Gorgeous Carat Vol 1
May. 22nd, 2009 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreOr rather, about 60 pages of it.
Ok, so, you know how I don't read much shounen-ai/yaoi? Certainly not enough to be familiar with all the tropes. Anyway, I checked this out because it's Higuri You and I only have a few volumes of Seimaden left to read and who knows when any more of my beloved Cantarella will come out.
It's set in turn-of-the-century Paris and is about Florian, ayoung nobleman whose family is recently destitute, and Ray, a rich jewel thief. Ray falls in love with Florian's amethyst eyes and buys him from his mother (to be fair, she objected to this and Florian volunteered so that she wouldn't have a heart attack choosing between him and a family jewel) and then they start acting out an Old School romance novel with much posturing and expressions of outrage and denial from Florian and much alpha posing from Ray. And mostly, I was deeply amused by the Old School Romance Novel As Manga-ness of it.
Then I got about 50 pages in.
And Ray ties Florian to a post, whips him, has him chained to a wall, and torments him with a knife for a bit.
And then...it goes back to the fun?
I...is this normal for BL? I mean, I'm not planning to read more because I don't care to read about Florian falling in love with a guy who whipped him, chained him up and tormented him with a knife to teach him a lesson, even though the manga itself isn't taking it seriously.I refuse to be lured in for more by Ray's Girl Friday or the turn of the century thieves bit or Old School Romance Novel As Manga hijinks. I'm just wondering how common a trope various equivalents are, given how much I hear about rape in BL, though I take they with a grain of salt.
Ok, so, you know how I don't read much shounen-ai/yaoi? Certainly not enough to be familiar with all the tropes. Anyway, I checked this out because it's Higuri You and I only have a few volumes of Seimaden left to read and who knows when any more of my beloved Cantarella will come out.
It's set in turn-of-the-century Paris and is about Florian, ayoung nobleman whose family is recently destitute, and Ray, a rich jewel thief. Ray falls in love with Florian's amethyst eyes and buys him from his mother (to be fair, she objected to this and Florian volunteered so that she wouldn't have a heart attack choosing between him and a family jewel) and then they start acting out an Old School romance novel with much posturing and expressions of outrage and denial from Florian and much alpha posing from Ray. And mostly, I was deeply amused by the Old School Romance Novel As Manga-ness of it.
Then I got about 50 pages in.
And Ray ties Florian to a post, whips him, has him chained to a wall, and torments him with a knife for a bit.
And then...it goes back to the fun?
I...is this normal for BL? I mean, I'm not planning to read more because I don't care to read about Florian falling in love with a guy who whipped him, chained him up and tormented him with a knife to teach him a lesson, even though the manga itself isn't taking it seriously.