Product Description

The delicate edge of a perfect sword can slice through flesh without a sound... but only the rarest weapon houses an apparition-battling spirit, too! Two warriors, one naive and one experienced, must wield their special blades with great care in order to conquer their opponents. Elsewhere, a clumsy young scientist and a cautious priest feel the sharp pangs of desire...and an ancient monster lashes out for the one he loves. Will the fates of these men fuse together powerfully, or will they splinter into nothingness?

A shimmering blade is the balancing point for the friends, foes and lovers in Shards of Affection! From tale-to-tale, beautiful swords hold the power to hack apart enemies, join soldiers in duty and band two men together in wild ecstasy. But it takes much more than brute strength for even the strongest combatant to win the prize he most desires...and some war wounds leave scars that burn forever!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #747789 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
For anyone who loves urban fantasy, handsome men, and captivating stories of love and danger, Shards of Affection is a must-have. A combination of connected stories creates a supernatural setting in modern day that sees extraordinary people deal with evil sprits, seductive demons, and the trials of their own hearts.

To say I was impressed with this shonen-ai is an understatement. The stories are above and beyond what is normally expected in a BL tale and the artwork is exemplary. Shards begins with the plight of a young chief priest trying to prove himself to his warrior lover. The problem is that he has a unique sensing ability, a sixth sense that allows him to see what goes unseen to the human eye. He fears the creatures that he sees yet refuses to back down. His lover worries and finally makes a simple request to take the chief priest's place at the front line of battle. Refusal, confessions and shared understandings converge for a tender conclusion to the story. But the true intrigue of Shards of Affection has only just begun.
The stories are nothing short of fantastic. The intrigue, the supernatural mysteries and action are incredible. They draw you in immediately. The romances are made that much richer by the interesting plots. The art style is just as amazing. Just as rich. It's easy to picture this manga as an anime. The clothing details, the sword details, the facial expressions are varied and impressive. Duo Brand is a new name to me but it is one I hope to see much, much more work from as Shards of Affection has proven to be a captivating reading experience. --Active Anime

I love Duo Brand. The art is gorgeous and the stories, while not always being graphic, are always full of great emotions and interesting plot twists. It may be a generic love story that she's telling, but she always makes it seem fresh and interesting. This is something that I greatly appreciate because after reviewing manga for this long, the banal stories just seem to blend together and make me cranky. It's so nice to have something that sparkles and makes me excited about writing reviews.

This release opens up with the story of a priest and his assistant charged with exorcising demons. The priest has a sword that helps him in his exorcisms, but they still leave him feeling weak and drained. His assistant, and his lover, wants him to take more care and to make sure he protects himself.

Don't worry too much about the priest; see, there's something that they don't know yet and this is the thread that ties all of the stories together. Inside the sword is a spirit that isn't going to let any harm come to the priest. In fact, there's a whole brotherhood of spirits, living in swords, fighting and loving amongst themselves in the downtime they have between doing the jobs that they were forged to do.

The rest of the stories follow in the same vein, showcasing Duo Brand's stoic semes and gorgeously vulnerable ukes. While I'm not always fond of the stereotypes being so well defined, there's something about her characters that makes me accept it even look forward to it.

Now, I vaguely remember reading scanlations of this a long time ago and thinking what a cute idea it was. June has kept the sweetness that I remember from the scanlations and has improved upon it. It's actually pretty amazing how far June has come from their first releases with their fairly painful translations. While I still think they release too many school-boy romance titles, I'm pretty pleased with them as a publisher. I'm hoping that we get more Duo Brand stuff released here and soon. We need more quality stuff like this! --Boys Next Door

Customer Reviews

More plot through careful reading
It took some work, but I finally understood this book. The problem is, the stories are told out of logical order, which is why I had to struggle with the plot until about halfway through. I'm going to try to convey the interconnected plot here without spoilers.

