I watched the 1996 TV adaptation of Emma starring Kate Beckinsale as Emma and Mark Strong as Mr. Knightly this weekend. I now feel a lot more positive about the book. I found Emma (the character) hard to stomach in the beginning, but Kate Bekinsale does a great job (her expressions are priceless) and I quickly softened towards Emma. By the end I ( Read more... )

Kyo-ren by Miduki Mato and illustrated by Sasaki Kumiko is not quite my cup of tea, but was still an interesting read. It's about a sex-crazy hot-blooded yakuza wakagashira Daigo and the grandson of the kumicho Souichirou who loves him. Daigo had gone to jail when Souichirou was ten during a clan war. Souichirou's grandfather had been hospitalized ( Read more... )

I really enjoyed reading Zankoku na ouse by Ioka Itsuki (one of my favorite authors) and illustrated by Sasaki Kumiko. This takes the tired old premise of the traumatized victim uke with a frozen heart who is "thawed" by an aggressive man and makes it work. I kept waiting for the author to betray her premise and make the uke start acting ( Read more... )

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