Gorgeous Carat

Florian is the son of impoverished noble family in turn of the century France. When his mother finds herself in a situation in which she must either give up the largest known diamond in the world (which also happens to be cursed) or her son, she sells her son to a distant relative, Ray Balzac Courland, who also happens to be the infamous jewel theif, Noir. Upon acquiring Florian, Noir begins to lose his interest in jewel theiving for bigger game--Florian's heart.

I found Gorgeous Carat to be entertaining and sweet, but it was not particularly meaningful. The characters fall into the typical yaoi stereotypes--there is the dark-haired, strong-willed, demanding seme-like character and the light-haired, somewhat submissive, feminine looking uke-type character. Furthermore, the story is set in Paris, another shonen ai cliche, and the two main characters end up solving crime mysteries together (calling to mind Fake, Yellow, and Skyscrapers of Oz). But despite all of the shonen ai/yaoi conventions that abound, the story is enjoyable.

The artwork for the manga is generally good, with a few exceptions when in individual frames the characters look a little awkward. I give the manga props through because everything has so much detail. The backgrounds are interesting and busy. For the most part, the artwork is consistent and pretty.

I found this manga to be an enjoyable read despite all of its conventions. The story is very innocent, and there are no blatantly romantic scenes, which will hopefull change in the following volumes. It ends on an intense cliff hanger that I felt does a good job of compelling the reader to continue following the story. This was not my favorite shonen ai manga, but if you're looking for a light, fun read, I recommend it.