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His Favorite

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His Favorite
アイツの大本命
(Aitsu no Daihonmei)
GenreComedy, Romance, boys' love
Manga
Written bySuzuki Tanaka
Published byLibre Publishing
English publisher
MagazineMagazine Be × Boy
DemographicJosei
Original run2008 – present
Volumes13 (List of volumes)

His Favorite (アイツの大本命, Aitsu no Daihonmei) is a boys' love manga created by Suzuki Tanaka. The story follows Takahiko Satō, a handsome student that all the girls in his school idolize and adore, but who in turn has no real interest in them. He is in love with "his most favorite", Yoshio Yoshida, a fellow student who protected Satō from bullies when he was younger. However, as Yoshida is so close to Satō, all the girls at the school hate him. His Most Favorite was one of the first titles released in print by SuBLime, the yaoi imprint of Viz Media, under the title of His Favorite.[1] In August 2015 it was announced that His Favorite would be adapted as a live-action TV series.[2]

Characters

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  • Takahiko Satō is a handsome student who is idolized by all the girls at his school. However, he has no interest in them and considers fellow student Yoshio Yoshida "his most favorite." Four years previously, Satō was bullied by other students because he was overweight, but Yoshida protected him. Satō's parents then sent him to a school in England which turned out to be a fat camp which forced pupils to lose weight by, among other things, fighting wild animals. There he lost weight, shot up in height, and became the attractive figure he is now. He dotes on Yoshida, but he also has a sadistic streak and likes to play with Yoshida's fears. He eventually reveals his relationship with Yoshida to the school, but this seems to have no effect on the girls chasing after him.
  • Yoshio Yoshida is Satō's boyfriend. He's considered unattractive by their schoolmates because he's very short with an X-shaped scar on his face, which he got while protecting Satō in their younger days.[3] All the girls who love Satō hate Yoshida for spending so much time so close to their idol. Yoshida often worries about concealing his romantic relationship with Satō and protests when Satō is too affectionate at school. He also tries to rein in some of Satō's sadistic tendencies toward others. He's easily scared of ghosts, the supernatural, and haunted houses. After his relationship with Satō is made public, he finds himself even more at odds with the girls who are after Satō.
  • Hosaku Akimoto is one of Yoshida's friends. Unlike most of the male students he appears to be in a relationship, as he's seen dating his neighbour Yoko, although he insists they are just friends.
  • Makimura is another of Yoshida's friends. Desperate to get a girlfriend, Makimura constantly fails, partly due to his appearance, having pimples on his face. He pursues a series of different girls, and particularly tries to win the affections of Machiko Arima.
  • Yamanaka was once considered the second most popular boy at school, after Satō. He saw Satō as his rival for the favor of the girls at school. He made a pass at Yoshida to try to get at Satō, prompting Satō to strike back by spreading rumors that Yamanaka was a pervert, causing his popularity to fall. He is now in a new relationship with Torachin.
  • Tsuyako Ijuin is a former member of the fat camp that Satō attended, the only other Japanese student there. Like Satō, she's also a sadist, though she remarks that Satō differs in his sadism because he's bored by people who obey him. Tsuyako is from a wealthy family and has odd ways of showing affection.
  • The Nozawa Twins are an older sister and younger brother who represent the school's art club. Both of them often want to draw Yoshida and Satō, pestering them until they agree.
  • Toranosuke "Torachin" Takahashi is a friend of Yoshida's since junior high school. His real name is Toranosuke, but he was nicknamed "Torachin" because there were two Toranosukes in their class. Similarly Torachin nicknamed Yoshida "Yoshi-Yoshi" because there were two Yoshidas in the class. He has difficulty attracting girls because he looks tough and intimidating, but later he seems to form a relationship with Yamanaka.
  • Murakami becomes the second most popular guy in school after Yamanaka falls from grace. He secretly enjoys cross-dressing and thinks he makes a better-looking girl than any of the others at school.
  • Seijuro Nishida is an openly gay student who's also in love with Yoshida. He appears to be Satō's opposite in character: Nishida is earnest, friendly, and helpful, even heroic. He and Satō battle over Yoshida, sometimes at school, which other students interpret as a comedy routine.
  • Machiko Arima is the president of the student council who is also in love with Satō. She uses her position to organize events so that she has a chance of winning, where being alone with Satō is the main prize. Makimura is in love with her.
  • Takeru Azuma is a male transfer student who used to be in a relationship with Nishida since the age of five. He is still in love with Nishida and thus considers Yoshida a rival for his affections. Satō thus tries to get Nishida to like Azuma again.

