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Virtus
Lorsque le jeune Gaius arrive au camp d'entraînement des gladiateurs, son regard est éteint, tout le monde comprend qu'il ne survivra pas longtemps dans cet univers de violence. Cependant Crescens, l'un des gladiateurs les plus courtisés du moment, décide d'en faire son esclave sexuel. Submergé par la haine, Gaius décide de se venger en combattant Crescens dans l'arène...
Comme on pouvait s'y attendre avec le grand Gengoroh Tagame, maître japonais du manga gay, la Rome antique est magnifiquement restituée et la complexité psychologique des personnages merveilleusement rendue.
Comme on pouvait s'y attendre avec le grand Gengoroh Tagame, maître japonais du manga gay, la Rome antique est magnifiquement restituée et la complexité psychologique des personnages merveilleusement rendue.
128 pages, Paperback
First published October 12, 2007
61 people want to read
About the author
Gengoroh Tagame
111 books557 followersGengoroh Tagame is a Japanese manga artist who specializes in gay BDSM erotic manga, many of which depict graphic violence. The men he depicts are hypermasculine, and tend to be on the bearish side.
Born into a family descended from samurai, Tagame began his career as a manga artist in 1982, while he was studying graphic design at Tama Art University (多摩美術大学). His works have been published in several Japanese gay magazines, including Sabu, G-men and SM-Z. Since 1986, he has used the pen-name Gengoroh Tagame, and since 1994 Tagame has lived off the profits of his art and writings. In recent years, Tagame has edited a two volume artbook series about the history of gay erotic art in Japan from the 1950s to the present, 日本のゲイ・エロティック・アート (Nihon no gei, erotikku āto, Gay Erotic Art in Japan) volumes 1 and 2.
All his works contain "virile males, or youths, and their apprenticeship of physical and mental submission". Works of his include: Jujitsu Kyoshi at B Product; Emono, Shirogane no Hana (3 vol.) and Pride (3 vol.) at G-Project.
His manga Gunji (軍次) was translated into French in 2005, followed by Arena in 2006 and Goku in 2009. An artbook of his works has also been published in France by H&O Editions. An exhibition of his works was held in France in May 2009. Tagame is openly gay.
Tagame has been called the most influential creator of gay manga in Japan to date, and "the most talented and most famous author of sado-masochistic gay manga". Most of his work first appeared in gay magazines and usually feature sexual abuse. Tagame's depiction of men as muscular and hairy has been cited as a catalyst for a shift in fashion amongst gay men in 1995, away from the clean-shaven and slender bishōnen stereotypes and towards a tendency for masculinity and chubbiness. Tagame's work has been criticised by notable gay manga writer Susumu Hirosegawa as "SM gekijō" (S&M theater) for its violence and lack of complex storylines.
A small amount of Tagame's work has been licensed in English; a short story, "Standing Ovations", was included in the third issue of the erotic comics anthology Thickness, and in July 2012, Picturebox announced a short story collection, The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame, for 2013 release, which will be the first completely bara work published in English in a print format. The book will collect short works spanning 15 years of Tagame's career, including a new story commissioned especially for the book by book designer Chip Kidd.
(notes : everything else can be read on wikipedia)
Born into a family descended from samurai, Tagame began his career as a manga artist in 1982, while he was studying graphic design at Tama Art University (多摩美術大学). His works have been published in several Japanese gay magazines, including Sabu, G-men and SM-Z. Since 1986, he has used the pen-name Gengoroh Tagame, and since 1994 Tagame has lived off the profits of his art and writings. In recent years, Tagame has edited a two volume artbook series about the history of gay erotic art in Japan from the 1950s to the present, 日本のゲイ・エロティック・アート (Nihon no gei, erotikku āto, Gay Erotic Art in Japan) volumes 1 and 2.
All his works contain "virile males, or youths, and their apprenticeship of physical and mental submission". Works of his include: Jujitsu Kyoshi at B Product; Emono, Shirogane no Hana (3 vol.) and Pride (3 vol.) at G-Project.
His manga Gunji (軍次) was translated into French in 2005, followed by Arena in 2006 and Goku in 2009. An artbook of his works has also been published in France by H&O Editions. An exhibition of his works was held in France in May 2009. Tagame is openly gay.
