Never Hollowed By The Stare

Haru no E – Nakamura Asumiko

Andou gets an envelope passed to him in class that contains an erotic picture belonging to Kagaya Jin, the mysterious half French transfer student. A short, bittersweet tale from the Meiji era.

“Spring Painting” is a one shot about an innocent student being initiated to sexual pleasure by his mysterious classmate by helping him get off on an erotic picture.

Jin’s half-French origin gave him an air of the mysterious and exotic, further heightening the sense of the illicit and forbidden between the two boys. Not really keen on the dub-con aspect, tho. Sadly, this is quite prevalent in BL manga, especially between naive virgin uke + wicked experienced seme combination.

This is an sensual, poetic story that pulls your emotions in different directions, something Nakamura Asumiko always excels at. The artwork has highly stylized character designs that’s stunning to look at. I liked that this is set in the Meiji era. I loved that East-West mix, especially when it comes to the fashion and art.