Media

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His Favorite began serialization in 2008. The first tankōbon volume was released in Japan by Libre Publishing on July 18, 2008. So far ten volumes have been published. The series was released in English by SuBLime, with the first volume being released on September 11, 2012.[4] In August 2015 a series of live-action commercials were made to commemorate the release of the ninth volume.[2] Kōta Torii played Yoshida, and Takeaki Isowa played Sato.[5]

No. Original release date Original ISBN English release date English ISBN
1 July 18, 2008 [6]9784862634337September 11, 2012 [7]9781421543512
  • "His Favorite—act. 1"
  • "His Favorite—act. 2"
  • "His Favorite—act. 3"
  • "His Favorite—act. 4"
  • "People-Pleaser"
  • "Trivial Trivia"
  • "Postscript"
2 February 10, 2009 [8]9784862635396December 11, 2012 [9]9781421543529
  • "His Favorite—act. 5"
  • "His Favorite—act. 6"
  • "His Favorite—act. 7"
  • "A Turtle’s Love Is Eternal"
  • "Love or Bust"
  • "In the Pursuit of Art"
  • "Postscript"
3 January 9, 2010 [10]9784862637192March 12, 2013[11]9781421543574
  • "His Favorite—act. 8"
  • "His Favorite—act. 9"
  • "His Favorite—act. 10"
  • "His Favorite—act. 11"
  • "His Favorite—act. 12"
  • "Good vs. Evil"
  • "Postscript"
4 December 10, 2010 [12]9784862638816June 11, 2012[13]9781421543581
  • "His Favorite—act. 13"
  • "His Favorite—act. 14"
  • "His Favorite—act. 15"
  • "His Favorite—act. 16"
  • "Postscript"
5 April 10, 2012 [14]9784799711088September 10, 2013[15]9781421555492
  • "His Favorite—act. 17"
  • "His Favorite—act. 18"
  • "His Favorite—act. 19"
  • "His Favorite—act. 20"
  • "His Favorite—act. 21"
  • "Postscript"
6 April 10, 2013 [16]9784799713037January 14, 2014[17]9781421543499
  • "His Favorite—act. 22"
  • "His Favorite—act. 23"
  • "His Favorite—act. 24"
  • "His Favorite—act. 25"
  • "His Favorite—act. 26"
  • "His Type"
  • "Postscript"
7 April 10, 2014 [18]9784799714942September 9, 2014[19]9781421558929
  • "His Favorite—act. 27"
  • "His Favorite—act. 28"
  • "His Favorite—act. 29"
  • "Postscript"
8 January 10, 2015 [20]9784799724743January 12, 2016[21]9781421584232
  • "His Favorite—act. 30"
  • "His Favorite—act. 31"
  • "His Favorite—act. 32"
  • "His Favorite—act. 33"
  • "Torachin and Yamanaka Update"
  • "Still Much Ado on the School Field Trip"
  • "Postscript"
9 September 10, 2015 [22]9784799726587June 14, 2016[23]9781421588551
  • "His Favorite—act. 34"
  • "His Favorite—act. 35"
  • "His Favorite—act. 36"
  • "His Favorite—act. 37"
  • "His Favorite—act. 38"
  • "After the Fireworks"
  • "Postscript"
10 December 10, 2016 [24]9784799731642January 9, 2018 [25]9781421593715
  • "His Favorite—act. 39"
  • "His Favorite—act. 40"
  • "His Favorite—act. 41"
  • "Peaceful Everyday Life"
11 August 10, 2019 [26]9784799744314November 12, 2020 [27]9781974715367
  • "His Favorite—act. 42"
  • "His Favorite—act. 43"
  • "His Favorite—act. 44"
  • "His Favorite—act. 45"
  • "His Favorite—act. 46"
  • "His Favorite—act. 47"
  • "His Favorite—act. 48"
  • "His Favorite—act. 48.5"
  • "School Trip Memories"
  • "Afterword"
12 April 9, 2021 [28]9784799752098May 10, 2022[29]9781974728923
  • "His Favorite—act. 49"
  • "His Favorite—act. 50"
  • "His Favorite—act. 51"
  • "His Favorite—act. 52"
  • "His Favorite—act. 53"
  • "His Favorite—act. 54"
  • "His Favorite—act. 55"
  • "They Ended Up Not Buying Any Sneakers"
  • "Afterword"
13 November 10, 2022[30]9784799760048
  • "His Favorite–act. 56"
  • "His Favorite–act. 57"
  • "His Favorite–act. 58"
  • "His Favorite–act. 59"
  • "His Favorite–act. 60"
  • "His Favorite–act. 61"
  • "The Hated Operetta"
  • "After the Festival"

