About the Mangaka

Not a lot of info on Cuvie unfortunately. But then that’s not surprising since he is predominantly a hentai mangaka. Dorothea is his only none hentai work. He does have a website, but it’s definitely NSFW and it’s all japanese.

About the Manga

 Dorothea 01 

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I ordered this volume. While the plot really caught my attention, since it deals with racism and sexism, as well as telling a story. However at the same time I wasn’t sure how well a hentai mangaka could do a non-hentai series.

Truthfully I almost gave up on this series all together, since I had to buy it four times to get a copy without a huge printing error (more on that later). However I finally got a copy and sat down to read it.

Art wise, Cuvie does an astounding job. Dorothea Is the perfect heroine, sexy, alluring, with a touch of sweet innocence. I loved her design as well, something about it really stands out against the others. Though I think in part that’s the pre-conception I had about the character, and the way that she dresses.

However there is an issue with the way he draws, there’s to many similarities between character designs, especially Gyurk and Dorothea.. It’s a minor thing true, but it’s something that really hits a nerve with me.

The story is excellent as I said, though I have to admit the setting takes some getting used to since it mixes really history (mediaeval France) with some fantasy elements. The blending of the two is done fairly well, but as I said it does take some getting used to.

However the story does unfold well, and the explanation of things is consistent throughout. Sadly it’s not as strong a story as I was hoping for, yes it has elements of sexism and racism, but it’s not a very deep story.

Part of the issue, at least for me, is that the politics of the story don’t really make a lot of sense when you sit and think it through. While riding the story through it does, but if you stop and think of it, it contradicts itself a bit.

Personally I think it’s because the volume is short, running for only around 160 pages. In that time we get a great deal of information dumped on us in a very abrupt manner. As such we don’t really get a lot of time to digest the setting properly. I’m guessing this is due to Cuvie’s origins as a hentai artist, where story doesn’t really need to be strong.

I am looking forward however to seeing how this series unravels over the coming volumes.

For the first time I have a CMX title that’s a disappointment. Firstly it’s larger than normal, and I don’t see a reason why. Also, unlike the other titles I have from them, the cover is rather flimsy. The other glossy cover titles I have (Shirley, Ragnarok, Monster Collection), all have a more rigid cover. The paper quality is the same as in all their other releases, and the usual generic paper we get in manga, in other words crap.

However we do get a colour page treat, and we get an even better treat as Cuvie gives us a goth loli version of Dorothea.

With this alone you’d think it was a fairly decent release. However volume one had a serious printing error in that over a third of the volume was a reprint of the preceding third. I had to have four replacements before I got one that was without the error. I have written to CMX about this but have yet to get a reply.

The other thing that made me curious was that this series has been given a ‘M’ rating for Mature. I find this odd given that there was nothing in this volume that would warrant it. Rather you see more violence and sexuality in a volume of Bleach than what’s in here.

My final thoughts on this series is that it has a lot of potential, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it unravels.

I’ll wait a few more volumes before I decided whether I’m adding this to my Essential Read List. If it carries on as it started in this volume it has the potential to get on there. Though I have to admit I’m hoping that some of the issues I have with this volume are resolved in the next few volumes.

Where to Buy

I’m adding Chapters as a store for Canadian’s as it has been given high ratings from people I know in Canada. As well as being linked by other Canadian bloggers. It also seems to have better prices than Amazon on some titles.

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