[Manga] From Eroica With Love Volume 1

From Eroica With Love by Yasuko Aoike, is a shoujo manga from 1976 (that is STILL being published off and on out of Japan. Aoike just put out volume 33 in Japan last year.) Its art style runs along the line of other old shoujo titles like Rose of Versailles, but it ends up really growing on you after awhile even if you aren’t that used to it at first.

The first story-arc is a bit campy and rough, but once Major Klaus is introduced it really picks up from there. And by the end of volume 3, it’s very solid from there on out. As for the plot, it’s a mixture of Cold War espionage and drama with comic shounen-ai and theft hijinks.

From ANN:
Dorian Red Gloria, a flamboyant English earl also known as the art thief Eroica, crosses paths with Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach, a conservative German NATO intelligence officer. It’s love-hate at first sight. After their first chance meeting, Klaus just can’t seem to shake the thief- they run into each other all over the world, whether accidentally or by Eroica’s machinations, and Eroica and his gang often end up helping or hindering missions being run by the Major and his agents. Soviet spies, British intelligence officers, and an Arab oil prince also make appearances.

In short, if you love any if the following…

- a thick dose of subtext and rival slash.
- comedy and espionage hijinks.
- Spy/War drama during the Cold War.
- anything set in Europe during the 70s.

OR, you’re just up to trying anything new- this series is for you.

 Since I think a lot of people just take the series at surface value I figured I’d blog about it in hopes to get more people into it.

First off, let’s meet our core-cast:

 

 

As I mentioned above, volume 1 starts out a bit rough. Namely, there are several characters in it that will never again appear.

 

These three teens seem to act, if nothing else, as a means to introduce the title character- Eroica. I’ve heard that Aoike intended to have them in the story longer, but for whatever reason, you never see them past volume 1.

My guess is probably something along the lines of what happened with Rumiko Takahashi’s series Urusei Yatsura.That series was supposed to focus on Ataru’s crazy life and Lum (the iconic tiger-print bikini wearing alien girl) was to be a one-chapter character only. Thing is, the people loved Lum. So tada, she ended up becoming the co-star with Ataru. I would assume with Eroica that Aoike’s  characters of Dorian and Klaus became so popular (and let’s face it, much more slash subtext to be had with them rather than a trio of teens) that they became the leads rather than the three others.

I’d summarize the first chapters for you, if it hadn’t already been so eloquently done by the wonderful people at eroicafans.org. Check out the following summaries to get a gist of what’s going on in volume 1:

• Chapter 1 Summary
• Chapter 2 Summary
• Chapter 3 Summary

 Chapter 2 starts us in on the ongoing Dorian and Klaus Love-Hate relationship of doom. First, Dorian steals The Man In Purple (a family heirloom of the Eberbach family).

Then, Klaus takes Caesar (as part of NATO wanting to use his ESP abilities) which ticks off Dorian. Dorian then takes back Caesar, which ticks off Klaus… who then chases down Dorian’s showy red sports car with a tank. Yes, a tank.

Of course, everything goes downhill from there and before we know it- the two (along with Caesar) find themselves stranded on an island because the tank’s weight broke the bridge over to it. Once there they have no choice but to wait for their respective teams of men to catch up.

Caesar, being the wuss he is, is freezing cold so Klaus begrudgingly lets Caesar and Dorian into his tank.  Inside, the three cuddle up (much to Klaus’ dismay) to keep warm. Annoyed by the silence, Klaus tries to get Dorian to talk (even though he forbids any of the subjects that Dorian would talk of) so Klaus ends up singing a German tank song.

This along with his ‘foppish’ remark about finding beauty in steel, seals Klaus’s fate as Dorian’s love interest for the rest of the series.

And to show the Major just how much he loves him, Dorian steals his tank when the Major leaves the island on a helicopter.  Needless to say, the only person who can even begin to think of toying with Iron Klaus is Dorian.

As for chapter 3, I think this about sums up the hijinks involved in the NATO mission:

And at the end of chapter 3, there’s the scene that basically defines the interactions between Klaus and Dorian. Klaus tries to act like he doesn’t care, yet still gives Dorian a hand when he’s been injured. Dorian, of course, takes this opportunity to flirt with him. To which Klaus lamely just says “You idiot” to while Dorian laughs.

In volume 2, you can look forward to the following:

• Klaus using a transvestite on a mission (yay Agent G!)
• Klaus screaming over the phone on finding out Dorian has a date with Agent G’s alias ‘Daphne’
• Klaus wanting Dorian’s underwear. Yes, seriously.
• And Dorian and Klaus working together to stop a bomb set to go off at Peace Conference.

In short, do check the series out. It needs more love and CMX is doing a good job on the translation here in the US.