Wild Rock
Encyclopedia
Wild Rock is an explicit yaoi
manga created by Kazusa Takashima
and is published in English by Blu Manga, the boys love publishing division of Tokyopop
. It is published in Spain by Ediciones La Cúpula, in France by Taifu Comics, and in German by Carlsen Manga. In May 2007, Wild Rock was re-released in print in Japan called the Libre Edition. This volume includes a new story that is a sequel to the extra story Child Rock.
, involving two rival tribes, the East Forest Tribe and the Lakeside Tribe and the budding romance between the leaders sons, Emba and Yuuen.
The book is divided into three parts:
The first focuses on Emba and Yuuen. Yuuen is the second son to the East Forest Chief, Yuni, and seems incapable of aiding his tribe with the hunting. As they lose more of their game to the Lakeside Tribe, most specifically that Tribe heir Emba, Yuni forces Yuuen to act and gain Emba's favor, thus giving their Tribe a chance to hunt. Yuuen is thus required to dress as a woman (as he has effeminate features) and distract Emba. However, both young men fall in love with each other for real and Yuuen grows increasingly guilty at deceiving Emba. This guilt nearly consumes him when Emba becomes seriously injured saving his life, and much is left to wonder if they will ever be together, coming from different tribes and Yuuen supposedly getting Emba's attention by pretending to be a girl.
The second story, Innocent Lies, is a prequal to the first story, following Yuni and Emba's father Selem as younger men. The two meet when Yuni falls into an animal trap set up by Selem and they are forced into each other's company as Selem nurses him back to health. While Selem is aware that Yuni is the heir to the East Forest Tribe, Yuni doesn't know at first that Selem is the heir to the Lakeside Tribe. As they spend more time with each other, the feelings between them grow stronger in spite of the positions the two of them are in. Sadly, even as they acknowledge their feelings, neither man is willing to turn his back on his fate.
The third story, Child Rock, takes place some years after the events in Wild Rock, as Yuuen and Emba spend the day together babysitting their baby nephew Nava (the child of Yuuen's brother and Emba's sister).
Japanese Seiyū:
Yuuen: Jun Fukuyama
Emba: Toshiyuki Morikawa
Yuni (younger): Yamaguchi Kappei
Selem (younger): Miki Shinichirou
Yuni (older): Inoue Kazuhiko
Selem (older): Kosugi Juurouta
Yuuli (Yuuen's older brother): Takahashi Hiroki
Yaoi
In careful Japanese enunciation, all three vowels are pronounced separately, for a three-mora word, . The English equivalent is . also known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by...
manga created by Kazusa Takashima
Kazusa Takashima
is a Japanese manga artist, famous for her yaoi manga. After being a doujinshi artist from 1999–2000, she became an official manga artist in 2001 with her series Harlem Beat wa Yoake Made being serialized in Monthly Asuka. It was later published in 2002 by Kadokawa. In addition to this, she has...
and is published in English by Blu Manga, the boys love publishing division of Tokyopop
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
. It is published in Spain by Ediciones La Cúpula, in France by Taifu Comics, and in German by Carlsen Manga. In May 2007, Wild Rock was re-released in print in Japan called the Libre Edition. This volume includes a new story that is a sequel to the extra story Child Rock.
Plot summary
The story is set in prehistoryPrehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
, involving two rival tribes, the East Forest Tribe and the Lakeside Tribe and the budding romance between the leaders sons, Emba and Yuuen.
The book is divided into three parts:
The first focuses on Emba and Yuuen. Yuuen is the second son to the East Forest Chief, Yuni, and seems incapable of aiding his tribe with the hunting. As they lose more of their game to the Lakeside Tribe, most specifically that Tribe heir Emba, Yuni forces Yuuen to act and gain Emba's favor, thus giving their Tribe a chance to hunt. Yuuen is thus required to dress as a woman (as he has effeminate features) and distract Emba. However, both young men fall in love with each other for real and Yuuen grows increasingly guilty at deceiving Emba. This guilt nearly consumes him when Emba becomes seriously injured saving his life, and much is left to wonder if they will ever be together, coming from different tribes and Yuuen supposedly getting Emba's attention by pretending to be a girl.
The second story, Innocent Lies, is a prequal to the first story, following Yuni and Emba's father Selem as younger men. The two meet when Yuni falls into an animal trap set up by Selem and they are forced into each other's company as Selem nurses him back to health. While Selem is aware that Yuni is the heir to the East Forest Tribe, Yuni doesn't know at first that Selem is the heir to the Lakeside Tribe. As they spend more time with each other, the feelings between them grow stronger in spite of the positions the two of them are in. Sadly, even as they acknowledge their feelings, neither man is willing to turn his back on his fate.
The third story, Child Rock, takes place some years after the events in Wild Rock, as Yuuen and Emba spend the day together babysitting their baby nephew Nava (the child of Yuuen's brother and Emba's sister).
Drama CD
In November 2002, a drama cd of Wild Rock was released in Japan. The cd follows the events of the original manga very closely, however the tracks go in chronological order of the story, starting with Innocent Lies, then Wild Rock and finally Child Rock.Japanese Seiyū:
Yuuen: Jun Fukuyama
Jun Fukuyama
is a voice actor. He was previously represented by Aoni Production and Production Baobab, and is now represented by . In 2007, he won the first Seiyu Awards for the best actor in leading role as Lelouch Lamperouge in Code Geass...
Emba: Toshiyuki Morikawa
Toshiyuki Morikawa
is a prolific Japanese male voice actor from Yokohama, Kanagawa, was affiliated with Arts Vision. Lately, however, he has become the head of that a voice actor company he founded in Apr 2011. His name is also sometimes mistranslated as Tomoyuki...
Yuni (younger): Yamaguchi Kappei
Selem (younger): Miki Shinichirou
Yuni (older): Inoue Kazuhiko
Selem (older): Kosugi Juurouta
Yuuli (Yuuen's older brother): Takahashi Hiroki