rmthunter's Full Review: Matsumoto Temari - The Loudest Whisper: Uwasa No F...
Temari Matsumoto's The Loudest Whisper is actually a story collection, of which the title series makes up about a third.
One would think that by now Japanese high-schoolers would have learned: when you decide to pretend to be boyfriends, sooner or later it's going to get real. And from all appearances, it seems that the student council rooms are hotbeds of unbridled teenage lust.
Hiroshi Akabane, student council vice-president, and Seichi Aoyama, the president, are best friends. They make such a charming pair that it's not long before everyone's whispering about their relationship -- speculation is rampant. Seichi proposes that they try pretending to be going out, and essays a kiss. Hiroshi is somewhat taken aback, but doesn't really hate it. Then comes their first date. Seichi says they have to decide which is going to be the "girl" in their relationship, and I have to say this is the first time I've seen those roles determined by a game of rock-paper-scissors (which actually seems to be a favorite in manga). At any rate, Hiroshi winds up as uke, and the date seems to be going fine, except that Seichi is acting weird. That's the least of Hiroshi's worries, however -- he starts thinking how cool Seichi is, and how good-looking, and suddenly realizes that he's in love. He confesses the whole thing to Roppongi, the student council secretary, but insists that it's all just an experiment, because of the rumors. The fallout is something more than he expected: it seems Roppongi's been in love with him for a long time, and decides to make his move. Seichi catches them just as Roppongi is about to steal a kiss, and then it all comes out -- of course he has feelings for Hiroshi. This is a BL manga, after all.
"Cure for the Common Crush" involves Takimoto, a pharamacist's assistant, and Sawano, who stops by every evening for an energy drink. Takimoto is teasing Sawano one evening about his reasons for "revving up" when Sawano suddenly shows symptoms of a cold. Takimoto offers him a cold remedy off the shelf as an apology, and only later discovers that his boss had mixed up an aphrodisiac and left it there. Takimoto, being a responsible sort, feels that he has to make amends.
Hideki, in "Heart-Shaped Lunchbox," has a different problem. His childhood friend, Shuntaro, makes him a special lunch every day, but Hideki is afraid it's only because Shuntaro enjoys showing off his cooking skills. Finally, in desperation, Hideki asks Shuntaro to teach him how to cook, because he wants to make a special lunch for someone. Although Shuntaro takes it wrong, fortunately, things work out.
"First Stroll" and "First Help" tell the story of Narumi, young heir to a large fortune and an equally large household, and his chief bodyguard, Sakurai. Sakurai takes his responsibility to take care of Narumi's person very seriously. Do I have to say more?
The stories in this volume are all fairly slight, and pretty straightforward -- they offer no real surprises. Characters are fairly standard, without much in the way of quirks, and not terribly deep. It may help to know that Matsumoto is the creator of Kyo Kara MAOH!, a boys love anime series (now appearing in manga in English) that is very popular in Japan, and that is aimed pretty much as twelve-year-old-girls. The Loudest Whisper is at about that level, although there are a couple of sex scenes in this collection -- nothing terribly graphic, but they are there. The drawing is appealing, or perhaps a little more than that -- Matsumoto displays a very definite style marked by a strong, active line and a very good sense of page design.
All in all, this is pretty average, and although I question spreading the title story over two volumes (there is, indeed, a second volume, which is already out), it's entertaining enough for an hour or two.
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