REVIEW: Maiden Rose, episode one by Fusanosuke Inariya
Warning for non – con scene (maybe – see the first paragraph of my review for more explanation).
Two soldiers from warring countries are bound by a pledge as master and servant. Taki Reizen is a Commander of sublime beauty, shouldering the fate of his nation. Called “Mad Dog” because of his rough temperament, Klaus has sworn his loyalty to him as a knight. Despite this, those around them are cold and disapproving, full of various misgivings. For all their genuine feelings, what will come of love made cruel by the violence of war?
Review:
Dear Fusanosuke Inariya,
I saw that one of my favorite yaoi titles was available for kindle (apparently it had been for a while) and decided to bring it to DA. Disclaimer – my knowledge of yaoi (Boys’ love) manga is fragmentary at best. Over the years I think the number of m/m books I have read are closing in on a couple of thousand in total, and Yaoi make up around thirty to thirty five titles. In comparison it is of course nothing, but I know what I like and “Maiden Rose” is one of my very favorites. Those of you who have tried Yaoi know what it is – the pictures tell the story as much or more than words do and the characters have a strict division of sexual roles (Seme and Uke, active and passive partners in bed). I have a friend whose knowledge of yaoi is much more extensive than mine and if once in a while I am in the mood, I ask her or couple of my other book buddies at the Amazon m/m discussion board for recommendations.
I love Yaoi art, so why, you would ask, do I not read more of it? As trivial as it sounds, my main reason is that reading in the shape of the letter S (that’s the order of words you are supposed to read the page in Yaoi book) often tires me out. Also, I am not the biggest fan of the “non-con” theme, which is *very* frequent in Yaoi, even though there I often have an entirely different perception of such scenes than I would in an m/m book, and I am not sure why. It’s probably because Yaoi stories overall have a much more fantastical feel to me, no matter what setting they explore. In any event, this brings me to a warning I want to give for this title.
The sex between Taki and Klaus is rough throughout the book and there is one scene which when I read the book years ago clearly read to me as rape. Upon rereading, I am not that sure, though, and I usually err very far on the side of “being non – con/ rape”. In any event, if you are a yaoi reader you already know that this theme is very common, and if you are not, beware.
The settings of the story are strange, dreamlike to a degree in a sense that they invoke some major historical events, but are not quite those events.
“Year 1928 of the imperial era, the major power Eurote broke the hundred-year treaty and invaded Deden. The continent was packed with small countries, and the “balance” between them was so fragile. The war spread all the way here to our distant land”.
Is this power Germany? Russia? None of the above? I have no idea, I think every reader will form their own opinions as to that and I am not sure if it matters that much. Is the “distant land” Japan? Probably, but once again it did not really matter to me. All it matters that it divided in several territories.
“Each territory forms its own strategically independent division. The Lord’s the division commander and his subjects are the soldiers. Its like the Middle Ages”.
Taki is the Lord and now military commander of his people. He and Klaus met in the military academy in Eurote and when Taki was deported due to war, Klaus left with him. He gave up his citizenship in his country and became Taki’s knight. Other people think of him as Taki’s servant, and partially they are right. Klaus serves under Taki’s command, he seems to be an intelligent officer who does his best on the battlefield, and Klaus and Taki are also lovers in private. That’s the secret they both are trying hard to keep. There is a lot of anger in their relationship, but also a lot of love.
When the most violent scene of their love affair takes place certain consequences occur for Klaus. I wrote above that I am not as sure anymore what to think of the scene, but regardless of what it is, the consequences would have been good enough for me to forgive him. There is also an underlying mystery as to where Klaus’ loyalties lie and that mystery is not resolved, but the book does not end on a cliffhanger at all.
I just realized that rather than quoting I would like to be able to copy an episode and show you some panels inside this review. The pictures truly do tell the story here. I mean the words flow well enough, so I am assuming translation was good, but the art is truly wonderful. The fighting, the despair Taki feels when he visits his wounded soldiers, it is all there in the drawings. And Klaus’ expressive face shows everything he feels too.
