愛の巣へ落ちろ！

ムシシリーズ #1

by 樋口美沙緒, 街子マドカ (イラスト)

ロウクラス種シジミチョウ科出身の翼は、テレビで颯爽とした姿を見て以来、ハイクラス種名家の御曹司で、タランチュラ出身の七雲澄也に憧れていた。一目彼に逢いたくて、澄也の通う星北学園に入学した翼だったが、実際の澄也は下半身にだらしない嫌な奴で、開口一番「シジミチョウは嫌いだ」と冷たく切り捨てられてしまう。あげく、澄也の張った「巣」に捕らわれた翼は、強引に身体を奪われるはめに。けれどどんなに冷たい態度を取られても、澄也を嫌いになれなくて……。擬人化チックファンタジー登場！

Genres: Japanese Literature, Fantasy

255 pages, Paperback

First published April 20, 2010

Reviews

[Chai · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK. SO. I REALLY DIDN'T THINK I WOULD GIVE THIS A 4/5, BUT THE LAST COUPLE OF CHAPTERS IN THIS THING HELLA CHANGED IT FOR ME.

but first. brief history of what the heck this "ai no mushi" series is all about. the mushi (or bug) series is a collection of books that revolve around characters that reside in this bug/human mutated world. this first installment is misao's 2nd published book, and below is a copy pasta fest from my tumblr blog summarizing this world:

in the past, a meteorite crashed into the northern hemisphere causing a 1000 yr long ice age. what was left of human civilization ended up fusing with arthropods to prevent human extinction. in present times, humans still retain their ancestors’ features and characteristics. there’s a caste system (low class vs high class), that was created by the humans based on strength (think prey vs predator). the weakest and therefore lowest of the caste system are the シジミチョウ or the gossamer-winged butterflies (lycaenidae).

this is what the uke, aoki tsubasa is. so hereditary, he’s gonna be weak with poor health. what makes tsubasa a bit special in this world is that he's "gender mosiac". 1 out of 10,000 peeps are “gender mosiac” meaning they have both gender qualities (think omegas in abo!!). they can get pregnant cuz they can develop female parts during their hormonal teenage years, like a vagina, a womb, and all that jazz. however, bc the lycaenidae butterflies are inherently weak, if they happen to be gender mosiac, their body is too unstable to handle this kind of hormonal stress. hence why they are even weaker than normal lycaenidae butterflies, get sick very easily and in longer durations, don’t live long, and rarely make it far if they even reach adulthood.

OK. SO. the story starts out with tsubasa being sick (i wanna say he's 14 at this time...), and hauled up in his room. because of his sickness (and overprotective mother, bc let's be furreal), he misses out on things like: school, playing outside with the neighbor kids, hell - normal childhood, etc. he doesn't have long to live, and tsubasa feels stuck in a rut, and that he's going to end up dying and no one, aside from his parents, will know him or mourn for his death. he wants to make an impact on someone else so they can remember him when he's gone.

he sees on tv that there's an interview special going on at the seihoku academy, which is an elite school primarily for the "high class". one particular student with the origins of a mexican redknee tarantula named nagumo sumiya, gets his attention. when asked if he's happy due to the environment he's blessed with it, sumiya replies saying to the effect that it's not about your circumstances that makes you happy - but the fact that you're living life. these words inspires tsubasa to do something about his OWN life and not wallow in misery due to his own situation. to take matters into his own hands. and sooo, much to his parents and teachers dismay, he studies hard to pass the entrance exam and get a scholarship and a year later, was able to enter the same academy as his inspirer. tsubasa knows he doesn't have long to live, and so he wants to do what he can to make the most out of his life. unfortunately, being surrounded by high-class folks ain't easy, as tsubasa has to deal with harassment and bullying from his peers.

granted, even though i have quite a bit to go before i can say i've read through all of misao's published works, SO FAR, i'm used to misao writing her ukes as being weak and shy, and not have much of a backbone (until the asshole semes pisses them off, muahaha). so it was refreshing to see how tsubasa doesn't take shit from anyone from the get go. he doesn't think twice when he lays on that attitude to the people that deserves it. he may be small and physically weak, but he's mentally strong and i appreciated seeing a strong-minded uke doing what he gotta do throughout this novel. he isn't my favorite uke written by misao, but i liked his spunky attitude. so go ahead boi. do yo thang.

i also appreciated the other (non-asshole) side-characters like tsubasa's cute as fuck roommate, outa, the classy, kind gentleman, maya, and the comical and sometimes shady, kabuto. below is a copy pasta once again from my tumblr detailing the characters' bug origins:

tsubasa - ツバメしじみチョウ (lycaenidae butterfly)
outa - スジボンヤマキチョウ (gonepteryx rhamni, yellow butterfly)
maya - ヒメスズメバチ (yellow jacket)
kabuto - カブトムシ (LOL his name is after his bug origin, that’s funny… rhino beetle)
sumiya - メキシカンレッドニータランチュラ (mexican redknee tarantula)
amemiya - べっこうばち (spider wasp)
touya - ホワイトニータランチュラ (whiteknee tarantula)

sumiya.... our main seme.... he's an interesting character. like usual with misao's stories, i'm always like WTF DUDE, WHY YOU SO ASS??? when it comes to her semes (they're always assholes, wth) but by the end, they grow on to me EVERY SINGLE FRICKIN' TIME. sumiya's beef is that everything has always been given to him and he never really had to struggle to get what he wants (hmmm). life is a drag, and he sleeps around to pass the time. oh, and he has a huge elitism complex that stems from his own mother remarrying a low-class lycaenidae butterfly type (who happens to be the headmaster to their school and graduated back in his day as valedictorian, suck on that elite boys). i can probably go on and on about sumiya's character, but well. you can read it for yourself and form your own opinions about him. for me... i'm not happy with his (rapish and forceful and rude af) actions, but by the end, well. he really loves tsubasa, and he's trying to be someone that won't no longer hurt him. so... yeah. he's like a tsundere fucker. you know those types. wtf in the beginning, aww by the end. that's him.

i think the whole "tsubasa getting raped (i think he was raped twice... yeah twice, by sumiya), but he finds that he enjoys the sex, so he can't hate sumiya for it" kinda. uh. erks me. a bit. but oh well. tsubasa hates sumiya for being rude af more so than forcing him to have sex (that he ends up enjoying anyways...) so. honestly, when it comes to this book, you just gotta roll with the punches and move on...

BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH. i wasn't bored at all reading this. maybe because i really love anything that involves mpreg, along with the awesome (non-asshole) side characters, and sumiya's sweet moments (like how gentle he is in bed LOL), along with.... the craziness that happens in this thing over and over that made me scream in anguish for the poor uke but at the same time, i was hella enjoying the fuckfest that came out of it. and the whole "am i pregnant" fiasco. LOL. so eff it. i'll give this a 4/5. there. it wasn't OMG AMAZING or anything. but i ended up reading this entire thang in less than 3 days. and when i read a book that fast, it's probably because i'm sucked into it so hard, i can't stop reading.

i already read book 2, so i'll move on to book 3... AFTER I READ PUBLIC SCHOOL 3 (FINALLY GOT MY COPY SDKFJKDSF;;;;) so yeah! until the next time!

[Meow Meow · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this world, a meteorite struck the earth a thousand years ago and human had to fuse with insect’s genetics in order to survive the catastrophe that followed suit. The resulted human-bug fusions are divided into high-class (physically bigger and stronger, prettier, have special abilities) and low-class (more common, weaker, plainer looking). This story sets in an elite high school that only has high-class students until MC shows up. The story reminds me a lot of the shoujo manga, Boys Over Flowers, but with smuts and dub-con in the mix, even the MC2 is just like the emotionally clumsy asshole ML from the manga. Despite all that, I actually enjoyed reading it quite a bit, because it’s been a long while since I had read a romance-driven novel.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book rating: 3 stars
Rating for the series as a whole: 4.5 stars

What follows is a review for the complete series (so far five volumes). I'll try to avoid spoilers; it's mostly a collection of my thoughts regarding the books and why I like them so much.

Every year, without fail, there is something I "fall into" to distract me from the hell that is retail right before Christmas. Apparantly this year it's a series books set in a future where mankind has fused their DNA to that of bugs and spiders, resulting in bodies much more able to withstand the stress of a harsh environment. However, at the point the stories are set another ice age seems to have come and gone - and now everything is pretty much the way it was before, with things like countries and public schools and Christmas. I actually find the idea of bug-humans kind of interesting, but it might have been even cooler if the changes to society had gone beyond just a very obvious strong vs. weak divide.

In any case, the setting is mostly so the author and the reader can enjoy things like sex-pheromones and m-preg, I think. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it - despite its ridiculousness sometimes.

If I had to rate the volumes in order of preference, it'd go like this:

1. Volume 5
2. Volume 3
3. Volume 2
4. Volume 4
5. Volume 1

Volume 5 was the reason I discovered the series, and I think it's the best. It also has the least non-con/dub-con of all the volumes, although to be fair the non-con in volume 3 is different from that in most of BL in that it is acknowledged as an actual trauma. Basically I loved volume 3 even better than volume 5 but it hurt more so that's why it gets pushed down to number 2. Volume 2 and 4 also are almost similar in how good they were - in the end it was the amnesia storyline in volume 2 that decided it (I'm just a sucker for those).

While it's true that the constellations of these stories are always similar - big, strong seme and weak uke (often not only feminine but actually part female), and the power of the uke's love changes the seme - the characters were distinct enough to make all the books enjoyable. And god, I loved all the ukes. And I loved that in all stories, they learn to be independent before ending up in the final relationship with the seme. I didn't like all the trials they had to gone through, but I liked to follow their journey nonetheless. And I liked that the uke always has friends apart from the seme, not something that you can take for granted in BL.

(The third volume also has a long part told from the seme POV, and that was so good. Well done seme POV is the best.)

This never goes beyond well-done romance - I think she could go a bit further with the stories than she does because she seems like a good writer. I wonder what someone like Sano Fuyuko would do with this setting.. there are depths that could be explored with this setting. But as romance stories, these are extremely satisfying, and I know that if there is more, I'm going to read that as well. I hope Maya will get his own story, too, at some point. (I'd love to see him with a lower class seme...) And I am glad I already ordered some of Higuchi Misao's other novels.

[Rada Chalapipat · Rating 3 out of 5]

เรื่องนี้เป็นเล่มแรกของซีรี่ส์น้องแมลงแห่งโรงเรียนประจำชายล้วนเซย์โฮคุ เป็นเรื่องราวแฟนตาซีหลังจากมนุษย์ที่กำลังจะสูญพันธุ์ได้รวมร่างกับแมลงชนิดต่างๆ ตัวละครในเรื่องนี้จึงมีสัญชาตญาณเดิมตามเผ่าพันธุ์และยังมีหลายคนยึดถือเรื่องการแบ่งชนชั้นวรรณะ แมลงผู้ล่าถือเป็นกลุ่มชนชั้นสูงจะมีรูปร่างสูงใหญ่หน้าตาดี ตรงกันข้ามกับแมลงพันธุ์เล็กอย่างผีเสื้อที่รูปร่างเล็ก บอบบางถูกจัดเป็นชนชั้นต่ำ และหากมีการกลายพันธุ์แบบโมเซอิคที่ทำให้แสดงลักษณะของสองเพศจะยิ่งเป็นตัวประหลาดอ่อนแอและอายุสั้น

#สึบาสะ สายพันธุ์ผีเสื้อกามเทพปีกสีน้ำเงินเป็นโมเซอิคที่ใช้ชีวิตติดบ้านตั้งแต่ประถมจนถึงม.ต้นเพราะความเป็นห่วงของพ่อแม่ได้ตัดสินใจสอบชิงทุนจนได้เข้าเรียนเซย์โฮคุ เพราะแรงบันดาลใจจากคำพูดของ #สึมิยะ รุ่นพี่แมงมุมทารันทูล่า เม็กซิกันเรดนีส์ครั้งที่ให้สัมภาษณ์รายการทีวี

