The Tyrant Falls in Love


The Tyrant Falls in Love is a Japanese yaoi manga series written and illustrated by Hinako Takanaga. The Tyrant Falls in Love is a sequel to Takanaga's series Challengers. The series has appeared on manga best-seller lists both in Japan and in Germany, and the long-delayed US release has been labeled "one of the most highly-anticipated yaoi releases ever". The series is currently licensed in English by Juné. It is also licensed in German by Tokyopop Germany with the title Verliebter Tyrann, in Polish by Kotori with the title Zakochany tyran and in French by Taifu Comics with the title The Tyrant Who Fall in Love.
In 2010, the first volume was adapted into a two-part OVA by Primetime.

Plot

The story picks up on Morinaga and Souichi's story where Challengers left off. Tetsuhiro Morinaga is a university student with a four-year-old crush on his senpai, Souichi Tatsumi, whom he assists with his research projects. In Challengers, while sick with a cold, Morinaga inadvertently confessed that he is gay and in love with Souichi. Following this, he believes that Souichi now hates him since he is homophobic and says he will leave school, but Souichi actually cares for him and insists that they just forget about it and remain good friends. Their story ends with Morinaga convinced that his feelings will never be reciprocated.
At the start of The Tyrant Falls in Love, in 2004, a year following the events of Challengers, Tomoe and Kurokawa have recently moved to California for Tomoe's new job when Souichi hears that California has just legalized gay marriage. Souichi furiously calls Tomoe to tell him that he should not get any ideas about getting married, but Tomoe had not actually heard about the news since he had been busy working. In effect, Souichi's call does the exact opposite of what he wanted and Kurokawa and Tomoe run off to get married. Meanwhile, Morinaga laments to a friend about his unrequited love for Souichi, who in turn gives Morinaga a special drink that will make Souichi more compliant. Morinaga tries to throw it in the trash on his way home, but is uncomfortable with the thought of someone else finding it and reluctantly takes it home and hides it in his cupboard. The next day, Souichi runs around yelling that he's going to go to America and kill Kurokawa and get a green card so he can become the Governor of California to re-ban gay marriage. Morinaga convinces him to calm down and drink with him instead and so he goes to Morinaga's apartment to drown his sorrows.
After Souichi drinks all of the alcohol they had bought, he demands that Morinaga go out to buy more. While Morinaga is out, Souichi searches his apartment for any alcohol he may have and finds the hidden drug filled wine bottle and drinks it, not knowing it is drugged. At first it appears that it has no effect and Morinaga believes that he was tricked by his friend. They go to sleep, but Souichi wakes up during the night to find himself aroused and unable to move his body properly. He tries to sneak off to relieve himself, but due to the effects of the drug, his weakened body trips and wakes up Morinaga. Morinaga sees that Souichi is aroused and understands that the drug Souichi has taken actually works. Thinking that Souichi would never return his feelings, Morinaga decides to take advantage of the situation and despite Souichi's weak refusals, telling Morinaga to stop, he goes on to rape him.
The next morning, Morinaga is troubled by not having been able to control himself and what he did to Souichi. Souichi is furious with Morinaga for betraying his trust and threatens to kill him, but Morinaga tells him that he has been insensitive as well. He reminds Souichi that he was aware of his long termed feelings for him, but became careless around him like he had last night and he finally just lost control. Souichi then throws Morinaga out of his own apartment, who then goes to the university in shame. When he returns home, Morinaga calls Souichi to apologize and swears to never appear before him again. At first, Souichi thinks nothing of it due to being furious with him. However, Morinaga soon completely vanishes and his classmates and friends begin to ask Souichi if he knows where Morinaga has gone, who has not contacted anyone. Souichi is shocked, having thought that Morinaga had simply been avoiding him. After not being able to contact Morinaga himself, Souichi begins to grow extremely worried and anxious that Morinaga may have been hurt or tried to hurt himself, getting his family contact info and searching for him and going to his apartment every day and night to see if he has come home. During this time, he begins to realize that despite everything that happened, he was willing to forgive and forget the entire event between the two. He then realizes how desperately he just wants Morinaga to come back home, saying the loss he is feeling is one that he has never felt before.
Morinaga eventually returns to his apartment to pack up his belongings so he can move away when Souichi finally finds him when doing his nightly check. Souichi lets it slip how frantically worried he was when he vanished and Morinaga is deeply touched. Souichi tells him to never go away again and Morinaga tells him that if he is to stay, they will have to have sex since his feelings have not changed and that he cannot control himself around him anymore. Souichi, not wanting Morinaga to leave, reluctantly succumbs to the sexual advances and allows Morinaga to have sex with him. The two commence a dysfunctional relationship: of Morinaga constantly taking Souichi's verbal and physical abuse and Souichi occasionally letting down his barriers in order to keep Morinaga in his life which develops over the series.

Characters

The Tyrant Falls in Love was initially licensed in the US by DramaQueen, but had an extremely rocky road to English-language distribution. DramaQueen initially announced at Otakon 2006 but due to financial difficulties, the book was never released. In early 2008, DramaQueen announced that it was reorganizing and would bring The Tyrant Falls in Love into print imminently. However, after repeated delays and at least two official publication dates, the series remained unpublished. The series was available in scanlation, but DramaQueen issued cease and desist orders.
At the 2009 Yaoi-Con, Juné announced they had acquired the license and would be releasing volume 1 in Summer of 2010.
In May 2011, Takanaga announced that she was ending the series, but would draw at least one more volume of extra stories based on the manga and a sequel series featuring Morinaga's brother Kunihiro. But in November 2012 Takanaga announced she had decided to continue the series from where it left off. Although it would be at a slower pace.

Media

Manga

OVA

In 2010 the first volume of the series was adapted into a two-part OVA by Primetime.

Drama CDs

The BL Drama CD branch of Movic shut down in September 2012 and there are currently no plans to make more drama cds for the series.