There is a second episode available on Kindle as well, which also does not end in a cliffhanger, and I highly recommend it. Unfortunately the third episode has not been translated yet, even though it has been several years, and I have given up hope that it will ever happen.
Grade A.
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This is one of my favorite works ever. It’s definitely my single favorite BL series, and I am a frequent reader of BL. I’ve read it a number of times, and spent a long time poring over the pages. I was astounded and thrilled to see you review it here, especially so glowingly.
I have some good news on the volume 3/4 front: these volumes have not yet been published in Japan, and indications are that the holdup is on the publisher side. There’s reason to think that when they finally are, we will see official translations of this content. Unfortunately, the monthly release of chapters is also on hold until the Japanese volumes 3 and 4 are released, and this hiatus has been the status quo since 2012. On the bright side, that’s also a publisher problem, and there’s no reason to think that Inariya has lost interest in the series, since she’s still self-publishing content for it by creating doujinshi, overwhelmingly about Klaus and Taki’s time together at the tank academy. (There are scanlations of the untranslated chapters. I have read them, and the story continues to be really compelling, although these do leave off on a cliffhanger (argh). Before anyone jumps me for this, I also own both volumes in print, and a number of the supplemental materials Inariya has released privately, despite not speaking Japanese. I’ve done my best to support the series.)
Also, while Inariya’s art is beautiful from the start, it’s almost shocking to go back to the first volume after reading all of the published chapters. Her art, rather than remaining static, improves immensely over the course of the series.
A couple things:
The narrative is non-linear. Volume one picks up in media res, after Klaus has been in Taki’s country for six months, and we’ve only gradually gotten flashbacks to show the earlier time. This makes evaluating their volume one relationship very difficult, because we’re dropped in with no idea of the year and a half of history they’ve cultivated. We do eventually get a better picture, but it takes quite a while and a ton of the material is only found in the doujinshi, which means it’s not essential to the plot even though it gives a much fuller picture of their relationship.
However, initially the only thing you see is intense brutality and dysfunction, and the more familiar the reader is with BL genre conventions, in my opinion the worse it comes out looking, because you fit all the behavior into a well-worn “rapey, cruel seme/reluctant, cold uke” dynamic, when a reread suggests a much more complex emotional narrative. This also makes events of the volume much more shocking, as you are utterly unprepared for the situation to be treated with gravity when so much of BL features nearly identical content that is essentially glossed over.
Eurote is definitely Imperial Russia (it appears the Russian revolution didn’t occur in this world), this becomes clearer later when there’s a better map. Taki’s country is allied with them, mostly by necessity. Klaus grew up in the Western Alliance (there’s apparently already a form of the EU/NATO in this world) in “Saxony”/not!Germany. The Western Alliance and Eurote are enemies, and Taki’s country is necessarily along for the ride via their alliance with Eurote. The tank academy, Luckenwalde, is in a Western Alliance that is not Klaus’s country. I suspect it’s basically Austria, since it seems to be east of Saxony and there are high mountains in it. Taki’s country is a coastal country rather than an island nation (there’s an origin myth that involves his people abandoning the islands that we see snatches of at various points), but it’s otherwise essentially post-Meiji Japan. Except that the court has retained a lot of Heian-era elements, and the military organization is still feudal rather than modern (which results in a criminal underuse of Klaus’s abilities. He’s an ace pilot in the Western Alliance, and his defection should be a huge PR coup rather than the way it’s actually handled. He’d be much better off placed in the air force, given the probable morale effect on both sides.) The Western Alliance military organization is modern, by contrast, and it seems to be a unified international force rather than a coalition of disparate national armies acting in concert.
