#kasuya noriko

[wyrm-moon]

Manga by Kasuya Noriko (粕谷紀子) (source, info)

[mangacoverwaltz]

Mr. Gray’s Hands by Kasuya Noriko

[asnowperson]

Luciana's Tears by Kasuya Noriko (1976)

I am questioning why I even bought a random magazine issue from 1976, but well, let's turn it into a contribution to shoujo history.

28 August 1976 issue of Weekly Shoujo Comic's Flower Deluxe edition has a 51-page story titled Luciana no Namida (ルチアーナの涙 - Luciana's Tears) by Kasuya Noriko. Even googling it didn't give me much results, and her fan site says that this story was never compiled in a tankoubon, so beware, we are very likely getting into the forgotten shoujo titles territory. The said fan site has a much better summary, you can check it out (in JP).

Story by Kuni Kazue (邦一恵)

This manga piqued my interest because it looked like the story was taking place in Renaissance Italy, something I realized how much I liked after recently watching the 1968 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

So, the story is set in 15th century Italy. In the Duchy of Ferrara, to be more exact. The Duke, Ercole (very likely this guy), marries a 17-year-old girl. Of course, this is a political marriage. Everyone pities the new bride as she had to marry a man over 40, but she tries her best to be a good wife and to find love in her marriage. However, Ercole is cold towards her and spends his nights away from home.

The Duke has three sons, each born from a different mistress of his: Giulio, Pesaro and Roberto. Ercole favors his eldest, Giulio, and names him as his heir much to the chagrin of Pesaro. The latter gets even more annoyed watching his elder brother be on friendly terms with their "mother" who is pretty much the same age as them. One day, Pesaro goes to her to tell that his father has at least 20 mistresses that he knows of, a fact Giulio had been hiding from her to protect her, just to torment her.

What is love? Baby don't hurt me~ Kiss the haha-ue.

Luciana is devastated, but tries to remain strong. In her moment of weakness, his "son" kisses her, further confusing her heart.

Despite her grief, she stands firm and says that she won't take his husband into her bed until he cuts ties with all the other chicks. But surprise: Ercole is indeed impressed by her gall, and breaks up with her mistresses to be with his waifu. However, Luciana refuses her again because this time around, her heart already belongs to Giulio!

Pesaro doesn't take long to notice this illicit affair, and snitches on them to his father. Duke Ercole is furious, and imprisons them both in his fancy towers. He doesn't want to blame and kill his precious son, he implores him to put the blame and Luciana and say that she seduced him, but Giulio insists that all blame lies with him. In a final effort to save him, Ercole secretly sends word to his son to flee to Venice before their lovers' execution at dawn.

This is the face of a man true to his word: "Luciana, I promised that I would follow you anywhere you go, even if it costs me my life..."

On the morning of the execution, Luciana is acting all smug with her "I regret nothing" face. Her face is also giving me that "hehe, I fucked you're son" vibe, but no one remembers Goro memes anymore, so I'll probably be alone on this.

As Luciana is beheaded, Guilio commits suicide in his cell. The Duke is shooketh. Pesaro, who caused this tragedy, leaves home and no one ever hears of him again. Ercole orders the two lovers to be buried side by side. As their lifeless bodies are being taken to the catacombs, Luciana's nanny notices that, although they have forever lost their light, there are tears trickling down from her lady's eyes... Ayyy, title drop!

The sad tale of these young lovers is told all over Italy for many years to come... FINE

This was a very simple, yet very shoujo story. What I liked the most is the fact that Kasuya never dragged things out in the pages she's been given. We all read all the famous/successful titles from the 1970s, but reading stuff like this really gives you a sense of what was popular during that period of time and makes you feel like a little girl who got the latest shoujo magazine with her allowance. More known works all have something they do differently, which becomes the standard later on, and that means those were not the standard back then. So it's nice to read random manga like this one to have an idea about state of the shoujo manga scene of that time.

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kasuya noriko