女王と仕立て屋

• Author & Artist Scarlet Beriko
• Released February 2016 by Shinshokan’s Dear+ Comics
• Genre: Romance

Oumi Jouno is in need of a new suit for his first exhibition as an interior designer and his boss refers him to a tailor shop called SHIDA. The store’s owner, Tetsuya Shida, is an older fellow with a resting cold expression and a scar beneath his left eye. Oumi vows to spend every day at the shop from his fitting until the suit’s completion, and the two naturally grow closer to one another. However, despite the growing closeness, there is still a distance between them. Will they be able to overcome it?

What’s Inside

女王と仕立て屋 [Trans. Queen and the Tailor] is a self-contained volume with six chapters, an afterward, and two bonus comics printed on the covers beneath the jacket. There are also three, two-page 4-panel comics in-between the first 3 chapters. The 175 page volume follows the budding romance between Oumi and Tetsuya – two adult men with a roughly 10+ year age difference between them. Oumi is more of a stubborn yet sensitive type while Tetsuya is the cool and pampering type. Their close-yet-distant dynamic works well between them in their relationship’s initial stages but as it progresses more intimately it begins to work against them. They do eventually talk through that issue (amongst a few other things) to achieve their happily ever after.

My Thoughts

I mentioned this title in my post about one of Scarlet Beriko’s other works, Jackass!, and really wanted to talk about it a bit more. I have a particularly soft spot for this manga because, much like Jackass!, I tore into its narrative contents quite a bit. While this title also didn’t make it into my final thesis work, I did use it in a sort of trial-run paper with my advisor when I was drafting ideas for the project. It’s partially thanks to this manga that my actual thesis even got off the ground.
The story in this one is simultaneously slow-paced and fast-paced, which can be kind of tricky to maneuver through. You’ll need to do a lot of reading between lines and close observation of expression and body language to pick up a sense of when changes in their relationship and how they view each other occur because the story doesn’t simply walk you through that process like you may have come to expect with a BL manga (or romance manga in general).

My Rating

8 / 10 – A Great Read
I docked this one a bit because of how the story can be sort of jumpy, but I really do enjoy this manga. Scarlet Beriko’s art and characters are always solid and the small attentions to detail in this volume really make the critical scenes stand out. If you’re in the market for a BL title that doesn’t have a lot of the usual drama or identity crises and features 2 consenting adult characters then 女王と仕立て屋 may be a good fit. The story is completely contained in this one volume but leaves plenty of room to imagine what could come next.

Where to Find It

女王と仕立て屋 is not yet available in English translation although a French translation does exist. You can find copies on amazon for a range of prices, but your best chance would be to purchase a copy directly from Shinshokan. Shinshokan lists the price of the volume at only 630 yen before tax. Scarlet Beriko’s other work and related materials, including drama CDs and art reference books, can also be purchased through Shinshokan. To keep up with all of Scarlet Beriko’s current and upcoming work, you can follow her official Twitter and Instagram pages.