I’m firmly of the opinion that what happens in this volume is rape. I understand where the ambiguity comes from, and I’d say that Taki would probably disagree with my assessment, but Klaus wouldn’t, nor would anyone else in the cast. In this case, I feel safe saying that Taki’s assessment of the situation is skewed by his own issues and awareness of the ways in which he bears responsibility for their current situation (not for the sex part. For the rest of their myriad issues.) For me, one of the hardest things about the nonconsensual parts of the series (which vanish entirely after roughly chapter 8 of the series) is how out of character they appear for Klaus, and how clear it becomes that his cruelty and brutality in those scenes are to some extent a conscious choice.
I can forgive Klaus anyway, but mostly because he’s visibly willing to die to make up for his behavior, and because I’m pretty sure he was subject to a number of psychological stresses that mean his behavior was utterly uncharacteristic rather than something he’s at risk of repeating. I’m fairly sure his ultimate loyalty is to Taki rather than any governmental power. There’s a scene in volume 2 that, while it’s unspoken, in my opinion depicts Klaus trying to convince Taki to let him commit suicide in the line of duty. He goes about it in virtually the worst possible way, but at this point, I find it hard to be surprised when he does things like that. It’s pretty much my number one reason for forgiving him.
Possibly a slight spoiler, but something that’s only been hinted at in small panels across all the manga chapters and doujinshi: Klaus appears to have detoxed from an addiction to amphetamines while on the run after being shot down behind Eurotean lines. He seems to have crossed a mountain range on foot to return to the Western Alliance, and was in terrible shape when he returned. He also believes his entire squadron was killed in the same incident. Taki doesn’t seem to know any of this, although he must be aware of Klaus’s fame as a pilot.
@undomielregina:
Thank you for your in depth explanation! Usually I’m not interested in any mangas but I bought both volumes. Are there any more you can recommend or any good review websites?
@Franziska:
I’m not actually familiar with any review websites, unfortunately.
As for legally available BL manga… it really depends on what you like in a romance? There are dynamics out there to fit most interests, but without guidance this is mostly going to be a list of things I like. I would definitely suggest picking up Crimson Spell by Ayano Yamane, which finally got picked up for translation again after spending years out of print. It’s a fantasy series that’s more sex light and plot heavy than a lot of BL. The only thing to watch out for with Crimson Spell is that one of the two characters in the main couple is in an altered state of consciousness for the sex scenes (he’s possessed by a demon and all the sex is with the demon) and is unaware that it’s happening when he’s in his normal state. BL’s approach to consent is generally… flexible to say the least.
It looks like Minami Megumu’s Rose of the Rhine is still available at a decent price, and that’s a really fun historical series. It’s based on the Sagas of Dietrich (http://www.home.ix.netcom.com/~kyamazak/myth/dietrich/sandbach.htm). Minami’s art is beautiful and the plot is as much medieval adventure as it is romance, in keeping with the original source material.
Fuumi Yoshinaga is one of the most celebrated BL mangaka, and a fairly large amount of her work has been translated. I’d recommend Gerard and Jacques, set in late 1700’s France before and during the Revolution. (Note that this does contain both historically accurate underage content and rape.) It’s one of her earlier works and the art is occasionally slightly awkward anatomically, but the overall story is compelling and the way Yoshinaga works in historical events is delightful. It’s also fairly unusual because Gerard is explicitly bisexual. For a more low-key slice of life story, pick up What Did You Eat Yesterday? which is half the story of a modern gay couple’s relationship and half a cooking manga. Yoshinaga has also written a number of series that are not BL, although they may contain gay characters or m/m interaction, including Ooku, her award-winning alt-historical series about a gender-flipped Tokugawa shogunate.
Yoneda Kou’s No Touching at All is another great read, a contemporary series for once, about an emotionally scarred gay man and his immediate superior at his company coming together slowly. This has a pretty classic BL narrative in that one of the two characters has never been attracted to men before, and there’s a lot of angst driven by societal homophobia, but all the sex is fully consensual. While I like her other work, I’d recommend caution in picking it up. She’s fond of dark themes and BDSM.
