Dousei Yankee Akamatsu Seven

Read 7 Chapters

Introduction
Dousei Yankee Akamatsu Seven introduces us to the school delinquent Aisuke Akamatsu picking a fight with another man named Kanzaki Seven at a playground. As we witness Akamatsu putting a good fight, he fails miserably in the end and gets beaten up instead.
As the story progresses it becomes clear that Seven who won the fight is a homeless man who lives on the playground. Akamatsu found out about it and was creeped out at first but couldn’t let go who Seven as a person is, as Akamatsu observed him in the next several days.
Eventually the pipe in which Seven sleeps gets removed, Akamatsu realizes that they wouldn’t be able to fight anymore once Seven is gone therefore while lying on the ground with a bloody nose from their supposedly last fight Akamatsu asked: “Why don’t you come to my House. […]” (Summary of Ch. 1)

Artstyle & Story
At first, people might not be used to such an art style in the BL genre. At least, that’s how I felt when I read it for the first time but isn’t it more the reason to be intrigued seeing a different art style shaking things up in the genre as well as giving the manga a unique identity.
It is all thanks to the shounen artist Hiromasa Okushima who collaborated with the BL writer SHOOWA (who is also a mangaka). His style omits an 80s - 90s shounen style. Not only is he able are portray the characters as modern manly delinquents, he is also able to time comedic elements with his paneling.
This is a very mundane thing to say but here you are able to see background images like buildings, interior of rooms, and so on which is normally left out in most BL manga. Therefore, everything has more depth, is livelier and the pages feel much fuller.
Even if you don’t like the art style, you get used to it fairly quick because of the story which is the core element of the whole manga.
Aside of the artist, Hiromasa Okushima we have the veteran BL mangaka, SHOOWA, but this time they focus solely on the writing. With several releases under their belt, they certainly know what they do.
The greatest strength lies within the banter and shenanigans between the characters. You will never have a boring moment because the interactions between the characters are always humorous. It also feels natural to see them trying to navigate through everyday life and the figuring things out on their own.
That’s why the heartfelt moments have more impact and give the right amount of development.

SHOOWA's Manga

Conclusion
Overall, the manga is a nice change especially in the art style department. Apart from it, you also get a story you can enjoy with the various funny situations as well as the more heartfelt moments between the characters.
This manga might not be for you if you’re more interested in traditional BLs, with the typical archetypes and “pretty boys”. But for everyone, especially to those who want to experience something new or want to broaden their horizon should definitely read Dousei Yankee Akamatsu Seven.