Despite how much Bronze no Tenshi likes to use historical events and people, it's probably best to enter it with no knowledge of Pushkin, the Decembrists, or anything to do with Russian history at all. Believe me, it will make everything far more believable. Yes, much of the history Saito uses is fairly accurate, and it is sort of nice to see a fictional character reading from a book you've read and loved before, but so much is off with Pushkin himself that he doesn't have much in common with the famous poet other than his name. For one thing, Pushkin wasn't a strikingly beautiful, ambiguously brown bishounen. He was actually pretty ugly. That alone was enough to throw me, but it won't be a problem for you as long as you don't type his name into Google Images before reading.

Bishoun-ifying aside, Bronze no Tenshi is period romance at its finest and most luxurious. As always, Saito's artwork is beyond gorgeous; she could draw Pokemon and it would be a masterpiece. She's also very good at portraying all the sexy-chaste moments a good period romance needs. The only thing Saito isn't very good at is creating likeable female leads, and I liked Natalia the least of all. Her "ugly sisters" are much more sympathetic and interesting. I've never come across a main character with such a complete lack of personality as this Natalia. But I've also never come across a main character drawn so beautifully. So it evens out.

... Last updated on November 12th, 2009, 9:00pm