What you need to know up front is that there are five special swords made with extremely rare spiritual material. In each of these swords lives a fighting spirit meant to destroy other evil spirits. The fighting spirits are men with glasses and fancy coats and when they're not on a mission, they live on a shared spirit plane with the priest(?) who made the swords. On the earthly plane, there are priests who can see the evil spirits as well who wield the swords and call forth the battling male spirits inside them to destroy evil. These priests (exorcists) usually have helpers when they go on a mission -- other, less spiritually sensitive acolytes, male and female.

(no offense to the Japanese or the sense of religion that is missing from this narrative; I'm trying to be general both to help Westerners understand and to avoid giving insult by *trying* to use the proper terms and failing)

OK, that said, here's a rundown of the stories, some of which are multiple chapters:
1. A new priest on the earthly plane has a hard time facing down evil spirits, even with one of the 5 swords. His backup and lover wants to help. This story is like the culmination of everything we learn later.

2. A science geek is friends with the local pastor, who tries to get the scattered man to clean up his act at work. When the geek doesn't listen and faces the consequences at work, his relationship with the pastor changes. (there is noncon in this story, but not with the main characters; it's short -- 2 pages -- and not too graphic, but at least the act is treated as a rape as the story continues; I could stand it by skimming it quickly, and I abhor noncon; what comes after is also one of the silliest cliches, ever, but, again, skimming!)

3. Finally, an introduction and explanation of the swords and what's going on with them! Oh, how I wish this brief, humorous account came first. *sigh*

4. A boy thinks an evil creature (who looks like a vamped-out man, i.e. hot) has stolen his brother's soul. The boy is allowed to borrow one of the five swords to hunt the creature down. The men from Story 2 show up as support in this story.

5. Because his sword has gone missing, one of the 5 sword spirits is beginning to fade away. If he can't find his sword in time, he will cease to exist, and yet he keeps rejecting help from a concerned fellow sword spirit. Stories 4 and 5 intertwine for the rest of the book.

There's a sizable problem with pacing and clarity in this book because the way the swords work is revealed late, and also because some of these huge religious and cultural concepts are stuffed into a few pages. I think the original story is written for an audience that automatically understands most of the underlying concepts, and that translators at June did their level best to give us English-readers everything we would need to understand the story, even though we have to read it out-of-order. Still, I wonder if this set of stories wouldn't have worked better spread out over two volumes.

What I like about the book is the art (drop-dead gorgeous) and the sweetness of the pairings. I also like that when the characters' plots are dire, there is a sense of desperation and concern that is real. The adult scenes have a bit more depth to them in terms of positioning and length, but they are still typical of June in that you really don't see details below the belt.

I dinged the book one star for the plotting issues and one for the noncon, which is automatic for me. Still, I like the book well enough to keep it for possible rereading. The art alone makes it worth revisiting in my book.

Loved the stories and the art is top notch
This is a definite must for the Yaoi collector. A surprisingly entertaining series of interconnecting stories involving sword spirits. The art work is beautiful. I really hope there is a sequel!

Sexy sword spirits. If only there is more...
I really love the story on Nanaki and Ninomiya, 2 of the 5 powerful sword spirits made by a meddlesome but well intentioned cheerful Shinto priest. I wish there is at least a stand alone story on this couple or better still all 5 sword spirits. Their angsy story consists of 3 chapters as Nanaki lost his blade and starts to slowly disintegrate. It is up to Ninomiya to help this much younger inexperienced spirit but because of a misunderstanding Nanaki refuses his much older lover's help.
Another story which I enjoy is the love between a priest and a scientist geek. Sweet and tender theirs has a comical twist to it.
The 2 chapters story on a boy who seeks a Monster for revenge as he believes the Monster has stolen his brother's soul is equally enjoyable as this couple's story interweaves with the above 2 stories.

By comparison, the first story about 2 warrior priests, one struggling bravely to fit his father's shoes, is almost average.
Swords flashing (love Japanese period Yaoi pieces), romance, sex (enough to satisfy), handsome warriors spirits, I am pleased to add this to my Yaoi collection.