The series so far....

When 17 year old sophomore, Nakaya's, mother dies he finds himself so constrained by his maternal grandparents that he goes out in search of his father. Shino is an anime voice actor whose son's appearance in his life is a welcome surprise. Nakaya is, at first, impressed with his father's career until he learns that in order to support his new housemate Shino has started taking on jobs voicing on yaoi drama cd's. Nakaya's disapproval of his new career move notwithstanding Shino is having even more problems when he is paired up with Tenryu, another actor he has admired for some time, and the openly over-affectionate Mizusawa. Eventually Nakaya not only accepts his father's new method acting, he even finds himself in the prediciment of being attracted to the new ice hockey coach.

Volume three finds Nakaya struggling with his feelings about Fuse while his dad goes to a spa to celebrate the wrap up of the new anime he is voicing. Of course, this leads to all sorts of drama and hijinks as Shino tries to juggle the emotional angst of three men, one who loves him, one who toys with him and another who hates him. An interesting confrontation between Tenryu and Nakaya rounds out the manga along with another cliffhangerish ending.

When I started off reading "Shout Out Loud" I thought this was just a three volume manga. Imagine my surprise at the end when I checked to discover at least two more. This isn't really too much of a disappointment because despite the soap operaish storylines, it is still all very interesting. I particularly like the father/son dynamics between Shino and Nakaya. In a lot of ways Shino seems much more innocent than his son and becomes alarmed when Nakaya tries to talk to him about things of a more sensitive nature. I also really enjoyed Shino's initial advice to his son that the title of the manga is based on, "I've got this policy when it come to my job--I always say "when you need to shout you shout." If you don't cry when you need to cry, you'll only suffer more later!"

Although we never really find out why Shino and Nakaya's mother were apart, I'm guessing her parent's kept them apart. Shino was only 16 when he married his pregnant girlfriend against her parent's wishes and it is apparent through the flashbacks that Nayaka has of her that she loved Shino very much. I'm hoping we learn more of the backstory as we get into later volumes although I do fear that the Shino/Nakaya story will get sidetracked with all the yaoi angst in their lives.

This series is rated for older teens for subject matter which I would agree with as there has been some kissing and such but nothing has been too graphic. This is a manga and storyline I am enjoying and plan to continue on with. ( )

Third in a five part series about a long-separated father and son getting to know each other while trying to deal with new relationships.

Nakaya's got a bad crush on the ice hockey coach, and tries to do something about it. He ends up asking his father's advice on what happens if you find yourself attracted to another man -- but Shino's struggling with the same question himself. Shino's colleague Tenryu has made his own feelings clear, and Shino's found himself responding.

After finishing the first half of their current anime series the voice actors go for a weekend break at a spa resort, giving ample opportunity for squabbling and seduction attempts -- none of which go according to plan. By the end of the book Shino faces the fact that he might finally be falling in love again, for the first time since he lost Nakaya's mother.

As with the first two books in the series, it's more about the story than the sex -- this volume does ramp up the steaminess, but the men and the book don't go all the way. There's some nice foreplay and kissing, but the real joy is in the humour and the way the various relationships develop. It's gentle but it's not pure fluff -- for example, Tenyru's dealing with a nasty divorce and faces losing contact with his daughter -- which makes it all the better.

It's possible to follow the plot in this one with just a synopsis of the previous volumes, but I'd strongly recommend reading the first two volumes first -- you'll get a lot more out of it if you've already got to know the characters. ( )