All Nippon Air Line: Paradise at 30,000 Feet

So… I wouldn’t buy Virgin Soil because of the title… I just want the kid on the cover of My Paranoid Next Door Neighbor to put on some pants… but when All Nippon Air Line: Paradise at 30,000 Feet showed up in my recommended list at Amazon it made me giggle and immediately file it in my wish list.  I had to.

The premise:  A Japanese airline staffed entirely by hot, gay men where affairs are rampant among staff and customers.  I wasn’t really sure what to expect – I guess I thought it would be kind of dirty/naughty and I usually don’t buy books for that reason, but… again.  The title made me laugh. 

I suppose at this point I’m so used to absurd concepts being taken seriously in manga that I wasn’t really expecting this to be quite the comedy that it was.  This is however, quite a funny book.  It had me laughing out loud four or five times, which is pretty good for me.  The whole tone of the book was wonderful – it was divided into a lot of little 3-4 page stories and while the characters themselves didn’t act very much out of the ordinary, the narration is what really sold it.  It reads like a combination tour book/advertisement/recruitment manual.  (Fly A.N.A.L.!  Love A.N.A.L.! A.N.A.L. is the best!)

I was surprised that while the humour and situations were adult (like the steward instructor telling his students he was going to drill them quite hard in class much to their delight) the art was fairly discrete (mostly a couple of OHs! coming from behind closed doors).  The art wasn’t great (I thought most of the characters looked the same) but worked well with the tone of the stories.

Here’s the back cover blurb, just for you.

 One of the first pages from the book explains the concept.  And you get your first clue that you will be reading the word A.N.A.L. many many times before you are finished.

 And yes!  It’s all love in the air!

Heh heh heh.

Ahem.

Some examples of stories within the book?  Forbidden romance between rival airlines! A business man learns the benefits of flying first class!  Don’t like pretty men?  It’s okay!  There’s a sporty flight you can take instead!  And what happens when a plane gets hijacked?  (I’m not telling.)

There are of course some characters that have to stand out among the others.  There’s the Chairman who personally interviews and selects each employee (he’s known for his stamina), one of the Four Kings who’s voice is enough to cause orgasms (an onboard emergency lets him make his first announcement over the speakers and he’s oh so thrilled to do it), the exotic Ana Sui who wears Chinese garb and constantly battles customers fighting for his hand (or… whatever). 

Eh, I’m done gushing.  I had fun being surprised while reading and I’d hate to spoil it too much.  I wanted to write this review right away, though, because I’m totally lending this to people.  I’m not sure when I’ll be getting it back.  :)