Customer Reviews

Midaresomenishi: A Tale of Samurai Love

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This Yaoi from the amazingly talented Kodaka really takes me by surprise but what a wonderful surprise. However as a forewarning, if you are just into "romance which makes you feel good" and you cannot stomach masochism or rapes do not attempt this.
Midaresomenishi is not an easy read at all. This tale of Samurai love is intense, disturbing, brutal, sadistic and violent. Yet it is passionate, poignant, hauntingly tragic and ultimately beautiful. All the characters are well flushed out and vivid.
The protagonists, Shirou, a blood thirsty crimson haired swordsman, and Sougetsu, a true sadist, are such complex and mesmerizing characters. Theirs is a love-hate relationship filled with violence and betrayal. Add in two other characters who hunger for their love, Chihiro (an endearing whore) and Renka (a pervert who ended up gaining my sympathy) we have a complicated but intriguing relationship which keeps me on the edge and craving for more.
The secondary love story between Shirou's brother and his caretaker may seem to be as old as time yet so well written that I found myself shedding tears (oh dear!).
Yet underneath all the violence and passion is a deeply touching story about brotherly love which somehow holds everything together.
Midaresomenishi is truly exceptional. As one who loves Yaoi, I find this tale from the amazing Kodaka truly brilliant. My only regret is that I do not think there is a Vol 2. Part of me wishes there is more of Shirou and Sougetsu. On the other hand, I could not think of a better ending. Just get this!

I will not go into details about the story, because the other reviewers have already done so. I think this is one of Kodaka's best works, but it most definitely is serious, brutal, and violent. Her art which has a strong shonen manga influence with strong lines and lots of action, which works very well here. This is a story for adults who want more than the soft, pretty, fluffy yaoi which is the majority yaoi published in the US. If you are looking for something more than a cute romantic story about two school boys, I would recommend this book.

This story is the first yaoi manga title I've read, and it still stays on my mind, even after a thousand or so yaoi mangas I read thereafter. Moreover, if not for this title, I'd probably never get interested in yaoi manga genre in the first place (I admit I'd been naïve enough to think that comic books are "just for kids"....). "A Tale of Samurai Love" is still one of my absolute favorites.
Some reviewers noted that this book is not for "beginners" / new readers in yaoi genre, but it really depends on what brought you to yaoi manga, i.e., what other things you've read before. I think it's a good starting point for any adult and mature enough reader, who never tried a manga (comic) before but read enough of other "adult-themed" books, especially with BDSM theme. It's very well-written, beautifully illustrated, deeply psychological, and disturbingly dark most of the time. No fluff, no "page-fillers", it's packed with violent action and violent sex, but at the same time it's still quite a moving and even romantic story.

Edit / Nov-2010: I only regret the current price of this out-of-print manga (>$70!), as it's clearly overpriced...I do hope that some publisher will pick it up and re-publish...

I really did love this manga and had a very hard time getting it at a decent price. Now while I really love the manga overall. I do hate certain parts of it. Mainly how the main character is so naive about what is happening to his younger brother. Still it isn't enough to make me change how I feel overall about it. I would recommend this manga to the more open-minded people.

First of all, the artwork in this is intoxicating, beautiful and consistent. The sword fighting action are definitely some of the best also I've seen in yaoi reminiscent of Ruroni Kenshin.

I would never ever classify this as a beginner yaoi. The theme is heavy, with scenes involving rape, bdsm and suggested non-com sex with underage person, plus the genitalia is more clearly drawn and "after effects" are very explicit.

The storyline grips you from the very beginning, the situation occurring is not at all unusual to what happened in middle ages in many countries, both consentual and non: the young hostage taken by a bandit king or rival warlord is forced to be the sexual slave of the captors. For those who like "light" themed or humorous yaoi or shounen-ai, they will likely be offended or horrified. For the reader who likes more serious and mature reading, this is perfect.

But it was not Kodaka's best work or BeBeautiful's best localization.

Don't get me wrong, I love Kazuma Kodaka's manga series. Kizuna is one of the greatest yaoi titles one could ever want to experience, but this short story of enslavement, torture and blood left me unsatisfied.

The graphic scenes were interesting, but none of the characters were particularly likable and not because they were doing terrible things to one another (in fact, in yaoi that fact is often a selling point). I would argue my problem with them is their lack of good depth because so much storyline was shoved into the plot of just one 200 page manga volume. I'd be able to believe better that Sougetsu "fell in love with" Shirou at the end if his character had shown more of that side of himself. I was only introduced to the idea that this was the case because one character just happens to mention to him that he is in denial about it. Sougetsu is probably the most interesting character to wonder about, but the story ends before he actually gets going about his obsessive pursuit of Shirou.

