The Spring 2024 Manga Guide

Dear My Killer Tune

What's It About? 

Hairdresser Hirotaka Masaki is a huge fan of Reiichi Himemiya, the guitarist of the superstar rock band The Lazy Rats. He's content just being a fan of the group, and has been following them for years. But when Reiichi turns up at Hirotaka's salon one day, the line between fan and celebrity starts to blur...

Dear My Killer Tune has a story and art by Iyada. English translation by Esther Sun. Gorndevas lettered this volume. Published by Animate International (May 7, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

Age gap is rarely my first choice in romance tropes, but it's hard to resist when they're as cute as this one. Dear My Killer Tune checks a lot of romance genre boxes: age gap, fan, rock star, and nominal grumpy/sunshine. Harutaka and Himemiya's love story is caught up in between all of these, and to be honest, I think the book might have been stronger if it had only focused on one of them. Probably the most important is the age gap; Himemiya's bad The Lazy Rats was founded before Harutaka was even born (although I should note that he's in his twenties to Himemiya's forties, so everyone's legal). He got into them by watching his dad's old VHS concert tapes. From there, his obsession spiraled, and now, as a working adult, he's just as crazy about The Lazy Rats in general and Himemiya in particular as he ever was. So when his obsession enters the salon where he works, Harutaka's beside himself.

This does follow very well-trod genre lines. As the two men get to know each other, they realize that they like each other as people, not just as rockstars and fans, and then they have to recognize those changes, both in themselves and each other. It's competently done, if not stunning. Harutaka gets a bit less development despite being the primary point of view character because he's got a shorter distance to travel; he was halfway to being fully in love with his idol from the moment he met the man in person. Himemiya's journey is from flattery to realizing that Harutaka is for real and that he likes that, and it's frankly a bit more interesting even though it doesn't get quite enough development. He likes Harutaka's earnestness, which breaks down his walls, although we get the impression that he never put up walls as much as others assumed that he had them in the first place.

Ultimately, this is a cute story. Its romance turns sweet, all of the obstacles to love are firmly in the characters' heads, and the punk rock aesthetic of The Lazy Rats feels like it could have come out of a Kaoru Tada manga. There's some kissing with what looks like very agile tongues towards the end. Still, there are no sex scenes, and the art acknowledges the twenty-odd-year gap between partners better than we typically see – it's obvious that Himemiya has some years on Harutaka. If that's not a deal breaker for you, Dear My Killer Tune is much sweeter than the title implies, and if it isn't perfect, it's still a nice way to spend some time.

This is one of those love stories that you really need to turn your brain off for, and not just because the title is gibberish. It's a BL romance between a diehard fan and his legendary rockstar idol—with a 17-year age gap to boot. The idea of an ordinary fan pairing up with a celebrity is as well-tread as it is unlikely. Nothing was realistic about the order of events from their initial meet-cute to every step of their relationship's progression. Once I got past that, reading a manga featuring a 43-year-old love interest was a nice change of pace.

There were many points in Dear My Killer Tune that I had to bite my tongue and go along with whatever the story threw at me. Would a celebrity guitarist really not have his own personal stylist? Himemiya may be an aging superstar, but in a series of fortunate coincidences, he decided to visit an old friend's salon. Little does he know that his biggest fan, Harutaka, works as a hairdresser there. Harutaka is 26 and a particularly young fan of The Lazy Rats, Himemiya's rock band that rose to fame in the '90s; he discovered the band in his dad's VHS collection. From this unlikely meeting, Himemiya becomes increasingly captivated by his young fan. Meanwhile, Harutaka has to decide if the old "never meet your heroes" chestnut applies to this budding relationship or if he's ready to get to know the man behind the stage persona.

What made this far-fetched premise work for me: Himemiya is too cute! I loved his crow's feet, birthmark, hook nose, and snaggletooth. The art does not attempt to make him look any younger than he is. He looks just like David Bowie in his Labyrinth era. I can easily see this middle-aged uke becoming Tumblr's new little meow meow. That said, an age gap big enough for one character to be the other's father and an obvious power imbalance not equalized by the reversed uke/seme roles means this story won't strike a chord with everyone.