Manga-ka: Takashi Kanzaki
Publisher: 801Media
Rating: Mature (18+)
Release Date: December 2008

Synopsis: “Ryou is helping out at his father’s modeling agency. But, his classmate and rising rookie model at the agency, Kazuto, is openly antagonistic to Ryou’s older brother, a very charismatic model. Kazuto finally corners Ryou and demands that he looks at him only! After a passionate kiss, he promises that crossing him will incur punishment! Kazuto may be an arrogant boy who does nothing but give orders, but Ryou is undone by his forceful and dominating approach!”

His Arrogance is the story of Ryou, a cute teenage boy who helps handle the affairs of his father’s modeling agency. Naturally, this brings him into contact with a lot of handsome young men, including the ambitious new model Kazuto. Kazuto goes after everything he wants with a disarming arrogance, whether it’s a modeling job or Ryou’s affections. But before Kazuto can have Ryou all to himself he has to deal with Ryou’s hero-worship of his older brother, top model Tomohito.

The book starts off similar to a lot of romantic comedies. Ryou can’t stand how arrogant and blunt Kazuto is, and the two end up fighting. What changes is Ryou starts to realize that he actually likes Kazuto’s arrogance. Ryou has just enough of a masochistic streak to be believable, and he and the aggressive Kazuto make a cute, bickering couple.

The story also throws Ryou’s brother-complex into the mix. When Ryou’s big brother Tomohito comes home, he’s jealous that someone’s stolen his little brother’s attention away from him and decides to try and do something about it.

Modeling and yaoi are a perfect match, as it gives the characters lots of excuses to strike sexy poses while wearing very little clothes. The art itself is a lot like Kazuto: confident and sexy. Some manga-ka seem to treat drawing backgrounds like it’s a chore, but here Takashi Kanzaki does a nice job of putting the characters in pretty, detailed settings.

His Arrogance took a few chapters to really hook me, but once it did I really enjoyed this cute love story.

Review written June 15, 2009 by Shannon Fay
Book provided by Digital Manga for review purposes

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About the Author: Shannon Fay

Shannon Fay has been an anime and manga fan ever since junior high when a friend showed her a raw VHS tape of ‘Sailor Moon Stars.’ After watching it, she knew she didn’t want to live in a world that didn’t include magical transvestites and alien boy bands. Along with her reviews on Kuriousity, Shannon Fay has also written manga reviews for Manga Life and Anime Fringe. She is also a freelance manga adapter and is currently working with the manga licensor Seven Seas.