31 December, 2003
FAKE, Vol. 1, Sanami Matoh (211 pp, PB, 1994)
One part buddy-cop action/comedy, one part gay romance: it's a premise which could easily result in a complete and utter manga disaster.[1] But, it really works! Judging from the first volume, no disaster is in the offing. [2] I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
FAKE opens with Japanese-American pretty-boy Randy Ryo McLean's arrival for his first day on the job as a New York City police detective. Reporting for duty at the Chief's office, he walks in on an altercation between the Chief and another detective, Dee Laytner. The Chief--who is in no mood to deal with either the new guy or the troublemaker--kills two birds with one stone and assigns McLean to be Laytner's new partner. (We never find out what happened to the previous one--requested a transfer, maybe?)
Dee takes an immediate shine to his new partner, insists on calling him "Ryo," and puts him to work on their first case, a drug-related homicide. This brings the pair into contact with the victim's ten-year-old son, Bikky (who Ryo eventually takes in as a foster son). The plot thickens when the crime boss behind the murder abducts Bikky and Dee, and Ryo has to rescue them. This bit establishes beyond a doubt that, while Ryo may look all girly, he's the baddest bad-ass in the tri-state area, managing to take on a house full of goons all by his lonesome. This, of course, is one of the canonical laws of Japanese comics--the prettiest man is always the most dangerous. Don't mess with the pretty-boys.
The next two cases introduce some more characters: Bikky's best friend Carol and Detective J.J. Adams, who's made a long-time habit of stalking Dee (who wants no part of the obnoxious, flaming J.J. [3]). We also see the relationship between the two main characters develop. It becomes obvious very quickly that bisexual Dee is an outrageous flirt, and that he has it bad for the guy who is rapidly becoming his best friend. Ryo, on the other hand, is not at all comfortable with this development. He's very much in denial about his own sexual orientation. (He thinks he's straighter than straight; if he's straight, I'm the bloody Queen of England. That boy is gayer than the day is long.) But, he finds that he's attracted to his tall, dark, and handsome partner in spite of himself. So, we've got our conflict nicely set up for the rest of the series. To add an additional obstacle to the romance, Bikky does not approve of this prospective relationship at all, and makes it his personal mission to "protect" his quasi-parent's virtue.
The volume closes with a less-serious side story about Carol & Bikky's adventures at summer camp.
So, now for the technical stuff. The best that can be said of the art in Volume 1 is that it's serviceable. It improves steadily over the course of the book, though, and by Volume 2, it's actually really good. In the writing category, Matoh excels from the start. She's got a real knack for combining the disparate elements of the series into a coherent, entertaining whole. (The publisher, Tokyopop, lists FAKE in the action/adventure, romance, comedy, and drama genres. That's four out of the eight they use in their marketing!) Finally, I've got to give Tokyopop props for the translation. They did a good job of making the characters sound like they're Americans--they use American slang and idiom. Purists might have issues with this, but from a readability perspective (which is where I'm coming from), it rocks.
[1] After I wrote this, my friend Josh pointed out, "What cop/buddy story isn't one part gay romance?" so maybe it's not such a weird premise after all.
[2] That is, assuming that you don't consider either buddy-cop action/comedy or gay romance to be inherently disastrous. If you do, then go read some Spider-man or something; I can't help you.
[3] That's flaming as in gay, not flaming as in Usenet.