#get driven into obscurity (shoujo)

[diegamerdie]

Those tropes exist and are romanticized in m/f media (steamy novels as an example/or even hentai)

BL simply rarely gets enough viewership to actually garner the controversy m/f romance does.

consider the fact that "BL/yaoi has a precedent of being written by women for women, and with that tend to romanticize tropes that are usually considered toxic in m/f media because it's instead being acted between two men" and "the assumption that any piece of media (whether described as BL/yaoi or not) coming from countries like japan, china, or korea that includes a relationship between two men automatically suffers from this issue and european/american media with gay relationships don't and are better somehow is just straight up racist" are statements that can and should coexist

[my-otp-list]

Here I am, back to my eternal habit of getting obsessed over obscure stuff whose fandom is either tiny or virtually non-existent... 

This manga is probably what I would dub as ‘The spy camaraderie you never knew you needed’ (or that it even existed…)

But this was, in fact, a classic work and was really popular in Japan during its time. Just that for some reasons, the manga never made it to international attention - which is a real pity, because, seriously, this is good. Like really really really good.

And the bromance? 24k gold grade, I rest my case. 

From Eroica With Love (Manga) Review

Genre: Shoujo, Adventure, Action, Historical, Comedy

Author: Aoike Yasuko

Running Years: 1976 - 2012

Synopsis (taken from BakaUpdates):

"What happens when a gay art thief and a conservative NATO officer cross paths? Disaster, of course. Dorian is an aristocrat, a thief, and a hedonist; Klaus is a duty-driven espionage agent with no patience for fools.

Follow them as they chase each other across the globe -- from Britain to Baghdad, from Alaska to Alexandria, from Moscow to Madrid. Spectacular locations and non-stop adventures await!"

Length: Completed with 39 volumes

Translation: Ongoing at about 25 volumes - as of 2022

Note: Some sources may list this manga’s genre as Shounen-ai. Well, yes, “ai” (or romantic interaction) between 2 male characters does get depicted in this manga, but it isn’t between the two male leads. And the amount of “ai” you’ll get to see in the whole series is like… 1%. But before you conclude that this will make you want to / not want to read this manga, hear me out first —

Personal review:

➕ The Characters: Meet Earl Dorian Red Gloria, codenamed “Eroica”, a gorgeous, flamboyant, charismatic British thief with blonde hair so perfectly curled it could rival Candy Candy (this is a classic shoujo, what else do you expect?), whose purpose in life is to steal whatever suits his fancy, and causes a lot of havoc while he’s at it.

Meet also Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach, nicknamed “Iron Klaus”, an equally gorgeous, uptight, formidable German officer with black hair so perfectly straight it probably comes from a L’Oreal ad (have I mentioned this is a classic shoujo?), whose goal is to hunt down Earl Dorian, but somehow never actually catches him(?) 

(The 1970s — that period of manga art when guys are 10 times prettier than girls...)

They are both very likeable characters, each with quirks so special that’ll make you remember them in no time. Behind his facade as an art thief, Earl Dorian is an adorable, sympathetic man who values his teammates and has actual sensitivity for beautiful things. Major Klaus might first come off as an arrogant, vulgar man (but his vulgarity is really funny omg), but would you believe that he sings “Mary Has A Little Lamb” to himself in order to sleep? Awwwwww.

Surrounding these two men is a very diverse, colourful cast of supporting characters. With this being a comedy manga, almost every character in From Eroica With Love is funny as hell - so protect your stomach well, because the probability of you hurting it while reading this is transcendently high...

➕ The Story: Set during the Cold War period and against the backdrop of a vibrant Europe, the story tells the extravagant adventures of Earl Dorian and Major Klaus as they tail after top-secret intel, tear down evil conspiracies, take out wicked villains, tumble into life-threatening situations, all while trying to outwit and annoy the f*** out of each other. 

With the title clearly inspired by the James Bond novel “From Russia With Love”, this manga, for the most part, is an endearing parody of the spy fiction genre. Do not be fooled by its shoujo label and its relatively strange first volume. The manga started off rather ridiculous (a trio of college-age ultra-geniuses with ESP abilities given to them by a mysterious man in the forest? What again…), but very soon developed into action-packed espionage with, surprisingly enough, a great deal of real-life historical, cultural and political references. Twists and turns await as we tag along with Earl Durian and Major Klaus chasing after each other (for various hilarious reasons) and dealing with international-scale events across the globe.

➕ The Art: Bearing what I would call 'signature 1970s shoujo art', From Eroica With Love’s feminine, old-style art may take some time to get used to, but will certainly grow on you. Yasuko-sensei certainly deserves praise for her masterful control over both character designs, scenery as well as action sequences.

➕ The Bromance: And, of course, the most important part of this review, the bromance.

