Not everyone chooses the streets. Sometimes, when everything is taken away, it's all that's left. The slums of Shindjin have long since been the champion of poverty. Violence and extortion are commonplace, where one's fate can literally be determined by a roll of the dice. A place where the fallout of these actions fall onto the shoulders of children. Shou and Jun are two such children, torn from the comfort of the lives they knew and thrust into an environment where organized crime is law. With nowhere to turn, they're forced to become the very thing that ruined their lives.
Boys of Summer volume 1 features story by Chuck Austen and art by Hiroki Otsuka. Bud Waterston is a decent looking guy in full hormonal bloom. He's heading for college, and imagines the sexual liberation he will face living in a dormitory full of other post-teens just like him. But like all best laid plans (no pun intended), nothing goes as Bud hopes or expects. His roommate turns out to be a closeted homosexual and all the good-looking girls in the dorm are interested in somebody else. When the girl of his dreams, who wanting nothing to do with him, joins the school baseball team, it inspires Bud to join, too, in an effort to prove to her she's all wrong about him.
Yoshiwara has been reborn in modern-day Tokyo.... In this new Yoshiwara, beloved actresses whose talents grace the screen by day spend their nights selling both their bodies and the idea of romance to their male clientele. Thrust into this world is the ingenue Asuka, who's been sold out by her foster parents to pay off their debts. While at first oblivious to the nature of Yoshiwara, she accidentally barges in on a "transaction" between a courtesan and her client. Confronted with her new reality of being bought and sold, she longs to make a break for it... but is there anyone around her she can trust...?!
*This volume compiles ch. 1-8 of "Worth a Billion: Modern-Day Courtesan"
Even though she's gorgeous on the outside, Hana is a 26-year-old girl with a timid nature. Each time she fantasizes about having a bright future with the person she's with, she ends up being betrayed and having her heart severely broken. It's as if Hana's heart is a black hole that keeps attracting another "horrid" person who approaches Hana disguised as her "one true love".
From a lack of self-confidence, Hana is dependent on others and addicted to love. This is an omnibus love series that stylishly depicts the stories of a single girl falling deeper into hell as she's being taken advantage of by different men and women.
At the end of this torment, will Hana ever find real "happiness"...?