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風と木の詩: 8 volumes #1
風と木の詩 1
414 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 3, 2025
Edit:
Parental Advisory:
This manga has explicit sexual situations, depictions of child abuse and incest.
I don't advise children to read this manga series.
After reading up volume 8 of the series I can now say the writer doesn't properly handle topics related to abuse well.
She seems confused on what her message was with Gilbert's arc and ended up showing his trauma in a romantic light which is an issue for many reasons that I don't want to discuss here.
I don't know how this series was marketed to teenagers in the 70s.
Insane.
Kaze no ki uta/The Poem of Song and Wind review.
*This review has spoilers from the first volumes of the series.*
I noticed many of the scenes in the 1980s movie were either changed,placed at a different time or left out all together regardless the movie as a good introduction to the manga.
It truly encapsulated the poetic speech and dream - like sequences of the manga.
Review:
Kaze no ki uta is set in late 1870s France at the fictional all-boys boarding school Lacombrade Academy located on the outskirts of the city of Arles in Provence.
Serge Battour, -the main character - is the orphaned son of a French viscount and a Roma woman,is sent to Lacombrade at the request of his late father.
He is roomed with Gilbert Cocteau,a misanthropic student who is ostracized by the school's students and professors for his truancy.
Serge is shown to be an athletic,musical prodigy and excellent equestrian who is liked overall by his classmates and the staff at the academy.
He is a kind and assertive character who doesn't put up with Gilbert's nonsense.
He is the total opposite of Gilbert who is quick to anger and be emotional.
Serge eventually discovered the full reason Gilbert is ostracized in the academy.
Gilbert is ostracized for his truancy,lack of interest in his studies and sexual relations with older male students as well as the school's headmaster.
He often skips his classes and seeks out at night when he should be asleep to sneak to see one of his "boyfriends".
Professor Watts (a man who attended college with Serge's father) doesn't approve of Serge sharing a room with Gilbert.
One of the students at the school (I think his name was Carl Maisser) convinced Watt in the movie to allow Serge to share a room with Gilbert because of the room shortage in the B class dorms.
In the manga it is Professional Watts who suggests this not Carl.
In fact Carl opposed Serge sharing a room with him.
Serge first encountered Gilbert one night after Gilbert came in injured from a attack from one of his "boyfriends"
Pascal Biquet(he later becomes a friend of Serge) -a boy who studies medical science for his own enjoyment and knowledge - helps Gilbert.
In the manga he doesn't meet Serge for the first time this in this scene but earlier in the manga when Serge first arrived.
Throughout the movie and the first few volumes of the manga Gilbert is shown to be aggressive to Serge.
He is constantly slapping him away or insulting him.
He even sent one of his crazy "boyfriends" to "rough up" Serge for the fun of it.
Of course the "boyfriend" tried to assault Gilbert instead.
Luckily Serge wakes up in time,saves Gilbert and Jack out of the room and tells Gilbert off and makes him take this medicine for his fever.
Serge wasn't having any of Gilbert's nonsense.
Gilbert starts to become more tolerable as the story goes on Gilbert is no longer simply a bratty kid who enjoys tormenting his roommates as he starts having more character development in volumes 3-5.
Serge tries his best to understand and help Gilbert.
The original story makes it very clear that Gilbert is suffering from trauma from abuse and has learned and continued a toxic pattern of relationships due to his uncle's treatment of him.
Serge's efforts to befriend his roommate and Gilbert's simultaneous efforts both to drive away and to seduce Serge form a complicated and disruptive relationship between the pair.
Their friendship isn't healthy nor is it shown as such.
The movie and manga covers topics that can be uncomfortable for most people but the mature themes aren't as explicit and aren't frequent enough to become too much of an issue for the movie however the manga shows more details of the sexual scenes so I suggest readers skip those scenes.
The movie only has seven scenes related to themes like this but luckily they aren't too disturbing or lengthy.
In the manga Gilbert is around six plus sex scenes scenes in the first 5 volumes and three of them clearly aren't consensual.
Most of the sex scenes in this manga unless it's Gilbert having a moment with Serge is unconsensual.
I skipped past the sexual scenes since many of those scenes involved violent assault.
These scenes were the biggest issue with the movie and manga.
I believe the series would be more entertaining without these scenes shown especially the scenes with Jacque,Bonnard and Auguste and the one where Gilbert tried to seduce Serge the second time.
I didn't expect those scenes to happen since the movie left out majority of those situations.
The movie was surprisingly more tolerable despite the scenes I didn't like and the illustrations in both the movie and manga are beautiful.
My favorite part of the movie and manga are the elegance of Serge's playing on piano.
