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Ludwig II - Bunkoban Edition #1
ルートヴィヒ2世 上
時は19世紀半ば。18歳の若さで即位した美貌のバイエルン国王・ルートヴィヒII世。プロイセンとオーストリアが対立するさなか、ルートヴィヒII世は現実と逆行するかのように、ワーグナーの音楽に彩られた、絢爛な美の世界に耽溺していく。彼をとらえて放さないものは、幻想か狂気か。伝説の白鳥王・ルートヴィヒII世の物語が、いま幕を開ける──。
Paperback Bunko
First published March 13, 1996
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99 people want to read
About the author
You Higuri
101 books64 followersYou Higuri (氷栗優) is a Japanese shōjo and yaoi manga artist. She is known especially for her drawings of beautiful fantasy men in romantic storylines set in historical Europe, such as Gorgeous Carat in early 20th-century France and Cantarella during the Italian Renaissance.
Source: Wikipedia
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 9 reviews
January 16, 2024
Ein dreiteiliger Manga über Ludwig II. von Bayern, but make it gay. Hier repräsentativ den ersten Teil, wobei ich alle drei Werke an einem Tag gelesen habe: Einfach zu lesen, recht unterhaltsam, mit ein paar historischen Fakten. Allerdings wurde einiges hinzugedichtet und besonders ein/zwei magische Elemente haben mich dann doch etwas zu sehr gestört. Hätte lieber eine realistische Darstellung gehabt und auch weniger diese kitschige boys-Love Komponente, die für solche Mangas typisch sind. Dennoch eine sehr innovative Idee, Ludwig II. als Vorlage zu verwenden und ihn in ein queeres Setting zu versetzen.
March 26, 2016
I'm kind of torn on this one. On the one hand, I do find it a entertaining read full of drama, angst, and history. I was also privileged enough to visit Neuschwanstein castle as a young teen, so a manga about its construction, and the mind that conceived it, brings back happy memories.
However, there are a few aspects of the story so far that keep me on the fence (warning, spoilers ahead):
- Ludwig's lover, Hornig, gets raped no less than twice in this first volume. Once by Ludwig... who he then forgives for absolutely no reason... and then later on by a gang of thugs sent to kill him... and his only reaction is that his body is now too "impure" to share with Ludwig. Hornig should be severely traumatized by both events, and in the first instance I can't see him going on to become the lover of someone who chloroformed him and raped him. Even if Ludwig did repent later, that does not somehow erase the harm he did and one would think Hornig would resent his rapist if nothing else. In the second instance, seriously, all he can think of is that he's no longer good enough for Ludwig? Seriously??
- Ludwig chokes a potential female lover in one scene because he finds her repulsive. Because, you know, all gay men violently hate women apparently, to the point where they will attempt to kill them. Thanks, author, for spreading this crazy stereotype and making Ludwig seem like an outright sociopath.
- The author keeps presenting Ludwig II as a Beautiful Cinnamon Roll who was too good for this world. His actions in the story, however, make him seem spoiled, selfish, and even violent. Which I actually have no problem with, so long as the author is aware of their own text and owns it. Instead, every so often we're reminded of how he's too good for this world, too beautiful, too pure, etc. Sorry, but I just don't buy it. If he was supposed to be a misunderstood dreamer, then don't make him into a self-absorbed sociopath who rapes a stable boy on a whim and chokes a woman.
So, there you have my opinion. I'll still read volume 2, since I'm curious to see how the story ends, though I will say this isn't my favorite manga.
However, there are a few aspects of the story so far that keep me on the fence (warning, spoilers ahead):
- Ludwig's lover, Hornig, gets raped no less than twice in this first volume. Once by Ludwig... who he then forgives for absolutely no reason... and then later on by a gang of thugs sent to kill him... and his only reaction is that his body is now too "impure" to share with Ludwig. Hornig should be severely traumatized by both events, and in the first instance I can't see him going on to become the lover of someone who chloroformed him and raped him. Even if Ludwig did repent later, that does not somehow erase the harm he did and one would think Hornig would resent his rapist if nothing else. In the second instance, seriously, all he can think of is that he's no longer good enough for Ludwig? Seriously??
- Ludwig chokes a potential female lover in one scene because he finds her repulsive. Because, you know, all gay men violently hate women apparently, to the point where they will attempt to kill them. Thanks, author, for spreading this crazy stereotype and making Ludwig seem like an outright sociopath.
- The author keeps presenting Ludwig II as a Beautiful Cinnamon Roll who was too good for this world. His actions in the story, however, make him seem spoiled, selfish, and even violent. Which I actually have no problem with, so long as the author is aware of their own text and owns it. Instead, every so often we're reminded of how he's too good for this world, too beautiful, too pure, etc. Sorry, but I just don't buy it. If he was supposed to be a misunderstood dreamer, then don't make him into a self-absorbed sociopath who rapes a stable boy on a whim and chokes a woman.
So, there you have my opinion. I'll still read volume 2, since I'm curious to see how the story ends, though I will say this isn't my favorite manga.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 25, 2025
This is a biographical Manga about King Ludwig II of Bavaria, dreamer, aesthete, & visionary of Neuschwanstein & other romantic castles & palaces.
When I was 17, I toured Schloss Linderhof & became obsessed with King Ludwig II. From then on, for years, I collected & read every book on him and/or his castles I could get a hold of. My undergraduate final project was a play about Ludwig--which I could expand to a much longer (and more openly queer) play. Maybe some day.
In my twenties I decided that since I'd read so much about Ludwig & had so many books on him, I may as well write a novel about him. So I started writing it. When I mentioned the novel to a neurotypical frenemy, she made a snide remark, and... I stopped working on that novel. So... it's unfinished at 108 pages. That was decades ago, but it doesn’t mean I won't finish it ever. Really, it doesn't.
Anyway, while I enjoy writing historical fiction/fantasy in which I make up my own characters, it's much more challenging to write historical fiction about real people. While my intention was to show Ludwig's day-dreaming, his fantasy world more, I also wanted to stick to historical accuracy, and I wasn't that interested in the Seven Weeks War. No more interested in it than Ludwig was.
That said... the author You Higuri isn't scared of artistic license, making stuff up that didn't necessarily happen.
This Manga includes the Seven Weeks War & Ludwig's lack of enthusiasm--he hated war. It also includes gossips behind his back, which feels accurate, based on my readings (never mind that it's been decades since I read books about Ludwig). Ludwig kvetched about Munich--the mundanes, the gossips, his corrupt cabinet ministers (who eventually led to his death).
I think a lot of the spirit of Ludwig the dreamer and the people around him, the Munich gossips, is conveyed in this book.
It's too bad the first book isn't mainly about his relationship with Prince Paul von Turn und Taxis. It does cover that relationship briefly but doesn't even show that Ludwig was uncomfortable or at least jealous with Paul being bisexual & seeing others. I think it'd make sense if this first book in the Manga series were about Ludwig & Paul... and the second book about Ludwig & the stable master, Richard Hornig. Instead, this first book is mainly about Ludwig & Hornig, even though if I recall correctly, it was a more one-sided attraction--meaning unrequited--unlike with Paul.
I don't remember ever reading about Richard Hornig's thieving brother, Fritz--I wonder if that story is made up.
I'm uncomfortable with the part of this Manga in which Ludwig uses chloroform to knock out Hornig & tie him up in the Residenz's (Munich palace) rooftop garden--that scene didn't seem entirely consensual. I noticed the original publication date was 1996--& the 1990s aren't the most pro-consent decade.
Also, I doubt Ludwig & Richard Hornig ever had sex. Ludwig had plenty of internalized homophobia--at a time & place in which homosexuality was illegal.
I like how the introduction is from Empress Elizabeth's perspective at the time of Ludwig's death--complete with the image of the cross marking where Ludwig was found dead in Starnberger See. But it could have been explained more. I can see how people who haven't read a gazillion biographies on Ludwig might find the book confusing (as I observed in some of the Goodreads reviews). (FYI, I used to assume Ludwig committed suicide by drowning, but some years ago I read an article disclosing that the coat he was wearing when he died had bullet holes & was replaced with another coat. Now I believehe was assasinated.)
I'm disappointed in the women's clothing in this Manga, because they dress like it's the 1880s & 1890s... when it's the late 1860s.
The last 2 stories in this Manga are about a couple of Japanese tourists in Bavaria, visiting Ludwig's castles. Well, the book certainly brings back memories of my trip as an impressionable teenager.
When I was 17, I toured Schloss Linderhof & became obsessed with King Ludwig II. From then on, for years, I collected & read every book on him and/or his castles I could get a hold of. My undergraduate final project was a play about Ludwig--which I could expand to a much longer (and more openly queer) play. Maybe some day.
In my twenties I decided that since I'd read so much about Ludwig & had so many books on him, I may as well write a novel about him. So I started writing it. When I mentioned the novel to a neurotypical frenemy, she made a snide remark, and... I stopped working on that novel. So... it's unfinished at 108 pages. That was decades ago, but it doesn’t mean I won't finish it ever. Really, it doesn't.
Anyway, while I enjoy writing historical fiction/fantasy in which I make up my own characters, it's much more challenging to write historical fiction about real people. While my intention was to show Ludwig's day-dreaming, his fantasy world more, I also wanted to stick to historical accuracy, and I wasn't that interested in the Seven Weeks War. No more interested in it than Ludwig was.
That said... the author You Higuri isn't scared of artistic license, making stuff up that didn't necessarily happen.
This Manga includes the Seven Weeks War & Ludwig's lack of enthusiasm--he hated war. It also includes gossips behind his back, which feels accurate, based on my readings (never mind that it's been decades since I read books about Ludwig). Ludwig kvetched about Munich--the mundanes, the gossips, his corrupt cabinet ministers (who eventually led to his death).
I think a lot of the spirit of Ludwig the dreamer and the people around him, the Munich gossips, is conveyed in this book.
It's too bad the first book isn't mainly about his relationship with Prince Paul von Turn und Taxis. It does cover that relationship briefly but doesn't even show that Ludwig was uncomfortable or at least jealous with Paul being bisexual & seeing others. I think it'd make sense if this first book in the Manga series were about Ludwig & Paul... and the second book about Ludwig & the stable master, Richard Hornig. Instead, this first book is mainly about Ludwig & Hornig, even though if I recall correctly, it was a more one-sided attraction--meaning unrequited--unlike with Paul.
I don't remember ever reading about Richard Hornig's thieving brother, Fritz--I wonder if that story is made up.
I'm uncomfortable with the part of this Manga in which Ludwig uses chloroform to knock out Hornig & tie him up in the Residenz's (Munich palace) rooftop garden--that scene didn't seem entirely consensual. I noticed the original publication date was 1996--& the 1990s aren't the most pro-consent decade.
Also, I doubt Ludwig & Richard Hornig ever had sex. Ludwig had plenty of internalized homophobia--at a time & place in which homosexuality was illegal.
I like how the introduction is from Empress Elizabeth's perspective at the time of Ludwig's death--complete with the image of the cross marking where Ludwig was found dead in Starnberger See. But it could have been explained more. I can see how people who haven't read a gazillion biographies on Ludwig might find the book confusing (as I observed in some of the Goodreads reviews). (FYI, I used to assume Ludwig committed suicide by drowning, but some years ago I read an article disclosing that the coat he was wearing when he died had bullet holes & was replaced with another coat. Now I believehe was assasinated.)
I'm disappointed in the women's clothing in this Manga, because they dress like it's the 1880s & 1890s... when it's the late 1860s.
The last 2 stories in this Manga are about a couple of Japanese tourists in Bavaria, visiting Ludwig's castles. Well, the book certainly brings back memories of my trip as an impressionable teenager.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2018
I wanted to like this more than I did, I didn't so I dropped the series.
October 23, 2023
Interesting characters and artwork in this M/M historical romance. The dialogue is choppy and at times can be confusing. It just doesn't flow. 3 out of 5.
June 6, 2025
I have no idea what I just read.
August 29, 2010
Ludwig II, the Manga, Vol. 1 & 2
These were historical fiction, focusing mostly on King Ludwig's relationship with his main stable boy, Horing, but also seemed quite informed on political happenings and facts of his life-at least, it fit almost exactly with all the details in the Italian movie we watched on Ludwig. :p Many, many similarities. The author does make excuses for Ludwig in every instance though-that is, making him out to be as good, smart, etc. as possible while still not going against facts. (Except he stayed attractive throughout his whole life, which apparently, was not the case at all).
I did enjoy these two books quite a bit. An interesting take on the person Ludwig was.
These were historical fiction, focusing mostly on King Ludwig's relationship with his main stable boy, Horing, but also seemed quite informed on political happenings and facts of his life-at least, it fit almost exactly with all the details in the Italian movie we watched on Ludwig. :p Many, many similarities. The author does make excuses for Ludwig in every instance though-that is, making him out to be as good, smart, etc. as possible while still not going against facts. (Except he stayed attractive throughout his whole life, which apparently, was not the case at all).
I did enjoy these two books quite a bit. An interesting take on the person Ludwig was.
Want to read
September 27, 2009Ludwig II 1 (v. 1) by You Higuri (2009)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 9 reviews