Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Ten Count, Vol. 1
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 10/17/1989
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: Japanese
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.:
no2011060035
LCCN Permalink:
https://lccn.loc.gov/no2011060035
HEADING:
Takarai, Rihito
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__ |a IlMchBWI |b eng |c IlMchBWI
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1_ |a Takarai, Rihito
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1_ |a å®äº•ç†äºº
667
__ |a Non-Latin script reference not evaluated.
670
__ |a Tachibana, Venio. Seven days, Monday – Thursday, 2010: |b t.p. (written by Venio Tachibana)
670
__ |a OCLC, Apr. 14, 2011 |b (hdgs.: Takarai, Rihito = å®äº•ç†äºº)
PERSONAL
Born October 17, 1989, in Japan.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Manga artist and author.
WRITINGS
Also author and illustrator of the Seven Days series.
SIDELIGHTS
Rihito Takarai is a Japanese manga artist. Her genre of choice is yaoi, known alternatively as shounen ai or “boys’ love,” which typically depicts romantic and sexual relationships between two men. One of her most noteworthy series is Seven Days.
The Ten Count series’ first volume was released to English-speaking audiences in 2016. The series follows Shirotani, a young office employee who struggles with OCD. He fears infection and germs, to the point that he cannot help but wash his hands to the point of injury, and cannot interact with the world without disinfectant and a pair of gloves to cover his hands on a constant basis. He has never sought any sort of therapy for his illness. Rather, he has grown used to his condition and all that it entails. Through a twist of circumstance, he runs into Kurose, another young man, who specializes in the field of psychotherapy. Kurose is immediately drawn to Shirotani, and takes it upon himself to try and assist Shirotani. Kurose and Shirotani agree to hold pro bono therapy meetings at a café, with Kurose trying to befriend Shirotani instead of being his official therapist. During their first visit, Kurose asks Shirotani to devise a list. He must come up with ten things he cannot deal with. Kurose’s ultimate goal is to teach Shirotani how to approach each and every one of the situations that frighten him. The two men begin to form a bond, and Shirotani starts to allow Kurose into his world. Foreshadowing suggests, simultaneously, that Shirotani was not always as troubled as he is in the present story line. Kurose eventually grows worried over his blurring relationship with Shirotani and ends things between them, leaving Shirotani to pick up the pieces and figure out how to proceed with his life. His perceptions of Kurose become yet another facet of his life that he must try to conquer.
“Ten Count looks like an intriguing and potentially touching story,” remarked Rebecca Silverman, a contributor to the Anime News Network Web site. A writer on the Comics Worth Reading Web site commented that Ten Count “is the kind of yaoi manga I like—the kind with a plot beyond ‘let’s watch two cute guys make out.'” They also added that “it’s even based on a topic I’m immensely curious about.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer expressed that Ten Count is a “strong series that readers should take note of.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, September 5, 2016, review of Ten Count, Volume 1, p. 65.
ONLINE
Anime News Network, http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ (August 10, 2016), Rebecca Silverman, review of Ten Count, Volume 1.
Comics Worth Reading, http://comicsworthreading.com/ (July 31, 2016), review of Ten Count, Volume 1.
5/5/17, 3(38 PM
Print Marked Items
Ten Count, Vol. 1
Publishers Weekly.
263.36 (Sept. 5, 2016): p65. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Ten Count, Vol. 1
Rihito Takarai. Sublime Manga, $12.99 trade paper (178p) ISBN 978-1-4215-8802-5 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Shirotani is a white-collar worker who suffers from OCD, in the form of an obsession with cleanliness, but he tries to make the best of things. When he meets Kurose, a therapist willing to work with him off the books, the lives of both improve in a story arc that's as sweet to watch as it is informative about the disorder and its treatments. But when the two start falling for each other, Kurose pulls back for professional reasons, and Shirotani is forced to confront his issues alone--or die trying. Despite the series's mature rating, the first volume has little that could be inappropriate for teen readers. The psychology is spot-on, and the story and art are both permeated by a realism often missing from the "boys love" genre, showing why Takarai's previous work (Seven Days) has been translated into several languages. Though satisfyingly self-contained, this volume ends on a note that will leave readers eager for the next volume. A strong series that readers should take note of. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Ten Count, Vol. 1." Publishers Weekly, 5 Sept. 2016, p. 65. PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463513587&it=r&asid=cce2b0522f25eefea93ae1fce7f2fac1. Accessed 5 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A463513587
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Review
by Rebecca Silverman, Aug 10th 2016
Ten Count
GN 1
Synopsis:
Ten Count GN 1
Shirotani suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, fearing the contamination of the outside world to the point where he wears gloves at all times, washes his hands raw, and can barely function in the outside world. When his boss has an accident, he is thrown into the path of Kurose, a psychotherapist who offers to help him overcome the fear and compulsions that rule his life. While Kurose is doing this apparently out of the goodness of his heart rather than in a formal therapy session, there's something more going on, and Shirotani finds himself not only struggling to overcome his illness, but his attachment to Kurose as well.
Review:
Upon simply hearing the premise of Rihito Takarai's Ten Count, you could be forgiven for worrying that it would be just another exploitative yaoi series driven by an unequal relationship. That, however, would be allowing yourself to miss out on at least a first volume that is far less creepy than its premise would suggest and that explores its mentally ill character's world with more sensitivity than not. While there is an element of the distasteful in how the relationship begins, in its first book Ten Count looks like an intriguing and potentially touching story.
