hold on! I know people who’d need this (me included 😭)
Also, since we’re on the topic of Val,I noticed that his appearance and vibes resemble a character from a manga I started recently: From Eroica with Love. The character in question being Earl Dorian Red Gloria. I can see the shōjo influences in Parfum Nostalgique but was this a coincidence?
this was a coincidence! so, dorian’s appearance was inspired by oscar francois de jaryjayes and robert plant. val’s appearance was inspired by oscar francois de jarjayes and robert plant. i found from eroica with love when i was about… 20? 21? and my first thought was, “oh my god… is that val???” throughout the end of parfum’s development, i started reading a lot more eroica, because i was starting to miss val, as i wouldn’t be writing him anymore. it’s been a comfort manga for a long time for me. to me, dorian is like… who val would cast himself as in a silly movie. and i’m mr. james. a tiny man who yells at him to stop spending so much of their money. i think if val and dorian met, they’d have a good time, but then, if dorian kept trying to call him, or if val saw him at the grocery store, he’d duck into a corner like “i need to get out of this place.”
also, only cool people read that manga, so only cool people ever make the comparison between the two of them, so congrats on being a part of the cool people club. i always know someone’s gonna have a good time with parfum when they go “oh he looks like dorian red gloria,” because i know then that they have refined tastes.
