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The 府 government decided to close down all the schools in the city for a week...and informed students at 12:30 yesterday morning. This means that although I theoretically have seven days of free time on my hands that could be spent engaged in productive study, all of my materials are in my uni research room and I am forbidden by government fiat from setting foot on campus to go get them.
Thus inflicted with a frustrated urge to be writing something, I give you a (rather longer than it deserves) rundown on the ways Sakura Akari's Tsuki to Matsurika is made of fail.
Oh, I had such high, high hopes for this series, and Sakura, rather amazingly, managed to betray every one of them. I mean, here is a book set in (pseudo-)China, opening as the heir apparent of warlike upstart kingdom En (Yueh?) wipes the ancient, cultural powerhouse/military weakling neighbor kingdom of Shou (Xiang) off the map. Obviously, he puts the royal family of Shou to the sword, except for the eldest prince whose father put him aside after he was blinded by childhood illness. En's heir apparent decides to spare the Shou prince's life, Dread Pirate Roberts style, to please a courtier who wants Shou to dictate, for the edification of En, all the national classics he's memorised in his long years of confinement. And so Deposed Prince Shou is carted off to En where his childlike yet world-weary ways steal Crown Prince En's heart.
Or, to summarise: historical porn in ancient China based around a social status-fuck. With blindness. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, as it turns out, everything. I should know better than to read these novels for the story. Usually, I do. It's just that I was really hoping this series would be the next Oucho Romanse. The Oucho novels are better than many non-BL novels I've read and would still be better than many non-BL novels I've read even with the porn removed. (Which would be a shame, because the porn is hot.) So bring on the Chinese version, right?
Not really. What I got was a book that's historical fiction in as much as the author tells readers, This Story Is Taking Place In Historical China. Unfortunately, she fails to actually set it in historical China. Crown Prince and Deposed Prince meet, have alarmingly 21st century interactions in cheesy made-for-boyband-tv-movie situations, fall in love, Crown Prince of En's best friend cum courtier is "charmingly exasperated" and that's about it. Where is my oppressive court protocol? Where are my scheming eunuchs? My jealous concubines? My scores of meddling advisors warning the prince that his sexual dalliances will bring disaster to the kingdom and plotting to remove his favorite so that he can focus on governing and maybe producing a male heir or two? Instead we get Crown Prince En, enraptured by the scent of a street vendor's incense and getting ribbed about it by his trusted general--"Why not buy a present for your boyfriend, nudge nudge wink wink?" Ugh.
I'd be more inclined to be tolerant were the sex scenes good, but they were not. The author's omniscient narrative voice removes any sense of Deposed Prince Shou's purported blindness from the narrative, so that bit of novelty is gone. In fact there isn't much novelty to be had at all, despite the large number of sex scenes. Crown Prince En does something rash, Deposed Prince Shou misinterprets his intentions and does something stupid and life-threatening in response, CP-En kisses DP-Shou "passionately", then suddenly we skip straight to hazily described penetration, the scene fades to black, and I'm all "Bwuh? This is the imprint that published お金がないっ??
Yukibuna Kaoru did the illustrations, so at least they're nice. Otherwise, I've already repurchased Natsu no Akebono no Romanse as a palate-cleanser.
これで以上です。
Thus inflicted with a frustrated urge to be writing something, I give you a (rather longer than it deserves) rundown on the ways Sakura Akari's Tsuki to Matsurika is made of fail.
Oh, I had such high, high hopes for this series, and Sakura, rather amazingly, managed to betray every one of them. I mean, here is a book set in (pseudo-)China, opening as the heir apparent of warlike upstart kingdom En (Yueh?) wipes the ancient, cultural powerhouse/military weakling neighbor kingdom of Shou (Xiang) off the map. Obviously, he puts the royal family of Shou to the sword, except for the eldest prince whose father put him aside after he was blinded by childhood illness. En's heir apparent decides to spare the Shou prince's life, Dread Pirate Roberts style, to please a courtier who wants Shou to dictate, for the edification of En, all the national classics he's memorised in his long years of confinement. And so Deposed Prince Shou is carted off to En where his childlike yet world-weary ways steal Crown Prince En's heart.
Or, to summarise: historical porn in ancient China based around a social status-fuck. With blindness. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, as it turns out, everything. I should know better than to read these novels for the story. Usually, I do. It's just that I was really hoping this series would be the next Oucho Romanse. The Oucho novels are better than many non-BL novels I've read and would still be better than many non-BL novels I've read even with the porn removed. (Which would be a shame, because the porn is hot.) So bring on the Chinese version, right?
Not really. What I got was a book that's historical fiction in as much as the author tells readers, This Story Is Taking Place In Historical China. Unfortunately, she fails to actually set it in historical China. Crown Prince and Deposed Prince meet, have alarmingly 21st century interactions in cheesy made-for-boyband-tv-movie situations, fall in love, Crown Prince of En's best friend cum courtier is "charmingly exasperated" and that's about it. Where is my oppressive court protocol? Where are my scheming eunuchs? My jealous concubines? My scores of meddling advisors warning the prince that his sexual dalliances will bring disaster to the kingdom and plotting to remove his favorite so that he can focus on governing and maybe producing a male heir or two? Instead we get Crown Prince En, enraptured by the scent of a street vendor's incense and getting ribbed about it by his trusted general--"Why not buy a present for your boyfriend, nudge nudge wink wink?" Ugh.
I'd be more inclined to be tolerant were the sex scenes good, but they were not. The author's omniscient narrative voice removes any sense of Deposed Prince Shou's purported blindness from the narrative, so that bit of novelty is gone. In fact there isn't much novelty to be had at all, despite the large number of sex scenes. Crown Prince En does something rash, Deposed Prince Shou misinterprets his intentions and does something stupid and life-threatening in response, CP-En kisses DP-Shou "passionately", then suddenly we skip straight to hazily described penetration, the scene fades to black, and I'm all "Bwuh? This is the imprint that published お金がないっ??
Yukibuna Kaoru did the illustrations, so at least they're nice. Otherwise, I've already repurchased Natsu no Akebono no Romanse as a palate-cleanser.
これで以上です。
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If yesterday was any indication, most students spent the day in game centers and Starbucks, so I doubt the school closures are going to do much to stop transmission...