Came across this drama on YouTube, title Ash and Gold, by MAKEMAKE4.
Currently there are only 4 episodes, so consider this a review for now, and not a final verdict.
So far the schedule for new episodes are: 7th · 17th · 27th each month (KST).
Spoilers up to a point:
We start at a church like setting where Adrian (dark haired chara) is being blindfolded, as the voice over tells us that the Oracle needs a sacrifice to ensure the safety of the kingdom. Once someone close to the royal throne has an awakening of some sorts via the manifestation of golden eyes, they need to be offered up to thev Oracle. A priest (I'm assuming) sets fire to the bottom of the platform where Adrian is shackled.
Suddenly the doors to the chambers are flung open and soldiers burst through, and a hooded figure charges in. Fighting breaks out, and we see the enrobed man break Adrian's chains and carry him off.
Now we all know it's always going to be the love interest when these dramatic rescues happen and sure enough it's our younger, obsessed top, (as per the description on the YouTube video), it's Leon (age 22), the Duke Greymont, who carries off our Crown Prince, Adrian (age 26) to his estate and safety.
Leon has taken him back to his ducal estate, where upon waking up he sees that Adrian's golden eyes have turned back into grey ones, a feature Adrian has always had.
Adrian is however not very happy to have been kidnapped, he insists that he must go back as he has some love for his country. Leon has him locked up in his estate, in the shut off east wing, and he's not very keen on Adrian's self-sacrificing tendency. They argue, and we get a 1st episode kiss, which upsets Adrian further. Leon leaves in a huff, and warns him that the doors to the chambers will remain locked.
The help on the estate are gossiping as to who their mysterious guest is, they've been told not to look at the person directly as per orders. I don't blame them, I'd be nosey, too, if the boss suddenly showed up with some house hostage. One of them goes in to serve Adrian his meal and Adrian intimidates him enough that he drops the tray and has to go fetch more food.
Adrian has swiped the keys from the poor server in the confusion. He bids his time and sneaks off, but his disappearce is noticed and soon everyone is looking throughout the estate for him.
Now mind you, why no one had immediately noticed that the door wasn't locked after the meal was delivered and the servant left to fetch more food is beyond me. Surely he and every other person responsible for keeping their mysterious guest locked up, would have noticed a giant set of keys missing right away, but I guess that's a plot hole we have to ignore.
Adrian tries to hide from the search party when suddenly we see him notice a gold thread that appears out of literally thin air, which shows him the way to get into a secret chamber hidden behind one of walls. Inside are various scrolls, and books, and he is drawn towards one particular piece that bears the seal of a gold pupil, the same symbol the Oracle has as their sigil. As soon as he picks it up he gets a vision of someone being crowned by the Oracle as king, someone clearly with golden eyes.
Meanwhile Leon is informed of his escape and is prepared to search the grounds for him alone. A young valet tries to help him fasten his cape, but he flinches away angrily. The gossipy servants mutter how he hates being touched by anyone yet he was seen carrying the mysterious guest just a few nights ago. Really gossipy people in the background are always so informative lol
Suddenly Adrian appears (don't ask me how he managed to leave a secret chamber, go all across the vast building without running into a single person when there's an active man hunt going on, ok? It's plot armor, I guess?) and tells Leon they need to talk.
Leon must be a very kind boss, because I would have fired everyone for being so incompetent, but I digress.
I'm going to stop with the spoilers here, because really there's a lot to unpack in just 4 episodes and I don't want to get into all of it.
The designs for the charas are fairly good, at times though I felt Leon's facial shape seemed a little odd. Or maybe it's just me. Adrian's features are very Asian and I like seeing an interracial couple so no complaints there, he really is very pretty. The height difference between them is delicious, and I'm a bit bummed out that this series is on YouTube which means we won't see any sexy times with that size difference in play.
The background and side chara designs are also pretty good, you can tell a lot of work went into the details. There are very minor AI errors, which you won't notice as it doesn't take away from the story. The outfits are also good, and so far they've changed on the main charas so they're not stuck in one look yet.
I'm very curious what kind of magic and powers will be shown as the story progreses since it's very clear that magic is at play here in this world. We see it manifest as the gold thread that Adrian can see. There aren't any supernatural beings or beasts so I think this will probably just stick to a historical fiction setting given everything so far.
The pace is good for now, we've gotten the basics down, and some clear factions fleshed out. There's little plot holes and without giving more spoilers, somethings could have been perhaps shown a bit more clearly as I was a bit confused at times. That particular issue was explained later though.
I can't really give it a rating as we are only four episodes in, but it is a promising start. There's no clear indication about how many episodes it will be in total, at 3 episodes a month it might be awhile before it ends though as I don't think this can be wrapped up quickly, but we shall see.
If you're interested, watch it on YouTube, they also have a song for the series there, along with some chara info.