Naono Bohra is one of my absolute favorite manga creators, unfortunately her work is overwhelmingly obscure, and what has been translated legally mostly doesn’t number among my favorites of her work. With that said, if you can find a reasonably-priced copy of the out-of-print Yokai’s Hunger, that’s a really fun paranormal series with a nice mix of angst and humor and her wonderful art. Her other translated series, Three Wolves Mountain, is a werewolf paranormal with an uke who looks borderline underage and an emotionally repressed seme. I’m fond of it, but it’s much more stereotypical BL than Yokai’s Hunger.
Thank you for the information! I have read volume two but nothing more. Oh I liked “no touching at all” and “Youkai’s hunger” myself .
@Franziska: so I wanted to make sure I won’t screw up mangakas’ names . Some of my other favorite titles:
“Innocent bird” by Hirotaka Kisaragi , I think this one is hard to find right now, but so good if you like angelical beings. Plot is complex apparently so complex that some reviewers thought it does not end well. It does! Don’t believe the reviews on that. It was my first yaoi so I have a soft spot for it. It is complete in three volumes.
“endless comfort” by Sakuya Sakura. I thought the art was gorgeous – plot well, hurt/comfort.
“Open the door to your heart” by Yugi Yamada – I love her art, but check it out first. It is different from many. I don’t want to say her lines are rougher, but something is definitely different.
“Little butterfly” by Hinako Takanaga.
Ash Brown of the mangabookshelf.com crew occasionally reviews BL at Experiments in Manga. I think there are reviews also at yaoi911.com, but I mainly read for the webcomics, so I’m not sure.
Anyone who wants to dip their toes into BL manga could do worse than check out this list curated by Deb Aoki at http://manga.about.com/od/recommendedreading/tp/ReadersYaoiManga.htm , although it’s a bit … idiosyncratic (I mean LOVE PISTOLS? Really? If you want a list of “most crackliciously insane yaoi”, sure, but Best? I dunno)
@hapax: Yeah, Sex Pistols/Love Pistols is… something else. I’m also dubious of any list that includes Junjou Romantica, which is popular, but the art and storytelling are, at least in my opinion, sub-par.
@Sirius: I have not yet read Innocent Bird, but I’ve heard excellent things about it.
For anyone who was curious about the Maiden Rose geography, here’s one of the better maps, which is from a self-published Pawpads chapter: http://i.imgur.com/N6auzwi.png
@undomielregina:
Wow! thank you for all those great book recommendations. So I will take the advice and stay away from Sex Pistols, lol. I saw there are quite a some video adaptations like Junjo Romantica and even Maiden Rose
any of them good?@Sirius:
Thank you for these too! Are there any more good ones in Kindle format? I really have no more space to collect longer series, sigh
@Franziska: I hear you about having no place for paperbacks, but I am not sure. I have a friend who is very well read in yaoi and if I am in the mood for her I usually ask her, she also occasionally points me to yaoi on kindle titles. I do not have that many because I really dont like reading yaoi on kindle (more exhausting than paperbacks if you ask me) and the ones I have I do not even remember the titles. So that means I did not care for them much.
I just clicked on “maiden rose” to see whether Amazon would recommend something good and I saw that “Black sun” is on Kindle. Beautiful if you ask me, but for some reason it looks like only second volume is released for Kindle. Weird.
LOL, that was meant to say ‘when I am in the mood for yaoi I ask her”.
@Sirius: @Sirius: Black Sun is gorgeous and has a lot of elements that might appeal to readers who enjoyed Maiden Rose, although I must warn that the non-consensual elements of the relationship are even more prominently featured – that aspect of the story has a lot in common with an M/M version of the sort of old-school bodice ripper where the heroine is grudgingly attracted to their captor.
