Title: Double Mints
Genre: Boys’ Love, Kink, Drama
Artist: Asumiko Nakamura
Publisher: Akaneshinsha (JP), DMG (US)
Serialized in: Mellow Mellow
Original Release Date: February 28, 2014
Free Preview: >>HERE<< (18+)
Attraction, and love for that matter, comes in all shapes and sizes, from vanilla to kink to abusive, and all the in-between variations and modes of relationships. There’s been plenty of literature written about the more alluring, taboo end of the spectrum, and there’s entire genres of anime and manga in particular that are dedicated to the weird and nasty.
Double Mints is a Boys’ Love manga, but takes a more sadistic and violent approach to its love story, as so many BL comics typically do. It likes to toe the line between kink and abuse frequently throughout its short one volume length, and several times seems to cross that line into the more questionable and unappealing side of sexuality.Although Double Mints takes place in the adult lives of its main characters, their story begins in high school, during the mundane routine of roll-call. The main characters share the same name, Mitsuo Ichikawa, and from that superficial association share a unique bond. The dark-haired Mitsuo instantly dominates the blond Mitsuo, forcing him to become his “dog” and enlisting him in a rather abusive on-going relationship, which includes money laundering, stealing his girlfriend, and physical violence.
While their high school relationship is fairly cut-and-dry, as adults it becomes more complicated. Out of the blue, blond Mitsuo receives a call from a panicked dark-haired Mitsuo, who claims to have killed a woman accidentally. Blond Mitsuo is enlisted to help hide the body, but he’s not as subservient and meek as he used to me. Dark-haired Mitsuo is exceptionally hammered and doesn’t notice that the girl isn’t actually dead. After they bury her, one smutty car scene later, blond Mitsuo returns to dig her up and psychologically tortures dark-haired Mitsuo for the next few days until he confesses the truth. And so begins their messed up love story. (Although it’s questionable if love is even a part of this relationship.)
Obviously, manga such as Double Mints has a very specific audience in mind and no doubt caters to all the detailed whims of its fanbase. Which is exactly how Double Mints reads: a manga written for a specific niche that hits on all the general main interests of its audience. In other words, it checks all the important boxes but doesn’t provide much else. If you enjoy kink or abusive relationships with lots of drugs and crime and a bit of a thriller atmosphere, then it is an excellent choice. However, if you are more fine-tuned to the inner-workings of relationships, or care about literary devices and the structure of a story and the components that encompass character development and plot progression (like me), then Double Mints falls short of the mark.
However, I’m not really saying Double Mints is bad. It’s niche writing. It has a goal in mind, sets out to fulfill it, and does. It satisfies the fetishist desires of the readers that would seek out a manga such as this. It’s just not to my taste. I prefer my messy romances more drawn out with more smut and less violence, because all the crime and gang banging just doesn’t appeal to me whatsoever. As far as niche writing goes, Double Mints is not a bad example of its genre. It has a fair balance of danger, sex, and sentimentalism to make it a worthwhile read if this is your cup of tea. Just know what you’re getting into before you open its pages.
