A Chilling BL Tale of Curses and Rebirth

📖 Name of the Book: Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart

📄 Plot: Hoshino Terumichi is a high school student that is waking up to nightmares about a young man dying by the hands of a man he calls "Sensei". Hoshino goes to school the next day and hangs out with Yamada Omihiko. Then he witnesses him getting attacked by someone stating that he was their reason for passing in a previous life. Yamada walks away after the gruesome attack and is healed the very next day. The mystery behind Yamada and the curse Hoshino witnesses is a nightmare.

📖 Genre: BL, Horror, Reincarnation

📄 Favorite Quote: "He said he loved me, so I k!lled him to make our love eternal"

💭 My Thoughts:

This story is horror, mystery and reincarnation all combined into one! The way you are brought into this story is through Hoshino's nightmare and this manga does not shy away from the nitty gritty of seeing a young boy dying at the hands of "Sensei".

At school Hoshino partners up in gym with Yamada and they get teased a bit based on their actions being like boyfriends. But despite the rumors circulating Yamada asks to walk home with Hoshino. It's at this point that Hoshino confesses that he likes Yamada and would rather distance himself so not to ruin Yamada's reputation any further at school.

During their walk home Yamada is attacked and Hoshino witnesses the death as the attacker walks away. But not only does he witness the attacker walking away, a few moments later Yamada stands up and walks away.

It's after this attack that Hoshino visits Yamada with his friend. Yamada is living with a guardian who is also an author. This author is abusing Yamada while also utilizing Yamada's writing skills for a profit. When Hoshino and his friend come by they are introduced to the author but Yamada responds with a question that triggers Hoshino's friend to remember his past life. He remembers meeting an author by the name of Kuroiwa Onitaiji. Hoshino and his friend visit a bookstore and pick up two books by Kuroiwa Onitaiji and Hoshino's friend claims the mystery novel describes how he passed away in a previous life.

Yamada is Kuroiwa Onitaiji reincarnated and stuck at the age of a high school boy cursed to live out the same deaths that he enacted in his past life on students to create his mystery novels.

Hoshino also picked up a book that day and his story is slightly different from the other victims. Hoshino's character loved Kuroiwa even in his passing. Hoshino is the way to break Yamada's curse. Hoshino gains control of Yamada and makes him fear death but also crave it as long as it's with Hoshino.

Though the ending had me confused for a hot minute, I almost wish the cycle of reincarnation would happen one more time now that the curse is broken and Yamada has come to terms with his so called love for Hoshino. But the more I think about it the reincarnation element is part of the curse so when they disappear and are forgotten at the end. It's a tragic moment that makes sense.

This story jumps straight into the action and intense moments. Almost moving too fast at times but I think the speed of the story is also what makes you sit back after reading it and wanting to read it again to see all the nuances you might've missed. Like reading a mystery novel again and finding out all the clues you missed the first time.

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