Not For the Faint of Heart - Crimson Spell Vol 1 Review
Welcome to the Crimson Spell Not For the Faint of Heart Double Header (teehee)! That's right, today brings a new level of textual enjoyment as I read and review the (sadly) only two volumes of this manga available in the US, brought to you by Hinterland's Bourbon Barrel Doppelbock. Let the fun begin!
I will say to start that this is something of a rarity for Yaoi manga, this being a fantasy story. Most of the Yaoi things that I have read so far have been pretty consistently either a straight romance (or not, I guess...) or something like a thriller. There are quite few that revel in the high fantasy genre, and that being my favorite genre, I find that a damn shame. But here, at least, is a series that embraces fully a fantasy setting that is taken seriously and with magic and demons and dangers and all that. While some others, like Tale of the Waning Moon, do deal with fantasy tropes, that series plays for laughs while this one is not a play on those cliches.
To the story itself, though, which involves a young prince picking up a cursed sword to protect his kingdom and then having to set out to try and get the curse lifted, which brings him to a magic user who promises to help in exchange for the prince helping him obtain some magical items. The sexy catch in all of this is that the curse involves the prince being possessed with demonic energies, which the mage can..uh...siphon (if you know what I mean). And while this could feel rather problematic, as the prince never really consents to this sort of thing, it is done to help him and it is quite sexy so I can't hold it against the author too much. This is the same author and artist that brought us Finder, by the by, and I must say this series is leaps and bounds better, because the relationship between the main characters is just so much healthier and cuter.
The art, though, is still gorgeous, and the sex scenes are still done with the same care and detail that the artist is known for. That alone is well worth the price of admission, but the story also contains much more than typical Yaoi. It isn't just sex, and that means we are actually given a fantasy storyline with history and with side characters and it's just a very enjoyable experience all around. The art and sex scenes are appropriately arousing and very explicit, so no problem there, and the plot is rather interesting and involves magic and monsters and the like and there is a good bit of humor thrown in for good measure.
This is a great manga, then. It hits all the right notes and I am left with nothing but the highest praise. It is the beginning of these characters' relationship, and to the end they are really only friends with this sexual thing happening without the prince really being aware of it. He is having feelings toward the mage, though, and the mage, though something of a jerk and distant at times, is obviously falling for the noble and rather naive prince. It works. And with that in mind I give this manga a 9.5/10.