What initially brought me to read KazeKi besides my general interest in the Year 24 group was Chiho Saitos member of the BePapas remark about Revolutionary Girl Utena being based on this series. Theyre indeed alike on the surface: a beautiful and mysterious student that is treated like a heartless doll meets a white knight that sets out to save them but soon finds out that things arent always what they seem. The main setting is also an isolated boarding school with similar architecture like Oniisama e... and Heart of Thomas theres a green house shaped like a cage where Gilbert and Anthy do their thing and this mysterious students closer relative is the one running the school. But thats about as similar as they get just the skeleton this isnt a RGU review anyway so... Gilbert is a gorgeous self destructive angel whomll put a demoniac facade to get what he wants. His existence is ethereallike and hell often be in a poetic tone painted as a white dove the inspiration for his character seems to be Bjrn Andrsen the boy from Death in Venice and the idea behind both characters is the same: rather than human beings theyre a stand in for beauty itself. He sleeps around because he cant stand being alone and is very casually raped from time to time which he expects to be the only way people will always treat him anyway. The way he understands the world is generally different from normal people. Then we have Serge a goodytwoshoes with a strong determination a harsh past and a golden heart. They both meet and somehow form a unstable connection on the first volumes but then were thrown on what must have been the biggest flashback Ive ever seen or maybe its Berserks but its been long since Ive read that one Therere two flashbacks that serves to explain both of our MCs past and how theyre supposedly similar to each other. Gilberts past is covered with an unconfortably high number scenes of abuse and pedophilia: hes constantly assalted by... basically every male character that set their eyes on him and has a very uhm distinct relationship with his guardian August. Gilbert being beauty is capable of awakening desire on seemingly anyone he chooses or not with the exception of Serge the only one who manages to partially control his urges around him. Serges flashback starts with his father before he himself was born and is a very linear predictable high born boy meets low born girl story and then evolves to the evil step mother tale which I dont find worth dwelling on and seems to me to be the worst section of the whole story. Problem arises as our two main characters walk towards their fateful bounding and pretty much all of it involve some form of physical or sexual abuse to the point of exhaustion. Not only Gilbert but also other characters theres a lot of rape being thrown around and being hinted as the reason why some characters act the way they do which sometimes is of pretty bad taste. Its not that theres something inherently wrong with portraying abuse but theres only so much one can take before it becomes redundant merely a shock factor. Speaking of abuse and repetition theres a particularly exhausting plot device on the last third of the manga that involves Gilbert silently suffering on the worst way imaginable while Serge is obliviously being his happy go lucky self only to later find out everything and greatly suffer from remorse. Were supposed to suffer like Serge I think but after so much has been done its pretty hard to play along with it. Theres also one particular character who rapes Gilbert early in the series and is then portrayed in a very benign light later on. Not that Id ever want a one dimensional evil monster but even if I let the moral dilemma aside and try not to be anachronic with my approach im still left wondering what exactly Takemiya was trying to get on with this particular plot line. SPOILERS: Towards the end of the manga theres a instance of self sacrifice that our boy Serge indulges on thanks to his fathers life story but much like the naive boy who jumps on a river to save a drowning girl and ironically dies from Utena Serge quickly discover that life isnt a fairy tale even on this shoujo manga that despite his good intentions he cant save someone who doesnt believe they need to be saved in the first place and that sometimes love just isnt enough and so he fails his quest. But unlike Utenas brilliant ending KazeKi plays like a more predictable tragedy and ends where you think it will: Gilbert as a character never displays agency beyond one impactful event earlier in the series where he chooses to be with Serge instead of August he continues being hopelessly thrown around by everyone and tragically dies after pedophile number 57 in the last minute turns him into a drug addict which felt silly to say the least. Gilbert who could only live for love then becomes a symbol for Serges missing other half whomll live a straight life probably in both senses of the word carrying his adolescent love in his heart. August the series third center character and main antagonist if you will is weirdly never confronted in this ending. He just dissapears after the 15th volume and its up to you to imagine how he reacted to his childs death. END OF SPOILERS When its all said and done and despite all the criticism KazeKi isnt a bad manga its in fact a very good one and is rightfully considered as such a classic. Simply put the whole thing is gorgeous: the art itself and the paneling combined to create some stunning imagery. Its seriously outstanding. I found myself hitting the print screen button almost every chapter. Like most older shoujo manga characters emotions are usually presented in a very melodramatic way they are prone to overeact and theres a lot of blanky eyes flowery imagery and all sort of embelishments running around the page. Its dense and a bit overloaded but also extremely beautiful and Takemiya is particularly above the rest when it comes to her craft. The moments where Serge and Gilbert get together are breathtaking and staring at these pictures never failed to deliever a wild range of sensations. KazeKi is erotic not only because the story is filled with a huge amount of sex but because the art exudes such quality almost to an intoxicating degree. Its impossible to ignore Takemiyas talent even when taking notion of the aforementioned contrivied elements that fills the narrative she knows how to do manga and this one is way above of most of what would come after it under the same genre. Id recommend this to anyone that is seeking aesthetic excellence and isnt bothered by most shoujo troupes. If youre here looking for ancient BL history Id say that this one is a more fulfulling male x male story than its cousing The Heart of Thomas which is tamer about homossexuality instead being more focused on telling a exceptionally beautiful tale about grief. Just for the love of god do not read this if youre triggered by rape.