His hands movements were graceful and the music he played was enchanting.
I love these scenes the most.
His poetic speech whenever he talked about his past suited the series theme.
I love how he would create music to represent his feelings for Gilbert in the later volumes.
One of the best things about this series are the colorful and elegant sequences of nature and the elements whenever the characters are day dreaming.
Also the artist did a great job at drawing the folds of clothing and bedding.
The story expresses not only the effects of childhood abuse,the negative side of religious culture in late 1800s France,the way victims are often treated by society but it also ironically highlighted the issues(rather it's intentional by the author or not) with the way youth and adolescence is often sexualized in society as well as the disgusting nature of age -gaps in relationships.
Gilbert is often sexualized and preyed on by older teens and adults for his elegant and innocent appearance.
Serge deals with discrimination because of his brown skin and his relationship with Gilbert.
Kaze no ki uta isn't a shounen-ai or yaoi in a sense of romance but by circumstances(abuse)and in some ways spiritual or sensual (Gilbert's expression of himself and his relationship with the main character of the story,Serge).
Serge and Gilbert's relationship isn't romantic but one of a type of dependence.
Gilbert's dependence on Serge and Serge wanting to understand and help the other Gilbert.
Serge encountered prejudice and judgemental stares because he is of mixed heritage but despite this he is still kind to others.
He understands and wants to help Gilbert because he knows how it feels to suffer from discrimination because of his appearance.
They share a similar struggle.
Kaze to ki no uta has a decent representation of this sort of character.
This is a tragic coming of age story about two characters struggling though abuse, discrimination and neglect while growing up as orphans - and in Serge's case of mixed heritage - in 1800s France not an erotic love story despite the sexual content in the story but a tragic historical drama involving yaoi content that is shown mostly negatively.
This is what some would consider a "heavy read" but because of the impact of this story,how it would end but Serge's personality and goals intrigued me so I continued to read it and skipped the scenes I didn't want to view.
Parental Advisory:
This manga has explicit sexual situations, depictions of child abuse and incest.
I don't advise children to read this manga series.
After reading up volume 8 of the series I can now say the writer doesn't properly handle topics related to abuse well.
She seems confused on what her message was with Gilbert's arc and ended up showing his trauma in a romantic light which is an issue for many reasons that I don't want to discuss here.
I don't know how this series was marketed to teenagers in the 70s.
Insane.
Kaze no ki uta/The Poem of Song and Wind review.
*This review has spoilers from the first volumes of the series.*
I noticed many of the scenes in the 1980s movie were either changed,placed at a different time or left out all together regardless the movie as a good introduction to the manga.
It truly encapsulated the poetic speech and dream - like sequences of the manga.
Review:
Kaze no ki uta is set in late 1870s France at the fictional all-boys boarding school Lacombrade Academy located on the outskirts of the city of Arles in Provence.
Serge Battour, -the main character - is the orphaned son of a French viscount and a Roma woman,is sent to Lacombrade at the request of his late father.
He is roomed with Gilbert Cocteau,a misanthropic student who is ostracized by the school's students and professors for his truancy.
Serge is shown to be an athletic,musical prodigy and excellent equestrian who is liked overall by his classmates and the staff at the academy.
He is a kind and assertive character who doesn't put up with Gilbert's nonsense.
He is the total opposite of Gilbert who is quick to anger and be emotional.
Serge eventually discovered the full reason Gilbert is ostracized in the academy.
Gilbert is ostracized for his truancy,lack of interest in his studies and sexual relations with older male students as well as the school's headmaster.
He often skips his classes and seeks out at night when he should be asleep to sneak to see one of his "boyfriends".
Professor Watts (a man who attended college with Serge's father) doesn't approve of Serge sharing a room with Gilbert.
One of the students at the school (I think his name was Carl Maisser) convinced Watt in the movie to allow Serge to share a room with Gilbert because of the room shortage in the B class dorms.
In the manga it is Professional Watts who suggests this not Carl.
In fact Carl opposed Serge sharing a room with him.
Serge first encountered Gilbert one night after Gilbert came in injured from a attack from one of his "boyfriends"
Pascal Biquet(he later becomes a friend of Serge) -a boy who studies medical science for his own enjoyment and knowledge - helps Gilbert.
In the manga he doesn't meet Serge for the first time this in this scene but earlier in the manga when Serge first arrived.
Throughout the movie and the first few volumes of the manga Gilbert is shown to be aggressive to Serge.
He is constantly slapping him away or insulting him.
He even sent one of his crazy "boyfriends" to "rough up" Serge for the fun of it.
Of course the "boyfriend" tried to assault Gilbert instead.
Luckily Serge wakes up in time,saves Gilbert and Jack out of the room and tells Gilbert off and makes him take this medicine for his fever.
Serge wasn't having any of Gilbert's nonsense.
Gilbert starts to become more tolerable as the story goes on Gilbert is no longer simply a bratty kid who enjoys tormenting his roommates as he starts having more character development in volumes 3-5.
Serge tries his best to understand and help Gilbert.
The original story makes it very clear that Gilbert is suffering from trauma from abuse and has learned and continued a toxic pattern of relationships due to his uncle's treatment of him.
Serge's efforts to befriend his roommate and Gilbert's simultaneous efforts both to drive away and to seduce Serge form a complicated and disruptive relationship between the pair.
Their friendship isn't healthy nor is it shown as such.
The movie and manga covers topics that can be uncomfortable for most people but the mature themes aren't as explicit and aren't frequent enough to become too much of an issue for the movie however the manga shows more details of the sexual scenes so I suggest readers skip those scenes.
The movie only has seven scenes related to themes like this but luckily they aren't too disturbing or lengthy.
In the manga Gilbert is around six plus sex scenes scenes in the first 5 volumes and three of them clearly aren't consensual.
Most of the sex scenes in this manga unless it's Gilbert having a moment with Serge is unconsensual.
I skipped past the sexual scenes since many of those scenes involved violent assault.
These scenes were the biggest issue with the movie and manga.
I believe the series would be more entertaining without these scenes shown especially the scenes with Jacque,Bonnard and Auguste and the one where Gilbert tried to seduce Serge the second time.
I didn't expect those scenes to happen since the movie left out majority of those situations.
The movie was surprisingly more tolerable despite the scenes I didn't like and the illustrations in both the movie and manga are beautiful.
My favorite part of the movie and manga are the elegance of Serge's playing on piano.
His hands movements were graceful and the music he played was enchanting.
I love these scenes the most.
His poetic speech whenever he talked about his past suited the series theme.
I love how he would create music to represent his feelings for Gilbert in the later volumes.
One of the best things about this series are the colorful and elegant sequences of nature and the elements whenever the characters are day dreaming.
Also the artist did a great job at drawing the folds of clothing and bedding.
The story expresses not only the effects of childhood abuse,the negative side of religious culture in late 1800s France,the way victims are often treated by society but it also ironically highlighted the issues(rather it's intentional by the author or not) with the way youth and adolescence is often sexualized in society as well as the disgusting nature of age -gaps in relationships.
Gilbert is often sexualized and preyed on by older teens and adults for his elegant and innocent appearance.
Serge deals with discrimination because of his brown skin and his relationship with Gilbert.
Kaze no ki uta isn't a shounen-ai or yaoi in a sense of romance but by circumstances(abuse)and in some ways spiritual or sensual (Gilbert's expression of himself and his relationship with the main character of the story,Serge).
Serge and Gilbert's relationship isn't romantic but one of a type of dependence.
Gilbert's dependence on Serge and Serge wanting to understand and help the other Gilbert.
Serge encountered prejudice and judgemental stares because he is of mixed heritage but despite this he is still kind to others.
He understands and wants to help Gilbert because he knows how it feels to suffer from discrimination because of his appearance.
They share a similar struggle.
Kaze to ki no uta has a decent representation of this sort of character.
This is a tragic coming of age story about two characters struggling though abuse, discrimination and neglect while growing up as orphans - and in Serge's case of mixed heritage - in 1800s France not an erotic love story despite the sexual content in the story but a tragic historical drama involving yaoi content that is shown mostly negatively.
This is what some would consider a "heavy read" but because of the impact of this story,how it would end but Serge's personality and goals intrigued me so I continued to read it and skipped the scenes I didn't want to view.
June 12, 2023
(this review applies to the series as a whole) beautiful art reminiscent of aubrey beardsley... devastating yet beautiful story... i can see why this is called a magnum opus. deals with a lot of sensitive subjects and handles it greatly... wonderful piece about the pain of youth and the troubles of young love. i dont much like the genre this is associated with but i feel this sets itself apart from others in its nice depiction; like another reviewer has said, it feels like it was made with a queer audience in mind. also surprisingly historically accurate fashions (for the most part, especially for the women's) & details. anyways. OUCH IT HURTS OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCHHHHHHHH :((((((( keep thotting it up in heaven king miss you so much. i feel so bad for them... deserved so much better... especially poor G... he deserves a lifetime of therapy to undo all that trauma.. i hate ****. i hope he dies a horrible death and goes to hell.
March 29, 2023
absolutely gut-wrenching,, had me ugly sobbing for a whole week I cannot
they most definitely deserved better and and and I hate Augustus
they most definitely deserved better and and and I hate Augustus
September 24, 2025
So, this is a difficult one to review and rate for a lot of reasons. If you ever want to read this series, just be warned it is filled with SA and abuse, and this review is just the first two volumes. There are probably other TW. So, this is not a series for kids.
I was recommended this story by someone as it is one of the many series Berserk/Miura was inspired by and the premise given to me made me interested in giving it a shot. I was warned that this series is not for the faint of heart and I can only reiterate it. This is a series for adults and not young teens if I have to be honest.
If I understood correctly, this never published currently unlicensed series, was never translated into English, probably for very good and obvious reasons seen with modern eyes. Which is why I obviously read this one somewhere online with access to currently unlicensed series and fan translations. This series is definitely a product of its time, so far probably more for the worse than the better. The story concept and premise could have been good and meaningful albeit horrifying considering all the abuse going on in the first couple of volumes, which more or less make up this first “omni” edition. However, as of the two first volumes, I am going to be honest and say this series does not handle the serious topics brought up from page 1 well. This series is very outdated and has not aged well. While it does have a lot of queer representation, it is not what I personally would say is the good/decent kind. Probably mostly due to the time it was written in. I have to mention I know nothing of the author and her views, so I can’t speak about whether this is one of the many stories where you figure out the author is not a human being you would like to be around or not. This was a recommended read to me after all, and I had never heard of it or the author before the suggestion was given to me. Nor did I know about the Berserk thing, even if I have read Berserk.
I am going to read a few more volumes of this story because while it is a deeply disturbing and dark manga, I still want to see a bit more of the story unfolding than just two volumes. I want to see if it improves or if it is going to stay in this less constructive lane. Not to mention given the age and historical context and the fact this was actually printed in the late 1970’s is baffling. If I were to call it something by modern standards this is a dark “smut” drama BL/yaoi series (so far) which tries to touch on worthwhile topics but does it horribly. The way Gilbert (one of the mc’s) is written and the things he goes through are just handled anything but well by modern standards.
So, since I rarely judge manga by two single volumes alone and while this is awful in many ways, it is also captivating/fascinating for a lot of reasons when you look at the historical context and premise. So, while I cannot say I love this series, I cannot say as of right now I hate it either. That said I would agree you could call this series problematic, but so is a lot of books and manga series and I believe people should be allowed to read pretty much anything, even things I don’t agree with or vibe with personally/morally. I also think it is important to read problematic works; opposite opinion works or works outside your comfort zone from time to time. To me it is important not to get stuck in the mud and I say that as someone who obviously lives for a certain type of fantasy, sci-fi and occasional classic books primarily. But sometimes I do read a romantasy, thriller or something third. Sometimes it works out…. Other times my prejudice is confirmed!
I will make an update when I get around to reading the next part. Depending on the next omnibus and how it goes, I might do a “read an omnibus” and then decide if I should continue or not.
I was recommended this story by someone as it is one of the many series Berserk/Miura was inspired by and the premise given to me made me interested in giving it a shot. I was warned that this series is not for the faint of heart and I can only reiterate it. This is a series for adults and not young teens if I have to be honest.
If I understood correctly, this never published currently unlicensed series, was never translated into English, probably for very good and obvious reasons seen with modern eyes. Which is why I obviously read this one somewhere online with access to currently unlicensed series and fan translations. This series is definitely a product of its time, so far probably more for the worse than the better. The story concept and premise could have been good and meaningful albeit horrifying considering all the abuse going on in the first couple of volumes, which more or less make up this first “omni” edition. However, as of the two first volumes, I am going to be honest and say this series does not handle the serious topics brought up from page 1 well. This series is very outdated and has not aged well. While it does have a lot of queer representation, it is not what I personally would say is the good/decent kind. Probably mostly due to the time it was written in. I have to mention I know nothing of the author and her views, so I can’t speak about whether this is one of the many stories where you figure out the author is not a human being you would like to be around or not. This was a recommended read to me after all, and I had never heard of it or the author before the suggestion was given to me. Nor did I know about the Berserk thing, even if I have read Berserk.
I am going to read a few more volumes of this story because while it is a deeply disturbing and dark manga, I still want to see a bit more of the story unfolding than just two volumes. I want to see if it improves or if it is going to stay in this less constructive lane. Not to mention given the age and historical context and the fact this was actually printed in the late 1970’s is baffling. If I were to call it something by modern standards this is a dark “smut” drama BL/yaoi series (so far) which tries to touch on worthwhile topics but does it horribly. The way Gilbert (one of the mc’s) is written and the things he goes through are just handled anything but well by modern standards.
So, since I rarely judge manga by two single volumes alone and while this is awful in many ways, it is also captivating/fascinating for a lot of reasons when you look at the historical context and premise. So, while I cannot say I love this series, I cannot say as of right now I hate it either. That said I would agree you could call this series problematic, but so is a lot of books and manga series and I believe people should be allowed to read pretty much anything, even things I don’t agree with or vibe with personally/morally. I also think it is important to read problematic works; opposite opinion works or works outside your comfort zone from time to time. To me it is important not to get stuck in the mud and I say that as someone who obviously lives for a certain type of fantasy, sci-fi and occasional classic books primarily. But sometimes I do read a romantasy, thriller or something third. Sometimes it works out…. Other times my prejudice is confirmed!
I will make an update when I get around to reading the next part. Depending on the next omnibus and how it goes, I might do a “read an omnibus” and then decide if I should continue or not.
Read
May 1, 2025A potentially problematic work of fiction but I’d say i really did enjoy the poetry of it.
It left me feeling conflicted. Beautiful story, beautiful depiction of love between the main characters that have both their own troubling background. But..
The heavy themes, no… I hated how badly this work affected me. By the end of the last volume (volume 18) it left me confused as to why it even exists. What was the message? What was the authors intent in creating this? What am I supposed to take away from it? In the end I decided to see it for the queer love story that it was, to see it as a story of love in the face of adversity and seriously I think that that was what got me going. (Minus the fact that I didn’t take the tragedy tag seriously and was still hoping for some sort of happy ending for the characters that have gone through too much.) The eventually mutual love btw the main characters was just beautiful I guess but it still wasn’t perfect there were some things that didn’t sit quite right with me.
I guess in the yesteryear genre trope of the femme fatale maybe some stuff were necessary for developing a certain kind of character but I dunno. Sometimes i wish i could get into the head of ppl who make works like this to really understand their thought processes on their work and maybe see the internal conflict they went through (that i’m hoping they went through) and see what got them over it to be able to boldly put out a work like this. Was the point just to make the reader uncomfortable. To wrench our hearts out?? To make us experience some undue sadness and despair and anguish?? Such as we may hopefully never experience in our own lives? If that was the goal they sure as hell succeeded. Succeeded in making trauma and pain poetic and beautiful. Hmm… But then again such works do end up selling and gaining popularity for their outrageous controversial and contentious content so I dunno. And to be honest they do end up bringing to life characters you end up caring a lot for and stories that sit with you for weeks after you’ve read it and make you think.
It left me feeling conflicted. Beautiful story, beautiful depiction of love between the main characters that have both their own troubling background. But..
The heavy themes, no… I hated how badly this work affected me. By the end of the last volume (volume 18) it left me confused as to why it even exists. What was the message? What was the authors intent in creating this? What am I supposed to take away from it? In the end I decided to see it for the queer love story that it was, to see it as a story of love in the face of adversity and seriously I think that that was what got me going. (Minus the fact that I didn’t take the tragedy tag seriously and was still hoping for some sort of happy ending for the characters that have gone through too much.) The eventually mutual love btw the main characters was just beautiful I guess but it still wasn’t perfect there were some things that didn’t sit quite right with me.
I guess in the yesteryear genre trope of the femme fatale maybe some stuff were necessary for developing a certain kind of character but I dunno. Sometimes i wish i could get into the head of ppl who make works like this to really understand their thought processes on their work and maybe see the internal conflict they went through (that i’m hoping they went through) and see what got them over it to be able to boldly put out a work like this. Was the point just to make the reader uncomfortable. To wrench our hearts out?? To make us experience some undue sadness and despair and anguish?? Such as we may hopefully never experience in our own lives? If that was the goal they sure as hell succeeded. Succeeded in making trauma and pain poetic and beautiful. Hmm… But then again such works do end up selling and gaining popularity for their outrageous controversial and contentious content so I dunno. And to be honest they do end up bringing to life characters you end up caring a lot for and stories that sit with you for weeks after you’ve read it and make you think.
Read
October 22, 2025I was NOT prepared for how messed up this series is. I already watched the OVA, but the manga goes into a lot more detail. I didn't finish it. Also, the author HAS to be into teen boys to draw that much action between a teen boy and adults.
June 2, 2025
c'est que le premier tome pk ils souffrent déjà autant.. libérez les 💔 (très bien cependant cependant très lourd comme lecture je recommande que à ceux qui sont préparés emotionellement)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews