Dear Myself

After suffering from amnesia after a traffic accident at 14, Hirofumi suddenly regains his memory two years later—and forgets the events of his life while he had amnesia. To recover these memories, Hirofumi reads through a journal that he's kept, consisting of letters to himself, and finds out that for the past two years, he's had a boyfriend. Shocked to find out that he's gay, Hirofumi struggles with his forgotten past and his persistent boyfriend, Daigo, who refuses to give up their relationship. Eiki is the author of the previous yaoi manga The Art of Loving (and coincidentally, the granddaughter of former Japanese prime minister Noboru Takeshita), and she has a talent for depicting boys in love. She manages the sexual and romantic tension between her characters with grace, alluding to the passion and hormonal drive of adolescence through dialogue rather than graphic content. Her artistic style mixes the activity and energy typical of boys' love books for teens with the sophistication of titles normally reserved for older readers. The result reflects adolescent energy without cluttering the page. (Aug.)