พล็อตเริ่มต้นจากความใฝ่ฝันของน้องปีหนึ่งตาใสอินโนเซ๊นท์ที่ถูกเพื่อนนักเรียนคนอื่นดูถูก แต่โชคดีที่น้องผีเสื้อได้รูมเมทขี้แยผู้ร่าเริงเป็นเพื่อนผีเสื้อด้วยกัน และยังได้แบ็คอัพอย่าง #มายะ รองประธานต่อหัวเสือหน้าสวยปากร้าย และ #คาบุโตะ ด้วงกว่างร่างใหญ่ใส่แว่น ใจดีประธานหอพักควบตำแหน่งประธานนักเรียนคอยเป็นพี่เลี้ยงดูแล นายเอกเรื่องนี้ใสซื่อใฝ่ฝันจะได้เจอพ่อแมงมุมเพื่อข���บคุณในฐานะแฟนคลับทั้งที่ถูกมายะห้ามปรามไว้ เริ่มต้นไปไม่เท่าไหร่น้องผีเสื้อผู้ไม่ดูตาม้าตาเรือก็ไปเห็นฉากรักบาดตาของนายเอกและตัวร้าย หนีผิดทางไปติดอยู่ในรังของพ่อแมงมุมเลยโดนจับกินด้วยการปล่อยพิษกระตุ้นและรัดแขนขาด้วยใยแมงมุม แค่ถูกผู้ชายกินก็อับอายแล้ว แต่กลายเป็นเรื่องอื้อฉาวให้คนอื่นดูถูกว่าเจตนาเข้าโรงเรียนเพื่อขายตัวเพราะกลิ่นฟีโรโมนของผู้ล่าจะติดอยู่ที่เหยื่อเป็นการประกาศความเป็นเจ้าของ น้องผีเสื้อยังเคราะห์ซ้ำกรรมซัดไม่พอเพราะตัวร้ายเบอร์หนึ่งพาพวกมาทำร้ายและหวังจะรุมโทรมก่อนประจานด้วยภาพถ่าย ต่อมาตัวร้ายเบอร์สองที่หวงพระเอกประหนึ่งแฝดติดท้องก็มาดักทำร้ายในเชิงเดียวกัน

พระเอกน่าลำใยมาก มีปมเรื่องคนในครอบครัวเลยมีอคติต่อน้องผีเสื้อ ด่าน้องตลอดแต่จับน้องกินรัวๆ ยังทำร้ายจิตใจด้วยการพูดไม่คิดและจับคนอื่นกินไม่หยุดหย่อน สมควรแล้วที่ตอนพิเศษหลังแต่งงานจะเป็นแมงมุมกลัวผีเสื้อ และยอมเรียนหมอเพื่อจะได้ดูแลนายเอกผู้อ่อนแอ

โดยรวมแล้วเราชอบพล็อตที่แสดงให้เห็นถึงปมในใจของคนต่างชนชั้นที่ล้วนมีปัญหาของตัวเอง ชอบมิตรภาพของตัวละครสมทบและเกร็ดความรู้เรื่องแมลง ฉากรักและเรื่องของการมีบุตรนับว่ามีจินตนาการที่แปลกและสร้างสรรค์ ฉากทำร้ายรุนแรงมีน้อยแต่บรรยายจนไม่อยากนึกภาพตาม

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is not good, but I love it anyway.

[Artanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

อ่านแล้วค่อนข้างเหนือความคาดหมายคือคิดว่าจะเป็น รักใสๆวัยไฮสคูล มุ๊งมิ๊งน่ารัก แต่เออ อ่านแล้วมีไรมากกว่านั้น
แบบพลอตเน่าปานดาวพระศุกร์บวกจำเลยรักเวอชั่นวาย รักต่างชนชั้น รักกันไม่รู้ตัว พระเอกแนวพิศาลแซมนิดๆ แต่อ่านไปเพลินแฮะ บางช่วงสะดุดสำนวนแต่สามารถมองผ่านได้อ่านเพลินดีออกแนวแฟนตาซีเล็กๆ พระเอกเป็นแมงมุมใช้เส้นใยเป็นอุปกรณ์ ครือ ควรอ่านเล่มสองต่ออ่า ^^V