The Devil's Secret

A young man with horns on his head and a devil's tail appears in the garden of a church, but despite his demonic appearance, he captures the heart and sympathy of a kind parish priest. A stoic student teacher who only cares for things he finds useful is confused by the seemingly groundless affections of his excitable younger student. A text message goes unanswered for months as an uncertain college student wonders how to reply to his best friend's love confession. Hinako Takanaga tells these sweet stories of confusing love in The Devil's Secret, a pleasantly satisfying manga published by 801 Media that offers just enough tenderness and just enough steam without skimping on the characters or plot.

The first two chapters of The Devil's Secret tell the story of adorable Father Mauro, the priest of a small Catholic-esque church in an unnamed country, who one day finds a 17-year-old boy passed out in his garden. The boy, seventeen-year-old Raoul, just happens to have curled horns on his head and a black forked tail, though he claims not to know why. Despite his demonic appearance, Father Mauro takes Raoul in, since the young man was kicked out of his home and his school because of his strange looks. According to Raoul, Father Mauro is the only person who has ever believed Raoul isn't evil, and this understanding forms a bond between the two of them that quickly becomes more. Now, having been raised Catholic, it's a bit strange for me to see a priest falling into bed with very little hesitation, but then again, yaoi manga isn't exactly known for its meticulously realistic depictions of… well, anything! That little bit of weirdness is easy to overlook in favor of Raoul's horny little demon sexiness and Mauro's bespectacled, blushing faith in Raoul. The two make an incredibly adorable couple.

The other two stories mentioned above aren't quite as engaging as Raoul and Mauro are, and unfortunately, the priest and his demon only appear in about one third of the book (the fifth and last story focuses on a minor character from "The Devil's Secret," but to tell you about him would spoil the first story). In "Let's Do Something Useless!" we have a fairly typical story of a student teacher accosted by the boisterous crush of one of his students, but the story stands out from the rest of the teacher/student genre by actually having a little character development and some cute comedy. Much more endearing is the thoughtful and more melancholy short story "Before Winter Comes…". Told partly in flashback, this story shows the internal struggles of college freshman Tomono, who hangs on to an old text message sent by his high school best friend, Yuba. Tomono was never able to really respond to Yuba's confession of love, and even as they're apart, he can't seem to fully come to grips with it. You can almost hear the wistful piano background music that would accompany the narrative if it were read on a CD or animated. "Before Winter Comes…" is probably the strongest story in the book, told skillfully and terribly endearing though entirely sexless.

Hinako Takanaga tells beautiful little self-contained stories to make you laugh and warm your heart, sweet and satisfying without being too much or tugging too many heartstrings. She's fully capable of drawing lovely manga panels fraught with emotion and tension, but more often than not, her artwork is sketchy and almost seems unfinished. In contrast to this tendency is the fifth story, with elaborate backgrounds and page layouts that truly show off Takanaga-sensei's talent. If only the rest of the book looked just like the end!

With their standard print quality, a nice tight full-color dust jacket, a beautifully sexy color front page of Raoul and Mauro and solid, clear translation work, The Devil's Secret continues the tradition of quality we've come to expect from 801 Media. This company continues to produce the kind of adult, sexy manga that appeal to older yaoi readers, though it's nice to see light-hearted titles like this amid their more serious works like A Foreign Love Affair and The Prime Minister's Secret Diplomacy. Every now and then, you're just in the mood for a little sweet yaoi, and The Devil's Secret will certainly satisfy that sweet tooth -- without giving you cavities!