is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by

Yasuko Aoike is a female Japanese manga artist. Most of her works are ''shōjo'' manga, predominantly focused on romance, adventure and light comedy, and many of them contain elements of ''shōnen-ai''. She is included in the Year 24 Group. Aoike grew up as ...

. It was serialized in ''Viva Princess'' from 1976 to 1979, ''

Princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

'' from 1979 to 2008, and ''Princess Gold'' beginning in 2008; it has been on hiatus since 2012. Its individual chapters have been collected into 39 volumes by

Akita Shoten is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Teio Akita in 1948. As of May 2023, the company's president is Shigeru Higuchi. The company is known for publishing the manga magazine '' Weekly Shōnen Champ ...

. It has received several spin-off works, alongside a tribute manga and a stage play adaptation.

Plot

The series revolves around the adventures of Dorian Red Gloria, Earl of Gloria, an openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

English lord who is an art thief known as "Eroica", and Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach, an uptight West German

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

major. They have frequent inadvertent encounters, with Dorian often disrupting Klaus's missions. Dorian has developed a fondness for and flirts incessantly with Klaus, who typically reacts with extreme disgust.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by

, the series began serialization in

's ''Viva Princess'' magazine in December 1976, where the series was serialized until April 1979. In September 1979, the resumed serialization in ''

''. On December 28, 2008, the series was transferred to ''Princess Gold''. The series has been on hiatus since June 2012. Its individual chapters were collected into 39 volumes from September 8, 1978, to August 16, 2012. The series was one of the first three titles published by CMX in English. They published the first fifteen volumes. Aoike has written several spin-off stories, including ' and '. A tribute series, titled ''With Love to From Eroica with Love!!'', began serialization in Akita Shoten's ''

Mystery Bonita is a monthly Japanese '' shōjo'' magazine published by Akita Shoten on the sixth of each month. It was originally launched as a spin-off to the magazine ''Bonita'', which was later merged with ''Mystery Bonita'' in 1996. ''Mystery Bonita'' was ...

'' magazine in June 2021 and was published in form on February 16, 2024. Each chapter was written by a different artist, with

Moto Hagio is a Japanese manga artist. Regarded for her contributions to ''shōjo'' manga (manga aimed at young and adolescent women), Hagio is considered the most significant artist in the demographic and among the most influential manga artists of al ...

and

Naoki Urasawa is a Japanese manga artist and musician. He has been drawing manga since he was four years old, and for most of his professional career has created two series simultaneously. The stories to many of these were co-written in collaboration with hi ...

participating.

Stage play

A stage play adaptation was performed in the in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

from May 11–14, 2023. It was directed by Akiko Kodama, with Oropa Irie writing the scripts, Mako Kuwabara composing the music, and Umebou in charge of choreography. It starred Yuki Nakayama and

Mitsu Murata is a Japanese actor, fashion model and DJ/music producer, best known for his roles as Douji in the 2005 tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live-action films or television programs that make heavy use of practical special effects. Credited t ...

in the lead roles. A second performance run was held in the in Tokyo from July 26–29, 2024.

Reception

In the mid-1980s,

fan translation Fan translation (or user-generated translation) refers to the unofficial translation of various forms of written or multimedia products made by fans (fan labor), often into a language in which an official translated version is not yet availabl ...

s of ''From Eroica with Love'' began to circulate through the

slash fiction Slash fiction (also known as "m/m slash" or slashfic) is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on Romance (love), romantic or sexual attraction, sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex.Bacon-Smith, Camille. "Spock Among ...

community, creating a "tenuous link" between slash and . ''From Eroica with Love'' is more popular with slash fans than it has been with artists. The series has been described as an example of a movement in and yaoi to depict more masculine men, as part of the audience's increasing comfort with

objectifying In social philosophy, objectification is the act of treating a person as an object or a thing. Sexual objectification, the act of treating a person as a mere object of sexual desire, is a subset of objectification, as is self-objectification, the ...

males. Johanna Carlson of ''Comics Worth Reading'' liked the artwork, but found the story to be uninteresting. She described it as a " starter book". Jason Thompson described the story as ''

Fake Fake or fakes may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * The Fake (1927 film), ''The Fake'' (1927 film), a silent British drama film * The Fake (1953 film), ''The Fake'' (1953 film), a British film * Fake (2003 film), ''Fake'' (20 ...

'' and ''

Yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

'' but with added spy action.

References

External links

* * {{Monthly Princess Adventure anime and manga Akita Shoten manga CMX (comics) titles Shōjo manga Shōnen-ai anime and manga