Reception

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Ian Wolf of MyM magazine praised His Most Favorite writing that: "One interesting aspect is that Yoshida is not conventionally attractive because of a scar on his face which would put some people off. However the humour is good and the chemistry between the two works well."[31]

Shaenon K. Garrity, writing for Anime News Network, was mostly positive about the series. She praised the humour, the extended cast and the character development. Garrity however, also expressed annoyance for the lack of sex there was in His Most Favorite.[32]

References

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  1. ^ "Viz Launches SuBLime Boys-Love Manga Line with Love Pistols (Updated)". Anime News Network. October 22, 2011. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Libre Teases Live-Action Adaptation of Suzuki Tanaka's His Favorite Boys-love Manga". Anime News Network. August 30, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  3. ^ Tanaka, Suzuki (June 11, 2013). His Favorite. Vol. 4. SuBLime. pp. 50–52. ISBN 978-1-4215-4358-1.
  4. ^ "His Favorite V1". SuBLime. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  5. ^ "His Favorite Boys-love Manga Gets Live-Action TV Ad Campaign". Anime News Network. September 4, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  6. ^ 田中, 鈴木 (18 July 2008). アイツの大本命. ASIN 4862634338.
  7. ^ "SuBLime: Read a Free Preview of His Favorite, Vol. 1". Sublimemanga.com.
  8. ^ 田中, 鈴木 (10 February 2009). アイツの大本命 2. ASIN 4862635393.
  9. ^ "SuBLime: Read a Free Preview of His Favorite, Vol. 2". Sublimemanga.com.
  10. ^ 田中, 鈴木 (9 January 2010). アイツの大本命 3. ASIN 4862637191.
  11. ^ "SuBLime: Read a Free Preview of His Favorite, Vol. 3". Sublimemanga.com.
  12. ^ 田中, 鈴木 (10 December 2010). アイツの大本命 4. ASIN 4862638813.
  13. ^ "SuBLime: Read a Free Preview of His Favorite, Vol. 4". Sublimemanga.com.
  14. ^ 田中鈴, 木 (10 April 2012). アイツの大本命(5). ASIN 4799711083.
  15. ^ "SuBLime: Read a Free Preview of His Favorite, Vol. 5". Sublimemanga.com.
  16. ^ 田中, 鈴木 (10 April 2013). アイツの大本命6. ASIN 4799713035.
  17. ^ "SuBLime: Read a Free Preview of His Favorite, Vol. 6". Sublimemanga.com.
  18. ^ 田中, 鈴木 (10 April 2014). アイツの大本命7. ASIN 4799714945.
  19. ^ "SuBLime: Read a Free Preview of His Favorite, Vol. 7". Sublimemanga.com.
  20. ^ 田中, 鈴木 (10 January 2015). アイツの大本命8. ASIN 4799724746.
  21. ^ "SuBLime: Read a Free Preview of His Favorite, Vol. 8". Sublimemanga.com.
  22. ^ Amazon.co.jp: アイツの大本命 (9) (ビーボーイコミックス) : 田中 鈴木: Japanese Books. ASIN 4799726587.
  23. ^ "SuBLime: Read a Free Preview of His Favorite, Vol. 9". Sublimemanga.com.
  24. ^ 田中, 鈴木 (10 December 2016). アイツの大本命(10). ASIN 4799731645.
  25. ^ Tanaka, Suzuki (9 January 2018). His Favorite, Vol. 10. SuBLime. ISBN 978-1421593715.
  26. ^ 田中, 鈴木 (10 August 2019). アイツの大本命(11). ASIN 4799744313.
  27. ^ Tanaka, Suzuki (13 October 2020). His Favorite, Vol. 11. SuBLime. ISBN 978-1974715367.
  28. ^ 田中, 鈴木 (9 April 2021). アイツの大本命(12). ASIN 479975209X.
  29. ^ "SuBLime: Read a Free Preview of His Favorite, Vol. 12". Sublimemanga.com.
  30. ^ "アイツの大本命⑬" (in Japanese). Libre Shuppan. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  31. ^ Wolf, Ian (July 11, 2013), "Are You Ready for Yaoi Day?", MyM Magazine, no. 16, p. 65, retrieved January 16, 2014
  32. ^ Garrity, Shaenon K. (February 13, 2014). "House of 1000 Manga - His Favorite". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
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