The protagonist of the series is Shirotani, a corporate secretary suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. While he has figured out a way to cope with the world, you couldn't say that it is a good or hugely successful one – he wears gloves, but he washes his hands to the point of rawness anyway; he goes out, but he carefully sterilizes all of his outer layers when he gets home. Whether or not this is a clinically correct depiction of OCD, it is an effective way of showing how trapped Shirotani is by his disorder. What is perhaps the best done about this is the fact that when asked about his coping and how he moves in the world, Shirotani replies that this is simply what he considers normal. Yes, it's different from how other people function, but for him, this is what life is like. It may not be a healthy view, but it is a coping mechanism that others have used as well as a solid truth – in your world, making a phone call is nothing; in someone else's it takes time to prepare; in Shirotani's it requires disinfectant. All of us live in our own “normal;” some are just easier than others. Takarai's acknowledgement of that shows an understanding that helps to make Ten Count more than it at first appears.
The main issue with the story is the fact that the romantic interest, Kurose, is a licensed psychotherapist. When he meets Shirotani and is attracted to him (we assume, he never says anything), he uses the fact that Shirotani has untreated OCD as a way to get to know him. Simply put, that's fairly unethical, especially since the method he chooses is to meet privately once a week at a café to work on exposure therapy. While it is phrased as an easier, possibly less social stigmatizing way for Shirotani to get help, there are little hints that can make it uncomfortable, such as Kurose asking only for Shirotani to “be his friend” as payment or the fact that he won't tell him why he's doing this until Shirotani is able to complete all ten increasingly difficult tasks on his therapeutic list.
There are two things that save this from being a reason to avoid the manga, however. The first is that Shirotani soon finds himself looking forward to meeting with Kurose, and when a trip on the train becomes overwhelming, it is very telling that he would rather touch Kurose than anyone or thing else – Kurose has become safe to him. While we can read this as a form of transference, it isn't entirely clear that Shirotani thinks of Kurose as his therapist, or if he ever did. Granted this, and the other major factor, which is that Kurose is definitely aware that he's crossing a line, are treading on very sticky ground, and if you've studied psychology it may be too many red flags. There is, however, no outright/obvious abuse of Kurose's power, and the fact that Shirotani is able to find friendship with another man later on in the book indicates that his feelings may in fact be more than simple transference. Regardless, Takarai presents the relationship with enough tact and tenderness that it is easy to suspend your sensibilities.
Her artwork certainly helps with that. While not highly detailed or too far from the BL norm in terms of the aesthetic, Takarai's lines are beautiful and delicate, with small hints of feelings expressed on faces as subtly as possible. For the most part characters are all distinct from each other and well-drawn; there's only one questionable perspective moment when Shirotani has to be carried by Kurose. Apart from the cover we only see the characters fully clothed (Shirotani wears a slick three-piece suit), but bodies are believable if uniformly thin. Takarai does do a good job with yearning body language, particularly in the latter half of the volume, which is when things do start to heat up.
The romance plot of Ten Count's first volume is fairly slowly paced, something for which the author needlessly apologizes, because it really does work well at both de-creeping the storyline and at allowing for the organic growth of Shirotani's feelings and his progress in combating his OCD. Rushing it would have minimized the issue, which would have been a disservice to the story itself. It also builds the tension to make us want volume two all the sooner. All in all, the first volume of Ten Count is a story that builds on itself, using its characters to whisper rather than scream the romance. It does have some uncomfortable aspects, but this appears to be a series that will overcome those issues, or at least manage to make them irrelevant.
Grade:
Production Info:
Overall : B+
Story : B+
Art : A-
+ Beautiful art, subtle emotions, and respectful treatment of the protagonist's OCD. Tries its best to make the uncomfortable less so.
− It is uncomfortable in its therapist/sort-of patient romance, a few perspective issues with the art. Everyone looks a bit too young as well.
Story & Art: Rihito Takarai
Full encyclopedia details about
Ten Count (manga)
Release information about
Ten Count (GN 1)
Ten Count Volume 1
Ten Count volume 1
Ten Count, by Rihito Takarai and published by SuBLime, is the kind of yaoi manga I like — the kind with a plot beyond “let’s watch two cute guys make out”. In this case, it’s even based on a topic I’m immensely curious about.
Shirotani is the assistant to a company president. He’s germ-phobic, to the extent of wearing gloves in daily life, and a compulsive hand-washer. He meets Kurose by accident. That’s fortuitous, because Kurose is a psychiatric counselor who offers to help Shirotani cope better with his condition.
The title comes from the therapy Kurose suggests. He has Shirotani write a list of ten items he has an aversion to, from easiest to hardest. Kurose is going to help Shirotani do each of them in turn, as a friend, in the hopes that this exposure therapy will lead to an eventual cure. (I’m not sure of the medical specifics of this, since at other times, Shirotani is referred to as having OCD.)
Ten Count volume 1
I like these people. I want to know more about them and spend more time with them. Takarai draws the two men with almost the same face, but I could tell them apart based on different hair color. Kurose is very understanding, and I want to find out what brought him to that attitude and profession. I like the idea of a friend who’s so accepting and caring. It’s an appealing fantasy. And it helps Shirotani, who can be distracted from his concerns by wondering about Kurose instead of getting wrapped up in himself.
I’m pleasantly surprised to see so much drama and involvement wrung out of simple events, such as the two men taking a train or eating at a restaurant or shopping at a bookstore. As the series continues, there are hints at the continuing mystery of what made Shirotani this way, since we get flashbacks to him as a child, where he doesn’t have the problem.
Fans of the genre may want to know that there isn’t much contact between the two leads in this volume, but a brief author’s note promises that “the relationship between the two main characters will start to grow and change” in the second volume. (The publisher provided a digital review copy.)