I'm looking for a manga/anime/book/movie/drama where the main character (or one of the main characters) is a eunuch/castrato. That's right. A castrated guy. The reasons for his castration do not matter - they could be social, political, criminal or, heck, even economic. (Like, um... A poor kid in Baroque Italy has a great voice, but has only one chance at a decent life, and that's to become a castrato... So he opts for it, and ends up with wealth and fame beyond compare.)

Examples: Scarlet Palace (manga), Ai no Kusabi (graphic novel and anime), The Persian Boy (novel), Cry to Heaven (novel), The Alteration (novel), Egyptian (a series of novels by Wilbur Smith), The Janissary Tree and sequels (a series of novels) and The Bells (yet another novel).

Please note that minor characters are not accepted. The eunuch/castrato must be at least one of the top 5 characters and must get significant 'screen-time'.

Additionally, the portrayal of the eunuch/castrato must NOT be caricatured or stereotypical; there must be some character depth and an exploration of said character's internal workings. So no conveniently villainish eunuchs that act like cardboard cutouts... You get the idea.

Any genre except hentai is welcome.

Please recommend!

This is soo hard.. Admit defeat. Never read any manga like this.
I remember the movie One Night with The King, if i'm not mistaken (it's been a long time ago since i watched this movie).. the female character/Esther has an old friend (male), that brought to the palace. They met again. He asked her to leave the palace with him. And this male, i'm not really sure, may be he's already been castrated.
But there was also her servant (the bald one), i'm sure he's eunuch. And he always helped her a lot.

**Add: Arrgh, i just remember i read one.. one manga like this but i dropped it. Now, it would bother me all night long. I don't think i put it in my lists. About a talented musician/singer, may be a foster child (i forget), european ambience, he was 'cut' to keep his voice beautiful.. and all ladies admired his voice. I'll let u know if i'm able to find it..

Last edited by comel at 8:26 am, Dec 29 2010

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I can only remember Anatolia Story but you must have already read that.

And the award to most scarily hyper-specific requests goes to Tartufo!

eunuch is pretty hard to find in manga.....though infertile and hermaphrodite chara as lead is there in some

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best shonen manga couples :

shinichi X ran
natsu X erza
ippo X kumi
naruto X gaara

really, it's hard. Till now, I have only read one book that has castration in it:
The Smiling, Proud Wanderer by Jin Yong



books by Jin Yong are very popular at my place. don't know about yours though

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its cold down here fam ~

You could try the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Sazed is an eunuch if I recall correctly, and although his role is rather small in the first book, he goes on to play a significant role in the later books. And it's just an awesome series in general.

Cry to Heaven by Anne rice, the main character gets castrated.

Giglio but its not until the very end. its a oneshot though and its yaoi.

Also the movie Farinelli, its italian? but has english subs.

I second anatoila

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[img][/img] A senpai tried to violate me after hearing about my transfer. BUT I RAPED HIM INSTEAD.

Shura no Hitsugi I haven't read it so I'm not sure if it fits your request.

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"Be prepared for the worst, my love, for it lives next door to the best."

All (historical Chinese) dramas:

>>In Witness to a Prosecution/洗冤录, you discover that...

He definitely wasn't a main character that the drama revolved around, but he was still a pretty major character. There was an "arc" about him, and you see him a lot since the main character lives with him (pretty much).

>>中国最后一个 太监 (Dunno the official English title, but it means China's Last Eunuch)
Main character went into the palace to become a eunuch...

>>大太监李莲英 (Again, dunno official English title, but it means The Great Eunuch Li Lianying
This one is all about his experiences in the palace...if I remember correctly >.<;;

In the The Ravages of Time, Xiao Meng is a eunuch and one of the main cast.

YAY

The only one I've read is S to M no Sekai. There's a certain beautiful swordfighter who is a castrato. I'm pretty sure he's a fairly major character, although it's been a while.

Urhi~! <3 He breaks my heart.

Though I don't have any recs of my own, thank you for this thread. Scarlet Palace looks really interesting.

Last edited by Odette at 9:18 pm, Dec 29 2010

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Avatar by tassyn.livejournal.com

Reading: Kingdom, Sangokushi, Historie

I am SO, SO, SO, SO SO SO SO SO SO SO happy. I had NO idea there were these many stories about eunuchs/castrati! And there are some here that I'd forgotten about! (Can't believe I forgot!)

Omg, I've got so much reading to do. I'm damn well looking forward to it. (Even if the poor eunuchs are not! Hur hur...)

the main character in Ningyou Kyuutei Gakudan if I remember correctly

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Oriolidae & Sparviero