Aiso Tsukashi review (finally!!)
(sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted...)
The last we saw of Sawaragi, (in Takaga Koi daro , or It’s Only Love), he’d been sentenced to 5 years in prison for dealing drugs. Suffering from unrequited love for Izumi, he’d done his best not to involve Izumi in his mistakes. Sawaragi had resolved to put his feelings for Izumi aside and move on. Now, in the sequel published recently by DMG, Aiso Tsukashi or Tired of Waiting for Love, we get to see more of Sawaragi.
Sawaragi Kyouske just wants to finish his prison sentence and start living a normal life, far away from his yakuza past. When in prison he meets Shuuya, a cellmate who is really bullied by one of the other cellmates. Sawaragi keeps saying to himself that he doesn’t want to get involved. But he can’t stop thinking about Shuuya, whom he describes as a kid just trying to survive by selling his body. Sawaragi can see that this kind of thing never works in the long run (and it often doesn’t work in the short run, either). He demonstrates a rough kindness towards Shuuya in their prison life, showing him a different way of life with his actions and in photos from home. He often scolds Shuuya. (“You lose something important if you spread your legs for anyone”). Shuuya tries to seduce Sawaragi so he can be protected from the bully, but Sawaragi isn’t having any of it. (But Sawaragi resolves the problem anyway, in one of the more memorable scenes of the story). When Shuuya says he wants to see Sawaragi outside of prison, Sawaragi says he is putting all of that behind him, starting new. Shuuya takes this to mean Sawaragi doesn’t want to be around any prison ‘dirt’ when he gets out.
Sawaragi does get out, does start anew, but his path keeps crossing that of Shuuya. Call it fate or whatever, but Sawaragi this time doesn’t turn away. He understands that because of his past, Shuuya doesn’t know how to be any different. “My only asset is my face,” Shuuya often says. And even if it is just for once, he would like to taste the sweet water of real love, the sweetness which has always eluded him.
However, Sawaragi finds himself looking at Shuuya more and more. And even as Shuuya tries his best to turn his back on his former lifestyle, the yakuza life is not far away. Sawaragi now has to decide if he can turn away from it all (and lose his one chance at finding true love), or break his parole to help Shuuya (and risk being sent back to prison for much longer).
One of the endearing characters from Takaga Koi Daro was Izumi’s yakuza brother-in-law Sawaragi. (Sawaragi is Izumi’s (deceased) wife’s brother). We see Sawaragi tormented by his unrequited love for Izumi. We see him try his best to keep Izumi (and his little nephew Makoto) out of the fray. Sawaragi is a little rough around the edges, but what made him a sympathetic character to my mind is the extent to which he goes to help and protect Izumi and little Makoto. Especially when Izumi’s wife dies (remember, she was Sawaragi’s sister). Izumi falls apart, but Sawaragi reminds him that little Makoto needs his father. And then Sawaragi finds a job that Izumi can do whilst raising a baby. When Sawaragi is sentenced to 5 years in prison, he makes sure that Izumi (who really is an innocent) and little Makoto are taken care of and protected. And it is just heartbreaking when he says at the end, “When I get out, Makoto will be grown up, won’t he?”.
Why am I talking about Takaga Koi daro when I’m supposed to be reviewing Aiso Tsukashi? Well, you won’t fully understand Sawaragi in Aiso Tsukashi unless you’ve read Takaga Koi daro. Aiso is a stand-alone story, but knowing Sawaragi’s backstory makes it all the better.
What made Sawaragi so interesting in Aiso is evident in Takaga Koi daro as well: he is able to be selfless and consider the effect his actions will have on those around him, especially those he holds in some affection. However, this doesn’t mean he does not suffer. In Takaga Koi daro he suffered from the knowledge that Izumi’s heart is not his. Still, he helped Izumi as best as he could, doing what was best for Izumi, no matter how painful it was for himself. Here in Aiso, he sees Shuuya trying to survive, and indeed is tempted by Shuuya, both in prison and also after they get out of prison. But Sawaragi recognizes that Shuuya is simply a lonely kid, hungry for love and attention, even if it’s love for a little while, just once. But Sawaragi also understands that Shuuya is actually too scared to trust anyone. So he tells Shuuya, “f*cking me won’t get you what you really want”. Sawaragi understands that Shuuya doesn’t even know what he wants; he understands this more than Shuuya understands this. And so Sawaragi tells Shuuya that he (and the kitten) can stay until he does figure out what he wants.
This is what I like about Sawaragi - you can tell he really wants Shuuya, but he also knows that until Shuuya learns to trust someone, just having sex is not going to help Shuuya. So he puts his own feelings aside, in order to do what is best for Shuuya.
Where is Shuuya in all of this? I found myself rooting for Sawaragi, but I also found myself rooting for Shuuya as well. His character is really likeable. When we first meet Shuuya, he is in prison, just trying to survive from day to day. As he says, his only asset is his face. Sawaragi sums it up when he says Shuuya is simply a kid trying to protect himself in the only way he knows how - selling his body. When Shuuya gets out of prison, he manages to find work as a Host, but he is still just getting by. And that’s when he meets up with Sawaragi.
A very interesting side character is Sawaragi’s Yakuza friend, Hasumi. We find that these two have been friends for a long time, watching each other’s back. Hasumi accepts that Sawaragi wants to leave the Yakuza. It is also apparent that Hasumi holds Sawaragi in some esteem (and maybe affection?). Inquiring minds wanna know, and I really hope that there will be a sequel telling Hasumi’s story.
I find myself re-reading Aiso, which has somehow moved to my list of favourite titles in yaoi/shounen-ai/romance. Written by AIDA Saki (S) and drawn by YAMADA Yugi, Aiso Tsukashi or Tired of Waiting for Love is a wonderful romance!