I´m currently in volume 5 and I just want to share my thoughts on this so far. When I started reading it, because I wanted to check out some of the first works of Yaoi/Shounen ai, I expected a lot of angst, homophobia and not really explicit stuff, maybe a kiss or two after several volumes. Boy was I wrong when it comes to the last point. It really dives right into rape, physical abuse, mental abuse, pedophilia etc. and man does it dive deep. I´m in the middle of Gilberts backstory right now and I don´t think I have ever seen such a horrific portrayal of child abuse. Normally I do not pause reading a manga, because of its heavy subject matter, but in this case I really need some breaks in between to be able to push through (which gives me time to write long, rambling comments yayyy). But even though it has certainly not been an enjoyable reading experience so far, I think it is a very good piece of work, with very interesting and complex characters and relationships. Actually, the two main characters remind me a lot of Utena and Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena, my favorite anime of all time, and which google tells me actually was heavily influenced by this manga.
Since it is always great to compare your favorite works of fiction to its predecessors, here are the parallels between Utena/Serge and Anthy/Gilbert, that I see: (SPOILERS for Revolutionary Girl Utena)
Serge is compassionate with a strong sense of right and wrong, which leads him to wanting to help Gilbert, who he sees suffering. In his naive approach to "fix" Gilbert, without understanding why he acts the way he does, he often ends up hurting him even more ("cruel innocence"). In general has no experience with the things Gilbert is going through and is horrible out of his depth. Despite that, he is pretty much the only one who sees Gilbert as a person and who tries to connect with him in a real way. Gets pressured/tempted to conform to his heteronormative society. When approached by Gilberts abuser, who wants to interfere with their growing relationship in order to keep him isolated, he is immediately taking in by his charm and is manipulated quite heavily.
Gilbert is trapped in a massively abusive relationship, which shaped him to fulfill a certain role, a role he is constantly getting abused for from the rest of society. He is also using that role as a mask to hide his true feelings behind and takes the small leverage that it gives him to lash out and hurt other people in return. Is in general suffering A LOT. Gigantic trust issues. Part of him resents Serge for his naivety and his simple sense of justice. Is not able (yet?? God, I hope) to sever ties with his abuser.
Interestingly, they switched some characteristics (or more like in Utena these characteristics were switched), with Serge being the one with darker skin and Gilbert not fitting into the traditional gender roles.
I´m currently in volume 5 and I just want to share my thoughts on this so far. When I started reading it, because I wanted to check out some of the first works of Yaoi/Shounen ai, I expected a lot of angst, homophobia and not really explicit stuff, maybe a kiss or two after several volumes. Boy was I wrong when it comes to the last point. It really dives right into rape, physical abuse, mental abuse, pedophilia etc. and man does it dive deep. I´m in the middle of Gilberts backstory right now and I don´t think I have ever seen such a horrific portrayal of child abuse. Normally I do not pause reading a manga, because of its heavy subject matter, but in this case I really need some breaks in between to be able to push through (which gives me time to write long, rambling comments yayyy). But even though it has certainly not been an enjoyable reading experience so far, I think it is a very good piece of work, with very interesting and complex characters and relationships. Actually, the two main characters remind me a lot of Utena and Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena, my favorite anime of all time, and which google tells me actually was heavily influenced by this manga.
Since it is always great to compare your favorite works of fiction to its predecessors, here are the parallels between Utena/Serge and Anthy/Gilbert, that I see:
(SPOILERS for Revolutionary Girl Utena)
Serge is compassionate with a strong sense of right and wrong, which leads him to wanting to help Gilbert, who he sees suffering. In his naive approach to "fix" Gilbert, without understanding why he acts the way he does, he often ends up hurting him even more ("cruel innocence"). In general has no experience with the things Gilbert is going through and is horrible out of his depth. Despite that, he is pretty much the only one who sees Gilbert as a person and who tries to connect with him in a real way. Gets pressured/tempted to conform to his heteronormative society. When approached by Gilberts abuser, who wants to interfere with their growing relationship in order to keep him isolated, he is immediately taking in by his charm and is manipulated quite heavily.
Gilbert is trapped in a massively abusive relationship, which shaped him to fulfill a certain role, a role he is constantly getting abused for from the rest of society. He is also using that role as a mask to hide his true feelings behind and takes the small leverage that it gives him to lash out and hurt other people in return. Is in general suffering A LOT. Gigantic trust issues. Part of him resents Serge for his naivety and his simple sense of justice. Is not able (yet?? God, I hope) to sever ties with his abuser.
Interestingly, they switched some characteristics (or more like in Utena these characteristics were switched), with Serge being the one with darker skin and Gilbert not fitting into the traditional gender roles.