Though it’s established very early on that Dorian is gay and always ready to woo whichever man that piques his attention, and that the manga is debatably considered shounen-ai, there's no canon romance between the two male leads (or is there?). 

Starting out as enemies, and arguably still ending as enemies, these two’s dynamics are a real delight to watch. While they couldn’t stop blocking each other’s business and even occasionally get into physical fights, they also pull each other out of trouble plenty of times. There’s just some sort of undeniable camaraderie that hovers above their constant bickering and throwing curses at each other. 

(Why be normal bros when you can point guns and knives at each other?)

But beyond the bromance front, some may sense that Dorian develops feelings for Klaus along the course of the story, and one can’t help but notice that Klaus’ behaviour towards Dorian is, at times, significantly more tender compared to how he treats others. And then there are those yearning intense stares…

(Dorian & Klaus: A tale of unresolved sexual tension that spans almost 40 years…)

The manga never dwells into fan service or has them go lovey-dovey, and even after its supremely long run of almost 4 decades, we never get an answer to the burning question "Will they or won't they fall in love?".

But that certainly doesn't stop the fans from zealously shipping them two together. Because, enemies-to-comrades-to-lovers? We simply devour that trope.

➖ The Negative: To some, the art may look slightly funny in later volumes, but I wouldn’t fault the author much for that. After all, by that time, Yasuko-sensei is already in her 50s-60s.

➖ And what was that first volume really - to deter people from loving this manga too much? (￣▽￣) An entertaining bunch of characters with pretty detailed characterisation (to the point that I almost thought they were the mains!) got introduced, only for them to never appear again after volume 1. Albeit, this may not exactly be a negative thing, since I can tell that most of us would prefer the screentime to be spared for our two lovely male leads. 

All in all, I highly recommend this amusing series. So sad that the translation is only about ⅔ completed at the moment (╥_╥), and the English volumes are essentially out of print (I've checked, it costs minimum 400 bucks to obtain 15 volumes, yep, no joke). Talk about falling in love with a niche manga…

[petaldancing]

wow guys, i learned about yuletide (a fic exchange for obscure fandoms w <1,000 fics on the net.. like.. hmm.. HYOUKA!!) from @brella and am stoked to take part in it this year! you get to write a letter to the person who’ll be fulfilling your request, so here is mine~

hello (future) friend and (current) yuletide writer!!

This is actually the first year I’m participating in Yuletide! (And also the first year i that i’ve gotten back into writing fic after a 3 year hiatus!) I’m excited, and I hope that my prompts will help spark inspiration for you and that you’ll enjoy writing this piece as the year draws to a close. Thank you so much in advance for this, and I look forward to reading whatever you have for me! 

general

i prefer:

gen, het, or femslash

G - M ratings (if the latter: no to underage (below 18 y/o, for me), yes to character-driven, build-up + pay-off! when the sex isn't the highlight of the story but a nice complement.. wow!!)

any length you have in mind for the fic

you to write a story that you've been meaning to but haven't gotten around to! or one that you'd love to have under your belt! (:

i can't deal with/DNW:

drug use, death, gore/violence/assault, dub/noncon, abuse, angst, kinky stuff, unhappy endings

i will cry tears of joy for:

stories focusing on ladies, their r/s (platonic, romantic etc) w other ladies, their characters & motivations beyond just the romance

(but i still thrive on romance ahaha)

characters losing themselves but then finding themselves & becoming stronger (w or w/o someone's help)

(un)resolved sexual tension, unexpected kisses that take both parties by surprise, almost kisses, being trapped in small spaces, mutual pining etc

characters drifting apart over time but then reconnecting and falling in love again

wacky humour

shoujo tropes used in good doses

unlikely pairings that work

platonic fic on unlikely friends/vitrolic best buds esp between a guy & gal

fics about characters who've hardly interacted in canon (!!)

canon divergence (as long as it leads to interesting r/s between characters)

ten years later post-canon fic!! (esp if characters are high-schoolers in canon)

WITCHES! guy witches work too

recurring motifs/symbols

i also love AUs, particularly:

pacific rim AUs

role reversal AUs

I live for AUs that bring out character dynamics you know & love except in a diff universe! but you don't have to write AU fic!

fandom specific

1. Hyouka to say this is my favourite, most precious & treasured piece of fiction would be an understatement!! i give all my heart to hyouka’s themes (finding your identity & place in the world, relating & empathizing with others, following your passion etc etc i could go on) which were told beautifully through a wonderful core cast of 4 characters! the depth and flaws and emotional weaknesses of hyouka’s main cast is Too Much For Me To Bear and i love them in any and all permutations and just WANT TO READ ABOUT THEM ALL THE TIME!! also i’ve written satomaya to the moon & back but let me tell you... i would still read satomaya content any day ehehe. BUT i am very intrigued by satoshi & chitanda’s r/s which hasn’t been written much about in the fandom yet so maybe??? HMM!!

