Spammy August 10, 2023 9:20 pm

I like this manga so much, especially the way it almost satirizes typical yaoi plotlines/tropes/semes etc.and emphasizes the value of normalcy. I think there’s just a really interesting quality to the main duos’ relationship that’s present in a lot of Asada Nemui’s works. All of her relationships she writes about have some sort of atypical romance element to it, and I think her choice of including a very typical yaoi relationship in Ma-Kun’s past was really smart, and shows his evolution and what he values.

Ma-kun’s earlier relationship is so yaoi—it’s dramatic, he’s the ultimate seme with the ultimate bottom, the sex is amazing and there’s this grand overarching plot. But ultimately he doesn’t find fulfillment in that role, and we as the reader don’t either. There’s an element of artificiality, we’re More drawn to the unfolding basic story of him and Hitoshi. And ultimately so is Ma-kun.

The ultimate lesson is that a non-dramatic relationship, with all its quirks and idiosyncrasies, is where the real interest and fulfillment lies. He tries to do his classic, like, ultimate seme shtick in the first few chapters but it doesn’t work; the “sex” isn’t good for either of them and Hitoshi is just scared. Their relationship develops when Ma-kun stops being a seme and starts being a person who has interests and can meet Hitoshi where he’s at, which is ultimately why I thought the ending where they didn’t have sex and had all these safewords was good

    babyfriedrice September 4, 2023 2:44 pm

    it's rare to see a sound review from the mangago comment section lol. i hadn't even considered some of the themes you've mentioned about the story while i was reading it on my own, so what you wrote made me appreciate it more than i already have. i guess it's time for a reread.

    Blue September 24, 2023 6:19 pm

    You just summarized everything i was thinking about which was too complex to say in words.
    I really loved this manga and everything about it

    hachi leaf October 29, 2023 9:38 am

    oh my god this is beautiful. and YES agree to everything you wrote

    mooche December 4, 2023 8:01 am

    how does it fee to be the most correct person ever

Spammy August 10, 2023 12:22 pm

This manga is so fucking cute and it makes me happy every time I reread. I just love how wholesome their mutual obsession is, and I find Yajima’s catlike mannerisms so so so cute.

Spammy August 9, 2023 12:48 pm

To this day this is still one of my all time top yaoi. In all honesty I was kind of averse to it at first because of its older art style and reputation, and the fact that I didn’t like the OVAs, but I’m so glad I read it. It’s really so, so good. There’s something about older works that just have a lot of layers and nuance to it, and a sort of inherent uniqueness and emotional eroticism to the stories I think a lot of newer BL fails to capture. Where newer BL tends to focus on individual fulfillment, I think a lot of older yaoi tends to focus on more heavy ideas of total devotion to another person and vice versa. It’s more fantastical and cathartic for that reason.

Maiden Rose has one of the more layered plotlines and emotionally complex dynamics that I’ve read. Working “backwards”, so to speak, seeing how their relationship developed to where it is now through flashbacks and tidbits about the world building is really clever and well done. I also love the explorations of power—of ownership over another, body and soul; the power of sexuality and what it means in relation to duty and love. The element of Taki not telling Klaus what it means for him to be his knight bc he’s afraid Klaus would abandon him if he knew they weren’t allowed to have sex once he took the mantle of the Maiden Rose—ugh, such a good storytelling choice.

Taki and Klaus. I love them. I love them a lot. They’re such good foils for each other—Klaus abandoning his country to support Taki’s fight for his own, Klaus’s inability to hold back his base desires vs. Taki’s inability to give voice to them and act in them. There’s a lot of pain and repression between the two of them but you can really see how much they care about each other. There’s just so much hidden tenderness that they aren’t letting each other bear witness to. The boarding school flashbacks are just heartwarming because you see them get to be open about each other.

The dubcon is something not a lot of people will not like, but I think this is one of the rare cases where semi-rapey stuff as a plot element actually has an incredibly good and valuable impact on the story and relationships, especially to drive home how they used to be in the past (open, vulnerable, willing) versus the hurt and confusion they’re facing now. The development and groveling Klaus has to go through after understanding what exactly he’s been doing, him getting beat within an inch of his life, becoming re-addicted to amphetamines as a result and trying to make amends is just great. It really added some intense emotional resonance to the story.

Anyways, I’m just super passionate about this story and hope this convinced at least one person to give it a shot if they were on the fence :)

Spammy August 8, 2023 10:22 pm

Seriously why the fuck is everyone complaining about this? The ingredients are on the tin, man. It’s a political POW werewolf story, this kind of content is extremely expected. People need to stop bitching and learn to not click on something with tags they don’t like. If you don’t like rape in fiction don’t fucking read it. It’s literally that simple. Anyways. This story is fun and compelling, y’all need to chill.

    Bland_potatoes August 9, 2023 4:10 am

    Your comment made me read this and I agree with you, this is a good one and people need to chill lol

    Lilith November 12, 2024 9:30 pm

    Exactly!

Spammy August 5, 2023 11:49 pm

Oh I loved the angst in this one. I’m such a sucker for like old grudges and betrayals, this was tasty tasty tasty

    torree December 30, 2023 2:04 pm

    someone fr recc me old grudges or stuff I WANNA SEE THEM ENEMIES TO LOBERS TYPA ANGST TOO

Spammy August 3, 2023 2:42 am

This author never fails to write really complicated, interesting concepts. I don't read omegaverse at all but this really held my attention.

Spammy July 27, 2023 2:14 am

This story is so fun, honestly I don’t really understand why people are hating on it. It’s tense, it’s political, it’s got steam, the enemies to lovers aspect *actually* has them start as enemies and neither of them are particularly good people. it’s Like they’ve played chess their entire lives but haven’t found another player to match each other until now. It’s refreshing to see actually amoral characters. I often see it compared to POTN, but while I enjoyed POTN to an extent, I found the MC too inactive and innocent and the ML too rapey and cruel without reason for my personal tastes—their dynamic wasn’t particularly interesting to me because it went one direction. Here, there’s a game of tug of war and exploration of power. In this story both characters are morally grey, the MC is proactive, scheming, and manipulative, and so is the ML, who I feel is incredibly compelling. The author has no scruples about having him be not a great person who’s fully aware of what he does and his place in the world. Despite the imbalance in their current situation, I find the MC and ML evenly matched in a lot of ways, and feel that they have a sort of tacit understanding about the kind of people each other are. There isn’t room for cheesy misunderstandings and drama when they see each other so plainly. I look forward to their relationship development.

    simp-sama July 27, 2023 8:07 am

    Because the ML in this story isn’t your typical “pretty boy” with those scars on his face so readers are quick to forgive and forget POTN ML’s brutal abuse towards the MC because he’s “hot” whereas this ML isn’t seen as such. And people love to shit on anything that’s not their fave when drawing parallels that frankly don’t exist just to put another manhwa down. The two stories couldn’t be more different from the characterizations, to the plot, their dynamic, motives etc.

    I agree with all the points you mentioned and why their dynamic is so interesting to read. Those who claim the MC is starting to fall for the ML clearly need to go back and have a re-read, the hate is absolutely palpable and we’re just in the very beginning of the story where the two of them are still testing one another to see how far each will go. It’s a game of cat and mouse and we still don’t know who’s the cat and who’s the mouse.

    Yuu July 27, 2023 9:15 am

    my main point of hat is the translation wheeeze like i....cannot take this serious at all. mood killer af. i'm still here reading but like "HANKERING FOR MY PENIS" LOL STOP IT fire whoever comes up with these lines they're pure pain

    Spammy July 27, 2023 10:09 am
    Because the ML in this story isn’t your typical “pretty boy” with those scars on his face so readers are quick to forgive and forget POTN ML’s brutal abuse towards the MC because he’s “hot” wherea... simp-sama

    Good points all around, especially about the sort of unknown elements of their cat and mouse dynamic.
    And it’s actually interesting you mention the attractiveness bias. I have noticed people generally more negatively about the ML’s scars and appearance. It’s interesting because that’s actually my favorite part of his design and what makes him so interesting—not only do the scars have a sort of implication about the stuff he’s survived and what he’s capable of, but his skin tone is interesting in the context of the story too. In feudal Korea pale skin was considered for nobility while brown was thought of as “peasant appearance”, if we’re keeping that in mind I wonder if he’s got a more “humble roots” backstory than the main character. It might explain that they’re both survivors—and even if it’s not the reason, there’s some visual storytelling there that sort of signifies that he’s not like other nobles.

    parkjinwife July 27, 2023 12:05 pm

    You made really good points. However while I love POTN and have been gladly paying to read new episodes, I won't waste a dime on this story. POTN is hella toxic, but it was damn good storytelling. This one isn't up to par in that regard.

    I read this Chinese novel, Brother. In it, this guy started sleeping with his mentally challenged blood brother (no step-brother bullshit). This is after said brother almost raped him. Even with such immoral characters, I still found myself rooting for them and wishing them happiness (because so many fucked up things happened to them). That's the power of good storytelling.

    simp-sama July 27, 2023 4:22 pm
    Good points all around, especially about the sort of unknown elements of their cat and mouse dynamic. And it’s actually interesting you mention the attractiveness bias. I have noticed people generally more ne... Spammy

    Exactly, it's this attractiveness bias the reason why readers worship MLs like Seungho, another one that comes to mind is the Jinx ML - both have absolutely no problem brutalizing their partners and the response is largely still positive towards them. I'm of course not excusing this ML either, but he's backed off in a few instances when he felt as if he was forcing himself on someone who didn't want it (because for him, where's the fun in that?). It's more complicated in this scenario since the MC is forcing himself into this situation for his revenge, and the ML is fully aware of his hatred and disdain and is amused at how far the MC is willing to go.

    The ML's ruggedness is what makes this so interesting, he's hated by other nobles but loved by the king, and people simply follow him because they're scared of him; there's no love spared by the people around him, anyone can and will backstab him at any point and I fully believe we will witness this - which will likely be the catalyst for the MC to finally make a choice regarding his revenge. The scars are indications of his rough past, whether he was lower class, forced into wars or perhaps born from a concubine, I believe the ML had to fight and backstab for everything he has now. More realistically though, his noble title was probably a gift from the king for helping him during a war (this is my main guess). He needs to remain vigilant and he can't trust anybody, especially the MC who he knows is plotting revenge. But I think we will learn of a potential twist, the reason why the ML participated in the downfall of the MC's family, so I for one am sticking around to find out! (that and I'm a total sucker for power dynamics that aren't one sided)

    Spammy July 27, 2023 4:39 pm
    You made really good points. However while I love POTN and have been gladly paying to read new episodes, I won't waste a dime on this story. POTN is hella toxic, but it was damn good storytelling. This one isn'... parkjinwife

    Oh yeah, I by no means disliked POTN. I find myself interested in darker stories and concepts that really challenge me. When while it wasn’t my cup of tea, I did find myself really wanting them to figure it out in POTN and was interested in seeing that outcome. I’ve always loved explorations of darker romance, and LOVE when an author can take something (like you’re talking about with brother) that I’m immediately like disturbed by and make me root for them. Almost how like in that movie psycho you’re left with Norman Bates halfway through. It’s incredible to read when done correctly.

    Spammy July 27, 2023 4:47 pm
    Exactly, it's this attractiveness bias the reason why readers worship MLs like Seungho, another one that comes to mind is the Jinx ML - both have absolutely no problem brutalizing their partners and the respons... simp-sama

    YES YES YES!! You get it. YOU GET IT. All of that is exactly my feelings too.

    I suspect the same thing about his title too, and I suspect that MC’s family was by no means as good as he remembered them to be/thinks they are. I find their dynamic just so interesting because he’s fully aware of the MC’s motives, which arguably makes him one of the only people he can trust, since revenge plots are straightforward and trump most other political machinations. Meaning, the only person he can trust is the guy that wants to kill him because he knows *why* he wants to kill him; he wants to kill him for who he is NOT for leverage or power, which puts him in a really unique place.

    I’m also a total sucker for inverted power dynamics. I love when the tables turn and just seeing what characters do, and I’m really excited for the hopefully eventual occurrence of that happening to MC, perhaps with MC regaining his title and holding a social advantage over ML, or ML falling for him first and MC holding an an emotional advantage over him.

    If you like all this stuff and haven’t read it, you should check out the series Captive Prince. M/M political fantasy novel that explores power dynamics with a lot of good twists, it’s really good.

    simp-sama July 27, 2023 5:55 pm

    Thank you for the Captive Prince rec, I've actually had it on my list for a very long time so it's probably time to get to it! I'm thinking we need to swap recs because we're into the same things but our lists likely overlap a lot already. Feel free to hit me up if you want to get into deeper discussions, my current faves are The Ghost's Nocturne and Shutline among many others and I can talk about them all day!

    getussy August 10, 2023 4:07 pm
    Thank you for the Captive Prince rec, I've actually had it on my list for a very long time so it's probably time to get to it! I'm thinking we need to swap recs because we're into the same things but our lists ... simp-sama

    commenting just to say i agree with everything both of you said and that captive prince is amazing and you should totally read it!!! if you're in need of the pdf version i have it and i could send it to you :)

Spammy July 26, 2023 12:21 am

I love Yoru. He’s such a sweetheart. Normally characters with his archetype are the tops, it was nice to see one like him on the bottom. Harada really knows how to write guys I want to lovingly give a kiss on the cheek to.

Spammy July 22, 2023 5:26 am

I’ve been into anime and manga for going on 17 years now and could see this coming a mile away. Y’all new weebs don’t know how good you have it, surprise Incest trope used to be super common and put in basically everything back in the day. You’ll learn to ignore it lmao. My recommendation to people is if your supper bugged by its presence to stop reading because I doubt it’s going to go away. A significant chunk of the Japanese fan base likes them together, the most upvoted comment on the official jump manga app in Japan is basically “finally, I wanted to see them get together!”

    toilet terrorist July 23, 2023 3:50 am

    Definetly wouldnt happen, if Aqua gets caught him and ruby will get put into mental institutions because its a crime to commit incest but considering they're minor sthe punsihment will probably be therapy. It would basically ruin all his plans, japanese people arent nosey but incest is a whole nother topic. This has a lot of realism to it so they would treat a crime like an actual crime

    LatteGratte July 23, 2023 4:13 am

    That’s disgusting lmao. I don’t understand why incest in Japan seems to be so heavily accepted. Ugh.

    LatteGratte July 23, 2023 4:15 am

    To me it’s embarrassing that the same author of love is war has created such a manga…

    A BOY IS A GUN* July 23, 2023 5:52 pm

    OK old “weeb”, ask the actual Japanese people what they think. Maybe their opinion is different from FIVE YEARS AGO especially in this new gen. Just a suggestion. :)

    Spammy July 23, 2023 10:22 pm
    OK old “weeb”, ask the actual Japanese people what they think. Maybe their opinion is different from FIVE YEARS AGO especially in this new gen. Just a suggestion. :) A BOY IS A GUN*

    LMAO first of all you don’t know my ethnicity :) second of all, just peruse what people are saying on Japanese twitter or the comment section on the Japanese Jump App.

    A BOY IS A GUN* July 24, 2023 4:38 am
    LMAO first of all you don’t know my ethnicity :) second of all, just peruse what people are saying on Japanese twitter or the comment section on the Japanese Jump App. Spammy

    I know full well of the people on twitter and what-not but that’s not the majority of people. Also, your ethnicity does not matter, WHAT’D IT HAVE TO DO WITH MY MESSAGE???

    A BOY IS A GUN* July 24, 2023 7:27 am

    WAIT PAUSE I fully apologize for making you angry and wasting your time. I read your comment in a negative way which suggested that you approve of the incest. My bad, as your point stands that majority readers of ONK from Japan supported it. I take back my words as they sound ignorant and uneducated. However, I won’t take your advice to ignore the comments unless hopeless. To apologize from the time wasted on reading and responding to my comments as well as feeling irritated, you don’t need to accept my apology whenever you see my online figure. No reply would be best to forget about this. Truely yours, A BOY IS A GUN*

Spammy July 21, 2023 1:28 am

I’m kinda surprised people are so shocked at the more fanservicy shippy stuff—the author has posted ship art on weibo and this is a pretty popular trope in Chinese BL. I doubt it’ll go that way in the comic itself but the author is definitely making these choices intentionally.

    Ginnie July 21, 2023 4:39 am

    We know it and we decided to ignore what the author do outside the comic.

    Judge halls July 21, 2023 7:16 am
    We know it and we decided to ignore what the author do outside the comic. Ginnie

    Nah I'm okay with it, i ship it too

    Porcelain Girl July 21, 2023 7:21 am

    I think the author did a lot of fanservice but it won't be included in the actual manga

    Nnega23 July 21, 2023 7:44 am
    Nah I'm okay with it, i ship it too Judge halls

    Just saying something like that is nasty why would you say that "I ship it" in what world is that shit accepted

    Ginnie July 21, 2023 8:26 am
    Nah I'm okay with it, i ship it too Judge halls

    Here the list of the stuff I didn't want to know :

    Your comment ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ノ~

    Judge halls July 21, 2023 8:45 am
    Just saying something like that is nasty why would you say that "I ship it" in what world is that shit accepted Nnega23

    Why wouldn't it?it's not pedophilia the seme was a child he adored the uke that is taking care of him and had a bit of crush on him but when he was young it just looked adorable but now he is an Adult and acting the same that it looks intimate, some people have a crush on person that contunue to their adult stage you should'nt shame the people for who they love the younger seme is the one who did the first move to romance with the older uke not the oppisite if that was the case i wouldn't agree with it you're acting like this is some of the top shelf toxic manga that containes pedophilia murders and rape when it doesn't,there's actual nasty mangas that containes those things but you stay silent about it and you decide to bitch here? get a life

    Judge halls July 21, 2023 9:00 am
    Here the list of the stuff I didn't want to know : Your comment ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ノ~ Ginnie

    you said "we" meaning you chose to generalize that all the bl, yaoi, Shounen ai readers agrees with you but I'm one and i don't agree with it (=・ω・=)

    Ginnie July 21, 2023 9:00 am
    Why wouldn't it?it's not pedophilia the seme was a child he adored the uke that is taking care of him and had a bit of crush on him but when he was young it just looked adorable but now he is an Adult and actin... Judge halls

    Not you speaking about "seme" and "uke" when they never has sex pleaaaaase dlekkxjrkekdb

    You don't know if that person never spoke about others works which are problematic and even if they didn't, why would they read a problematic work just to trashtalk on it ??

    The author knows very well that the puppy having a crush on the wolf is borderline as fuck, that's why they doesn't include it in the comic and just do fanarts about it. If you like seeing them as a romantic couple, do whatever but you also can understand how seeing a man and his adopted kid behind romantically involved is weird

    Judge halls July 21, 2023 9:12 am
    Not you speaking about "seme" and "uke" when they never has sex pleaaaaase dlekkxjrkekdb You don't know if that person never spoke about others works which are problematic and even if they didn't, why would the... Ginnie

    (why would they read a problematic work just to trashtalk on it ??) yes they should Lmao others will think that we are into trashy mangas too and you can't expect people to stay silent after it left bad taste in their mouths or got traumatized by it lol tf

    Judge halls July 21, 2023 9:15 am
    Not you speaking about "seme" and "uke" when they never has sex pleaaaaase dlekkxjrkekdb You don't know if that person never spoke about others works which are problematic and even if they didn't, why would the... Ginnie

    most mangas you wouldn't know if they're fucked up or not unless you read it, so

    Judge halls July 21, 2023 9:16 am
    Not you speaking about "seme" and "uke" when they never has sex pleaaaaase dlekkxjrkekdb You don't know if that person never spoke about others works which are problematic and even if they didn't, why would the... Ginnie

    Spammy July 21, 2023 10:18 am
    Not you speaking about "seme" and "uke" when they never has sex pleaaaaase dlekkxjrkekdb You don't know if that person never spoke about others works which are problematic and even if they didn't, why would the... Ginnie

    I personally don’t have an opinion in this discourse either way, but I will correct you here and say that the author’s lofter discussed how the reason it isn’t in the comic is because of BL censorship for traditionally published comics in China, not because of the age gap. It was originally tagged/discussed as a “raising your top” genre in the original comics which is a popular trope before it was changed.

    Nnega23 July 22, 2023 12:05 am
    Why wouldn't it?it's not pedophilia the seme was a child he adored the uke that is taking care of him and had a bit of crush on him but when he was young it just looked adorable but now he is an Adult and actin... Judge halls

    Bitch you didn't just tell me to get a life Wich I have and no I don't pass a blind eye I see it clearly and I know is wrong Wich you don't since you don't actually have a argument but just love is what it is ans you're a bitch if you don't like it like pedophilia is not a joke and is not something you can ship grooming isn't either and nobody did a move on nobody so sit you dumbass down and start acting like grown folk and not some girl that should belong in a asylum retard

    Judge halls July 22, 2023 5:23 pm
    Bitch you didn't just tell me to get a life Wich I have and no I don't pass a blind eye I see it clearly and I know is wrong Wich you don't since you don't actually have a argument but just love is what it is a... Nnega23

    Lol if you think this ship is pedophilia then you're the crazy

    Judge halls July 22, 2023 5:24 pm
    Bitch you didn't just tell me to get a life Wich I have and no I don't pass a blind eye I see it clearly and I know is wrong Wich you don't since you don't actually have a argument but just love is what it is a... Nnega23

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