The Desert Prince (review)

The Desert Prince by Shushushu Sakurai

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


****The Desert Prince: Zaeek, also referred to as The Desert Prince has always felt disillusioned with life; that there's something missing. Pressured to marry, he escapes to the desert where after a mishap with his camel, he meets Haruto. Haruto is an archeology student on a search for 'The Desert Rose'. He comes upon Zaeek, offering him water and bread. Zaeek moved by Haruto's kindness decides to make him his bride. Haruto manages to escape, but his supposed happiness is temporary...because his prince has traveled a long way to get back his bride to be.



Okay, this is my favorite merely because I'm a sucker for Sheikh stories. I liked that Zaeek is so over the top, going to extremes to prove his love for Haruto. Haruto is just overwhelmed; trying to deal with Zaeek's overzealous and fiery overtures, but he's a sweet and down to earth kind of guy.



****Spoiled Hero, Shining Knife & Howling Crook, Cherry Blossom Blizzard: These 2 shorts are a combination of old fashioned Yakuza traditions with a modern gangster flair. The sex scenes are very hot and raunchy, with a sexy guy wearing a fundoshi as a bonus (slurp).



Nuinosuke is a 19yr. old who is to become the successor of the Ootsuka Clan and Ryuhei is the temporary leader and Nuino's current guardian. Ryuhei is doggedly tenacious in his protection of Nuino; there is no limit to what lengths he'll go to, to keep him safe. Nuino believes he'll get some freedom-and out of Ryuhei's watchful eye-now that he's going to be attending school. But a rival clan has his eye on Ryuhei, so now Nuino has to show Ryuhei where he really belongs.



***Hold My Soul: This is a tender story about a man trying to repay a kindness. Shoichi is a 27yr. old freelance systems engineer. He gets a surprise when a salesman-Tanaka-tries to sell him a roll away bed. After hearing the exhorbitant price, he agrees to pay it-if Tanaka takes care of the household chores, then sewing his shirts, preparing his meals and satisfying his sexual needs. Soichi starts wondering why Tanaka would go along with it, even go so far as not to take the payment for the items that he continues to bring to Shoichi's apartment. Tanaka suddenly disappears after Shoichi saves him from a dangerous situation at work. Now Shoichi's memory of a childhood friend is the key to realizing who Tanaka is.



***Mister Y's Lover: This story is really nice and sort of comical in a cute sort of way. It's a May-Dec. romance involving Takahiro, an older man in a relationship with Jesse, a young foreigner, who tutored Takahiro. The first story is a flashback of how they met; while the second is about their anniversary and Takahiro's reticence in giving himself fully to Jesse.



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