“Dear My Killer Tune”: A Look At Falling For Your Idols

Read on Renta!:
Dear My Killer Tune by Iyada

Japanese Title:
ディアマイキラーチューン

Links:
Iyada’s Twitter
Iyada’s Pixiv
Animate International Twitter
B-BOY P! Twitter (JP Publisher)

Iyada’s Dear My Killer Tune first caught my attention the second it was brought to Renta!—not because of the great art or the eye-catching cover or the intriguing description. No, when it was brought to Renta!, Sou sent me a screencap of one of the main characters, Haru. “This looks like something you’d like,” they said, referring to his pretty face and giant floofy hairstyle. And they were right.

Dear My Killer Tune is the story of Harutaka, a 26-year-old hair stylist who’s been obsessed with the rock band The Lazy Rats since he was a child. He’s in their fanclub, and he goes to every show. And, while he loves all the members, he’s particularly obsessed with their guitarist, 43-year-old Himemiya. So when, the day after their concert, Hime suddenly shows up at the salon where Haru works, Haru can barely handle it—especially since, while Hime was originally there to have his hair done by Haru’s boss, he ends up asking Haru to do it for him. Pleased with the haircut and enamored by Haru’s skill, enthusiasm as his fan, and awkward allure, Hime can’t help but continue to think back on him every time he touches his hair. As fate continues to push the two together, though, as much as Haru is ecstatic to be closer to the man he’s idolized for years, he can sense his emotions for Hime taking a turn for the more intense—and more greedy. But public figures belong to all their fans, so what is Haru supposed to do?

Going into it, I was curious how it would handle the power difference between Haru and Hime. Wish fulfillment storylines about meeting your favorite idol or actor or musician or model and them falling in love with you are a dime a dozen, and they usually don’t touch on the more serious aspects of moving from “fan” to “romantic interest”—the power imbalance, the parasocial relationship, etc. However, Iyada seemed up to the challenge, fully facing the difference between fans who see their idols as objects of worship, and those who want to see and get to know them as people.

For instance, I really liked the difference between Haru and his fellow fan Izumi. When Haru met Hime, he instantly felt endeared to him by the gap between Hime’s stage persona and his real personality. When Izumi met her favorite member, however, it freaked her out and she ran away. While I feel like her behavior could easily be written off as rude or selfish, I appreciated the empathetic way Iyada handled Izumi as a character, with Izumi explaining that The Crazy Rats were a comfort for her through many of the hardest times in her life, and she doesn’t necessarily want to tarnish those memories by adding the human element of the band members as people. (I’m sure we’ve all experienced the misfortune of a famous person we like turning out to be Not So Great…) She doesn’t want to know them—a belief that Haru can empathize with but not relate to, as at this point he’s already spent hours and days of his life getting to know Hime, and there’s no going back.

I also really love the characters in general. Actually, similar to my recent review for Kaibashira’s The Doggy and the Fairy Prince, I got kind of jump scared by the actual roles for the main couple—I 100% went into this manga thinking, if there even was a bottom, it would definitely be Haru. But actually, you can tell in later chapters that the bottom is meant to be Hime! While I’m not a huge proponent of oyaji bottom, though, it doesn’t really faze me so much with Haru and Hime—Hime is very cute and endearing, after all, in his own old man chain-smoker guitarist way. I don’t even know how to explain it. He’s just cute. Since Haru and Hime are both cute, while I’d usually be disappointed that the roles weren’t how I originally imagined them, I’m not so fussed this time around.

But it’s not just Haru and Hime who’re really cute—the whole cast is wonderful. I already mentioned his fellow fan Izumi, who was so sweet and supportive, even after finding out Haru’d secretly been meeting with Hime. The rest of The Crazy Rats’ members are also great, and it’s really fun watching them interact and rally behind Hime as he struggles to understanding his blossoming affection for Haru. Haru’s boss unknowingly pushing them together without even realizing Haru is a massive fan of Hime’s band was a cute touch, and made it feel weirdly more realistic than the usual type of “celebrity falling in love with a fan” story.

As I hinted before, this book is actually quite chaste—Haru and Hime need to figure out what they even want from their relationship before they can consider getting sexual. Are they bandmember and fan? Are they hairdresser and customer? Are they just random acquaintances? Are they friends? Are they interested in taking their relationship even further? Because of this, any spicy content is relatively mild and relegated to the end of the book. (This is when I realized Hime was definitely meant to bottom…) There’s a lot more focus on the two’s emotions as they get to know each other rather than any physical relationship they may have.

But it still feels very much like a BL manga, so no worries there—all of the scenes with Haru and Hime hanging out are adorable, and it’s honestly a joy watching them interact. Haru buying cheesy little ceramic rats just because they made him think of The Crazy Rats was so incredibly relatable as an otaku (who among us hasn’t bought little trinkets and accessories because it reminds them of their oshi? ), and having Hime more and more endeared by every silly thing Haru does made what’s left of my jaded maiden heart swoon.

Plus, one nice things is… it’s ongoing! It must have been picked up for a continuation due to its popularity, since it seems it was originally intended to be complete with one volume. However, it’s currently still running on Pixiv Comics and is up to 11 chapters! Sadly, chapters seven and eight are no longer available to read, so hopefully the compiled version comes out soon! Make sure to follow Iyada’s Twitter account for updates and wonderful new artwork and roughs posted regularly.

However, I hope the fact that it’s getting a continuation doesn’t prevent anyone from reading it. The first volume doesn’t end on any kind of cliffhanger, so you can happily check it out without feeling blue-balled at the end. The following volumes are just a nice bonus for those who—similar to me—really liked the story and were excited to see more!

It would also be remiss of me to not mention Iyada’s wonderful artwork. Iyada’s linework is incredibly expressive and slightly grungy, and it blends so well with the fact that it’s about rock music and its surrounding fandom. All of the characters just look like super cool vintage rockstars. The visuals are so cohesive, and add a lot to the atmosphere.

Overall, especially if you’ve ever been hardcore into music in the past, this is such a wonderful and fun and nostalgic-feeling read. If you’re into story-centered BL with large casts of endearing characters, I recommend picking this one up—especially if you love oyaji uke, since that’s just over the horizon and Hime is honestly… so cute… Almost as cute as Haru! /still in denial