Though, I am happy to report that it wasn't as bad as I'd feared upon reread. It's still there, and there are some inappropriate moments that made me raise an eyebrow or two, but anyway.

Also, being a product of its time, it's got some interesting issues with its use of language. Though, to be fair, some of that could just be early 2000s localization. One of the key secondary characters is very homophobic on page and there are multiple uses of the r-word throughout. Again, yes, a product of its time, but still.

What actually struck me the most on this reread is the overall writing. Which, on the one hand, very clearly had some formative influences on me in ways I did not realize. 😶 And on the other hand is much weaker than I remembered--specifically the police procedural stuff.

The romance was better than I was expecting, mostly because I had very cautious expectations. There's a bit too much "will-they/won't-they" and overuse of the "constantly interrupted" bit, and I would've liked to see a deeper exploration of Ryo's own internalized struggle with his sexuality.

Still, I'm glad to have reread it. I'm not sad, exactly, to be letting my volumes go--but it's still sort of the end of an era. And that's okay. I'm happy to send this off on a good note.