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奈落の星 [Naraku no Hoshi] #1
A Starlit Darkness 01
A struggling writer finds himself drawn into darkness by a seductive, talented author in this enthralling psychological drama from the best-selling creator of Cherry Magic!
Japan, early 20th century. Subaru Karasuma, an aspiring writer with dashed ambitions, neck-deep in loans he has no hope of paying back, decides it’s time to draw the curtain on his miserable life. Before he can follow through on his dark intent, he’s diverted by the spectacle of a neighbor working frenetically with his literary group to meet the deadline for a work commissioned by Geppo Yagira, a rich and famous novelist. When the devilishly handsome, fiercely talented Geppo lays his eyes on Subaru, the latter’s life is set on a new course. But the new path he’s now treading seems to lead ever deeper into the darkness...
Japan, early 20th century. Subaru Karasuma, an aspiring writer with dashed ambitions, neck-deep in loans he has no hope of paying back, decides it’s time to draw the curtain on his miserable life. Before he can follow through on his dark intent, he’s diverted by the spectacle of a neighbor working frenetically with his literary group to meet the deadline for a work commissioned by Geppo Yagira, a rich and famous novelist. When the devilishly handsome, fiercely talented Geppo lays his eyes on Subaru, the latter’s life is set on a new course. But the new path he’s now treading seems to lead ever deeper into the darkness...
- GenresManga
Kindle Edition
First published January 21, 2025
About the author
Yuu Toyota
43 books106 followersName (in native language): 豊田 悠
Chinese Name: 豐田悠
Associated Names:
You Toyota
Yu Toyota
丰田悠
Twitter account: @toyotayou
Pixiv: 豊田悠
Chinese Name: 豐田悠
Associated Names:
You Toyota
Yu Toyota
丰田悠
Twitter account: @toyotayou
Pixiv: 豊田悠
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 15, 2026
This is such a tone shift from Yuu Toyota's hugely popular and long-running
Cherry Magic
. "I've written a cute story for long enough - time to try out something dark and edgy!"
It's interesting. I may keep going until I figure out what the intent is, although a lot of that is simply built on Cherry Magic goodwill, because I'm not sure if this psychologically dark genre appeals to me. It makes me think of the Painter of the Night manhwa, which I intentionally haven't read, and the Sleeping on Paper Boats manga, which I did read and did not like. So we'll see.
Yuu Toyota went for a historical drama this time, set in Taisho-era Japan (early 1900s), about a writer who lost his muse and then his motivation to keep on living.
Karasuma came from a reasonably comfortable family and went to a Tokyo university, only to fall into the writing life and disappoint his parents. Some of this was a little muddled in the story for me: initially it says he dropped out of university to write, which was why his parents were upset. Then when we get more backstory, he's still going to classes and taking exams right up to the destruction of the theatre that had housed his muse, after which he loses the ability to write.
So which is it? He did drop out of school and perhaps continued to struggle, eventually getting into too much debt to go on, but the intervening years are super unclear.
In the present day, 1922, he goes to his neighbor's house to borrow a charcoal brazier since he's too cowardly, he says, to use a rope or anything that would hurt more. The neighbor - a friendly guy I almost wish had been the other lead - is running a writing group in his home, since this is the era when authors who didn't get traditional publication deals set up their own literary magazines with groups of friends.
Oddly, one of their friends is an author who is already extremely popular and does have publishers and patrons, so it's unclear to me why he's a part of this group. He's also the second male lead and someone who knew and resented Karasuma during their college days, although Karasuma is oblivious about that.
Now, Geppo is intuitive and well-off enough to pay of Karasuma's debts and force him to work for him instead - by making him write again. This includes eventually reintroducing Karasuma to his former muse, who's now running a small restaurant, because Karasuma simply insists he can't write without proper inspiration.
Again, this gets a little confusing...I was wondering at first if Tsubaki was Geppo's sister (the embrace Karasuma saw could've been misinterpreted - were they actually making out in public after that, or was Karasuma hallucinating like he does with animal heads on human forms?). Geppo's sister was mentioned in passing at a literary award event, which would support that theory, but perhaps Geppo really is such a jerk that he would make a move on the love of Karasauma's life just to destroy him. Or inspire him?
Because when Karasuma picks up his pen again, suddenly he's writing aggressively erotic literature, infused with his heartbreak and anger. Tsubaki is still his muse, but now she's forever the femme fatale and betrayer, rather than the variety of roles he'd previously built for his beautiful actress to fill.
