Product Description

I was a "boy" at the club, and he was a client...

Sakura first meets Ryoichi at a male brothel and buys him for the night. As their supposed one-night stand ends up becoming a somewhat stable monetary based relationship, their lives start to change. Can these two awkward people garner the courage to admit that their true feelings admit that their true feelings run deeper than merely sex and money?

Also includes a bonus story in which Ryu is a tough but troubled kid from Osaka who is trying to overcome his past. When an American takes an interest in him, will it lead to more than just a friendship?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #389273 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781934496176
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
Say Please presents a typical boys' love scenario, a stoic professional who must risk it all to acknowledge his emotions while the young lover in tow is forced bare with these painful indecisions. The elements of their lives clash, causing cracks to appear across the once impenetrable masculine façade, making use of the classic teacher archetype that is so irresistible in boys' love.

It takes a skilled author the make such commonplace fare rise above the generic and to her credit, Miyamoto makes a concerted effort towards accomplishing this. In the end what counts in this genre is the intensity of the reader's emotional connection to the characters and how skilfully the writer can ensnare her readers' hearts.

The art is unusual and while not particularly to my own taste, it has a flair that is both natural and flows with vitality. Sakura, in particular, is drawn with sensitivity and Miyamoto makes use of his silent expressions to punctuate the development of the story and to involve us in the intensity of his character. It works. While Ryoichi is a typical uke reduced to crybabyish mess by their relationship, Sakura's character maintains some attractive integrity in spite of all the contrary behaviour.

The development is pleasing, the sex scenes, while not overwhelmingly erotic, are intense and heartfelt, infusing them with both purpose and poignancy.

The mix of stories in the book and in the inclusion of A Bird at Sea, A Door in the Sky makes for a generous read in a one shot volume with plenty of scope for enticing the majority of yaoi readers, particularly those with a penchant for a little pain and angst. --Priss - Otaku News

Say Please starts out as your typical BL story - 'rent boy' falls for his stoic older client. I expected to be mildly entertained but to my surprise, I found myself drawn into the story. It took unusual twists and turns, and hooked me into rooting for the lovers.

The twenty-one year old uke, Ryoichi, is simply adorable. The art is sketchy but expressive, and he's just darn cute! He has an open expressive face, says what's on his mind, and most importantly, isn't a push-over. The older man, Sakura, is very reserved. You can see it in his tight facial expressions, which transforms as the story progresses. You can feel Sakura's pain in his being gay, and his struggle to figure out how to make it work in his structured life.

Despite Ryoichi's cuteness, this isn't a 'sweet' romance. It has it's darker moments. Sakura can be cold, closed-up and cruel. Ryoichi's love draws Sakura out of his tightly controlled life. The story's theme is about control. Controlling one's life to maintain the job, the relationship, the image, and then knowing when to let it go.
(b/w image is © 2004 by Kano Miyamoto & Libre Publishing)

There is a side story - A Bird at Sea, A Door in the Sky - that has a totally different feel. It's darker, angst and bittersweet. It's about Ryu, a tough kid, trying to overcome his troubled past. It's about his friendship with an openly gay American man. It's a brief but momentous interlude. Oh, and did I mention the pet dog? *g*

Kano Miyamoto's artwork is fluid and loose. At time, too sketchy where the facial details get lost. This didn't bother me because, mostly, her character's facial expressions really shine.

Deux Publishing has a solid line up of BL manga. I always look forward to their new releases. --Yaoi Rose

Say Please presents a typical boys' love scenario, a stoic professional who must risk it all to acknowledge his emotions while the young lover in tow is forced bare with these painful indecisions. The elements of their lives clash, causing cracks to appear across the once impenetrable masculine façade, making use of the classic teacher archetype that is so irresistible in boys' love.

It takes a skilled author the make such commonplace fare rise above the generic and to her credit, Miyamoto makes a concerted effort towards accomplishing this. In the end what counts in this genre is the intensity of the reader's emotional connection to the characters and how skilfully the writer can ensnare her readers' hearts.

The art is unusual and while not particularly to my own taste, it has a flair that is both natural and flows with vitality. Sakura, in particular, is drawn with sensitivity and Miyamoto makes use of his silent expressions to punctuate the development of the story and to involve us in the intensity of his character. It works. While Ryoichi is a typical uke reduced to crybabyish mess by their relationship, Sakura's character maintains some attractive integrity in spite of all the contrary behaviour.

The development is pleasing, the sex scenes, while not overwhelmingly erotic, are intense and heartfelt, infusing them with both purpose and poignancy.

The mix of stories in the book and in the inclusion of A Bird at Sea, A Door in the Sky makes for a generous read in a one shot volume with plenty of scope for enticing the majority of yaoi readers, particularly those with a penchant for a little pain and angst. --Priss - Otaku News

Customer Reviews

First Miyamoto English Localization, A Good Introduction
It's almost baffling how long it took US publishers to start licensing Kano Miyamoto's BL titles. The first offering available in English, by the newer Deux Press, succeeds as an introduction to her style.

