Hyakujitsu no Bara
Maiden Rose

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Overall Rating: 9.5/10

Art Rating: 9/10

Although the artwork is very good, one of the main characters in particular isn't very attractive. And although it could be that the author didn't want them to all be perfect and beautiful -expect Taki... I think that's important to his character,- I can't hope but notice how his looks improve over time. But hey, it's alright. Perhaps we just get used to Klaus -yeah, I admitted it- over time. It's not a big deal. However, there are moments in the manga where something looks strange or disproportional to the rest of the character/etc.

However, I think that over all the artwork ... is stunning! Inariya Fusanosuke is a master at drawing fight scenes and smex scenes. Even the "chibi" scenes at the end of the mangas sometimes are beautiful in their simplicity. Then again, most chibis are adorable.

Not to mention, she's often hailed for her great abilities in the bedroom... drawing wise that is! I haven't read anything about her bedside manner but damn~! I love that woman!

Story: 10 /10

Now, the Reader Response theory says you must decide the storyline for yourself. -And that's the honest plot of Maiden Rose too!- The RRT is heavy used in this story... I mean, it’s put right in front of our faces! It’s complicated and actually really deep… This manga is an inspiration to me as a writer, and honestly this is actually the reason I read! I can’t tell you how much time I spent thinking about this story… What could it mean, why the use of the “Name of thy Rose” poem? The RRT theory, which was introduced through that lovely poem (poem referenced throughout the entire series though very, very heavily in the 4th book), is so wonderfully interwoven into the story it’s unbelievable.

It's written in a way that the storyline would be different for everyone depending on how they view the story. I haven’t found a soul who got the same thing from it I did. However, if you want what I’ve gotten from the story…

Okay, I wrote like 3 paragraphs and was starting on a 4th and probably a 5th when I realized it was too full of spoilers... So, here's a summery:

Maiden Rose follows the adventures of two soldiers in a fantasy world that is much like pre-WWII Japan. Germany… I mean, Klaus (Hetelia reference... Someone had to do it) is pledged to be Taki-Sama’s (Japan’s) knight (body-guard.) Even though in front of everyone else it may look as though Taki-Sama is in charge (he’s in charge of the army because he’s from a noble family) really, behind closed doors it’s Klaus whose on top… Yeah I mean that kind of on top.
(WARNING: THERE IS RAPE(?) IN THIS SERIES!)
(... If you read it, you'll understand why the question mark is there)

...Did I mention Kick Ass battle scenes!

Originality: 10 /10

Maiden Rose is simply amazing! There’s hardly anything that compares! This is better and more thought out than most novels (in any language)! Maiden Rose is truly one of a kind, although it draws on themes that have been lightly explored in the past. However, this brings something totally new to the table.

And it's yaoi? Seriously, a well thought-out and deep yaoi!

Also, in most yaoi, the uke is the main character however in Hyakujitsu no Bara, we see most of the story through Klaus, the seme's, eyes.

Characters: 9 /10

I rather liked the characters! Taki-Sama is gorgeous and once you learn more about his background... Klaus… He’s a lot more than he seems! Trust me! Both of them have their own demons and before they can even begin to deal with the war waging around them, they must conquer said *personal demons.
(*I know this is often used when talking about drug use… Well, you’ll see what I mean!)

Enjoyment Rating: 10 /10

I love this series… I can't tell you how important this series is to me... I've never seen a manga, let alone a yaoi manga, that was this incredible.

Btw, The two OVAs are nothing like the books. It’s terrible! It’s like they hired a really crappy artist and he/she turned it into a snuff film! An animated snuff film! Don't watch it!

I prefer "heart to heart" than physical
but Klaus makes it different, when the adult scene happens, every words that he spend with Japanese idioms, very impressive.

Taki, you're beautiful, but I dont really like his personality, expect together with Klaus is his destiny.
I love this pairing.
Maybe you'll mess around by some cultures plot but it was nice.
I really wanted to read the RAW, more impressive I think,

Nice story.

Page count into a rape scene: 29

Make no mistake, the first volume of Maiden Rose is a straight out porn. It might have some "story" to pad the scenes between, sure, but it's on the level of "I'm not in the beach this is a bathtub" intro. The sex scenes themselves are unexpectedly high cringe and riddled with stock one-liners. Thankfully, those forced sex scenes (forced both literary and literally) are not present in most of rest of the manga. The first volume alone is enough to make a very bad first impression though.

The story itself feels like just a device to get the two ... protagonists together most of the time. It's like the story isn't the most important part of this manga, it being a BL is. This isn't being helped by the fact that there is very little worldbuilding, which is problematic for a military story set during the world war of a fictional world. As we don't have much info of the politics, geography, relation between the countries (with the exception of generic "fictional japan isn't fond of fictional west") or history, any military operation depicted in this manga feels like a meaningless filler as the reader is unable the feel what is its importance or what would it change in the grand scheme of world war. See for example Saga of Tanya the Evil for much better portrayal of a world war in fictional word setting. Then again, as I've mentioned previously, good story isn't exactly the primary focus of this manga or the primary content the intended demographic wants.

Sometimes I even got the impression that the author herself doesn't really know where to go with the story. Which is somehow understandable given the irregular publication thanks to which this manga has only 25 chapters available after almost 15 years of being "published". At that point I would have forgotten what I was going to write too.

The art is actually surprisingly fine for a BL. Which means that it doesn't burn your eyes with anatomically inaccurate monstrosities, the author can actually draw backgrounds et cetera. I wouldn't call it a great art, but I can understand why some would do when compared to other works of the genre. My greatest complain would be a character design of one of the protagonists who looks like his face got smashed with a brick.

Overall, this isn't a good manga in general, but it certainly above average BL manga. But that's given by the standard for yaoi being so damn low. The fact that the mean score of this is so high is caused by a specific group of people that gives very high ratings to anything that has hot guys having sex with other hot guys and almost nobody else reads shit like this.