Isaac: Why did you have to find one who's not only the enemy, but also a heretic knight, to be your lover? Are you looking for trouble? I don't understand you.
Jamal: The knights I fought before only knew how to yell for their God while swinging around their hammers. To me, they were just "things" that needed to be eliminated. But that guy is different. Although he's a waste as a soldier, there is something to him that he blindly believes in.
Black Sun: Doreiou note is a Boys' Love manga written and illustrated by Ogasawara Uki. The manga was serialized in HertZ from 2007 to 2011 for a total of 12 chapters and compiled into two volumes, and was licensed by Digital Manga Publishing in 2008.
The story begins with Gerun Fortress, one of the strongholds of the knights of the Christian order, being under constant attack for a week before its gates finally collapse. Realizing that their men have no chance of winning, the knights' commander, Leonard de Limbourg, decides to surrender himself to the leader of the invading force, Jamal Jan.
When confronted, Leonard does not hesitate to offer his head or his life in captivity under the condition that all his men are allowed to leave Gerun Fortress unharmed. Much to his surprise, Leonard gets his wish, but he quickly realizes that Jamal has different plans for him. And with many people - including the royal family of the enemy empire - disapproving the idea of an army general keeping a monastic knight as a slave, Leonard's ordeals have only just begun.
This series contains examples of:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Played with. Leonard is forced to beg to be taken sexually, and he does so with gritted teeth, but only because it's either he does as he's told or he lets his men be killed.
- Amicable Exes: Jamal and Isaac used to be in a relationship, one that's hinted to be more physical than romantic. Either way, both are still able to converse with each other just fine as general and lieutenant, and Jamal trusts Isaac enough to confide in him if he feels like it. There's also how they can get a little... touchy with another (mostly on Jamal's part, at least) in spite of the fact that Isaac is already married.
- An Arm and a Leg: Jamal loses his left hand in his battle against Ahkmet.
- Apologetic Attacker: A variant; Jamal apologizes to Leonard for killing Francis, though Leonard doesn't hold any grudges for what happened, understanding that it was inevitable as Francis would not have been able to escape the death sentence.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Isaac thwarts Leonard's attempt to escape, he asks the latter if he's afraid that he will genuinely grow feelings for Jamal. Leonard doesn't give an answer, but the fact that he flinches and immediately attempts to hightail it afterwards gives some weight to Isaac's question.
- Baritone of Strength: Jamal is mentioned to have a deep voice by Leonard; and Jamal is also known far and wide as a feared war general.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When Leonard first met Francis, the man was kind to him and doted on him, and Leonard's other flashbacks of Francis depict him as gentle and nurturing. Chapters 6 and 7 reveal that it was nothing more than a facade, and beneath his amicable front lies a zealous and ambitious side, which also belies the depravity and hypocrisy hidden deep within.
- Break the Cutie: The first half of the manga is focused on the physical, emotional, and mental turmoil Leonard goes through after he's kept prisoner... and especially after he realizes that his mentor is not the great and honorable man he thought he was.
- Broken Pedestal: Chapters 6 and 7 have Leonard realize the painful truth about the kind of person Francis truly is.Leonard: My beloved Sir Francis from the past has died...Francis: Such a man had never existed in the first place.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: All the sayings about Jamal's accomplishments are no lie or exaggeration... but they do nothing to conceal the fact that he is rather eccentric and knows no modicum of shame whatsoever. Even Leonard wonders at one point if the man actually has a few loose screws in his head and even tells Jamal that he should have himself checked.Leonard: (angrily thinking) I didn't think an honorable army commander from the empire would be a messed up man like him.
- Chromosome Casting: The reader will have an extremely difficult time attempting to find even a female character amongst the background characters.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Francis de la Tour's actions may have been the focal point of the story's conflict in the about two-thirds of the manga, but he's dealt with before the finale, which then focuses on the Succession Crisis between the emperor's three sons.
- The Dreaded: Anyone who has even heard a few tidbits about Jamal's achievements in battle know that he is not a man anyone should dare take lightly. Even Leonard is well-aware of his reputation before actually getting to meet him in person.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After Jamal pledges his support to Mustafa and helps him win the throne, he soon leaves his rank as an army general and starts working in the trade business of the kingdom alongside Leonard. Although Jamal lost his arm in the war, both he and Leonard are nevertheless content where they are now.
- Explicit Content: Even by Boys' Love standards, Black Sun: Doreiou has absolutely no censorship of nudity whatsoever compared to most other manga of its ilk, as it leaves nothing to the imagination where sex and the male anatomy is involved.
- Fool for Love: It takes a lot of both guts and devotion alike to fight tooth and nail for the right to have a prisoner by your side — something that Jamal does even though this gets in trouble over and over again with the emperor. It eventually culminates in Jamal confronting the emperor in public in Chapter 8, even implicitly accusing him of dishonesty when he tricked him into thinking that Leonard had died.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Jamal was common-born, being the son of a farmer. He then became one of the many captured children who were turned into slaves after his hometown was conquered, but he was then taken in by the emperor and given a name and rank. With the emperor's tutelage, Jamal managed to rise through the ranks and become one of the most feared war generals in the kingdom.
- Grammar Nazi: Invoked. In one of their exchanges, Francis mentions to Jamal how he tried and failed to persuade Leonard to join his cause, but the fact that he uses the present tense in his remark regarding Leonard ends up arousing Jamal's suspicion, since he was recently sent a skull as proof of Leonard's "death".Francis: I don't think I need to worry about his decision in the end, don't you think?Jamal: No, you don't have to worry... Did you mean to say "I no longer have to worry now"?
- Hates Being Alone: Surprisingly, Jamal is afraid of sleeping alone or without any source of light nearby. This is strongly hinted to be from how he was stuffed into a sack when he was captured and sold off into slavery, and having no company or light in his sleep reminds him of that experience.
- I Gave My Word: If nothing else, Jamal did honor his agreement of letting all the other knights in Gerun Fortress leave unharmed if Leonard surrendered and followed Jamal's instructions in how to surrender. This, in spite of the fact that failing to eradicate the enemy army would land him in hot water with the emperor.
- I Let You Win: Downplayed; when the two spar outdoors, Jamal holds back just enough to let Leonard land a cut on his arm. However, Leonard is only further angered that the other isn't fighting seriously.
- Improbable Weapon User: In his attempt to escape, Leonard brings a candlestick with him; although this is justified as there is no other effective weapon nearby that he can use to defend himself.
- Jerkass: Nicholas. Never mind the fact that he betrayed his home country, he is all too eager to make things difficult for Jamal and endanger Leonard just because he feels like it.
- Karmic Death: Francis betrays his home country and does plenty of slippery things to meet his own ends, in spite of his claims that he's acting under God's name. Shortly after killing the emperor with the intent of claiming prestige in his homeland from the act, he ends up meeting his end at Jamal's hands. On top of that, Francis had also raped Leonard beforehand, which is likely to have touched a more than a few nerves with Jamal.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Leonard surrenders to Jamal without a fight because he knows that he and his troops are completely outmatched from the start, and there would be no point sending his men to their deaths.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After trying to create a great deal of trouble for Jamal out of envy and just because he can, Nicholas eventually loses his political foothold in the palace after the emperor is killed by Francis, who Nicholas even attempted to use as a trump card to drive Jamal and Leonard apart. Although Nicholas does seem to be happier by the finale, it's strongly hinted that he still had no choice but to throw all that's left of his pride out the window to be content as a rankless lover of a ship captain.
- Lima Syndrome: Jamal decided to keep Leonard captive as a Sex Slave, though it doesn't take long for him to become genuinely attached to Leonard to the extent that he'd even challenge almost the entire royal family to have Leonard by his side.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Isaac, Jamal's adjutant and former lover, has hair that extends past his shoulders, and has moderately fair looks.
- Made of Iron: Having at least ten painful lashes on his back doesn't even slow down Jamal for one second when he needs to fight, despite the fact that the wounds are still fresh and bleeding at that.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: In Chapter 9, Leonard and Jamal have a quickie in the underground aqueducts leading to the inner palace.
- Never Bring a Gun to a Knife Fight: In their fight, Francis uses a firearm that is demonstrated to have explosive power... although Jamal does away with him with a single slash across the back.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Jamal is usually able to stay calm, sometimes even nonchalant, regardless of whoever is confronting him or whatever he's being confronted about. It then makes it more alarming that he actually loses his cool and punches Francis in rage for insulting Leonard, and he would have proceeded to beat the man bloody had the emperor not stopped him.
- Phenotype Stereotype:
- Leonard is European, and he's drawn with blond hair and light eyes which are described to be a mixture of green and grey in color.
- Jamal's name and backstory hints that he's of Turkic origins, and he has dark features, from his hair to his skin color and even to his eye color.
- Race Fetish: Lampshaded when Isaac mistakenly assumes that Jamal is interested in Leonard because he is European.
- Rage Breaking Point: Francis disparaging Leonard for letting himself be made a Sex Slave rather than die with his dignity intact angers Jamal enough to give Francis a mean hook across the face.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Mustafa, the youngest of the emperor's sons, may also hold the ambition of getting the throne, but he doesn't let it cloud his ability to weigh pros over cons and focus on the entire forest and not on each tree.
- Scarpia Ultimatum: Zigzagged; it was Leonard who offered himself to Jamal in exchange for the lives of the other soldiers in Gerun Fortress. However, he never anticipated that he would be kept specifically as a Sex Slave.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: A non-verbal example occurs twice in Chapter 9 after Jamal has had more than enough of Nicholas' barking. The first is when he throws a weapon straight at the man's face after Nicholas attempts to verbally humiliate Leonard in public, and the second is when Jamal warns everyone that they can try following Nicholas' orders and killing Leonard at their own peril— something he makes very clear by slashing at Nicholas' pants and exposing his nether regions in public, much to Nicholas' humiliation.
- Skilled, but Naive: Leonard is a competent fighter, but it becomes obvious that he does not have much real combat experience; never mind the fact that he is idealistic and innocent about certain things in spite of being a fully-grown adult.
- Stockholm Syndrome: Downplayed. Leonard holds no illusions over how the first few times Jamal had his way with him were done without his consent whatsoever; but even then, Leonard still can't bring himself to hate Jamal and still harbors respect towards the man for his accomplishments in battle. He eventually reconciles with the fact that what he feels for Jamal is anything but hate by the time Chapter 9 rolls in.
- Succession Crisis: After Francis murders the emperor, the monarch's sons are then left fighting amongst each other over who gets the throne — with their feud moving from the palace halls to an actual battlefield.
- Translation Convention: Taking aside the translation of the manga (which is for the convenience of the readers); the story makes it clear at one point that the main characters converse with each other in Latin.
- Uke: Leonard, while fairly built, has a lither figure compared to Jamal, and is also the one who bottoms in their relationship.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: A same-sex example. As Jamal makes clear on more than one occasion, anyone who tries to lay a finger on Leonard will have to get through him first.
- Weapon Specialization: Nicholas carries a whip at all times, and he is all too fond of using it whenever he gets angry enough.
- You Remind Me of X: Leonard muses that Jamal's smile reminds him of Francis' own, something that upsets him at first since he doesn't like being reminded of his mentor by the same man who is taking him against his will.
