Ichigenme... The First Class is Civil Law


Ichigenme... The First Class is Civil Law is a mouthful of a title, and at 240
 pages in the first volume, a real handful of a book. Luckily, it's a great big handful of
 Fumi Yoshinaga's heartwarming, insightful love story between college law students, and a
 strong first release from Digital Manga Publishing's new adult imprint, 801 Media.



Straight-laced, studious Tamiya seems to be the only student at Teinou University Law
 School who actually pays attention in class, studies, and really wants to be a lawyer. The 
other students in his zemi -- seminar -- are the grown children of politicians,
 business owners and other rich and famous people. None of them need to work as hard as 
Tamiya, especially not carefree, curly-haired Toudou, son of a famously scandalous
 politician. The two meet for the first time at a party to kick off their two-year zemi,
 during which Toudou french-kisses Tamiya, completely unexpectedly! While Tamiya insists,
 in classic yaoi manga style, that he isn't gay, he does develop a warm friendship with
 Toudou depsite differences in class, background and dedication to school.



Over the next two years of law school, Toudou and Tamiya develop their friendship through
 interesting side stories involving the many richly-developed professors and classmates 
that fill Ichigenme's world. Yoshinaga-sensei's full, detailed cast of side
 characters plays a vital role in the development of the main characters and their 
relationship together, making Toudou and Tamiya realize and understand things about one 
another through others -- a very real and realistic way of telling their story. Slowly, 
Tamiya comes to realize that he might be gay after all, but does that mean that it's 
Toudou who he likes? 



The story of total-opposite college students falling in love might become trite and
 overused, if it weren't for Yoshinaga-sensei's artistic eye and storytelling style. He r
characters' expressions and body language say so much about their inner feelings, enabling 
her to create beautiful, touching scenes without a single word being spoken. The public
 scenes of Ichigenme, set mostly in college law classes, are quite heavy on the
 speech bubbles, but when Tamiya and Toudou are in private, the panels melt away into 
moment-by-moment images of shifting faces, brushing fingers and expressive eyes. 
Yoshinaga-sensei's skill and deep understanding of her 
characters make these silent scenes the most breathtaking moments in the manga, drawing 
the reader into anxious moments that pass heartbeat by heartbeat.



A manga as engaging as Ichigenme deserves a strong presentation, and 801 delivers
 with simple graphic design, good translations and a laid-back packaging that lets the
 manga speak for itself. Moving away from sister imprint Juné's oversized books, 
Ichigenme is sized very similar to Japanese manga volumes, which makes them a 
little shorter than Tokyopop/VIZ standards. A 
slick dustcover protects the book, with a cute illustration of Toudou and Tamiya on the 
front, and a title logo that doesn't overwhelm the image. The only real
 "extra" in the book is a full-color front page with a watercolor version of Chapter 3's
 cover image. On the back dustcover flap is a four-panel comic about one of 801's mascots, 
801-chan, and her boyfriend. It's a cool, fun, and thankfully relaxed presentation that 
lets Ichigenme stand on its own, and doesn't overwhelm the book with new-imprint
 branding.



Though I'm not familiar with the Japanese publication of Ichigenme, 801's English
 translation seemed strong, smooth and readable. For the most part, translation troubles 
were handled well: honorifics are all intact, sound effects are translated, and most
 Japanese text is translated in a separate box. On the very last page are several cultural 
notes and translation explanations which really help. However, the smaller, lighter text 
that is used for
 translating written Japanese, or for in-panel explanations and text outside speech 
bubbles, can be very cramped, tiny and hard to read. In crowded hallway or class scenes, 
the small size and lightness of this font can really distract from the scene as you
 struggle to make out all the little side comments. After the first couple of
 chapters this becomes less of an issue.



Of course, the best thing about Ichigenme is Fumi Yoshinaga's uniquely egaging
 storytelling and character development, her creation of a relationship her readers can 
root for. Each moment that Tamiya and Toudou grow closer leaves you breathlessly waiting 
for the next. The first volume of Ichigenme is a warm story of developing love that 
never skimps on the heart-pounding moments of sexual tension, drawing Toudou and Tamiya to 
a deeply satisfying conclusion, and a tantalizing promise of a more adult relationship in
 volume two. I know I can't wait to see these two grow up, and explore their relationship 
and each other even more deeply.