I also don't know if this is meant to be BL. Geppo is described as "seductive," but right now there's zero attachment between the two of them, and Karasuma seemed pretty straight. (He claimed it wasn't romantic love he wanted from his muse, but he was sure angry enough when someone else seemed to be sleeping with her.) It does seem to be marketed as "shoujo" and "non-BL with two male leads," so that might be another reason I'll eventually end up dropping it. Not that it seems like they'd have a healthy relationship for a while if it did steer that way...
I don't know. I do find the story interesting but I'm also not entirely sure if Yuu Toyota has the chops to pull off a story this dark and complex. Even the two main characters look exactly like Cherry Magic's. There's more effort put into backgrounds and clothing but it's really difficult to tell some of the literary group characters apart.
I'll think about it. It's a great way for an author to flex some creativity and pursue something completely different, so I do support that. I'm just not sure yet if it's something I'm going to be interested in reading.
It's interesting. I may keep going until I figure out what the intent is, although a lot of that is simply built on Cherry Magic goodwill, because I'm not sure if this psychologically dark genre appeals to me. It makes me think of the Painter of the Night manhwa, which I intentionally haven't read, and the Sleeping on Paper Boats manga, which I did read and did not like. So we'll see.
Yuu Toyota went for a historical drama this time, set in Taisho-era Japan (early 1900s), about a writer who lost his muse and then his motivation to keep on living.
Karasuma came from a reasonably comfortable family and went to a Tokyo university, only to fall into the writing life and disappoint his parents. Some of this was a little muddled in the story for me: initially it says he dropped out of university to write, which was why his parents were upset. Then when we get more backstory, he's still going to classes and taking exams right up to the destruction of the theatre that had housed his muse, after which he loses the ability to write.
So which is it? He did drop out of school and perhaps continued to struggle, eventually getting into too much debt to go on, but the intervening years are super unclear.
In the present day, 1922, he goes to his neighbor's house to borrow a charcoal brazier since he's too cowardly, he says, to use a rope or anything that would hurt more. The neighbor - a friendly guy I almost wish had been the other lead - is running a writing group in his home, since this is the era when authors who didn't get traditional publication deals set up their own literary magazines with groups of friends.
Oddly, one of their friends is an author who is already extremely popular and does have publishers and patrons, so it's unclear to me why he's a part of this group. He's also the second male lead and someone who knew and resented Karasuma during their college days, although Karasuma is oblivious about that.
Now, Geppo is intuitive and well-off enough to pay of Karasuma's debts and force him to work for him instead - by making him write again. This includes eventually reintroducing Karasuma to his former muse, who's now running a small restaurant, because Karasuma simply insists he can't write without proper inspiration.
Again, this gets a little confusing...I was wondering at first if Tsubaki was Geppo's sister (the embrace Karasuma saw could've been misinterpreted - were they actually making out in public after that, or was Karasuma hallucinating like he does with animal heads on human forms?). Geppo's sister was mentioned in passing at a literary award event, which would support that theory, but perhaps Geppo really is such a jerk that he would make a move on the love of Karasauma's life just to destroy him. Or inspire him?
Because when Karasuma picks up his pen again, suddenly he's writing aggressively erotic literature, infused with his heartbreak and anger. Tsubaki is still his muse, but now she's forever the femme fatale and betrayer, rather than the variety of roles he'd previously built for his beautiful actress to fill.
I also don't know if this is meant to be BL. Geppo is described as "seductive," but right now there's zero attachment between the two of them, and Karasuma seemed pretty straight. (He claimed it wasn't romantic love he wanted from his muse, but he was sure angry enough when someone else seemed to be sleeping with her.) It does seem to be marketed as "shoujo" and "non-BL with two male leads," so that might be another reason I'll eventually end up dropping it. Not that it seems like they'd have a healthy relationship for a while if it did steer that way...
I don't know. I do find the story interesting but I'm also not entirely sure if Yuu Toyota has the chops to pull off a story this dark and complex. Even the two main characters look exactly like Cherry Magic's. There's more effort put into backgrounds and clothing but it's really difficult to tell some of the literary group characters apart.
I'll think about it. It's a great way for an author to flex some creativity and pursue something completely different, so I do support that. I'm just not sure yet if it's something I'm going to be interested in reading.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This is utterly different from Yuu Toyota's other works in English - a dark psychological horror novel about jealousy in the writing world of Taisho era Tokyo. It's strange and unsettling and I absolutely want to read more.
September 16, 2025
a very intriguing start to this series.
November 24, 2025
"ดาราอนธการ" ชื่อไทย นักเขียนเดียวกับ Cherry Magic เรื่องราวของนักเขียนนิยายในตีมย้อนยุค ไม่วายมั้งนะ สนุกดีค่ะ ตัวละครโครตจะลูสเซอร์ กับอีกคนที่เพอร์เฟคสุดๆ มาเจอกัน น่าสนใจดี
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews