Caste Heaven

Holy shit. I have never seen a more offensive and angering manga i have ever seen. And to believe that this manga has a astronomically high 7.82 and is the 10th most viewed yaoi series in manga here. But i will try to explain why I despise this manga more then any other piece of fiction in a countdown.

1.PLOT HOLES- why the authorities are utterly useless? why is azusa enjoying his position in ch 4(and dont give me the crap about Stockholm syndrome that shit is wack)? Why does the card in ch 1 is a jack and in ch 5 is a 8? why doesn't any student at all call the fucking police? Well thats enough for now. You see what I mean? why i find that this story feels so uncared and stupid? I swear the author didn't know her own story when releasing.

Edit: 1.5-THE CONCEPT- after rereading the manga I realized that the concept itself is stupid and full of plotholes. Why does the game exsist? I am not sure. I dont think the manga will explain how the game started because it is dumb for someone to want to be in a game where you might go and become a victim. Also why would the popular kids agree to the game, it obviously a danger to their status, so why would they agree for the game. Unless they wanted to have SEX! Which in that case why did anyone agree to this????? WHY WOULD THEY WANT TO LIVE IN A LITERAL RAPE CULTURE! Jesus, I never knew the day would come where a story is literal about a rape culture...

2. NOTHING FUCKING HAPPENS- did i mention that ch 1-4 are the only time when the manga has the time to move? yes after ch 4 the manga focuses on not one, but three different couples for no reason which happen in the time of ch 1-4. This trope is so common in manga nowadays that it is ridiculous. I dont minf having side characters or multiple stories colliding, but this is so much of a cliche, not to mention that the formulaic approach to this is so bad, that they may as well have 4 different couples at once. Oh wait. If the characters were good i would be interested but...

3. THE CHARACTERS- while not the worst, the characters are complete archetypes. karino- rapist seme, azusa- "badass" straight uke , kuze- the nice romantic seme(subverted to overprotective seme), kuskabe- nerd uke and so on... You may find cliches fun, but since yaoi in genrel has many cliches in a medium that is nutritious for having many cliches, the bare minimum should be to not have them seen like cliches. Oh, did I mention that the character designs are kind of attractive? yeah, its not that their concept is bad, Their story development on paper isn't the stupidist thing ever, it is just that i cant take their story and suffering seriously if i am supposed to have a boner reading this.

4. THE TONE- the tone is messy as hell. i dont get why this serious manga which wants to be a character exploration is also an attractive porn. This is a problem with all yaoi, but here it is overly noticeable. if u wanna be porn, be porn. The art isnt that bad. if u wanna be an edgy story then be that. but dont mix togther because it dosent work.

5. HOMOPHOBIA AND SEXISM- the sexism part i dont need to talk about, anyone with half a brain could see where it is presented. but the homophobia is kind of weird. while i normally forgive yaoi for having the idea of being gay not a thing, but this is where i draw the line. being gay is represented as such a terrible thing. either you're a rapist or a slut or an overprotective little shit. and you know why this angers me? well its because stuff like this make the gay community look like a bunch of rapist and sluts. this is why we are jokes, monsters or disgusting. Also, dont go on and say "its just in this manga". You know that there are plenty of yaoi manga which do the same thing as in here, albeit less offensive. So if you want to defend this by saying that i should turn my brain off,well, i cant. i dont mind most yaoi's if they have the characters have sex every chapter. its porn. but when stuff like this comes out and people defend it,then i cant handle it.

so, i actually do recommend this manga, so that you will see the horror of this. and hey, if you like it, that is just fine. but for me, i will stick with classmates and ten count.

1/10

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Caste Heaven is a dramatic yaoi manga that contains the elements that, personally, make it a brilliant work within its niche.

**Just a warning, this is very much a yaoi manga – so expect graphic imagery of intimate relationships between males. Furthermore, many of these intimacies are somewhat violent and are underpinned with potentially distressing themes (to be blatant – rape, blackmail, etc.). So just know this is not another Gosan no Heart or such.

ART: 10
As with all of Takagi’s (Ogawa Chise) works, I find this manga to be exceedingly aesthetically pleasing. While character designs are unrealistic and undeniably feminine, the art ultimately works really well to construct atmospheric scenes that range from shocking the audience, to instilling a sense of foreboding and anxiety.

