[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.