From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Love Mode is a yaoi manga
series by Shimizu
Yuki.
It was first serialized in the Japanese monthly yaoi magazine Be x Boy in 1995 and
released in 11 individual paperback volumes by the now defunct
publisher Biblos. The series is currently being
published in English by BLU.
In addition, seven volumes of drama CDs have been
released, with one of them Love Mode: Host Hen covering
the story in volumes 6 and 7; Fly Me To Heaven,
Thunder Honey and 'Sweet Trap.
Plot
Love Mode itself is a compilation of several stories
(most often short) involving various degrees of gay couples. Every
one of these couples is linked to an establishment known as the
Blue Boy. The Blue Boy is a gay host club where anyone wielding
enough money can hire out a very attractive man either to pretty up
a party or for sex. Most of the couples consist of either
hosts/ex-hosts, clients/ex-clients, or both.
Though all of the couples get a considerable amount of
spotlight, without a doubt, the main focus of the story is the once
dysfunctional Aoe family and their lovers. Aoe Reiji himself owns
the Blue Boy and is the only main character to appear in all eleven
volumes.
Cast
- Sakashita Izumi
- Sixteen years old, first appearance: Volume 1. Izumi was an
average high school kid interested in meeting girls. He is set up
on a blind date, thus meeting Takamiya Katsura,
a handsome, older man. Izumi tries to back out, but he finds
himself going out with Takamiya anyway and actually enjoying
himself. As it would turn out, Takamiya was originally supposed to
meet another person also named “Izumi” from a high-class gay dating
club. Although Izumi opposes the idea of a homosexual relationship throughout most
of the first volume, he finds himself slowly falling for Takamiya
and eventually comes to terms with himself, loving Takamiya for the
person he is. Still, Izumi is rather skittish about his
relationship with Takamiya and often rejects the older man’s
advances.
- Takamiya Katsura
- Twenty-eight years old, first appearance: Volume 1. He first
met Sakashita Izumi when he was originally supposed to meet Yanase
Izumi (see below), but fell in love the high schooler anyway. He is
very kind, gentle, considerate, cares about Izumi’s feelings, and
is enthusiastic to win Izumi’s heart. Although he often pushes his
young lover’s boundaries, he doesn’t violate them. In a poll once
hosted by Biblos, Takamiya got the most votes for
someone female readers would want to marry. He and Reiji met while
in college in England.
- Aoe Reiji
- Twenty-eight years old, first appearance: Volume 1. He’s the
owner of several establishments and businesses, including the Blue
Boy, the gay dating club responsible for Izumi and Takamiya’s
happiness together. He’s also a long-time friend of Takamiya’s. Aoe
is work-obsessed and often cold to those around him (particularly
Izumi), but his actions and words always mean well. Reiji himself
had topped the polls for the favorite seme in Biblos during Love Mode's run.
- Shirakawa Naoya
- First appearance: Volume 2. Orphaned at a young age when his parents died in
an auto accident (a traumatic experience that haunted
him for years), he was taken in by Aoe Reiji, “out of kindness.” As
a result of Aoe’s charity, he fell in love with the older man.
Naoya is well obedient to Aoe, and his brother Kiichi (see below).
Naoya is often attributed to a cat (he also adopted a kitten
Gyoku), known simply as the 'kitten' when people talk about Reiji's
lover.
- Yanase Izumi
- First appearance: Volume 1. The “other” Izumi Takamiya was
supposed to meet with from Aoe’s club. He’s tender and soft-spoken.
He has a very troubled past: He was brutally raped at the age of thirteen because his parents
couldn’t repay a Yakuza debt.
He meets and falls in love with Arashi (see below), but couldn’t
decide if he could fully express himself to him because he feared
Arashi’s family couldn’t cope with their gay son, and because of his past. Due to his health
problems and his falling in love with Arashi, Izumi retires from
Blue Boy.
- Iketani Arashi
- First appearance: Volume 3. He’s a carefree, laid-back, playful
high schooler who thinks Yanase Izumi is cute, even though he’s a
guy. Even after learning of Izumi’s troubled past, he lets Izumi
know he doesn’t care about it and that he loves Izumi for who he is
now, and even offers himself to ease the pain.
- Aoe Kiichi
- Thirty-one years old, first appearance: volume 2. A doctor, Aoe
Reiji’s elder brother, the self-professed "Queen of Aoe", and a
close friend of Yanase Izumi and Naoya, both of whom he tenderly
endears. He thinks of Naoya as another brother. Kiichi is always
concerned about Reiji, and is often pokey about his (other’s)
business. He’s playful, too. He's the one who came up with the
kitten nickname for Naoya. He served once as doctors to both Yanase
Izumi and Saginuma Tomoki.
- Kashima Haruomi
- Twenty-eight years old, first appearance: volume 3. He’s the offspring of a family who
previously served the “Aoe” family. He is the adopted, elder
brother of Kashima Shuei (see below), current housekeeper of “Aoe,” and Kiichi’s personal
bodyguard and lover. He
was prepared for his position since childhood, as he learned
several kinds of martial arts and other essential abilities
(it’s somewhat of a tradition for any member of “Aoe”). Haroumi is
generally calm and solemn, in contrast to Kashima.
- Kashima Shuei
- Twenty-seven years old, first appearance: Volume 2. He is Aoe
Reiji’s personal secretary, and works for the “Aoe” house, like
Haruomi. He's one of the most carefree individuals in Love
Mode, seemingly immune to Reiji's anger and readily joining in
Kiichi's antics. He’s also the only heterosexual guy in the entire
series.
- Takimura Rin
- First appearance: Volume 7. He’s a host of Aoe’s Blue Boy, and
became the number one uke after
Yanase Izumi retired. He’s cute, but has a nasty temper, and he
accepts only high-class customers and doesn’t welcome sexual
relationship requests. However, since Ian (see below) has signed
him up for a long-term contract, it seems Ian is the only club
member Rin has ever actually had any relationship with. Rin is
reserved and well mannered, but easily irritated when coupling with
Ian. He was raised by Jin (see below), who is Rin’s primary
consultant in several matters.
- Ian Sanders
- Seventeen years old, first appearance: Volume 7. Even at the
age of seventeen, he is one of the world’s most famous
super-models. He requested Izumi of the Blue Boy, but got Rin
instead. Ian is a passionate young man, and bursting with energy
and testosterone,
which Rin doesn’t take too well to.
- Katsuki Kyosuke
- First appearance: Volume 7. The “Wild Boar” of the series, he falls
in love with Jin (see below) at first sight. Katsuki looks to
become a host at Blue Boy, with Jin as his personal
trainer. He’s friends with Seiichi (see below), and he also
cries easily when he’s drunk.
- Kuniaki Jinnai
- Thirty-six years old, first appearance: Volume 6. Called “Jin”
for short, he’s the oldest host at Blue Boy. He’s also the number
two seme, after Seiichi (see
below). His first love was originally an Arab prince. Jin never shared
his love for over an entire decade, until he met Katsuki.
- Saginuma Tomoki
- 1 Fourteen years old, first appearance: Volume 6. He was the
son of a famous actress, but his existence was never revealed.
Suffering from a terminal illness, he wanted to know
what it was like to be truly loved as his last wish. Kiichi was his
doctor, and hired Seiichi, whom Tomoki first met at a hospital when
Seiichi went to see Yanase Izumi, to be his lover for two weeks.
This came to a screeching halt when Tomoki’s sickness got the
better of him. But he decided to return home instead of the
hospital, and lived the final chapter of his life with Seiichi. To
date, Tomoki is most likely the youngest client Blue Boy has ever
had.
- Amagai Seiichi
- First appearance: Volume 6. He’s the number one on the seme
side of the Blue Boy. Kiichi hired him to be young Tomoki’s lover
for a two-week period, and was confused about his feelings toward
the boy after the contract expired prematurely. Seiichi followed
Jin’s advice to retire from Blue Boy and stay with Tomoki as a
spouse, but returned to work after Tomoki predeceased him. He is
also good friends with Katsuki.
- Aoe Shougo
- Reiji and Kiichi's father, and the person responsible for the
existence of the Blue Boy. A coldly manipulative and sadistic person, he enjoyed
profiting off the misery and ruin of others. He had almost no
relationship with either of his sons and only saw value in Reiji,
whom he believed could both run the family and carry on the Aoe
name. He saw Kiichi as more of something just there and
imprisoned him on the family grounds for a few years. Though Shougo
ended up leaving everything to Reiji, Reiji only took hold of the
businesses and gave the Aoe estate to Kiichi.
External
links
Biblos
Wikis
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