Ludwig II: Volume 2/Higuri You Asuka Comics DX

Genre: Shojo/Shonen ai

Theme: A beautified account of the mentally tormented King Ludwig II of Bavaria and his multiple affairs with the royal stable master, various other men, and Art. The bishonen stable master struggles to come to terms with the probability that he is just a passing phase for the King. The King attempts to assure the boy that he means something to him by giving him the key to the royal treasure room, which ironically almost causes the boy's demise. Ludwig, on one of his frequent night walks, intervenes just moments before the boy will be strangled to death. With the prized key lost and his body violated, the boy questions his self worth to the King more than ever. Especially when he realizes that a beguiling seducer has come on the scene--a beautiful opera singer who captured Ludwig's eyes when they first saw each other, back when the King was a teen.

Artistic Value: 4 One of the best of Higuri's works. The costumes and palaces (interior and exterior designs) are breath-taking.

Yaoi Value: 3 It has the right number of homoerotic elements and scenes without distracting from the overall storyline.

UST: 2 Slightly higher than the first volume although Ludwig still commands who he wishes to be with. Here the focus is on the love, not lust, of his life.

Overall: 4 This story is much grimmer than the first. Ludwig's madness as he struggles with politics; his raving mad brother who grows worse by the day; the affections of those who loves him that he doesn't know how to reciprocate.

Mitigating Factor: The symbolic key wound up in the right hand in the end.