![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jukebox_csiI thought I'd post some reviews I've written of various manga, because...well, why not. *grin*
All of these can be found at the Boys on Boys on Film website. First up is the Korean manhwa 'One Thousand and One Nights'.
Review - One Thousand and One Nights
by Han Seung Hee and Jeon JinSeok
Korean Manhwa
From the back cover of volume 1: Everyone knows the story of Shahrazad and her wonderful tales in the Arabian Nights. For one thousand and one nights, the stories that she created entertained the mad Sultan and eventually saved her life. In this version, our Shahrazad is a guy who wanted to save his sister from the mad Sultan by disguising himself as a woman. When he puts his life on the line, what kind of strange and wacky stories would he tell?
I think the opening lines of the first volume describe the manhwas best - "The world is formed with one half day and one half night. Soldiers do battle, merchants sell their wares, and farmers till the land. And at night, they all listen to stories. The human drama that unfolds by day is only the tip of the iceberg...even more happens at night. Now, I shall begin telling you those stories of the night."
This title is not actually labeled as shounen-ai/yaoi by the publisher. Instead, it is categorized as Fantasy/Romance. As a result, I originally had not planned to buy this series. Truthfully, I hadn't even heard of it. With a set amount of funds to spend on my manga addiction, I generally stick with what interests me the most, which is BL. This is not to say I haven't made exceptions. I do have a very small collection of shoujo titles, such as the Saiyuki series. But, for the most part, I cruise only the BL publishers' products. However, I happened to see this title mentioned in several yaoi forums I belong and decided to see what it was about. To my complete and wonderful surprise, the publisher actually had a majority of volume one available as a free preview on their website. It only took me an afternoon of reading this preview for me to fall completely in love and immediately purchase the first three volumes.
Even though the books are not classified as yaoi, there is a bit of boy love action to be had within the pages in addition to traditional coupling. In fact, the main characters of the book - the storyteller Dunya and the prince - have a complicated relationship. Each book so far contains not only the main story - whereby Dunya pretends to be a woman from the prince's harem in order to save his sister - but also several 'fairytales' woven craftily within as Dunya proceeds to tell his stories to pacify the prince. Within the first few pages, the reader learns that the prince is taking all the young virgins of his kingdom to put in his harem. Each night, he takes the virginity of one of the harem girls, and decapitates his conquest the very next morning. As one can imagine, this does not endear him to his people. Dunya trades his life for his sister by pretending to be her when the soldiers come. It doesn't take long in the prince's embrace before he is discovered as a fraud, which begins a long and painful period of abuse and torture for our hero. Over the course of the first three volumes, there are growing feelings between Dunya and his tormenter, as each story Dunya weaves attempts to teach the prince something while simultaneously holding off the bloodlust that calls for the death of all deflowered virgins. The tales themselves are as intricate and engaging as the main storyline; stories full of love, hope, angst, and despair - running the full gamut of emotions.
While the stories alone are interesting enough to warrant the purchase of the series, it's the artwork that seals the deal. If I had to find the best phrase to describe the art, it would be simply beautiful. Almost all of the main characters in the book are gorgeous. Yet, despite that fact, the men never come across to me as utterly effeminate, even figuring in the scene in the beginning of volume one where Dunya is dressed as a woman. Seeing those panels, he exudes a feminine beauty that would make a super-model jealous, yet once his top is literally ripped off his body to reveal the fraud, he is quite obviously a slender male. And the most striking feature in my opinion are the eyes; a description of 'liquid pools' being apt.
Ice Kunion does a wonderful job with the books. They are larger than most mangas I currently have on my bookshelf, making the print easier to read and giving plenty of room for the action in the panels. The pages are not cut too close, with plenty of room for the binding such that the books don't have to be practically broken in order to see the interior edged dialogue. The first and third volumes of the book each has a couple of color pages in the beginning that are quite appealing in their richness. Shading throughout is done well. All in all, I was quite pleased with the books and look forward to future volumes of this story from this publisher.
I wholeheartedly recommend this series to anyone that loves beautiful artwork and engaging tales of betrayal, lust, violence, jealousy, passion, and all other fitting words to describe fantasy romance. At the time of writing this review, the first three volumes are available and the publisher still has much of the volumes as free previews on their website.
The preview page at the publisher's site is Ice Kunion Previews
All of these can be found at the Boys on Boys on Film website. First up is the Korean manhwa 'One Thousand and One Nights'.
Review - One Thousand and One Nights
by Han Seung Hee and Jeon JinSeok
Korean Manhwa
From the back cover of volume 1: Everyone knows the story of Shahrazad and her wonderful tales in the Arabian Nights. For one thousand and one nights, the stories that she created entertained the mad Sultan and eventually saved her life. In this version, our Shahrazad is a guy who wanted to save his sister from the mad Sultan by disguising himself as a woman. When he puts his life on the line, what kind of strange and wacky stories would he tell?
I think the opening lines of the first volume describe the manhwas best - "The world is formed with one half day and one half night. Soldiers do battle, merchants sell their wares, and farmers till the land. And at night, they all listen to stories. The human drama that unfolds by day is only the tip of the iceberg...even more happens at night. Now, I shall begin telling you those stories of the night."
This title is not actually labeled as shounen-ai/yaoi by the publisher. Instead, it is categorized as Fantasy/Romance. As a result, I originally had not planned to buy this series. Truthfully, I hadn't even heard of it. With a set amount of funds to spend on my manga addiction, I generally stick with what interests me the most, which is BL. This is not to say I haven't made exceptions. I do have a very small collection of shoujo titles, such as the Saiyuki series. But, for the most part, I cruise only the BL publishers' products. However, I happened to see this title mentioned in several yaoi forums I belong and decided to see what it was about. To my complete and wonderful surprise, the publisher actually had a majority of volume one available as a free preview on their website. It only took me an afternoon of reading this preview for me to fall completely in love and immediately purchase the first three volumes.
Even though the books are not classified as yaoi, there is a bit of boy love action to be had within the pages in addition to traditional coupling. In fact, the main characters of the book - the storyteller Dunya and the prince - have a complicated relationship. Each book so far contains not only the main story - whereby Dunya pretends to be a woman from the prince's harem in order to save his sister - but also several 'fairytales' woven craftily within as Dunya proceeds to tell his stories to pacify the prince. Within the first few pages, the reader learns that the prince is taking all the young virgins of his kingdom to put in his harem. Each night, he takes the virginity of one of the harem girls, and decapitates his conquest the very next morning. As one can imagine, this does not endear him to his people. Dunya trades his life for his sister by pretending to be her when the soldiers come. It doesn't take long in the prince's embrace before he is discovered as a fraud, which begins a long and painful period of abuse and torture for our hero. Over the course of the first three volumes, there are growing feelings between Dunya and his tormenter, as each story Dunya weaves attempts to teach the prince something while simultaneously holding off the bloodlust that calls for the death of all deflowered virgins. The tales themselves are as intricate and engaging as the main storyline; stories full of love, hope, angst, and despair - running the full gamut of emotions.
While the stories alone are interesting enough to warrant the purchase of the series, it's the artwork that seals the deal. If I had to find the best phrase to describe the art, it would be simply beautiful. Almost all of the main characters in the book are gorgeous. Yet, despite that fact, the men never come across to me as utterly effeminate, even figuring in the scene in the beginning of volume one where Dunya is dressed as a woman. Seeing those panels, he exudes a feminine beauty that would make a super-model jealous, yet once his top is literally ripped off his body to reveal the fraud, he is quite obviously a slender male. And the most striking feature in my opinion are the eyes; a description of 'liquid pools' being apt.
Ice Kunion does a wonderful job with the books. They are larger than most mangas I currently have on my bookshelf, making the print easier to read and giving plenty of room for the action in the panels. The pages are not cut too close, with plenty of room for the binding such that the books don't have to be practically broken in order to see the interior edged dialogue. The first and third volumes of the book each has a couple of color pages in the beginning that are quite appealing in their richness. Shading throughout is done well. All in all, I was quite pleased with the books and look forward to future volumes of this story from this publisher.
I wholeheartedly recommend this series to anyone that loves beautiful artwork and engaging tales of betrayal, lust, violence, jealousy, passion, and all other fitting words to describe fantasy romance. At the time of writing this review, the first three volumes are available and the publisher still has much of the volumes as free previews on their website.
The preview page at the publisher's site is Ice Kunion Previews