Tagame has been called the most influential creator of gay manga in Japan to date, and "the most talented and most famous author of sado-masochistic gay manga". Most of his work first appeared in gay magazines and usually feature sexual abuse. Tagame's depiction of men as muscular and hairy has been cited as a catalyst for a shift in fashion amongst gay men in 1995, away from the clean-shaven and slender bishōnen stereotypes and towards a tendency for masculinity and chubbiness. Tagame's work has been criticised by notable gay manga writer Susumu Hirosegawa as "SM gekijō" (S&M theater) for its violence and lack of complex storylines.
A small amount of Tagame's work has been licensed in English; a short story, "Standing Ovations", was included in the third issue of the erotic comics anthology Thickness, and in July 2012, Picturebox announced a short story collection, The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame, for 2013 release, which will be the first completely bara work published in English in a print format. The book will collect short works spanning 15 years of Tagame's career, including a new story commissioned especially for the book by book designer Chip Kidd.
(notes : everything else can be read on wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 13, 2019
Thank you so much, Adam, for recommending this beautiful graphic novel to me!!
I noticed that the Goodreads entry seems to be a collection of three stories, but I am reviewing ‘Virtus’ here, which is the first story in this collection.
Created by the amazing artist of ‘My Brother's Husband, Volume 1’, which is one of my all time favorites, this story is a rather cruel and sexually graphic (and incredibly violent) story – which seems to be the artist’s usual bread and butter from what I’ve seen of his art.
Virtus is the story of two gladiators, Crescens and Gaius, who get to know each other through rape and the desire for revenge that glues both men together and paves the way for their journey from enemies to lovers (if that sounds familiar, then you know why, LOL). They get caught in a web of intrigue and eventually have to face each other in the arena in a fight to the death.
It is shockingly cruel.
It is also extremely expressive and it touched me on so many levels. I love Gengoroh Tagame’s art. He manages to bring one character into his stories who always looks familiar, almost as if he’s drawing an actor that he wants to appear in all of his stories. It’s totally unique.
I’m a bit sad that his characters always have to suffer endlessly and in horrible ways, but this story is one of few that actually resembles a romance and – dare I say it – ends like one.
I can totally recommend this if you can stomach a story as violent as this. I’m not even putting any disclaimers here, because it would be easier to mention the triggers that this story DOESN’T have…
Here are samples from the beautiful, absolutely amazing artwork:
A 5 star favorite!
I noticed that the Goodreads entry seems to be a collection of three stories, but I am reviewing ‘Virtus’ here, which is the first story in this collection.
Created by the amazing artist of ‘My Brother's Husband, Volume 1’, which is one of my all time favorites, this story is a rather cruel and sexually graphic (and incredibly violent) story – which seems to be the artist’s usual bread and butter from what I’ve seen of his art.
Virtus is the story of two gladiators, Crescens and Gaius, who get to know each other through rape and the desire for revenge that glues both men together and paves the way for their journey from enemies to lovers (if that sounds familiar, then you know why, LOL). They get caught in a web of intrigue and eventually have to face each other in the arena in a fight to the death.
It is shockingly cruel.
It is also extremely expressive and it touched me on so many levels. I love Gengoroh Tagame’s art. He manages to bring one character into his stories who always looks familiar, almost as if he’s drawing an actor that he wants to appear in all of his stories. It’s totally unique.
I’m a bit sad that his characters always have to suffer endlessly and in horrible ways, but this story is one of few that actually resembles a romance and – dare I say it – ends like one.
I can totally recommend this if you can stomach a story as violent as this. I’m not even putting any disclaimers here, because it would be easier to mention the triggers that this story DOESN’T have…
Here are samples from the beautiful, absolutely amazing artwork:
A 5 star favorite!
October 26, 2022
Beh... se potessi togliere la prima parte e tutte le scene di violenza sessuale, sarebbe una gran bella storia. Perché la storia ha una trama interessante e i personaggi son ben costruiti.
Mi piace lo stile di Gengoroh Tagame e anche qua non scherza. È anche bello il modo in cui la relazione tra i due gladiatori si sviluppa, ma è lo stupro che faccio fatica a mandar giù. Altrimenti sarebbero state addirittura tre stelline.
Mi piace lo stile di Gengoroh Tagame e anche qua non scherza. È anche bello il modo in cui la relazione tra i due gladiatori si sviluppa, ma è lo stupro che faccio fatica a mandar giù. Altrimenti sarebbero state addirittura tre stelline.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews