Caste Heaven, Vol. 1 (Yaoi Manga)

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Caste Heaven ( Japanese: カーストヘヴン, Hepburn: Kāsuto Hevun, alternatively titled Heaven of School Caste in Japan) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Chise Ogawa, the yaoi pseudonym of Shigeyoshi Takagi. It was serialized in the monthly yaoi manga magazine Magazine Be × Boy since March 2014. A mobile game based on the manga was released in 2019 in Japan. Again we are in this highschool which has a strange secret hierarchy game going on among students, but this time the story focus on a side pairing instead of the protagonists (who are in a master/plaything relationship in this hierarchy game).

The chapter starts with Atsumu and Kuze walking to school. Atsumu clears his throat so Kuze asks him if he’s caught a cold. Atsumu: “No, it’s just a slight sore throat”. Kuze gives him a cough drop and after thanking him, Atsumu tells him to go ahead. I kept trying to find redeeming qualities. Yes, the art is good. The sex...meh. It didn't do anything for me considering how frequently it was portrayed. The humor...yes, some scenes were funny. However, the rape, the twisted logic, the group think...IT SCARS YOU FOR LIFE. There are more cons than pros for reading this.Caste Heaven reminded me of that because as soon as the other students were given even the slightest bit of power over Azusa, they immediately began torturing him. They instantly became cruel, even those who had nothing to do with him, and they would do anything that Karino said to do, which leads me to why this reminded me of the Milgram experiment. Caste Heaven“ ist eine der Reihen, die mich wirklich fesseln und kaum loslassen. Das liegt einerseits an den vielen Charakteren und andererseits daran, dass das Psychospielchen solch extreme Ausmaße hat. Es verändert die Gruppendynamik und die Beziehungen der Charaktere untereinander und zueinander. Ressler, Karen (September 19, 2018). "Japanese Comic Ranking, September 10–16". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on December 16, 2019 . Retrieved April 10, 2020.

Ressler, Karen (June 14, 2017). "Japanese Comic Ranking, June 5–11". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on August 13, 2020 . Retrieved April 10, 2020. Taking place in a high school, Caste Heaven is about power and sex, and what those things can do to people. In this school, there is a game where cards are scattered and have to be found. Whoever has the joker or refuses to take part is the target of their entire class and is subjected to horrible bullying, up to the point of gang-rape. Whoever finds the king is in charge of everything- literally the 'King'.

Heaven of School Caste,カーストヘヴン

Basically, whoever is King rules the roost, and whoever ends up with the Jester card is a free-for-all for whatever kind of bullying the rest of the class chooses to dish out. Rules MUST be obeyed, the King must be obeyed, but you can choose not to bully the victim if you want. If you choose not to participate in the game at all, you will instantly be labelled Joker and be the victim, so it's within everyone's interest to play and fight for a decent card. The middle rank cards are preferred, if you can't have power.

The only truly good part of this manga. Sure, I’ve seen manga with much better art, but the art in this is still pretty good, and some of the color sequences are absolutely stellar to look at. Caste Heaven“ ist ein interessantes Gedankenkonzept, was in vielerlei Hinsicht gar nicht einmal so abwegig ist, wie viele vielleicht denken. Es ist gesellschaftskritisch. Kritisiert wird hauptsächlich der Umgang der Menschen untereinander. Im Fall der vorliegenden Manga-Reihe die des hierarchischen Systems einer Schulklasse. Mit diesem wird durch das sogenannte „Kastenspiel“ das System regelmäßig neu sortiert und es gelangen Schüler/innen an die Macht und beeinflussen damit das Klassengefüge. The story revolves around the former King, Azusa, and his former friend and follower, Karino. Azusa is the golden boy, the horrible King who is never nice to anybody but has an awful family life. Karino, the son of a politician, plans to take Azusa's place in their school's hierarchy and become King. Karino eventually succeeds and forces Azusa to make a choice- either become his 'woman' or be gang-raped by the other students. Hopper, Faye; Silverman, Rebecca (June 8, 2020). "The Spring 2020 Manga Guide: Caste Heaven". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on August 27, 2020 . Retrieved June 8, 2020. then practically brainwashes 2 when they meet and throughout the book at least to where I have read at chapter 10. using sex and other ways to keep them close together and its just really creepy.First things first: this was really messed up. Not gonna lie, it had me going 'WTF?'. But at the same time, it was also really good. There is an ongoing Caste game in the school where the manga takes place. Each student's task is to find a card hidden somewhere in the school. The higher card you get, the higer your position in. If you are a king, you are on top of the class. If you are the target, you are the lowest and anyone can basicaly do anything they want with you. And yet, even though he does this, the rest of the school still thinks he is a nice, wonderful person who's kind to everyone he meets. Though, how much of this is just schmoozing, I can't say. So given the fact that is Yaoi, that it is fiction and that it is a Japanese god damn comic that will never happen in real life and it does not have to make sense because we are here to see guys having sex with each other, I give it a 9 because it does have a good plot with interesting characters that will make you connect with the story. The characters are very typical of any high school manga characters. You’ll find the the eccentric, the calm, the intellectual, … All of them are very charming and you get completely addicted to what will happen to each of them even though they might not be the main characters. Unfortunately, there are so many characters and they have some ressemblances it sometimes is hard to make the distinction between all of them.

In terms of artwork, it is overall very good, fluid and highly expressive but occasionally the linework is a bit sketchy and some wonky anatomy follows. But for the first volume it is extremely well accomplished. This manga is about a school that runs under a caste system. Each year they have this kind of "contest" where poker cards are scattered around the school, and whichever one you end up with determines your rank. Example: If you find the King card you become the absolute ruler of the whole school and can shit on anyone and everyone you please, or if you end up with the Joker card then you become a living ass-wipe. The premise of the book is how the tables turn when the previous year's ruler ends up with the Joker card this time around. This seems really interesting, no? And it would have been--If it was done right. Ressler, Karen (May 18, 2016). "Japanese Comic Ranking, May 9–15". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 19, 2016 . Retrieved April 10, 2020. A short story featuring Osuga and Yatori was published in the anthology Kuzu, which was released on February 29, 2016. [7] A short story featuring Omi and Akio was published in the anthology Mesuochi BL, a part of Libre's X-BL anthology series, which was released on February 10, 2017. [8] In addition, Ogawa sold an unofficial dōjinshi featuring Tamotsu Yoshinaga and Kento Megumi for Comiket 89 on December 29, 2015 and also posted it on her Pixiv account. [9]The way in which this rebellion is undertaken involves social class in a most brilliant way. After being repeatedly raped by Karino, nearly being gang raped and being treated like a pariah of the lowest kind by almost becoming what his prostitute mother has urged him from childhood to avoid at all costs, Azusa is told by Karino that he does not even take the horrible things he does to him as seriously, it's all 'fun'; killing time until Karino goes out into society. Azusa then comes to realize that Karino is the heir to a conglomerate and decides to film their having sex so that he can expose Karino. It does not work but it marks the turnabout to Azusa's way of behaving, he now knows that Karino has a weakness resulting from his being in a position that demands respectability. In other words, 'real' life class, as assigned by society and with a material basis behind it, is the lever. and demands his partner to throw everything away for their love? It isn't likely for the relationship to work out. Kuze and Atsuma serve as loving counterpart to the savagery of Karino and Azusa; comparisons between the pair are quite interesting to draw. Arguably, in both cases a seme manipulates his uke. It makes me wonder what kind of story we would have if the pairing was Azusa/Atsuma.