Dojo Boys: The First Misunderstanding (Dojo Boys: Dragon and Crow) by Alex A. Akira
I think the first big warning to this novella was given by the author in the blurb: “This is the tale of the pair's initial attraction and their first misunderstanding”. This to make aware the possible reader this is like an appetizer and that the real story will come later, probably in a novel length book. Anyway, if you are familiar with yaoi in general, that is not uncommon, often these stories are dragged for more than one comic, and to arrive to the end you have probably to buy 4 or 5 comics.
And the comparison with yaoi is not only in the “planning” of the story, but also in the plot itself; this is the classic high school yaoi romance between pretty boys, and you wonder where the parents of these underage kids are since they are always absent (in this case, one set of parents is abroad for a 2 years long job commitment). These teenagers kids are always left alone to deal with dramatic event, and more often than not, the reason for their bad actions is quite “naïve”, jealousy or envy, or some other petty feeling.
The main pair here is Sato, the good guy of the high school, the one everyone likes, and the new kid at school, Jiro, who is like an exotic birds, from a very wealthy and ancient Japan family, he is like fire for the mots. Sato is actually on the breaking with another boy, Jun, who is cheating on him even if Sato doesn’t know yet.
Everyone in the book is highlighting like Jiro is older than his age, 15 years old, but I actually found him exactly like a teenager should be, maybe a little spoiled teenager. Spoiled since Jiro knows how important his family is, and how much expectations they laid upon him. Jiro was raised to be the heir, to be perfect, to be sensitive and right… and when he meets Sato, what he really wants is to be a boy in love.
Even if yaoi can be quite explicit and sexy, this novella is instead pretty “innocent”, a lot of kissing, some heavy petting, but nothing more. Sato and Jiro are both virgins, for various reasons, but that is not their issue, they have other trouble in mind, and maybe I think they want to enjoy the naïve side of their blossoming love.
It’s a nice story, but it’s only a first part, be aware when reading it because you will have to wait to read more.
Amazon Kindle: Dojo Boys: The First Misunderstanding (Dojo Boys: Dragon and Crow)
Publisher: Alex A. Akira @KDP; 2 edition (April 9, 2012)
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle