From Eroica with Love

From Eroica with Love (Japanese: エロイカより愛ã‚'ã"めて, Hepburn: Eroica Yori Ai o Komete) is a shōjo manga by Yasuko Aoike which originally began publication in 1976 by Akita Shoten. The series ran irregularly in the Japanese anthology magazine Viva Princess from December 1976 to April 1979, then moved to the sister publication Princess beginning in September 1979. It was featured regularly in Princess, with several later side stories appearing in Viva Princess, until August 1989. It went on hiatus for several years, then reappeared in Princess in May 1995 and ran irregularly through December 2007. As of January 2009, it is once again regularly featured in Princess Gold. The English translation by CMX began publication in 2004. It has also been translated to Chinese, as Romantic Hero, with 21 volumes; as well as to Thai, with 20 volumes.

The series revolves around the adventures of Dorian Red Gloria, Earl of Gloria, an openly gay English lord who is an art thief known as "Eroica", and Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach, an uptight West German NATO major.

The series is driven by frequent inadvertent encounters between Dorian and Klaus, with Dorian often disrupting Klaus's missions. Dorian has developed a fondness for and flirts incessantly with Klaus, who typically reacts with extreme disgust. Other reoccurring characters include Dorian and Klaus's respective subordinates and Klaus's enemies from the Russian KGB.

The series is generally comedic, although it involves violence, theft, and bizarre international incidents. Much of the series spoofs spy stories, as indicated by the title, a play on the James Bond novel From Russia, with Love.

Characters

Titles

In English 15 volumes with 21 titles have been published.

A Thousand Kisses

A Thousand Kisses centers more around Professor Caesar Gabriel, Sugar Plum and Leopard Solid, than it does around the series's title character, "Eroica" (or Dorian Red Gloria, Earl of Gloria). The other main character of the series, Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach, does not appear at all in this part.

Three teenagers with supernatural powers meet Dorian, at an art lover's, Lady Devlin's, house, during an exhibition. Dorian becomes infatuated with Caesar. He performs a series of heists, among them he steals a painting which strongly resembles Caesar. The trio of teenagers are suspected by detective Tarao Bannai, of INTERPOL, since Caesar had expressed a liking for the painting despite just having claimed it a fake. In self-defense, the trio starts investigating the matter themselves. Future parts contains very little supernatural content and the trio only appears in Iron Klaus and a minor part of Achillies' Last Stand again, after which they are never seen.

In trying to capture the Earl's interest Sugar Plum and Leopard Solid makes a statue of the Archangel Gabriel (looking very much like Caesar) and hides it in Westminster Abbey, intending for Dorian to steal it. Dorian, knowing it is a trap, uses Westminster Abbey as a bluff, then proceeds to rob the British Museum, only to, when the police heads over to the museum, take the Gabriel statue too - and Caesar.

The first part gets its name from a poem Catullus, which Dorian thinks of while kissing Caesar.

Special guest stars of this episode: characters from Sons of Eve, another of Yasuko Aoike's series, when Caesar, Leopard and Sugar flees Tarao Bannai into a club where Sons of Eve play.

Iron Klaus

The second part takes place about half a year later. The title character is Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach. Klaus works for NATO, the intelligence division, Bonn, West Germany. "The other side calls him 'Iron Klaus' out of respect and fear."

Klaus's mission is to evaluate Professor Caesar Gabriel, to see if he is telepathic. In order to find out, he sets Caesar to evaluate the Eberbach Collection, owned by Klaus's family. Klaus and the title character of the manga, Dorian Red Gloria, Earl of Gloria, meets up for the first time when Dorian comes to view the collection. Later Dorian steals some of the paintings, earning Klaus's wrath. Meanwhile, though, Klaus has Caesar. Dorian still wants the professor. First he attempts to blackmail Klaus for him, then steals him too.

At first Dorian does not like Klaus at all, calling him a philistine. Eventually Dorian realizes that Klaus does appreciate beauty, though, albeit one of steel. He even starts seeing what Klaus sees in it - and promptly steals something very dear to Klaus ... Caesar's friends, Sugar Plum and Leopard Solid are only in the story briefly, as they are on vacation in Scotland.

Achillies' Last Stand

A statue of Achilles was discovered at St. Martin's College, Oxford. Dorian Red Gloria, Earl of Gloria wants it. However, the ministry of security is after NATO information regarding the eastern block military. A NATO agent hides this information (on a microfilm) on Achilles, so Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach also needs to get to the statue. St. Martin's college hands the safety over to the British Museum. Dorian steals the statue and has it shipped to Portugal on the Michaelangelo, a cruise ship going from Southampton to the Mediterranean. However, a gang of kidnappers rigs the ship with explosives and attempts to extort the Italian government for 10 billion liras. For Countess Boulanger they want another 50 million francs. Dorian seems to thaw more and more towards Klaus, calling him a most wonderful man. The hostage situation goes on for three days. Both Klaus and Dorian goes to the Michaelangelo by way of submarine. They separately decides to get onto the ship at the same time (though Dorian refers to it as 'midnight' and Klaus as '24:00'. In Love In Greece is mentioned that the statue ends up in the Musée du Louvre.

Love in Greece

Dorian decides to go to Greece to steal a jade statue of Buddha or a Bodhisattva from China that will be exhibited in Athens to commemorate Yanis Phaerikis being appointed president of his father's shipping empire. The jade statue is part of a collection belonging to a friend of Yanis's father, the Chinese statesman, Tasanyuan. Russian KGB-agent Maya Bulgakova is sent to seduce Yanis, in order to control the Phaerikis fleet. Klaus is sent to capture Maya. In doing so he has Agent G pose as a woman, while Klaus himself poses as a George Johnson of the New York public welfare office (though at first glance the men who seems him thinks he might be FBI or CIA). Dorian comes in Maya's way and she attempts to kill him and G at Cape Sunion. Before the story is done they go past Austria as well, which Klaus refers to as "a Mecca for spies".

Dorian quotes Lord Byron's "Isles of Greece"-poem.

Dramatic Spring

Dorian is hosting the national conference of the year, the Rogues' Gallery, the "world thieves' market", with "the greatest rogues from around the world". James at first seems to suggest they should hold it at the Budokan in Japan (possibly the Nippon Budokan, an indoors arena in Tokyo), but Dorian decides to hold it in his castle in North Downs. James mentions that Dorian haven't been there in a while, but Dorian tells him to fix it, despite the costs. The previous year the gala was held by a bank robber, Brinks (the name possibly inspired by the 1978 movie, The Brink's Job), in New York.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the west and east will have a summit meeting. Klaus is forced to cooperate with his east-block counterpart to prevent any terrorist attacks (after threats following an attack to the American Embassy in Bad Godesberg). The meeting is held at a house in North Downs (the man is listed as a professor and dean of a London university) with the blessing of the prime minister and the queen (Queen Elizabeth), just opposite to Dorian's castle. BBC, among others, reports from the event.

In'shallah

Dorian is alerted by the Bakchials about the whereabouts of the treasures of Pahlavi Shah (Rezā Shāh), last Shah of Iran, treasures from the ancient Persian empire. They take Aeroflot to Istanbul, then a bus on the "Asian highway" to sneak into Iran. Meanwhile, Klaus is orderede to retrieve the location of Soviet's SS18 Mary Missile Sites, hidden by Pahlavi Shah (Rezā Shāh), last Shah of Iran ... They meet up on the Anatolia Plateau and go past Mount Ararat. At the border to Iran Dorian pretends (to explain his European looks) to be from BBC, who filmed a documentary on nomadic tribes when he was abducted and adopted. Dorian forces a hug on Klaus that according to James lasts for 1 minute 50 seconds. A green tile marks the spot of the treasure. On his way back Dorian stops in Beirut and then takes a jeep out in the desert, headed for Palmyra and Klaus chases him there, catching up with him north of the city. In the end Dorian sends KGB after Klaus and Klaus sends Interpol after Dorian.

Hallelujah Express

It's almost Christmas. For Klaus it starts on a Sunday, after a refreshing nap at a Church, with Agents fetching him to headquarters, on the director's orders. The director has a new mission for him, to retrieve stolen secret information regarding the U.S. department of defense's satellites. Unfortunatelly, it involves Dorian. In order to lure Dorian in, Klaus sends him - anonymously - tickets from the transeuropean express "Ile de France", starting from Amsterdam (Amsterdam Station), going to Paris (in which Dorian mentions visiting Notre Dame). This piques Dorian's interest. James is against, until the anonymous gift-giver also sends tickets for them to go to Amsterdam. He goes, accompanied by James. Only on the train does Dorian see some familiar faces and realises who is waiting for him. The train leaves Amsterdam at six for a trip to Paris, 5 hours and 6 minutes. NATO needs to break into "the great vault" in the Vatican. The current pope, Pope John Paul II, had visited America and his appeals for world peace made an engineer steal the secret information and give them to the pope. NATO will pay Dorian 100 million marks for his work - Dorian negotiates for train tickets to Rome, rather than airplane tickets, so they have to continue on the train. He also negotiates 10 minutes of grace time in the vault ... The train from Paris to Rome is supposed to take 13 hours. After jumping off the train, Dorian promises to rejoin them before they reache Lausanne.

Timeline prior to Moscow Olympics, referred to by the KGB. Operation "Gorky" is the code name for the KGB operation. 13 snipers try to take out Klaus from a bus as the train goes by.

Veni, Vidi, Vici

Veni, Vidi, Vici is a Latin quote, "I came, I saw, I conquered.". Dorian sightseeing in Naples is mentioned (and plans for Venice). In Rome they view Castel Sant'Angelo, where Dorian tells Klaus of a passageway connecting the fortress to the Vatican. But he also says that one of the catacombs on the Appian way leads in to the Borgia apartment in the Vatican. They follow the catacombs for about 4 kilometers. After getting lipstick on his hand, Klaus washes his hands in the Tiber (and then pushes Dorian into the river). When they finally emerge into the Vatican, they come up in the Sistine Chapel. What Klaus doesn't know is that Dorian is out to steal the greatest treasure of the Vatican - the Pope ... Later they travel on the Corso towards Villa Borghese.

Alaskan Front

Alaskan Front starts with that James can only find 999.999 100 mark notess that Klaus paid them for the Vatican heist in Veni Vidi Vici. He decides to go to Major von dem Eberbach and steal the missing note. He steals the note from Klaus's boss instead. But at Schloss Eberbach they overhear a conversation between Klaus and his boss. NATO has received information from the FBI, about a former German Luftwaffe pilot who recently died in Alaska, after having lived there for 30 years, regarding an extension of Operation Bernhard to also counterfeit American dollars. The pilot was flying the plates to make the counterfeit American dollars to Kiska Island, but was forced down in Alaska and crashed into Tazlina Lake. Klaus mission is to go to Alaska and destroy the plates. However, the plane also carried priceless art, a part of Görings collection, which Dorian wants. And James wants the plate to make money: he's very excited by this and even charters a Concorde to take them there, rather than they go by Aeroflot as usual. They land at Fairbanks Airport.

Special Vacation Orders

Glass Target

Midnight Collector

Seven Days in September

Klaus is asked to pick up some files from a contact in the British Secret Service called "L" in a convoluted manner. Dorian plots to steal "The Man in Purple" from Klaus's hotel room, but is foiled by his wish to see Klaus naked in the bath. Klaus's plane is hijacked by terrorists, and Dorian steals a plane in pursuit of the painting. Dorian blackmails A into letting him help free the hostages, and enters the plane during the refueling in disguise as a British diplomat. Dorian drugs the passengers and pilots with a sleeping draft and flirts with Klaus. The hijackers let Klaus pilot the plane because they do not know how to, and he turns the plane around towards safety.

Paradise Party

The Laughing Cardinals

A Tale of Alaska

From Lawrence with Love

The Seventh Seal

Mr Lawrence Writes A Letter

Intermission

Eau de Cologne

Volumes

Reception

As of the mid-1980s, fan translations of From Eroica with Love began to circulate through the slash fiction community, creating a "tenuous link" between slash and shōnen-ai. From Eroica with Love is more popular with slash fans than it has been with dōjinshi artists. The series has been described as an example of a movement in shōnen-ai and yaoi to depict more masculine men, as part of the audience's increasing comfort with objectifying males.

References

1. ^ "Aoike Yasuko Official Website". Retrieved 2010-05-09. 
2. ^ Yasuko, Aoike (2004). "Iron Klaus". From Eroica With Love, volume 1 (English ed.). USA: CMX. p. 79. ISBN 1-4012-0519-4. The other side calls him "Iron Klaus" out of respect and fear. 
3. ^ http://www.amazon.com/dp/1401208843
4. ^ http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4253194540
5. ^ http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4253194559
6. ^ http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4253194567
7. ^ http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4253194575
8. ^ ^{a b} Thorn, Matthew (2004) Girls And Women Getting Out Of Hand: The Pleasure And Politics Of Japan's Amateur Comics Community in Fanning the Flames: Fans and Consumer Culture in Contemporary Japan William W. Kelly, ed., State University of New York Press
9. ^ "Girls' Stuff, May (?) '94". 
10. ^ Suzuki, Kazuko. (1999) "Pornography or Therapy? Japanese Girls Creating the Yaoi Phenomenon". In Sherrie Inness, ed., Millennium Girls: Today's Girls Around the World. London: Rowman & Littlefield, p.251 ISBN 0-8476-9136-5, ISBN 0-8476-9137-3.

External links

• http://aoikeyasuko.com/ (Author's site, mostly in Japanese)
• From Eroica with Love (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• CMX MANGA - From Eroica with Love at the Wayback Machine (archived June 16, 2008)