La Esperança volume 1 by Chigusa Kawai
I've been facing a lot of disappointment in manga lately, so I'm even happier that I liked Chigusa Kawai's La Esperança volume 1. It's listed as yaoi, but there's little of that stuff yet, just mostly character development, though I appreciate that. Instead of it all being about the characters hooking up, we're finding out who they are and getting some hints that their personalities will evolve. Georges, who is probably the intended uke by being shorter and blond, is an innocent but not an idiot. He's angsty at times but thankfully not fragile. Robert is still too much of an asshole and prone to literally yanking Georges around, which I find disappointing and hope doesn't last since the series is aiming on pairing them up. Maybe Georges can change him. This series hasn't been standard yaoi so far, so it's possible. We also have Henri, someone who's looking out for Georges' interests and doesn't like Robert much either so far, though some of that is jealousy, and Sir Freddy, the spoiled noble the dutiful Georges has been assigned to as official friend by the school.
But can we declare an end to the plot device as the uke reminding the seme of a lost (and often dead, often somehow by his hand) woman he loved? It's a cop-out that's becoming a cliche.
But can we declare an end to the plot device as the uke reminding the seme of a lost (and often dead, often somehow by his hand) woman he loved? It's a cop-out that's becoming a cliche.