Author: Tokiwa Kanade
Imprint: Diamond Comics
Publisher: Shoubunkan
ISBN:4-7901-0769-8
Reviewed by Jeanne
I am always ever so very pleased when a Japanese person calls a work 'mysterious' or 'complex' because then I know it isn't just my Japanese. The thing really is a hideous mess. Even so the hideous messiness of Dynasty IV is unusual because *everything* is a hideous mess. Where to begin? Well, the title. Katakanized as Dynasty fourth, what's meant is fourth generation, or rather, *the* fourth. It's about one Ferdinand IV, you see, 1633-1653, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Rome. (Historical note: 'king of Rome' was the title of the heir apparent to the Holy Roman Emperor. Recall here Voltaire's line about the Holy Roman Empire being 'neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire' which is actually funnier in the French.)
Thus the next hideous messiness: yes there was a Ferdy IV king of the Romans who lived about the same time as manga Ferdy. 1633-1654, actually. (Thank you, Chigrima.) Did have all those titles, yes. Did *not* have a mother called Queen Christina IV who was somehow the ruler (Holy Roman Empress?) who didn't love him manga TM. Did not have an older brother called Karl V who was trying to kill him over the succession. Ignore that convincing-looking but spurious family tree at the end of the book. The only historical Karl in the family was Ferdy's half-sister's husband, Karl VII of Bavaria.
Why do I care about the history? Because I was trying to resolve the next hideous mess: the names. German names katakanized are... no, really, I can't talk about it. I am a broken woman after wrestling with the names here. We have our hero, see, who may be Ferdinand in the palace but who is Reebue to his retainers and everyone else. Somehow that's the short form of Reebuenburuku, which looks convincingly like Ravenbruch, and may be, though why he's called Rave for short... He has two loyal retainers- Biize and Kishu. Biize's full name is missing from the back page info (name, place of birth, height, weight, blood type, sun sign-- in German, that last) but Kishu is uhh Keith Viola, at a guess. You see why I was desperately googling Ferdinand IV, hoping to find some historical solid ground in all this? But I fancy the names are as A/U as the history.
Because we also have the former master of Lothringen castle, whom our Rave meets as he takes shelter at Lothringen from his brother's assassins. His name is Astarot. Really. Good German name: Astarot Stefan Lothringen. He's called Rot for short. He too has a retainer, not so much loyal as besotted with him. Name of Silver, and whatever Bindaazeburu turns into in... French, I fancy. Vindazèvre, maybe? (Silver wears a large monocle because it's kewl, even though monocles weren't worn in the 17th century. Add A/U fashion to the list.)
Anyway, Astarot and Silver are sort of living dead. Astarot's wife was killed and his castle burned by the Hapsburgs, Rave's family, under Queen Christina **III** a hundred years ago. When Rave blunders into the castle crypt Rot awakes and thinks Rave is his wife. And at once discovers his mistake when Rot's henchmen rush in. Noble Rave is prepared to die to end the feud over the succession, and will happily give up his life to satisfy his current host's urami, but Rot has a better idea. He'll lend Rave his strength to make him emperor. And Rave, who's just a boy who can't say no, does become emperor, thinking all the while that he lacks the ability to do it- which on the evidence is true. Disasters and political intrigue rain about him, and what does Rave do? He gets tied up by various people and screwed.
That basically is what the book is about. Plot, what plot? Rot screws him in ch 1, Silver and a snake screw him in ch 2, Kishu screws him in flashback in ch 3, in ch 4 Rot ties him to a chair, shoves a jewel in his mouth as a gag, binds his penis yes yes you know the standard drill. I've said it before and I'll say it again- the Japanese don't think a scene is sexy unless the uke is tied up. It's the sine qua non of Japanese kink- do whatever you like but tie him up first.
So we come to the most obvious hideous mess: the artwork. My considered opinion is that it's not so much bad as deliberately difficult. It's intended to obscure the action so you don't know what's happening. Parallels with various film-makers and certain type-faces come to mind. Observe the scene on the right. What is happening here? Can *you* find the hidden Queen of Bohemia Rave was supposed to be screwing except he couldn't get it up? How come Silver is suddenly here and bouncing on the bed? Is the Queen dead or has she just passed out? And so on.
Who is doing what to whom (never mind that taboo word 'why') is unimportant so long as one thing is perfectly clear to the reader: the penises. There's never any doubt where the penises are and what they're doing. True, sometimes it's hard to tell where they're doing it- is that a mouth? an anus? a sudden hole in the ground? But that they're doing it is undeniable. Which for some people, I suppose, is enough.