I’m with you on preferring to read manga in print whenever possible – aside from being much easier on the eyes, it’s very common for there to be sections where the art is meant to spread across two pages and be read together, and those scenes lose a lot of their visual impact when read page-by-page on a screen. As far as ebook availability goes, though, for anyone who is really committed to reading electronically, I would suggest looking beyond just the Kindle store; Amazon has deleted some explicit BL titles in the past, so it might be worth your while to also check alternate vendors like Kobo/Nook/etc., or look directly on the publisher’s websites: I’m pretty sure there are some titles available directly on http://www.junemanga.com/digitaledition/, for instance, that you can’t buy through the Kindle store…and it looks like Volume 1 of Black Sun is one of them.
Skimming over their current offerings, a few titles I’ve enjoyed that I haven’t seen mentioned yet – Ludwig II by Higuri You is a classic, historical with gorgeous costuming, although the relationships are all very unhealthy and the ending is tragic; est em’s Seduce Me After The Show is an anthology series of evocative short pieces with unconventional art; and Sadahiro Mika’s Under Grand Hotel I’d particularly recommend to any readers who loved the TV series OZ, which the mangaka notes was one of her main inspirations for this tale of prisoners who start out using each other for sex slowly falling in love.
@Franziska: I’d say the Maiden Rose OVA is…middling, overall? The plotline is pretty much a straightforward adaptation of the first volume of the manga, so nothing you haven’t seen before; a few scenes are rearranged, the sex scenes are a bit less explicit, there’s a final scene not based on the manga added to end things on a more romantic note, but overall the storyline is the same as you’ve already read. The production values are not the highest, if you watch much anime this is clearly not something that was done on a huge budget; it’s serviceable, but not as pretty as the manga art. But the voice acting, especially for the leads, is very very good; Inariya is said to have hand-picked the actors portraying Klaus and Taki, and they’re both excellent, experienced seiyuu who really bring the characters to life. It’s worth watching if you liked the manga.
@undomielregina has already noted most of the things that I would have wanted to mention to a new reader, so I’m just going to drop in a specific tip that might help in keeping the non-linear storyline straight. Inariya, like many mangaka, frequently uses some subtle visual elements to help alert the reader that they’re looking at a scene depicting the past – flashbacks, memories, illustrations of history or legend, anything other than the actual here-and-now of the main storyline. You won’t always see them in use, especially when the entire chapter takes place in the past, but they do usually show up when you have flashbacks that only go on for a page or two, or even just for a single panel or two within a present-day page.
The first visual cue, and one you’ll see used primarily for longer flashbacks that cover multiple panels for half a page or more, is when all the negative space, the margins outside and between the individual panels, is filled in with black, like this: http://i.imgur.com/pwKmpnv.jpg; compare that to the un-filled negative space on the sample page posted in Sirius’ review, and the difference is obvious.
Sometimes you’ll see the black shading fade out gradually to gray and then to blank white to show a gradual transition in the scene and time, like on this page where Klaus’s memory of a conversation from a year or two past is fading into a “present-day” panel of his face as he reacts to the memory: http://i.imgur.com/XMPBee7.jpg
But shaded margins aren’t the only sign that you’re looking at something from the past. Look closely at the panel borders on the two pages I’ve linked, and compare them to the panel borders on the review sample page: the flashback panels have borders with fine double lines around them, while the present-day panels are bordered with a heavier single line. Inariya will use that same border-line variation when she is drawing just a handful of flashback/memory panels within a present-day scene, like this page: http://i.imgur.com/GY36VTG.jpg – the top three panels, with the double borders, show Klaus remembering a scene with Taki back at the Luckenwalde Armor School, while he listens in on a conversation Taki is having in the infirmary with the wounded swordsmith. The bottom panels, with the heavy single-line borders, show what’s going on in the present.
Thank you everyone for your great response, I am kind of excited to check out all the books. So many stories so little time.
I don’t know what happened to this beautiful manga but I’m waiting chapter 27 for a year. Can someone give me an information?