Barbarities 1

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For me the real stars of the story are Luis and his servant Gil. They're already lovers, so the manga spends a good amount of time dropping many tantalizing hints about their history together that make you wish the story had spent more time on them. Gil is a former slave and gladiator that is taken by Louis to be his servant, and ten years later their relationship is complicated, passionate and troublesome. The first volume of Barbarities is mostly concerned with introducing readers to Adam, Joel and Luis, establishing them and the world in which they live, gradually introducing the issues that concern them. Tsuta Suzuki is an experienced mangaka and storyteller ( A Strange and Unexpected Story and Heaven’s Design Team) and knows what she’s doing. There’s a lot of world-building to absorb here but she feeds it in to the narrative as the story develops so there’s never a feeling of info being dumped on the reader. Joel clashes with Adam almost as soon as they meet and as Adam’s seduction techniques fail to impress Joel (at one point Joel is so annoyed, he has Adam sent to prison to cool off) they spend more time in conversation together and – perhaps – begin to learn more about each other. In many ways, this is closer to a novel (the other Boys’ Love manga that goes into such depth of characterization that comes to mind is Shoko Hidaka’s Blue Morning). However, where Blue Morning is an historical graphic novel, Barbarities falls into the ‘fantasy of manners’ category of fiction and will definitely appeal to fans of Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint world or Ursula LeGuin’s Malafrena; it’s a European-style Renaissance-style imaginary setting, but without magic (or none has appeared so far). The comedy and intrigue arise from the political machinations and character interactions – and, this being Tsuta Suzuki, there’s much playful wit to enjoy in the dialogue – as well as hints of a greater danger looming in the future. El vizconde Adam Cunning, de la Antigua Xehana, marcha al reino vecino de Lorraine por petición de la familia real para proteger la vida del ministro de justicia Lord Montague quien a recibido amenazas a raíz de un juicio. Adam, que es un joven disoluto que solo piensa con sus bajos y sus lujuriosos instintos, busca divertirse e ir de picaflor ante el éxito que tiene con hombres y mujeres. Cuando acepta la invitación de la marquesa McTard a una fiesta, esposa del hombre encarcelado cuyos cargos son los que Lord Montague debe demostrar y judgar, conoce a Joel, sobrino de propio Lord Montague y que acude a la fiesta. En medio de la noche, Joel se mete en la habitación de la marquesa donde está Adam (después de pasar una noche loca) y éste lo besa pensado que es otra persona. Adam, cuando toma conciencia, no puede evitar maravillarse ante la belleza de Joel y por la conversación que mantienen, pues Joel precisa de obtener unas pruebas para poder inculpar sin sombra de dudas al marqués. Adam se ofrece a ayudarle para engañar a la marquesa y lograr lo que necesita Joel y Lord Montague. Lo que Adam no esperaba era ser rechazado por un potencial amante y descubrir que Lord Montague y Joel son la misma persona I enjoyed Adam and Joel's dynamic for the most part. There were plenty of funny moments between them, but there were a few scenes that were yikes. I'm hoping there's less of that in the next volume.

The worldbuilding was interesting and there's also a romance between two secondary characters that caught my attention, and has me excited to learn more about them in the next volume. Adam being so forceful is one of the things that ruined it for me. Joel obviously wants to just talk to him and be friends but Adam is mostly focused on being in bed with him. I wish it would lead to him learning and understand Joel’s feelings. Adam also treats Joel not wanting to have sex as something strange and tries his best to throw himself at him. They didn’t grow up in the same circles and I know things are different for him, but it was kinda predatory the way he treats Joel. The side character's are also enjoyable with two of the side character's being in a very heated relationship, both of them greatly infatuated with each other. The art itself is also very beautiful with the heavily referenced costuming to the main leads being both very beautiful themselves. The religion itself is also fascinating and adds another layer to the story's world. It's goddess-based, with the singular deity being a great mother in heaven rather than a male god. This, as we find out, allows for the better treatment of women in society, although there's almost certainly a double-edged sword, and it's hard not to notice that the heads of the church are still all men. Suzuki may not be aware of the symbolism or the implications – the afterword suggests that they prefer a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach to creating – but again, this is worth attention as the story continues.

Staff

from a lot of the character's themselves. The two main leads, Joel and Adam follow a lot of prevalent tropes within the Boys Love manga scene. Adam being the handsome perverted "top" and Joel being the shy, almost ace presenting "bottom". Not to say they aren't enjoyable character's its just to be expected that again like most BLs there's a common theme in terms of character representation.

Mr Levy explained the Israeli Government will on Monday (October 23) screen "gruesome" unseen footage of the barbarities perpetrated against people on October 7.

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The screening took place amid renewed appeals to Israel to halt its bombing of Gaza, which killed at least 400 Palestinians in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll in the territory to more than 5,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The dead include 2,055 children, it said.