STORY: 8
The concept of a corrupt governing party, and an unethical society, it itself is not particularly original, and the initial premise of the schooling system seems slightly illogical. What makes the plot of Caste Heaven so engaging is its brilliant story telling. The progression of the plot is wonderful: scenes cut enticingly from the past to the present in such a way that raises just enough questions to make you want to binge read the entire series, and changes in the perspective of the manga allow the audience to deeply understand the dynamics of the characters and their respective relationships. What more, the romance intertwined within this manga is very dark, and yet very addictive. Ultimately, while not entirely original, the construction of the story and its themes is very well done.

CHARACTER: 10
All of the characters within this manga are wonderfully distorted and broken in their own way. Many of the characters undertake in cruel and savage acts, and yet ultimately no (main) character can be considered evil or entirely unpleasant – somehow all the characters are charming. The story is broken into two interlinked stories (as of volume two), with each story varying in the narrating perspective as well as providing scenes of the characters’ pasts. This allows the audience to slowly develop a keen and satisfying understanding of the characters personality and behaviour.

ENJOYMENT: 10
Overall, Caste Heaven is everything I look for in a dramatic yaoi manga. The art, the story telling, the characters, it is all wonderfully executed. I honestly enjoy reading not just every chapter, but every page of this manga. The romance within this manga is shocking, the story is cruel and emotionally provoking, and yet somehow you cannot refuse this manga – it’s charming like that.

*Note, this review is for Caste Heaven up until chapter 9.

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Caste Heaven is definitely one of the more famous yaoi manga out there and for good reason.

The characters in this story don't play into general stereotypes. They're strange and have that sense of unpredictability that I really enjoy.

The art and setup (panelling) create the perfect atmosphere; a somewhat twisted and dark one.

From the first chapter you will be immediately drawn into this world full of forbidden things.

It contains angst, school life, perspective and a peek into the minds of the youth. This story is more on the heavier side of things and does contain quite a bit of noncon and psychological elements.

I highly recommend this

:)

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This is by far the worst manga I've ever read and I cannot understand how this manga has such a high rating!
I will try to explain where the problems with this manga comes from!

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Story: 1/10
I will be completely honest here.
The story had potential to be good, because of a pretty decent story concept! BUT
The story never proceeded to actually investigate the concept it builds throughout the first 1 - 2 chapters and just keeps the concept as an excuse to put in a mix of rape and sex in every chapter.
To say it even has a story would actually be sad say. It only has a concept.

Besides that, they never really explain anything about the game's background, nor why the authorities doesn't step in, who created the game or why they did so. one of the side couples actually shows potential of wanting to stop the game at some point, but it never really gets further than that, since that as well just gets turned into an excuse to get another rape scene.


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Characters: 2/10
Oh boi! I have a lot to say about the characters!


The characters are pretty bland.
They keep introducing new characters who has zero impact on the story, which makes them feel a bit useless to add. It's fine to have one side couple, just for the fluff, but to add 2 was over the top, when they added nothing to the manga.

The black-haired guy in the main couple has a pretty weak personality as well and he honestly feels like he was just put into the manga, to have someone to throw the main character off his throne and as an excuse to have someone who could rape the main character.

Regarding the main couple, the main character hates the other part of the main couple but develops some kind of really backwards twisted kind of Stockholm Syndrome, cause he gets addicted to being raped?
Besides that the story also makes it seems like the black-haired guy keeps raping the main character, for his own good, even though he could surely find another excuse to 'keep him safe'.

The first side couple was pretty decent to begin with tho, and they did seem pretty cute at some points. They also showed potential to get the story to move, but it was quickly ruined when one part of the couple, together with the black-haired guy from the main couple, forced the other halves, to rape eachother. After that, the victim tried to stay away from the other guy, but for some reason just decided to forgive the guy, because he broke a chair (... or some other furniture) and got angry, which was new to him. So in the end, it had no impact to the story as well.

The main character on the other hand actually has a pretty decent background story, which supports his way of thinking (in a few scenes at least) and I must admit that I felt pretty sorry for him, when it was revealed that his mother was a hooker, and that he had become just what his mother had always told him not to become.


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Art: 5/10
It's decent. Not good, not bad. It's fine.


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All in all: 1/10
This manga had potential, with its decent concept, but it never tried to get the story to move and it feels like it was just made as an excuse to have rape scenes.
It wasn't enjoyable at all and I honestly forced myself to finish this because I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the rating, and thought that MAYBE it got better. But it never did.

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