The Crimson Spell

I have to preface this review by saying that I'm a huge fan of Ayano Yamane. But, to be honest, I've never been a huge fan of The Crimson Spell. I enjoyed it, but it didn't drag me in and hold me prisoner the way her Finder series has done.

Today, I learned to love The Crimson Spell a lot more. I received my English release of volume one from Kitty Media. Having a book in English isn't enough, really, to make me care more. But there were a number of very nice things about this book in particular that did, and only one thing that annoyed me, though I mostly got over it.

The translation was for the most part very well done. This isn't an easy book to translate, what with spells and fantastic items and bizarre names for people and places, but those were all handled well. Except for Prince Bald. Honestly people, he's a romantic hero. Did it have to be Bald? Are we really supposed to burst into laughter when his partner meets him and says, "I'll call you Bald." I half expected "Bald" to say, "Yeah? And I'll call you Ugly." But, one does get used to it for the most part. It helps that the other names are of some sort of European extraction so you can imagine it being said with Greta Garbo's accent.

The rest of the translation though was just wonderful. It flowed so smoothly. For those familiar with the Japanese tankoubon, they didn't add things in or subtract them to change the characters. They didn't make mistakes about which person was speaking. The words they chose felt like the language of fantasy. This was helped by the choice of a non-standard manga font that added formality and otherworldliness. I loved the font choices in the book. They added to the atmosphere. One other neat thing Kitty does is preserve the difference in Rulca's speech that is present in the Japanese, where he calls Havi "Habi" and himself "Rulka", just to let us know he's not quite like the rest of them.

The print / paper quality is good Japanese tankoubon quality. Nice stuff. I opened my tankoubon and compared a few pages to Kitty's. Kitty's pages look better, with whiter, finer paper. It makes Yamane-sensei's gorgeous artwork stand out even more. She draws some of the most beautiful BL and men in creation, and the details she puts into the clothing, background, and characters really stand out on these pages.

There's a color insert, the exact same as in the Japanese, and it's a very pretty picture of the two leading men, sword and staff ready (insert joke here). There's no dust jacket, but the cover is a glossy finish with the exact same front as the Japanese, but the back is nicer than the Japanese because they take the tiny picture of Val and make it full sized on a dark crimson background. Physically this is prime quality, and the contents are exactly the same as in the tankoubon.

So all of this, the pleasure at holding a high quality book, the ease of reading a good translation in one's native language, the little touches like the period detail and fonts that let one fall into the story more easily, they all added up and let me really get swept away by the story:

Prince Bald, in an effort to save his kingdom from attacking demons, picks up a dangerous family heirloom, the crimson sword. Unfortunately, the sword curses whoever uses it and kills them unless they're of royal blood. Bald, being royal, is only cursed to turn into a rampaging sexy-as-sin beast every night, a distinctly separate personality. He wants the curse removed, naturally, and goes to find the only wizard who can do it, the tall silver-haired beauty Halvir.

Bald and Halvir strike a bargain: he helps the rather greedy Halvir gets some magical items, and Halvir will remove the curse, and so they set off. Only Bald doesn't realize that Halvir, who can feed off magic via sex, drains his curse and takes the magic each night by having hot hot HOT sex with his beast side. The beast in him soon craves it however, and after a while won't stop molesting Halvir.

The story is pure romantic adventure at this point, and is very funny, full of dry humor, much of which comes from the characters. They all, including the side characters, have their foibles and these are used to maximum advantage. I laughed throughout the book. But aside from the humor and fun, there is potential for a very interesting romantic triangle between Bald, Halvir, and Bald's beast self, not to mention some hints that things might not all be fun and games ahead, and these all make me anxious to see volume two.

One last thing I love about the book is the side character Rulca. He's a magic bunny / demon / ex-dragon kind of creature reminiscent of Puck. Cute and sarcasm never had better form. He's the only plushie I ever Needed To Own. Rulca falls in love/lust with Bald and lives to irritate Halvir, and I adore every frame he appears in.

So honestly, I'd encourage anyone who enjoys fantasy, gorgeous men, sarcastic bunny demons, humor, and very hot graphic sex (and really, who doesn't?) to buy this one. Even with "Bald" I was really impressed with the job Kitty did with it. And Ayano Yamane's artwork has never looked better.