Baraou no Souretsu
Requiem of the Rose King

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The artwork is amazing. I wanted to get that out of the way, because it's one of only two redeeming qualities of this Manga. The other is that it's based off of the Henriad by Shakespeare, and that man knew what he was doing. The main conceit of the series, and it's not a spoiler for saying so, is that the main character, Richard, is a girl. But she's treated by her parents and the rest of the world as a boy. Consequently, her mother regards her as a demon and a witch. Because, you see, Richard is a boy, but with the body of ... a girl.... The entire thing reeks of exploiting transgenderism for the sake of having two beautiful boys in a romantic relationship. Shakespeare famously wrote Richard to have a hunchback: that was the external ugliness to mirror his internal ugliness. By treating transgenderism as the external ugliness instead of a hunchback, for the sake of making a yaoi-not-yaoi novel is just completely inappropriate.

But the art is gorgeous.

I was on a bit of a historical manga spree, and thought I'd finally give this a try, but was severely disappointed. First listing some good things about this story: the art is gorgeous and the action is great. Then onto the flaws, I have mainly three issues with this manga, which I feel to be shared with some other comments: the historical aspect, the treatment of Richard's intersexuality, and the author's clear obsession with trying to write BL harem (which pretty much ties into how the author treats the intersexual issue). Now, I think an amazing thing for historical fiction is how writers manage ... to blend fact with their own story, but in my opinion there should be some intentionality to it; when you pick a character, specially one for whom there's documented records, it's because they fulfill the purpose of your story, so that readers can go "Woah, I can totally see how well crafted this is because it makes sense". However, though the author in here does the bare minimum of following the documented history, there is absolutely no reason given for why this story is about the very real, very documented Richard III; no part in this man's trajectory fits the kind of storyline this author wanted to have. Like someone else said, his only ailment was scoliosis, which wasn't even a determent to his daily life, and the only remarkable thing about him was killing his nephews for the throne which basically every royal from back then did... how did the author even turn that into an intersex person suffering for years due to nobody loving them and not being able to love the one they want? Why on earth pick the most unrelated historical figure ever for such a plot? If such is the case, then just make up original characters and use history as a reference. I think even a full on story where Henry VI is the protagonist would have been much more compelling than constantly being subjected to whatever pedo mess that 60 chapter arc was. Again with intentionality onto the next topic... does Richard being intersexual serve any purpose for the story? Is it really an interesting read that X historical figure whose life story could not possibly make sense with such a plot point, is intersex? What does it even do for the character except 1) serve for childhood trauma... which honestly any other thing could have provided, most logically a disability like the real one had and 2) serve for a not gay enough its gay but gay enough the fujoshis jump at it encounter with about every male character in the manga? You come here and tell me he's identified as a male his whole life, and only starts to question such an identity when he's in some lovey dovey encounter with the ML, and only ever considers himself as "half-woman" in relation to the men around... what does that even say about this character's capacity of having any thoughts or troubles of their own. What does it even say about the author's capacity of actually using intersexuality as a complex plot point beyond being a romantic complication. If all they were gonna use it for is romance, then why not a crossdressing woman or a gay man or anything else? Back to the historical discussion, there was absolutely no reason to make this historical figure intersex, specially when it does not provide any vital eureka moment when recounting their life. Again, this could have very well been an original story with original characters.

Basically, there is about zero logic ever applied to anything in this story. Either pick a historical figure that serves your purpose so the narrative carries smoothly, limit yourself to a faithful historical recount, or write an original story; since you can't possibly have a well written manga when ignoring and not committing to any of these. For those who want good historical fiction there's better works around, hell I think even for historical BL, ao3 fanfiction would be a better read.

For a story written about a cripple, I found it insulting as a cripple myself.

I was rather excited for this series and found myself rather disappointed. I think if this wasn't based off real events and people I wouldn't have found much issue. But Knowing the historical figure, Richard, who is the protagonist in this story. I can't help but say I'm disappointed and honestly offended that they changed his disability. Richard the 3rd Duke of York was known for being a cripple and having a curved spine. Something we would now call scoliosis. This is why I was excited, as someone who grew up ... a cripple and with this same painful condition, I was hoping to see representation and possibly exploration into what body dysmorphia is like. Instead they remove Richard's crippled spine and instead imply that he is a trans man. (Which yes, trans men can also use some representation) but seeing the nature of this manga; it's obvious they chose to make Richard's gender a question because androgyny is more appealing in shoujo than seeing someone with a crippled back.

But then why continue to refer to the character as a cripple? I think erasing his actual condition is only more insulting and honestly triggered my own dysmorphia.

That being said trans dysphoria is also an important and very valid topic that I do think should be explored more. But in these circumstances it felt inappropriate to rewrite Richard the 3rd's medical condition, solely so that the reader would find him more attractive.