Shirou himself, as the main character, is the kind of uke you don't mind seeing abused. He's a terrible murderous rogue, and even though he endures years of torture for the sake of his brother, his stubborn pride only causes himself and those around him pain. His inability to stand firm at the end and not run from not only his pursuers, but also his own demons, wins him no points.

The Saizou/Fujimaru love story might have been more interesting itself if there were more background to their childhood together. We were given snippets of scenes of their growing up together, but not enough to be enthralled by their tragic romance. Saizou's lineage also seemed thrown in at the end and it made no real emotional difference to me how he got along with his "father" as they faced off.

The same goes for Chihiro. It is only really mentioned once (and explained better in the character descriptions) about Shirou's supposed discomfort or struggle with the the fact that Chihiro looks so much like Fujimaru. And again the part where the relationship between the two men is developed into attraction is skipped in favor of fitting the story into one volume. I wanted to sympathize with him, but as Sougetsu explained, Shirou is not going to return to a man who is not willing to pursue what he wants.

Renka was probably the best developed character in the story, but he is portrayed as the jealous cast aside villain who stands in the way of Sougetsu and Shirou's relationship. This does not make him at all likable, especially his contemptuous intent towards the two brothers.

As for the localization I have a couple of complaints. First and foremost relates to BeBeautiful's unwillingness to "depict" minors in graphic situations, however, the way they seem to have gotten around this in this story is by expecting us to believe that the very young Fujimaru is 18 years old at the beginning of the story (when he looks around 10) and then, when they jump forward a few years and he looks around 15 they talk about his "growth spurt" as if an 18 year old would go from looking like a child to looking like a teenager. Did they really expect us to buy that?

My other complaint is in a very curious printing error. They seem to have printed the warning about reading from the back of the book in the front of the book instead.

Anyway, if you like lots of blood, torture and non-con in a shonen styled yaoi manga with a samurai theme, this is the title for you. If those things disgust you, stay clear. If you're a big Kodaka fan you probably won't be disappointed, but I'm sure you'll agree that she's done better work. I wish we'd gotten Kusatta instead, but you take what you can get, right?

I found this story to be very hard to like. It was an endless rape-fest, with the none of the main characters having any likeable qualities. The only characters that I even remotely cared for were Fujimaru and his jailer and that was a deep sense of pity. All I will say about the little brother and his story is that I was actually happy that it ended up the way it did.

I was confused about the age of Fujimaru. He looked to be ten at the begining of the manga but was said to be much older, eighteen I believe. If that was true the poor kid needed growth hormones.

Rape, hardcore sex, rape, brutality, rape, blood and rape.

Freely must I admit I was prejudiced before reading this.
I feel no love for Kazuma Kodaka's manga series. I found Kizuna one of the worst yaoi titles I have experienced up to now and this one volume manga has only one undisputable advantage, that of being a one volume only story...

First of all a word of caution: even considering the usual standards of yaoi, this one is particularly gory, sadistic and graphic. Not the sex, of course, that seems never to be graphic enough in any yaoi, but the situations which are crude to the utmost.

The plot presents us with some interesting possibilities.
The sado-masochistic love-hate between red-haired Shirou and one-eyed Sougetsu would have offered plenty of opportunities.
The character of Sougetsu's sadist lover could have been spicy and thrilling too.

Their first problem is their lack of depth: so much plot and psychological development was shoved into about 200 pages and too many logical connections are missing.
We are given short flashes, snapshots of sudden emotions and we have to build all the logical links by ourselves... Not a good idea. Not to mention that Sougetsu's obsessive love and pursuit of Shirou at the end appear a mere plot device...

The side characters have wasted potential. Rushed and shabby as they are, depicted just to evict some quick tear from us, they are just irritating.

All this shabbiness is adequately matched by the publisher who has printed the warning about reading from the back of the book in the front of the book instead.

If you're a Kodaka fan you probably will appreciate this story anyway. I cannot.

I had the Japanese version of this book and I like the cover on that one.The character design is quiet beautiful.And yes the relationships are brutal and I was hoping the manga-ka continues the story -somewhat.

Midaresomenishi is disturbing and intense. All of the characters have flaws. The hero is almost as vile as the main villan. The ending is anything but happy. These things aren't necessarily negatives. The story is meant to be dark, with a few rays of sunshine thrown in here and there. As a whole, this tale is one I will never forget.