From Eroica With Love 12
Posted: April 21, 2008 Filed under: From Eroica With Love 8 Comments »So I started buying some of the artbooks associated with this series, because it is my undisputed queen of girl comics. There are no less than 4 different artbooks in print at the moment along with a few older things which are harder to find, but only one is an actual “artbook.” The others can be disappointing, but make it up to you with the insanity of the illustrations they contain. Consider this, which is a parody of Mars Chastising Cupid. I had a moment of Zen on the bus ride home while I was flipping through that book, since that’s one of my favorite paintings, and I thought it was fairly obscure… plus, it’s just… what the hell. I can’t read the text on it or on the page next to it, so it’s without context, which makes it even better. My school owns that particular painting, and if their interpretation is to be believed, Cupid is enjoying it just as much as Dorian is.
Anyway, I wanted to share that. I put off the review because I was trying to get my scanner to work. Putting it off meant I got to read the book again a couple days ago, which… again, is just something I do not do since I have about 100 other things I haven’t read yet sitting within arm’s reach. I like this series that much.
This volume is the end of the “Laughing Cardinals” arc along with a few one-shot short stories. The main story sort of ends abruptly, but not before cramming in a few jokes about the Major’s butt in for the road. As part of a clever ploy to get Klaus a gun in front of a KGB agent, Bonham sort of… I don’t know, fondles him to get his attention and to remind him that he had a gun hidden away. For his efforts, Bonham is booted rather hard in the shin, and the Major states that “Usage of my rear for other than its intended purpose is strictly verboten” while Dorian yelled “Spoilsport! It won’t break!” from a chandelier. It was beautiful.
After all the dust settles, since it turns out that every single one of the Major’s men was captured and the lines they were feeding the KGB turned out to be the true location of the information they were looking for, Klaus fires every single one of them on the spot and sends them to Alaska, all except for Z. Amidst all their own suffering, the men find time to offer Z their condolences since they figure he’s gotten the worse end of the deal, staying all by himself with the Major.
There are two one-shots that deal with the only thing that could make the Major more angry in his situation (chained to his desk doing paperwork meant for 25 people, no missions in sight), which is Lawrence showing up from England to help him out. On one hand, I kind of hate Lawrence because I can’t figure out if he’s actually a decent agent or just an idiot through and through. These two chapters have definitely lowered my opinion of him considerably. On the other hand, everyone hates him with such a passion that it’s hilarious to see the reactions to him. The Director shows Klaus a kindness when he gives him a simple surveillance mission, but the trick is that Lawrence has to come with him so that he doesn’t hang around NATO headquarters. While on this mission, Lawrence decides that the Major got his “Iron Klaus” nickname by being tireless with the ladies, and the two are also forced to share a bed when the hotel has only one honeymoon suite left to rent.
After their intended target flees from the Major in terror, Klaus decides to send Lawrence to Lucerne with the restored Laughing Cardinals fresco as an “escort” so that he can pester Dorian. Lawrence does his job well, bonding with James to create double the irritation, but the Major’s plan backfires when Lawrence actually returns with Dorian in tow, because Dorian just can’t believe that Lawrence and Klaus have shared a bed.
I just… am consistently blown away with how funny each volume is. I go into them thinking that the newest one can’t be better than the ones I’ve already read, but I’m always pleasantly surprised. There’s a ton of jokes and plot I’ve left out… for instance, Lawrence strolling into the Monastery in Lucerne and laughing to himself for about half a page before he notices Dorian and blows a gasket, or the whole encounter with Dorian, Lawrence, and Klaus in the NATO office. That part is priceless. Klaus questions Dorian’s gaydar, and tells him he should be kicked out of the club. I was dying. Plus the adaptation is always really top notch. A lot of German words and British slang terms are inserted into the character’s dialogue, which makes the European setting much easier to keep in mind.
I love it. There’s nothing more I can say about it. Once again, if you’re not reading this and you love shoujo manga, you’re some sort of criminal. This series is fantastic.
W00t! First comment this time!
This by far was my favorite volume it terms of hilarity. The whole bit with Lawrence and the Major in the hotel cracked me up for about 5 minutes. Seeing the Major in his PJs whomping a sleepwalking Lawrence with a pillow is just,…priceless.
Unlike alot of people, I actually like Lawrence’s character. It’s as if he’s there to make Dorian seem smarter! Plus he’s just funny. C’mon.
“Don’t try and stop me, Bonham!”
;D
Oh, dear. I am a criminal. Does it count if I own them all?
I can’t read all of the text (not good at all with kanji), but the bottom does indeed mention Mars (Marusu) and Cupid (Kupido).
There we go. I can’t read kanji and I was having a hard time with her handwriting (I don’t understand stroke order), which is all that’s in this book… most of what’s in Dorian’s thought bubble is a good example of things that made me cry while flipping through it. I gave up trying to puzzle through with my pathetic Japanese and random word recognition in the first few pages and kind of ignored the writing after that. Thanks for pointing that out.
Plus, you’re no criminal if you’re supporting the series, it’s only slightly evil if you have the books and haven’t read them ^_^
Meroni: It’s true that Lawrence makes Dorian seem smarter. I was slightly put off by his jokes at the very tail end of the Laughing Cardinals story at the beginning of this volume, but after seeing him interact with Lawrence, I felt better about him since he always came out on top. I’m still laughing at the whole scene with the two of them in the Major’s office at the end.
You know, you really write the most fun reviews. This is a fantastic volume, I laughed hardest with this one. Though, I find myself loving them all as I get more used to the art. Lawrence is a putz but he shakes Dorian’s cool, which is always amusing.
I think someone’s an even greater criminal if he/she/etc. has automatically dismissed this series just after reading the first (and possibly second) volume, and not have bothered to read any of the volumes written later on in the series.
I’ve wonder if Aoike-san thinks that James Bond is a totally absurd character, and Charles Lawrence perhaps is her take on what she thinks that an agent would be like if he had many of James Bond’s habits and mannerisms. Then again, maybe this is wishful thinking on my part and just another time whenever I’m trying to be deep about something silly.
I’m just not sure how to compare Lawrence and James Bond. Clearly she got inspiration from Bond somewhere, but I can’t tell if she just turned him backwards, exaggerated all his “talents” to a ridiculous degree, or if it’s like you said and she wondered what a slightly different application of his talents would be. I sort of lean towards the first, but only because that one’s the funniest for me.
I tend to tell people to start with the second volume, which is pretty easy to do since… well, Dorian and Klaus’s introductions in the first last approximately one panel each, and the first volume’s hard to read with those crazy teenagers running around. The second volume is much better, and volume 3-4 is where it really starts to hit its stride.