"Sin" by Lissette Alvarez. The chapter opens with two nonhuman beings looking for people on the "human world" who apparently had escaped their grasp years ago and who are hiding. There is talk about betrayal and killing the one and bringing the other back. Then the next scene depicts these two escapees living life normally enough, but with a "relationship" strained by unrequited love. The pained and seemingly fragile Izumi is not only rejected by the man he loves, but is taunted by dreams of the distant past without any memories to give them any meaning, which leave him confused. Hiroshi is the protector who is pained with the burden of not being able to respond to Izumi's love and at the same time with the job of proctecting him. Hiroshi, it seems, does have knowledge or memories of this other world from which they fled. I was a bit confused at first, not too unlike some of our favorite stories - and like our favorite stories, the reader will want to read more and more. I can't wait for the story and it's mysteries to unfold in the forthcoming chapters. The artwork is very nice and well detailed, while the text is easy to read without losing anything in the background.

"Promises" by Grace Ho. This is Chapter 2 of Grace's ongoing manga and picks up with Onyx, a sexy lounge singer and gentle hermaphoradite being "punished" for being gay by the bully Julian and his twin brother. The last chapter left off with the premise that Julian fell in love with Onyx and became confused and enranged when he found out the truth about Onyx's dual sexual nature. He decided to beat him to death for the betryal and of course, his bruised pride. Just as the twins are about to deliver their sentence, they are interrupted by a sexy male with fire-powers, who scares them away and takes Onyx home to minister to his wounds. Azurite is a strong and beautiful, but non-human being who had been living separately from humans within his own culture. The two share an evening together and recount their first meeting years ago as small children before ending with the promise of more adventures for the reunited friends. Just when I thought that I really liked Grace's artwork in the first chapter, I was surprised to see an improvement in the artwork in the second chapter. One does not usually expect an improvement of what they already decided they liked. But it seems Grace's style got prettier, more detailed and more expressive. The darker scenes depicted by contrasting black backgrounds are complimented by the lighter backgrounds of "happier" scenes and romantic scenes. Grace sets the tone well. She has added some backgrounds to her frames and her readers will be delighted by her precious depictions of Azurite and Onyx as children. The story flows well and is easy to read.

Angel's Over by Mirai Wynd. This was a story both intriguing and confusing, at least for me. I had to read it a couple times due to the strange and similar names getting me confused over who was doing what and what was happening to whom, but it was worth reading again to understand. This story begins with two ancient angels who are present in what appears to be modern days and are waiting for the opportunity to trigger an event that began long ago. Then the story flashbacks to ancient times when the angelic leagues of heaven and hell are warring. The two main characters are be Jophiel and his friend Zadkiel, who are angels of heaven fighting in the war. During a battle they help another angel, Israfel who is fighting demons, and with whom Jophiel seems to be developing feelings. The story thus far is both sad and sweet with humor here and there. The first chapter leaves the reader with many questions about most of angels presented and tease that some mysteries will unfold in the future. There are NO women in heaven...or at least the unisex angels are in male form. I wouldn't call them bishonen, but they certainly have sex appeal not too characteristic of the stereotypical angels. The clothing, hairstyles and depiction of the angels is quite interesting, and their human-like characteristics are endearing. The artstyle is unique to me and is fun in the creative ways small images or many small images were fit into the frames without looking sloppy or crowded.

Special Guest: On a Bird's Wing by Nuriko (Jeanette Brown). This is a short, melancholy story of a boy's feelings for a love lost. In this story, the main character remembers the short time that he enjoyed with his lover. Jeanette makes use of lots of contrasts and draws her own screentones, which adds to the personal touch and charm of the story and it's presentation. It will be interesting to see what Jeanette shows us in the future.

Promises [Chapter 2 - Lonely Nights]

Insights touching in its pain begin us once again onto the path of "Promises".

Faced with the loss of his parents, the loneliness of living alone, and the desolation of not quite understanding his own body, Onyx's thoughts tread darkly forward. He is faced with the betrayal of a friend, who, under a self- righteous cloak of prejudice and homophobia, begins to beat him up. As Julian, the traitorous misguided bully, and his twin brother begin to edge closer to Onyx with swinging baseball bats, a bright light suddenly appears. The light marks the entrance of a young man, an alien who bears a humanoid appearance but with slight differences. The foreign stranger stops Julian and his brother, threatening them with serious harm if they should decide to attempt to hurt Onyx once more. Frightened by the confident power of the newcomer, the two bullies flee into the night. The stranger gently takes Onyx home, supporting him bodily. After tending to Onyx's more visible wounds, a moment of silence ensues. With a covert glance, the stranger inquiries if Onyx remembers him. A memory of the two as boys comes into play. The stranger is a scared and lost little boy, hiding amongst the bushes. He was frightened that the humans, if they found him, would eat him. A younger version of Onyx comes up to him, wanting to play. The strange boy begins to cry, wanting his parents to come get him. Onyx sympathetically hugs him, promising to take care of him until they returned. We learn the little boy's name is Azurite. They quickly become best friends, and Azurite resolves to always protect humanity instead of fear them from then on, especially Onyx. Yet alas, their time together came at an end with the clang of a school bell, signaling Onyx's return to his classes. Onyx makes his new friend promise to wait for him, which Azurite does earnestly. Giving Onyx his hoop earring as a symbol of their enduring friendship, Onyx departs. We are returned to the present, the older Onyx solemnly stating that Azurite broke his promise and left without waiting for him. Azurite states his parents had found him but that he returned to their spot later that night. We see little Onyx looking for Azurite, only to find his new friend gone. Crying to realize he had been ditched yet again by someone he believed to care about him, he cries. His pain is doubled when young Julian and his equally malicious twin find him and beat him up, hurling homophobic accusations with flying fists. And when the one- man fight was over, all little Onyx could think of was Azurite's promise. Contrite and seemingly remorseful, Azurite promises to love and protect Onyx from then on, vowing to let no one hurt him again.

I enjoyed this chapter even more than the first. ^_^ It is probably due to the variety of personalities in this, as well as the introduction of Azurite. There is a contradiction of realism and fantasy that I find is well-balanced in this story, unusual and unreal but nothing that seems to far-fetched. The format is pleasing as well; there is a lovely way with words in Onyx's painful musing. I found Azurite to be an appropriate name for our leading man's love interest, for the gem of Azurite is said to help sooth subconscious worries when held. This could be representative of Onyx's refusal to really cope with the violent prejudice he constantly faces; perhaps by holding his Azurite, Onyx will be able to face his demons.

I liked this doujinshi for its subtleties and what I believe to be a strong plot line. Azurite and Onyx will, no doubt, have to face a myriad of problems, judging by their current scenario and that will build something enduring between them. It has a certain prettiness to it as well as enough angst to satiate me, the original angst junkie.

S.I.N

The promise of romance and potential heartbreak are an excellent way to draw me to a story and S.I.N has treated me to a little morsel of both.

Enemies that bear a likenesses to Tomo from Fushigi Yuugi plot, (hopefully without the dry cackle ^_~ - kekekeke!), against our pretty protagonists, Hiroshi and Izumi. Apparently, one of them (most likely Izumi) is a similar Tomo-esque being and left them, possibly to be with Izumi. Meanwhile, at Hiroshi's house, Izumi appears naked before Hiroshi asking him to make love to him, stating he is tired of being something to look at but not to touch. Hiroshi rights the moment off coldly and leaves Izumi, breaking Izumi's heart. Unbeknownst to Izumi, Hiroshi mourns the lost opportunity to be with Izumi so intimately in private, cursing his enemies and his need to protect Izumi from them and possibly himself for one reason or another. As night falls, Izumi slumbers. A "Tomo" minion finds him and manipulates his dreams. Izumi sees someone battered, bloody, and shackled who looks similar to himself, a relative perhaps. The disturbing imagery causes Izumi to awaken, confused about the nature of his dreams. The next day, Izumi comes to a decision about Hiroshi. Finding him, Izumi promises never to offer himself again with claims of understanding how his feelings are unrequited. Izumi, tired of rejection, tells Hiroshi that he is giving up on him. And the chapter ends with a speechless picture of Hiroshi staring at Izumi, likely realizing how he has lost something special.

I admire the drawing style in this doujinshi. The lines are quite clean, the characters are appealing, and on a whole, there seems to be an inexplicable softness to it. There is a certain suspense in the possible romance between Izumi and Hiroshi, which is an effective hook for keeping readers in anticipation of its newest turn. And personally, I think Izumi is very cute! ^_^ But I enjoy Hiroshi as well, in that "I have a heart underneath this frost, enigmatic veneer" sort of way.

Which is one of the best kinds of ways, is it not? ^_~

Angels Over

A mythical battle between angels that is occasionally brightened up with quick bits of humor, there is a generally heavy feeling to this story. The war between good and evil by angels and demons combating for their own individual beliefs of justice. I mainly noted the difference between this story and the others in the "Anthology" collection in the drawing style. Whereas the others are soft, this one is hard. There is more of a visible edge to it. The jaws and bodies are sharper, that add to the main theme of the story. War isn't pretty and bluntly, these characters are not traditionally pretty either. They have their appeal, some more than others, but in comparison, the characters are a good deal hardier. No flowery aspects here, though the talk of religion has a familiar allure. In all, the plot does indeed have strength as do the characters, with very cool names such as Jophiel, Seraphim, and Israfel. Despite this however, and I have to smirk at myself for this confession, I prefer flowery shoujo type stories. This has hints of that in its glimpse of romance but not enough to make me linger. Yet if the war of hard-bodied angels sounds like something that would peek your particular interest, then by all means, this story is one for your doujinshi library.

On a Bird's Wing

What does the sound of a birds wing sound like? For apparently it's a noise that can effect the heart in mysterious ways.

A very short piece with no real plot. A boy hates the sounds of birds wings and fell in love with a balloon vendor who was born to fly. To perfectly honest, there really isn't much more I can say about it. It's straight-forward shonen ai with a cute drawing style and if that makes your wings flap, then you'll enjoy this little tale immensely.

"Sin" by Lisette Alvarez is an intriguing introduction to a demon/fantasy type story. I found the art pleasing, full of big eyes and flowing hair, yet the men were obviously (to a yaoi fan ^_~) men. Looks to be an adventure tale mixed angsty love woes. Love rejected, secret pasts, dark men with hidden agendas. I was left wanting more as the story was rather obscure to add suspence.

Chapter two of Grace Ho's "Promises" also uses sweeping hair, and large eyes. It bears mention that Grace Ho's character's eyes are some of the most amazingly luxuriant eyes I have seen in an English doujinshi, she is the featured artist of the cover that I admired so earlier, and her character Izumi is the gorgeous subject. Main characters in this one are a much abused and misunderstood hermaphrodite (Izumi) and an otherworldly savior. I found the layout of the pages to be excellent aids to the impact of the story. It's not a love story as of yet, as one seems to be searching for true friendship after having been betrayed too many times. It promises to get better though and I look forward to seeing how their relationship progresses.

"Angels Over" by Mirai Wynd is another take on the war between the forces of good and evil, though it hasn't yet been made clear what exactly they're fighting over and who. What is clear is that the angels do have loving relationships between them, even seems to be encouraged. The art is more gaunt, sometimes even stick-figureish. It took a little getting used to for my bishonen-biased eyes, but the charcters resemble real warriors, which is exactly what they are. They have their own charm, and I liked the moments when the characters where shown with fuller expressions and closer up. I found all of the hinted love interests intriguing and would definatly read sequels to find out more.

The final story is "On a Bird's Wing" by Nuriko, a special guest to the anthology. I found the story of love let go so that one's beloved could be free sweet, though it was a bit cheesy. It seemed a little underdeveloped, but the story is still worthwhile.

This anthology was excellent in all quarters. It gives a taste of the fantasy/shonen ai stories by Umbrella Studios, and leaves one thirsting for more. Even if you only buy this book for the pretty cover, you won't be disappointed.