ships: satoshi/mayaka, houtarou/chitanda but would be also open to mayaka/houtarou or satoshi/chitanda because that always intrigues me

prompts (optional, of course!) - Mayaka & Houtarou having a huge falling out, like SERIOUS falling out, and it’s up to Satoshi & Chitanda to work together to get the two to make-up and get the group back together!! - Satoshi & Chitanda working together to solve a mystery without the help of Houtarou & Mayaka, who’re usually the two who are better at solving cases!! - On the flipside, what about: 5 times Satoshi dislikes Chitanda, and 1 time he doesn’t.  - Soul Eater AU!! this is a specific AU i’ve had in my head for awhile but would love to read someone’s interpretation of it!! who would be the meisters/weapons, what forms would the weapons take?? a fic where the four find each other and become partners/duos would be worth a BILLION yuletides!! - in the same vein, fire emblem AU! here’s a post i wrote about it years ago but still relevant and feel free to tweak the classes - older!Houtarou/Chitanda who stayed behind for college in Kamiyama visiting Satoshi/Mayaka in the big city/Tokyo (optional as to whether the two pairs are dating yet, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if they weren’t at the start of the fic!!) - any mayaka-centric fic, perhaps a fic about her trying to set Chitanda/Houtarou up? w accomplice Satoshi (+10000 points if she and Satoshi AREN’T DATING! YET! !! COLLAPSES) also i guess it works the other way too!! chitanda trying to get satoshi to confess to mayaka, dragging houtarou along in the process... you know it’s good when both pairs aren’t dating yet

2. Hibike Euphonium

this anime is a good example of me loving the small moments and characters so much more than the overarching plot! i liked s1 more than s2 because of the development of kumiko and reina alongside each other, but i loved the spin s2 gave on kumiko & asuna’s r/s! while this anime isn’t a top fav of mine, the r/s between the ladies in this show is SO GOOD!!! would love to see what you can do with it!

ships: kumiko/reina, kumiko/asuna, am p alright w most other ships too except shuu/kumiko, i’m really not interested in that at all, but shuu as a character? yeah OK i guess prompts - 5 fives they climbed the hill together, 1 time they didn’t (kumiko/reina) - a fic about kumiko chasing asuka down but always missing her!! i.e. following her to uni in the big city (only, her uni is like nowhere near close enough to asuka’s), moving out of home and closer to asuka, trying to join the prestigious band asuka’s travelling with etc etc, and finally catching up to her!! - ten years later fic! reina comes back into town after touring with the national orchestra, kumiko (who stopped playing the euphonium) tries hard not to fall in love with her & the eupho once again... and fails, of course - a fic that examines reina falling out of love with taki-sensei and developing feelings for kumiko would be wonderful for my heart too!!

3. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

i am so so fond of this anime and its gags! while the character dynamics are incredibly fun to watch, they also feel very ‘predictable’, not only because of the running jokes but cause their r/s never seem to advance that much. so i would absolutely LOVE if you threw me fic about the most unlikely pairs that don’t interact so much in canon and hence have less running jokes, i would love to see what pans out, and the fic needn’t even be romantic!! ships: nozaki/sakura, kashima/hori, seo/waka, also interested in kashima/seo and sakura+hori

prompts - kashima + seo: i find their r/s v interesting?? would love for a fic to focus on their interactions, esp since i vaguely rmb seo being a bit wary of kashima at first - hori + sakura: i think they would work as wonderful partners in anything they do and would love anything that explores their r/s! maybe sakura has to help the drama club for a performance? - ten years later fic would work wonderfully for GSNK! what’s everyone doing now? wouldn’t it be funny if all the r/s were p much the same, but also kinda different? - Akatsuki no Yona AU! (whether yona is sakura or mikorin, you decide! haha)

4. Fune Wo Amu

this is more of a wildcard pick because um, I REALLY LIKED THIS SHOW! i loved the attention paid to the world of dictionary publishing but specifically, the seemingly insurmountable ocean of words & meanings & the desire to bridge the gaps that so naturally form between people... this show calmed my heart so much and i would love fic which brought me back to that calm and reflective atmosphere & those lovely characters prompts -  over the years working, majime learns the definitions of words through his interactions with the people in the office - nishioka becoming a dad leads to everyone in the office inevitably taking turns parenting his kids!! either because they need to babysit, or because he brings em to company functions etc  - sasaki on her first day of work vs last day of work - any fic that explores how majime & nishioka influence and change each other’s lives would be nice as well ahh...

thank u again dear writer, may you have a wonderful end to the year and i hope that whatever good things and bad things that happened this year, you’ll carry on strong and even better in the next!! happy writing and please eat well and stay warm (: