Gorgeous Carat, 1-4

[brigdh]

I mentioned in my last post that I was at Kinokuniya this weekend. While I was there, wandering around and considering if I wanted anything, given that I cannot read Japanese, I ended up in the translated-to-English manga section, trying to remember if I'd heard of anything recently that I wanted to read, and looking at the pictures on the covers.

(By the way, you have to love a bookstore with an entire set of shelves labeled 'yaoi'.)

I picked up a shounen-ai series called Gorgeous Carat, because hey: turn-of-the-century Paris, jewel thieves, an arrogant aristocratic guy fallen to ruin... I figured that it wasn't possible for me to actually hate it, and so I went ahead and bought the first volume.

Oh my god, people. This is simultaneously the best and worst thing I have ever read. It is so on crack; it features every single yaoi trope, all the things I absolutely loathe, and yet it does it so shamelessly and over-the-top that I am somehow amused and enthralled instead of annoyed. Like, someone is bought when his family goes into debt. There are constant reiterations of the 'you belong to me'/'I will break your spirit' thing, done by various characters. The uke (and oh, this is very much a series in which the characters are clearly meant to fill the uke and seme roles, which in and of itself is a thing I usually can't stand) bursts into tears every ten pages. Everyone has jewel-colored eyes, of course, and they are repeatedly referred to as "those precious amethysts" or some similar epithet. One character has another whipped into unconsciousness and then this is never mentioned again. Because that is the sort of thing easily forgotten, I suppose.

And that is the first volume alone. But the whole thing is still somehow gleefully addictive, and has nearly as many of the tropes I like as the ones I hate (Morocco! Backstories involving gangs of child thieves! Ancient ruins! The one time when the seme was being typically bossy and the uke hauled off and punched him in the face!), that I immediately returned to Kinokuniya to buy the whole series- which is only four volumes long- and have read the whole thing. It is terrible. It is so cheesy. It caused to make noises halfway between laughter and shrieks of horror multiple times, mainly involving me telling the pictures, "He had you held in shackles and Whipped! Into! Unconsciousness! Quit being romantic!"

I'm not sure if I'm even recommending this. Certainly I have since found out there is a sequel, or spinoff, or something, called Gorgeous Carat Galaxy, which I will be buying promptly, but I cannot in good faith encourage anyone else to buy any of this. If I believed it was possible for a work of fiction to actually be bad for you, it would be this. It's the equivalent of violently-colored candy made entirely of unnatural chemicals with names involving many, many syllables, which doesn't even taste that good, and yet which you can't stop eating. Um. if you would like to share my pain, or have been looking for insanely cracky shounen-ai which makes you simultaneously want to see the guys escape from each other and yet also hook up, check out Gorgeous Carat! It's like the bad drugs.

Also, apparently the mangaka has a series about Cesare Borgia. ...what's my manga budget for this month, again?

Comments

[weirdquark]

We got the first few volumes of Gorgeous Carat and it is just as you have said. Then we stopped. (Or at least, I hope we stopped. Because if we own the rest of it I have to read it.)

Certainly I have since found out there is a sequel, or spinoff, or something, called Gorgeous Carat Galaxy, which I will be buying promptly,

There is? What, is it more of the same, except in space?

We have the Cesare Borgia one too, and it's awesome. My housemate who studies the Italian Renaissance complains about the dearth of sex though. Not because she particularly wants to have lots of sex in her manga, but because, dude, Cesare Borgia didn't seduce everyone by the end of volume one? What's wrong with him?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee. Well, there's only four volumes, as I said. So perhaps you read the whole series without realizing it? Particularly since the last three are all part of a single arc.

What, is it more of the same, except in space?

Ha! That was my first thought, too; I wondered if it was some sort of AU thing. But it seems just to be the title, and not actually have anything to do with the plot.

Ha! What is up with these yaoi series having no sex? I was fairly disappointed to find the main couple never got further than a kiss in GC.

[threewalls]

I think the title change may be like Trigun/Trigun Maximum and Saiyuki/Saiyuki Reload-- indicate more a change of publisher than change of content. I'm not sure, though.

[threewalls]

Also, I don't have the manga on hand-- could you tell me for fic research purposes a little about the context of this kiss you've mentioned?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It's near the very end- when Azura, Ray and Florian are standing in the secret treasure room, and Azura tells Ray to leave Florian behind and come with him, or else both Ray and Florian will die. Ray refuses, of course, and Florian shouts that he should go, and Ray turns around and kisses him. Partly to shut him up, I think, but it is a kiss. *laughs*

[threewalls]

Thanks.

I need to hit my own Kinokuniya (and it is exceptionally wonderful to have a store with a BL/yaoi section, even if mine is only for the Japanese versions, not the English), and check up on a few other details.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

You're planning on writing a story for them, then? Squee! I'm looking forward to it.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

I've always thought he's building up to having sex with everyone.

[seraphim-12.livejournal.com]

haha, I LOVE GORGEOUS CARAT! It's historical with strong characters and lots of uh . . . hints! Did you know there's a continuation of the series?

So far You Higuri has only done Gorgeous Carat Galaxy but she did state in the afterword that she would continue with the story, so I have some hope!

You Higuri is a pretty awesome mangaka 'cause a lot of her works are historical and she draws such nice bishies, ^_^

[seraphim-12.livejournal.com]

I guess I should have read your entire post before posting my comment, >_>. I was just so excited that you read GC!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee, no worries.

I am looking forward to reading GC Galaxy, and am also glad to hear that she said she'd write more. I really did love the art; it's so very pretty, particularly how she draws hair and eyes. It was very expressive.

[threewalls]

I've found it interesting reading people's views of Gorgeous Carat, because I liked it (and read it a long, long time ago using the Japanese manga and fan scripts from the internet), and liked Noir and Florian together. I think it worked for me in the way that the tropes were so over the top that I could see the characters dispensing with them if they learnt to trust each other (and that would be slow going)-- but I think the being whipped to unconsciousness means something different to me than it does to you (ie. not a hanging offence for the relationship).

By Galaxy, Noir and Florian have settled down a whole lot. It lacks much of the whips and chains ambience, and while Noir still makes comments about Florian being his property, it's largely in the context of keeping other people from taking advantage of Florian and feels a lot more like Noir has no idea how to have a less... commercial relationship. Tellingly, he's referred to a lot more as 'Ray' than 'Noir' (but I've read Galaxy much more recently, so my sense of 'more' may be off).

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

but I think the being whipped to unconsciousness means something different to me than it does to you

I wouldn't mind consensual whipping, though yes, as it was it did bother me rather a lot. I wonder if there was any difference in presentation between the Japanese and English? Still, since the characters seemed to forget it, by the end I was willing to also. I did like so much more than I expected to, given all the things in the story that usually annoy me.

That's very encouraging to hear, and makes me more eager to go pick up a copy. I was hoping for that, actually. I prefer established relationships to first-time stories, so I'd been annoyed that it took the entire series for them to get together. I would much rather have had them solidify things at the end of the first volume and then spend the rest of the time fighting bad guys as a couple, but since that did not happen, I'm glad to hear the sequel has it.

[threewalls]

I'm very willing to forgive characters doing stupid things to people they like, a sort of pigtail-pulling writ large, though it helps that there were apparently no lasting ill-effects.

I also saw Noir whipping Florian as part of some horribly machismo display of 'I am a bad seme, hate me, like I hate myself' rather than any genuine enjoyment of non-consensually whipping Florian. Noir perhaps suffering similarly at Azure's hands made some of that explicable to me (in a twisted, cycle of abuse way). And as I write this, I know I identify more with Noir than Florian, and that must be skewing how I read it.

There's a nice GC story at yaoi_challenge that does a good job of illustrating how Noir and Florian live together without quite getting each other, where they like each other, but not in a couple-sort of way, not really.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ah. I hadn't thought of it in that way, but it's an interpretation that makes it much more understandable.

I don't think I really identify with either of them, but I have a bad habit of finding cruelty to someone not in a position to protect themselves utterly unforgivable, so I generally rush past such scenes instead of trying to figure them out in terms of characterization. Which clearly I should stop doing, because you putting it that way has now made me much more fond of Noir; it's a take on it that I can see very well.

Ooo, thank you! For some reason I hadn't thought that there would be fanfiction for the series, but I'm going to go find that story now.

[threewalls]

I like characters being idiots at the people they find fascinating, and I also think that for all that Noir bought Florian, he gets points with me for not pushing this to the point of rape (though he stops very, very short of the line with the whipping). I'm not sure there's a lot I'd find unforgivable, depending on the context and intent behind it, short of permanent injury and the like.

There's not a lot of fanfic for GC at all. The only other one I know of is an extended AU treatment of the whipping scene (seguing into a sex scene), with the theme that Florian needs Noir to show him more much he could enjoy consensual whipping, etc. It loses something for me in the assumption that Florian is a naive waif who only needs to give in to his dark desires (with Noir) for everything to be marvellous.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I had indeed expected the story to go there, and was glad it didn't. (Though I suppose the mangaka was just waiting for Azura to play that role.)

Yeah. That sounds like a story I'd have problems with, too. I'm never too fond of one character being significantly more naive or less competent than the other, even when it would be a reasonable interpretation. And I don't think it would, with Florian.

Thank you the second rec, by the way. Both of those stories were very good. Did you read the other one on yaoi_challenge? It's Azura/Ray, with a very forgiving interpretation of Azura, but I liked it.

[threewalls]

(Except Florian proved Azura wrong, in a sense, didn't he? I liked that, too. And why is everyone up in arms over Noir whipping Florian in contrast to everything Azura did to Florian?)

I'd read both of them at yaoi challenge. It's a little harder for me to forgive Azura his machinations, even though the manga itself hints he, too, is a victim in some sense. He just doesn't seem to be trying to be any better.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Florian seemed to prove expectations of him wrong at several points, which was very much part of what I liked about the series. I don't think even my amusement could have quite held out for an entirely standard seme/uke story.

I can't speak for other people, of course, but my guess would be it's because the story isn't heading for a Azura/Florian ending. Villains do evil things; it's why they're the bad guys. But I generally hold the romantic leads to higher standards.

It worked for me because Ray certainly seems to have a very high opinion of Azura, leading me to wonder if he didn't change drastically at some point. Which isn't quite the same as forgiving him; it's more, 'maybe he was a nice guy when they were kids'.

[threewalls]

I think I need to write fic to properly articulate how you can take the whipping seriously (as I do; it's torture, not BDSM) and still find a way for Florian and Noir to be getting along as well as they do.

Re-reading volumes 3-4 (which I have now, unlike 1-2), there definitely seems to be a sense that Azura went bad at some point between then and now. But that's probably something the mangaka's saving to dole out in small increments.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I'd very much like to see that. I can't quite work with the whipping seriously myself, but I always trust a good author to be able to make me see something I couldn't before.

[threewalls]

This one is good, too, though it's a 5 stages of Grief piece, which gives you a sense of its tone.

[lynndyre.livejournal.com]

The other thing about Noir's whole 'I'm an evil seme' routine is that he is 18 (younger than Florian) and his past relationship experience seems to be..... Azura.

Which is where I think he got it from. ^.^

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Heh, true. That's really not the sort of life history that leads to healthy relationships.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

...This is one of those times when I should be glad my "fandoms to be sampled" pile is already a mile high, isn't it?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It is only four volumes long. *tempts*

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Given the pile of manga I have next to the bed, four volumes might be enough to topple it and bury me. *G* Besides, I have a Mission now. There are two manhwa I'm hunting, and I heartell my boys might be getting their own.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ooo, which two are you hunting? And eee, cool! Good luck with your boys getting one.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Actually, that dropped down to one, because the other one was pitched as a potential project for the boys, but then that fell through (it's called Hip-Hop, and I suspect it fell through in part because the boys might get their own). And I found the one! Lo, it is One Thousand and One Nights, and I've blazed through the first three volumes, and. Damn. Pretty like whoa, and tasty. At least so far. It's yaoi, but so far the apparently designated uke hasn't burst into tears or been infantilized or acted like a toddler on a sugar high. He's got a quiet strength, and is, in fact, presented as the smartest character in the series. It's a promising thing.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds very good. I've been hearing a lot of people say positive things about that series lately; I'll have to check it out myself.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Well, I picked it up thanks to telophase pimping it at rachelmanija and myself getting caught in the crossfire. Not that this is a bad thing. This is just apparently my block of years where the part of the globe on which I focus is Korea. I'm okay with this. *G*

[tadity.livejournal.com]

Also, apparently the mangaka has a series about Cesare Borgia. ...what's my manga budget for this month, again?

That would be Canterella! Which I really love and think is just gorgeous. The American licenser is go!comi, and they price their books at $10.99 each. I've seen up through 6 in the stores, but I live in the reluctant south, and our bookstores? Are really really slow to get anything.

:)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I've heard a lot of good things about it! Unfortunate that it's a bit more expensive, though.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

There's a ton and I only have the first three.

[kessie.livejournal.com]

The Cesare Borgia series is called Canterella. Which is not so crack-filled, and is actually quite good! It has a more fantastical element to it, so it's not just historical. And it's a really good translation, apart from some modern slang thrown in here and there.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oooo, cool! I've heard people mention it before, but now I'm really interested in checking it out.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Cantarella is actually really good! I love it with a passion. I have not been able to get into any other You Higuri series as much, although Seimaden has some fun stuff. (vom_marlowe recently posted on Gorgeous Carat and was closer to my opinion.)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Excellent! I'm looking forward to getting it, then.

(And I can very much understand why someone wouldn't like Gorgeous Carat; I'm sort of surprised that I did.)

[b-hallward.livejournal.com]

Gah! I am a sucker for turn-of-the-century Paris, jewel thieves and, god help me, near east/north african orientalism, and I mean like woah. But reading your thread with threewalls, I don't think I could get pass the whipping-to-unconsciousness thing so long as there aren't any consequences for the characters and their relationship. That would be intolerable, artistically offensive and deeply alienating. I know you're not suppose to take it seriously, but that's the biggest part of the problem for me.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I think it's too big of a problem for me to be able to write the series- as soon as I started trying to get into the characters' heads and look at their circumstances, it would all fall apart because I simply would have to treat it more seriously than they do. But as long as I think of it like, say, a romantic comedy I stumbled across late at night on TV, then its failings are more amusing in their over-the-topness than annoying.