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ELECTRIC BONES
from the creators of "always raining here" comes a neon-infused sci-fi yarn.
in a world of technological barriers transcended, laws have only tightened. robots navigate a politically tumultuous landscape hostile to their sentience.
a broken ship. a broken chassis. an 80-yr mystery. a prodigal prodigy and his sharp, brittle rival, poisonous and beautiful as a dart frog.
Two friends find their relationship tested when an unexpected fetish rears its head, leading to furtive trysts & a web of messy emotional entanglements: Keisuke—gruff, frugal, pathologically stubborn when it comes to asking for help; Shinoda—born to privilege, looks, and a meticulous education, he seeks small rebellions, mildly transgressive flings.
Add a fresh dose of adolescent libido and not quite saying what you mean, and you have an angsty smorgasbord of feels and pining.
Her best. Dramatic irony, tested and teased, withheld details come to fruition in a million pitch-perfect comedic beats, sexual tension you could cut w/ a knife, a rotating menagerie of friends/acquaintances, the perfect inciting incident and "meet cute"—god, I have so much love for this. Kon is refreshingly sexually frank. Iida—serious, reserved, a heartthrob—is slowly tortured to death by Kon's temptation. Frog boiling kettle thing. Perfection.
A deeply touching story about longing and homecoming, set against the backdrop of a little-known Japanese festival. Honjou Rie's full-page spreads are a sumptuous feast for the eyes, and she reverently and lovingly captures a colorful little microcosm of provincial Japan and its customs. Heartbreak, nostalgia and yearning are all palpably rendered on page; dreamlike sequences, wonderfully, surreally glissando, burst through the frames.
Of the myriad other high school stories out there, this feels the most authentic. It's evident the author dug deep into his own past to write a story this emotionally layered and complex. I don't even mind that the ending was wish fulfillment. The meat of the story lies in the night the two boys share before their separation, the morning after--the hedging, the longing, the use of inebriation and the excuse of "youthful fumblings" as a cover for your truest desires.