Turning tropes on their heads with Kaibashira’s “The Doggy And The Fairy Prince”

Read on Renta!:
The Doggy And The Fairy Prince by Kaibashira

Japanese:
おくりワンちゃん
Okuri Wanchan

Links:
Kaibashira Twitter
PriaL Twitter (publisher)

I think from my presence on the BLog so far, I’ve made it pretty clear that I love BL, tropes and all. I know a lot of people hate that BL as a genre is so trope-laden—smol uke characters with long lashes, massive seme character with pointy chins, private school boys who scream from the rooftops that they’re “totally not gay bro” while simultaneously lusting after their male childhood friend from puberty and sleeping with their dorm roommate, etc. For me, though, I like those tropes—maybe because they cater pretty heavily to my personal tastes, granted. All this to say, I’m not necessarily a BL reader who desires to read BL that are anti-trope. I love the smol pretty uke boys. Give me all of the smol pretty uke boys.

So, when I first saw the cover for The Doggy And The Fairy Prince, I originally thought that was what I would get: cute twink-y bowlcut boy on the cover with his big dudebro boyfriend. Great. Cute. “Can’t wait to see this boy get railed!” I thought to myself. However, I then realized the little bowlcut twink (hereon referred to by his name, Sho) actually tops the massive dumb dudebro (Kuniaki), to which I was originally pretty disappointed. I ended up having to spend a long time with this manga during the final editing process, however, and while I was originally disappointed I didn’t get what I thought I wanted, what I did get was actually even better: an absolute comedic masterpiece.

The story of The Doggy And The Fairy Prince is a oneshot that follows two art students, Kuniaki Sako and Sho Shioya. Kuniaki is a dumb party boy, hated by nearly all his peers for being loud and rude and annoying. Sho, on the other hand, is petite and polite and sweet, and pretty much universally loved and protected by his fellow art majors. After a department drinking party, Kuniaki wakes up to an incredibly supple, sexy body with a cute, tight ass (the head and face covered by the futon) and is initially excited—until he realizes the body belongs to Sho. He knows he’s in deep shit if he laid his hands on the angelic fairy prince of the art department, but he was too drunk to remember anything that happened.

Sho, however, seems keen on sticking with him. When Kuniaki heads back to Sho’s place to return his shirt (which he took without asking), Sho actually admits he’s always respected Kuniaki—ever since Kuniaki sold him his masterpiece sculpture (read: forced it on him for $10). In fact, he doesn’t just respect Kuniaki, he’s got a crush on him. When Kuniaki realizes he and Sho maybe did get a bit down and dirty the night before, he’s willing to “pick up where they left off”—except, he didn’t realize they “left off” with Sho’s fingers in his ass.

But hey, maybe this “prostate” thing ain’t so bad!

There are a lot of things that really stand out to me in this manga, but the first is how Kuniaki and Sho’s personalities don’t dictate their sexual prowess. Because of his pretty face and sweet personality, you’d think Sho would be timid in the bedroom, but he’s more than happy to take the lead in servicing Kuniaki. And not in a yandere way—no, his personality doesn’t do a 180° at all. Kuniaki, on the other hand, doesn’t top just because he’s big—in fact, his lazy selfishness makes him the perfect “receiver,” more than happy to lie back and take in Sho’s affection. It makes them both feel multidimensional, which is quite the feat considering this is only a one-shot.

Also, I just love the fact that their sexuality never really comes into play. Kuniaki is just open to anything and has few complaints, which is great. I’m happy for him.

Kuniaki is just such a funny character—the type of dumb guy you meet in your college classes who’s disruptive and annoying but so fun and entertaining you can’t really hate him. It’s easy to see why someone as sweet and proper as Sho would fall for someone so free-spirited. They’re both also kind of dumb boys, but in very different ways—Kuniaki is a dumbass and a swindler, and Sho is just an innocent airhead. So somehow they just naturally get along great even though they’re incredibly different.

Overall, this manga is just really sweet, really dumb, and really funny. I’m usually not a huge fan of the “make the bottom top” trope when it comes to BL, but Kuniaki and Sho’s personalities just work so well with this plot and it’s executed in such an endearing way that I can’t help but fall for it regardless. In just one short chapter Kaibashira made me fall for both characters with ease, from Kuniaki’s ugly dog sculpture to Sho’s nasty olive oil lube destroying the bedsheets. This is definitely a one-shot I’ll read over and over and over.

But, wait…! There’s more! Evidently I wasn’t the only person who was instantly endeared to this Kaibashira masterpiece, so there’s actually a continuation titled おくりワンちゃんっ—as in, the same title, but now with a small っ at the end lol. So there’s plenty more of Kuniaki and Sho to go around. If just one chapter doesn’t satisfy you, we have all the way through chapter four of the continuation already in the translation stage, so there’s lots more to look forward to!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this manga as much as I did. The characters are wonderful, Kaibashira’s sense for comedy is peak, and the ero scenes are sexy, silly, and sweet all at the same time. A truly wonderful BL manga!