The thing I would have to say is Miyamoto's strength is her ability and will to show both the best and worst in human relationships. Not everything is the idealized perfect first love experience where two men just "happen" to become attracted to each other and live happily ever after forever with no question about the stability of their relationship. Miyamoto's characters are human, flawed, make mistakes and those mistakes have longer lasting ramifications in the story than as plot devices to bring together love interests. Not every relaionship ends happily, and in fact, many relationships fail before an individual finds someone they can truly be happy with. The repetitive cycle of this concept in her works might be Miyamoto's greatest contribution to the genre.

The title story about the gay high school teacher and his prostitute turned lover is at times sweet, touching, heartbreaking and disheartening. Mr. Sakura is a gay man in the difficult position of being a teacher in a religious school and therefore being forced to hide his identity to his colleagues. Ryoichi is a younger man who works for and frequents a male brothel where Sakura picks him up for a loveless one night encounter. Their relationship continues when Sakura hires Ryoichi to stay with him over his week long summer break for reasons he won't discuss, but seem to be related to his own loneliness, having just ended a relationship to another man. The events that proceed reveal a lot about both men and a lot about what it means to be gay in a society that looks down upon alternative lifestyles. Miyamoto doesn't skirt around the negative attitudes of people put under this kind of strain, either. Sakura in particular seems to struggle with his life choices and takes a lot of his frustrations out on Ryoichi, and we aren't expected to "forgive" him for those weaknesses, either (as the one "non-con" scene shows). He must come to terms with those mistakes and make new choices to bring about a more postive future for himself and Ryoichi.

If the title story isn't enough to draw you in, however, the book also includes what I would argue is the first part of Miyamoto's best and longest spanning universe with the short story, A Bird At Sea, A Door in the Sky, where she introduces Ryuu Utsumi for the first time. Ryuu goes on to star in a more complete manga series, Hydra, yet to be licensed for English publication, but in this short story we learn about the most tragic part of his life, the event that would shape all of his future dealings with other people, for better or worse. He meets another "outsider" in the gay former US serviceman, Stephan, and through their meetings and friendship they find in one another some brief comfort from their lonely existences. It's a heartbreaking story and just the way to introduce the characters and situations that will surround Ryuu and the people that will have longer lasting interactions with him in future stories by Miyamoto. While we wait for the release of Lovers And Souls (Yaoi), a story taking place in the same universe almost ten years in the future and starring a completely different cast that who we meet in this story, we can use this one to whet our appetites.

Miyamoto's love scenes are never particularly graphic, but her style is more psychological and emotional. You spend more time thinking about the ramifications of the human interactions in her stories than focusing on the actual panel by panel presentation. It's refreshing and endearing at the same time. Even when these scenes aren't "pretty," they are important and necessary and draw your further into the story.

In all, I highly recommend Kano Miyamoto's works, including this one. Her art style is a little different, but I personally like it very much and look forward to hearing about many more English licenses of her works in the future. As an introduction to the genre this title is a nice one volume addition to a new or growing collection of BL.

I enjoy this love story between a teacher and his prostitute.
I enjoy this sweet and "angsy" romance between a teacher and his whore. There is a good story line here and the 2 characters are applealing. Sakura is a teacher in an all female religious school, reason enought to hide his sexual preference. He pays Ryoichi, a male prostitute, for a one night stand. Next he pays Ryoichi to stay for one week, which of course develops into much more. Sakura is trying to get over a former lover (here I wish the mangaka has revealed more). Six months later he is still unable to express his feelings for Ryoichi. Sakura is the brooding seme while Ryoichi is the warm and open hearted uke wanting only love. Theirs is a touching love story which appeals, with some bittersweet moments.

There is a second shorter poignant story on a disturbed youth. This could have ended on a happy romantic note but I prefer the way the mangaka handles it.
The last bonus on Sakura and Ryoichi is cute, as well as let us know that this couple will stay together.
The sex could have been more revealing in the beginning chapter. Not a problem as I enjoy the storyline more. The sex does get more explict in later chapters. As mangas are serialized in Japan, this is expected. A great addition to my Yaoi collection.

Say Please by Kano Miyamoto
Say Please is a pretty melancholic tale. Ryoichi is a male whores; he is a young guy who tries to earn his living in what it seems the easier way, but when he meets Sakura, one of his clients, he is enthralled. Sakura is an high school teacher who can't have an open gay relationship since he will risk to lose his job. So he engages in this relationship with Ryoichi, who spends long period in Sakura's home but he doesn't know if what they have is real or not: Sakura is pretty closed about his feelings and Ryoichi instead is open and friendly, an open book.

Ryoichi's character is best developed, in a way or another we can see how his feelings for Sakura are growing and why he chooses to embark in this relationship. Instead I don't fully understand Sakura: its cold behavior his only a way to avoid troubles at work or it's also a consequence of his broken relationship with another male partner? He really love Ryoichi, as it seems judging his attacks of jealousy?

The graphic is good even if not very detailed; the sex scenes are all left to your imagination, there aren't any graphic details. It's a mix of detached feeling and romanticism. I think this graphic novel is quite right for a young audience (but not "too" young) and also maybe for all the newbies who want to test their interest in the yaoi world.