カンタレラ～碧の毒薬～

by Ichika (Adaptor, Illustrator), 壱加

初音ミク×KAITOの大人気曲を強力タッグでコミカライズ!!!　ボルジア家の長子・チェーザレ（KAITO）と妹・ルクレツィア（初音ミク）。彼が父から渡されたのは家に伝わる毒薬「カンタレラ」だった―。

Genres: Manga, Romance, Historical

161 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 5, 2012

Reviews

[Ana ★ Tesserell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incest.

[ashes ➷ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't help the people who are somehow still uninformed on one of the most popular VOCALOID songs of all time. Not only is the Borgia association listed on every page related to the song (including its original upload, where WhiteFlame/KuroUsaP himself noted the connection as Word of God confirmation that this song is about the rumored incestuous relationship between Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia!), but Googling the word "cantarella" alone will always return the Borgias, because that is what Cantarella is-- a poison said to be used by the Borgia family, which is perhaps best known for it and the incest rumor.

I literally have never cared about fake VOCALOID fans from Project Sekai until exactly this moment. If you don't want to read about the stories told by original era VOCALOID songs, or stories featuring incest, or whatever, that's fine, but then there actually is a great solution for all of your problems: not reading this book. And if you do read it, you can do 5 seconds of research to realize that the incest is very well advertised and based on the Word of God meaning of the song, presented with the song itself! Heck, it's clearly implied in the PVs!

Okay. Sorry. If you didn't like the incest, that's fine. Predictably, my complaint is that it honestly seemed like the author was quite shy about it; there's little to no actual undeniable romantic contact on the page. I wanted to be disgusted! I wanted to be disturbed! I would have knocked a star off for avoiding, frankly, the primary imagery of the PVs (KAITO looming over Miku either in the garden or in the bed), without which the story and art are absolutely missing something and I am saddened... but the reviews are already so ridiculous for this book I can't bear to knock off a star from its average.

This is a weirdly easy read despite obviously not being something that's particularly easy to read in public, and it has a little bit to say on the intentional use of incestuous dynamics by women under dire circumstances, which is really interesting to me as someone who is weirdly obsessed with familial abuse. The art is lovely, too, and so satisfying as a VOCALOID oldhead (???) who recalls all the iconic Ichika PVs, including, of course, Cantarella. In general I think this is very nearly as good as I could possibly have imagined for a song and story I really love, so I'm happy. :)

[Ailee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hastune Miku: Cantarella is a short manga by White Flame based off the nostalgic vocaloid song Cantarella. When I first started reading the story I thought it was interesting and a little weird that Miku and Kaito were ‘cast’ as siblings, but I quickly found out that this was very intentional. The siblings bond deeply over their shared love of poison as children, often spending every waking hour together.

The artwork is beautiful but the story is disturbing, and not because of the poison.

Trigger warnings: Minor Character Death, Incest

Spoilers below

Miku’s character ‘Lucrezia’ is married off to a lord of another Italian city to form an alliance part way through the book, giving us our first real sign that Kaito’s character ‘Cesare’ might be in love with her and not just have a close sibling bond. Everything prior to this is just implied, but this moment in the manga is the turning point of showing us a much deeper affection. Lucrezia’s new husband watches the letters they write to each other and asks Lucrezia to marry him fully, and not just politically.

Here we find out that Cesare was writing her borderline love letters, which makes her husband angry and tells her if she leaves, their alliance is off. She heads home to be with her brother, where we find out her father passed away from poisoning. Not wanting to leave her brother again, she requests that he kills her. Cesare does as she asks via poisoning, however, she survives and he reveals that she is the most precious thing to him, even over his poison collection. While the world thinks she has passed away, he keeps her hidden to himself.

Overall, I do enjoy the nostalgia of Cantarella as a song, but the book took a weird turn on a song that does not seem to imply any sort of incest. For me personally, I think this story would have been the same if they weren’t siblings and I’m not sure why they were written to be. I don’t really recommend it to anyone who is disturbed by incest stories and it was not for me.

Overall Rating: Do Not Recommend - This gained 1 star back for having beautiful artwork.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

This biggest problem with this book loosely based on apocryphal misogynist stories meant to demonize Lucrezia Borgia by accusing her of an incestuous relationship with her brother Cesare? It's boring as all get out.

[Maria Oliveira · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a concerning book, read all in one sitting 😔😓

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will tell you, when I set out to read whatever this Hatsune Miku manga was, I was not expecting a historical incest romance. So, uh, an extra star for novelty if nothing else. 😂

[Nami · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a plot twist

[Jinx · Rating 3 out of 5]

THATS HUS SISTER