Customer Reviews

Golden Cain (Yaoi)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

i've been prowling around amazon.com in search for the explicit yaoi genre published in the states (most that got licensed are mild shounen-ai), and only recently have any luck in finding them. golden cain is one of those books. you asagiri's trademark art is breathtaking as usual, with softlines and defined background.

story wise, this manga is very angsty. shun, all around perfect guy is, as the blurb say, is trying to live up to his brother's legacy, who was involved in a serious incident a few years back. however, no matter what shun does, his parents were more or less ignoring his presence, and thus put our pretty boy in super-angst mode. so in his spare time shun goes all out trying to release all his compounded sorrow and guilt by hanging out with the wrong crowd.

in enters cain, the mysterious blondie dude who so happened helped shun one night. after that it seemed that cain is a permanent fixture in shun's life, much to his chagrin and annoyance (at least for a while). why is cain intent on attaching himself to shun? there are obvious mysteries swirling around and shun can't help but feel insecure...

anyways, i'm trying not to reveal the plot too much (plot, what plot? joking). all in all, the story is more than a bit unrealistic, but hey, it's enjoyable. and the twists in this one are pretty darn good, once it's bared all and sundry. i sure didn't see that coming... heh heh heh.

i find shun a bit melodramatic, but i guess that what's happened when you got such insensitive parents (boy, they pissed me off). i admit that i pretty much can't believe how they're treating shun, no matter what had transpired before. come on, he's just a kid.

and be beautiful obviously changed the setting from a highschool to college, i guess because of the explicit content (god perish the thoughts of highschoolers indulging in sex) *sarcasm* oh well, it works since the story doesn't revolve much around the school anyways, unlike in "selfish love," another of be beautiful's title.

all in all, this is a rather good read, if you're into dramas, gorgeous boys, angst and of course, yaoi. and since this is a you asagiri work, the quality is impeccable and the story entertaining. another good yaoi manga worth spending your moolah on.

BeBeautiful has quickly become a favorite publisher of mine. This was one of the first of their books I bought and I truly loved the art. The story on the other hand was a bit weak. Shun's guilt over his brother's accident has him hanging out with the wrong crowd and almost being publicly raped. Suddenly he's rescued by renowned model, Cain. Cain, who his brother admired so much. This is all in the first few pages. Now, let the sex and angst suddenly begin. And it does. Immediately. Why worry about characterization or too much troublesome plotline, right?

Okaaaay...now Cain is there everywhere, and Shun doesn't mind 'cause homelife sucks anyway. And cue to more sex. Not that I mind too much when we're talking Asagiri's drawing. However, the dialogue was lame, the angst a little too much. The twists at the end were a great touch, and I enjoyed myself much more by then. In short: Love good art? Don't mind sex scenes with goofy plots? You a yaoi fan? Here you are then. Buy this book.

So you're browsing on Amazon.com, for the recent spate of Yaoi translation releases, and *Golden Cain* comes up on every list.

Now, I've reviewed both *Desire* and *Only the Ring Finger Knows*- both excellent volumes. *Golden Cain* in comparison is a disappointment. If you're looking for lovely art and angsty boy-love storylines, *Desire* and *OtRFK* will be a much better choice. Lovely art, angsty boy-love, PLUS explicit scenes, wait the 3-5 months for Takakura Row's *Skyscrapers of Oz*.

Because, in the end, even if you want honest to goodness "yaoi", you don't want something that's frankly ridiculous -in story, in dialogue, in characterization. No, yaoi is not where you look for "deep" meaning and pretentious high literature, but neither should it make you toss it aside half a dozen times while reading it because it's just a bit too stupid.

Without spoiling too much, here's the basic premise: boy with issues over perfect brother starts strange relationship with gorgeous model, angst ensues, and denouement explains away brother's role in all this with boy's model lover.

Painful (not in a good way), more cringeworthy melodrama between family members, inexplicable self-loathing, buckets of tears. I'm a firm believer in tears and torturing your lovely bishounen. After all yaoi just feeds on good angst. But this is a bit too embarrassing.
On top of that there's this strange side story with freaky Satanist kidnappers. If this sounds mildly intriguing, sorry for the confusion. Some yaoi can take fantastic, over-the-top elements (bizarre plot, gorgeous rockstar characters, mystery, obsession, etc.) and transform them into something that strangely fits together, and makes it cool. This one fails. That surreal "coolness" factor is missing from *Golden Cain*.

You Asagiri's style is popular, though not my style- the eyes are too sharp, a bit sloppy, and a bit girly. And for a story that involves a fashion model, the clothing sketches are just unpleasant.

I'd wait until the publishers select a better volume of Asagiri. This one is the first yaoi purchase that made me regret it.
Quite unfortunate.

Is if you want a smut fix. Yes, Asagiri You's a respected mangaka, yes, there's a lot of sex in this, but the story and the characters are just . . . annoying as all git-out. Shun's one of those weepy, whiny ukes and Cain, the self-styled "Golden Beast", is about as seductive and menacing as Sebastian Bach. On a bad day. The plot, such as it is, hinges on the ol' dead sibling aspect, except that the sibling's not really dead. In fact, he's alive. And in love with his brother, who's--oh, never mind. And the dialogue? The less said, the better. Which is a maxim I wish the author had followed.

it's great when you come across a yaoi thing that not only offers an excellent story, insightful plots, well-developed characters, or wonderful comedy. it can be said that it's equally great to grab a title that offers very little of those things- if that's what you're into. i appreciate both storytelling and smut and let's be honest folks, this title is definitely the latter.

there really is no story and what you do get is so unimaginable and silly you couldn't possibly take it seriously. boy meets model at perhaps a pretentious goth club (? i'm still trying to figure out the purpose of the character from the club ?) relationship ensues, but model boy knows my brother? que the doubt, que the soap opera like drama involving the hospitalized- hell this IS a poorly written soap opera. anyway, it all comes down to the fact that the plot is horrendous and because of that I suppose you could find some humour in it.

but never fear, for like i said, this is a wonderful title if you're after pointless sex, and there is indeed pointless sex abound. no copping out with this one. the question is, are you willing to spend the money for something that only offers eye candy.

I have been waiting for this book for a while. It is from the first company that has dared to publish explicit Yaoi. So far, they have been sticking to SHounen-ai and more subtle relationships. That is not the case fot this manga.

Golden Cain has beautiful art work and the men are absolutely gorgeous. The art is a little shoujoish, but wihtout all the girly aspect. It is, as I said, explicit. About 40% of the novel is dedicated to scences between Cain and Shun and the rest to their problems and relationships. Of course, it's not all just sex, and there is a story line and several conflicts and a twist at the end that makes it more interesting.
I wish that it had a sequal. You even says that she was pondering what might happen if the story continued.

This is absolutely not for people who dislike boyXboy graphic relationships. Most of yaoi fans are girls anyway. Anyway.
So, if you want a great story with some hot sex thrown in and beautiful, manly boys running around, this is the story for you. Go and buy it today.
Also, can you guess who plays the seme/uke? It's really easy to tell.

I read so many reviews and they all contradicted one another. I read the storyline for myself and went by the cover picture of the manga; needless to say, I bought Golden Cain. I can honestly say, Cain is so very sexy and delectible and you can better see that when you flip open the pages to delve into the world of yaoi. Shun plays the uke(the weak sobbing one), great if you're into that sort-of thing. Cain, most decidely, the hot seme.
The story was not to deep, maybe even a little cheesy throughout. It basically was there to set up for the 5 or 6 times, he and Cain have sex, (some neat plot twists though). I was just a tiny bit disappointed at what they didn't show. They showed a little, but it was "drawn over" by some untranslated words.
The pain Shun does endure is heart-wrenching. I am not a plot-ruiner; but there are 3 major twists having to do with 3 characters in the story that leaves you a little awestruck.

Not the most awesome, but I have definitely added Golden Cain to my short list of favorites. A great buy for any Cain-like character admirers.

This manga is by far the best one I have ever read since. If you're looking for sex with a sweet twist between two hott guys, this is the manga for you. Golden Cain leaves nothing to the imagination and is jam packed with yummy sex scenes. The translation isn't bad either, a few mistakes here and there, but still really good. If you love yaoi manga, you'll love Golden Cain!

This one was a surprise! It's got loss, forbidden love, and lots of deliciousness! Hot sex, hot men, with just enough emotion to make you tear up, what more could you ask for?! Why are you still reading this review?! Buy it already!

do you like smut? you better, because that's all this book as to offer.

i bought this to boost my collection of yaoi and because i had just about exhausted the list of yaoi available. to say the least, i was disappointed. the manga jumps from place to place with no real purpose and has no actual plot (if you find one, please tell me, because i have yet to find the smallest incling of a plot in this book).

Cain is a very well-to-do Vietnamese model who everyone thinks is American. He randomly barges in on some gothic satanic ritual of sacrifice and Shun just randomly happens to be the sacrificial virgin. after Cain saves Shun from an inevitable ass-rape, Shun starts whining to Cain - who is a COMPLETE STRANGER - about how horrid his life is and about his brother jumping in the way to save him from a bus or car or whatever and going comatose. Shun, the uke, comes off as a whiney, self-absorbed brat, while Cain, the seme, is hot, sexy, and a really good character actually but has incorrigible taste. then of course, randomly, Cain gets transfered to Shun's highschool (or college, whatever), and Shun has to show him around. skip past some meaningless dialogue, and they're running from Cain's fangirls and randomly have sex in a bush. and while all of this silliness is happening, they top it off with painfully lovey-dovey phrases and if that's not bad enough, they're in Vietnamese! they were so unbelieveable sappy that i cringed, twitched and slammed my head into a wall every time they were said. this book was so...ugh...that i actually had to set it down for a few minutes at times before i could pick it back up and read it again. then shun randomly finds out Cain and his brother were pen pals. Shun gets kidnapped by the satan ritual sacrifice people, they try to rape him, Cain randomly barges in ONCE AGAIN and saves Shun and they have sex (i swear, Cain is either psychic or has the nose of a bloodhound). it ends somewhere after Cain randomly discovers that Shun's brother ISN'T dead and he's actually been FAKING his illness and he has a CRUSH ON SHUN. oh my god. i definitly didn't see that one coming; i was too busy trying to get my head out of the sheetrock. anyways, they have sex again, more sappy words to make us cringe and that's about it. to sum this all up: IT SUCKS LIKE A VACUUM CLEANER!!!

with all due repect to Asagiri-sensei, this was total crap. not to be rude, but i really am sad i wasted my money on this. hope you have better luck. don't get me wrong i love sap and total fluff, but this was just ridiculous!! buy it if you want, it's not my money you're wasting.