I'm so relieved this had a happy ending for all of them. Though what Nii-chan did was wron...

No, it's both. Gay men aren't fucking kids. Child molesters are. In this story, a boy was preyed on and then he became a predator. Thankfully, he worked through it.

We really don't have good therapies to help pedophiles. That's sad and I wish we did. But it's different from a kid realizing they are gay. This is an adult fucking a kid.

I think the parents simply didn't know how to cope with a kid who'd been done by an adult and were trying to have him not turn out the same. They did it in a very torturous wrong way--he needed a good, longterm therapy. Be he innately gay or straight--we'll never know. He was damaged by Ojisan. His sexual desire was set by an old pervert.

But I"m glad he found some healing, because he could have ended up repeating the pattern, kid after kid after kid.

Yes, pedophilia played a large roll in the story. But it's still not the point of this story at all. He was traumatized both by Ojisan and his parents. That trauma led him to do what was done to him.
He even said in the manga that nobody bothered to listen to him or hear his opinion. He just received judgement and disgust his entire life while his parents tried to make him straight. And as traumatizing as being a victim of child molestation is, it doesn't change your sexuality.
Nii-chan said he was never interested in girls. While that "therapy" woman forced herself on him, he repeatedly threw up. He's gay. I knew I was gay since I was in elementary school and I was never molested lol

Even though it was wrong, his relationship with Ojisan was the only point in his life where he himself felt loved. So it wasn't his sexuality that was set by Ojisan. It was him repeating the only situation where he felt love in his life. And being with an innocent child was his only escape from the constant judgement and misery.

Yeah, this is a story where the world rules are very different than real life, and the characters in this story seem to work through pedophilia and have an adult relationship in a away that would never ever happen in the real world. It kind of squicks me out too, because I disagree with so much the characters say and do. But it is Harada.

Yes, it's as if it's justifying fucking the kids cause, hey, true love wins out. Um, no. It was evil, he was damaged, he broke the law....the only reason we can sympathize is that we saw how much he suffered, cause really, this is not the kind of situation where you just go: Oh, Ojisan the perv marries and has a new family anbd Kei the perv ends up with the kid he molested, happy ending. Harada, as one expects, is effed up. We go in knowing that.

In real life, two of these people should be behind bars. And maybe more, considering what the mother did is child abuse.

Hey, I understand--and I agree that in real life, all the abusers should be behind bars. It makes me personally uncomfortable that Harada's child characters act like little adults in small bodies, and that they often seem to equivocate "love" and an adult sexual relationship. But as you said, we knew what we were getting into here.

Fictional rules may be different, but while trauma explains how someone can come to that point (to a degree), but it doesn't *cause* anyone to do anything. It's not an excuse at all. Trying to make a gay character straight is sick too--but it's kind of hard to cheer his HEA because this story centered on child abuse for so long and then switch to "gay" at the very end.

I accept that in this story, what happen is meant to be equated with "love", but personally I have a hard time seeing it. I am not putting down people who like the story, but this one just didn't work for me.

Harada stories are not meant to be taken at face value. They aren't just messed up to be messed up. You really have to try to see the bigger picture and analyze the characters' actions and emotions to see why they do what they do. It's so easy to read a Harada story and say "Oh this is all about rape and abuse. I hate it". But her stories are much deeper than that and her characters' struggles are very real and moving.
I also find her character development very well done.

Too often I see the comments on Harada stories complaining about the same exact thing. Meanwhile I take my time to ponder and re-read the story and realize that what most people are seeing is just what's on the surface and is not at all the point of the story.
Maybe I'm in the minority here. But since I'm a writer, a gay man, and someone who struggles with anxiety and societal norms, I'm very good at breaking things down and I see things in a different perspective than others.

In reality, yes, child molesters should be behind bars and receiving therapy. But not everything is black and white. Every situation and every person's struggle is different. This is their story.

Each individual person has their issues, woes, and some their traumas and fucked-up-it-ness. But pedophilia is just fucked up, period. This story whitewashes it to seem "not so bad" since, after all, there's "love." THAT is where I have an issue.

I can see the complexity, the character development, internal conflict, societal norms issues, etc. And yet the end "moral" is: it's okay if it's love.

No, it's not okay just by calling it love. Fucking a kid (prebuscent) is fucked up and it's wrong and all the love-calling isn't gonna make it okay.

Now, that said I can appreciate dwelling on the whys and wherefores--why are theyh like this, how can they get better, what makes for healing. This is fiction and fiction can go to very dark territory and examine it.

Transplant it to real life and I"d want Ojisan executed. I'd want Kei put in a mental hospital. But this is not real life.

And yet I can feel disturbed that children are saying "but we made love properly" talking about the way they were seduced and "trained" by their predators.

People break in different ways and justify it. This is a story where child abuse has been justified by the love of the predator and the predated. THAT is and shoudl be disturbing.

I respect your opinion. I just disagree that the story was justifying child abuse. Yea there was bizarre dialogue coming from the young Kei, and that's not anything a normal child would say in real life. But it's just a confused and misguided kid speaking his mind. He clearly didn't realize that what was happening was wrong at first, and was confused and hurt when everyone around him freaked out.

That's a lot of emotional turmoil for a kid. In regards to Yui, it was his choice to go search for Kei years later and he still loved him regardless. It was his choice to help Kei heal and find happiness. That's strength. There is nothing disturbing about that.

In the end, it's a fictional story. We all know child abuse is wrong and this story in no way says it's ok. It's just a story about two people, the choices they make and the struggles they face.
If it bothers you so incredibly much, just don't read it...

I don't mind reading disturbing stuff. Saying "just don't read it" is as if you're saying I don't have a right to be disturbed by it. On the contrary, discussing this stuff is also interesting to me. You dont' have to agree with my position or I with yours, but the fact is that this story, like it or not, IS justifying these characters, giving them a happy ending, not punishing the guilty. And that's fine, btw. That's part of the darkness of its vision.

A child molester ending up the lover of the child molested is justifying the abuse by saying the twisted love is okay. It's not okay. But it's still an interesting look into the darkness of humanity and how forgiveness CAN be a healing thing, even in twisted situations like this.

Oh, I completely agree that fiction is different that real life, and functions differently. I can see why it could be a metaphor or useful to some to look at things without real life restrictions. This one just doesn't work for me, because I personally don't enjoy anything with child abuse seen as anything but child abuse--but that's just me. I am very uncomfortable with mixing child abuse and adult sexuality even used as a literary device (e.g. being gay or whatever), but that is my problem. I get that education about the difference between a legitimate sexual choice or identity is the only way to stop people form having wrong ideas in real life. And this is fiction, so in that sense, I am cool with it--it's just not my fave.

But in real life, regardless of everyone being different, child abuse is black and white. This isn't anyone's real life story (unless you get all metaphorical again).