I find great that in this manga all the fans, the ones that like Takano and the ones that don't, find his actions equally horrible. That's not something that happens in other mangas, unfortunately, and I think that's mostly because a huge part of the fans of this manga are older, we've grown up with the story and keep on reading it because of nostalgia, as you said, but we're perfectly able to distinguish a toxic relationship when we see it
But for new yaoi readers, this is not the better start, like, at all. Specially if we're talking about teens.
You are right , beginners should try first shounen ai with lots of fluff
Yep, or at least some yaoi that aren't based on the rape trope (or mangas that don't normalize rape)
I always recommend Rutta to Kodama (by Fujitani Youko) to everyone hahaha
Cause it shows a really healthy relationship even tho it is yaoi (Ii Ko Ii Ko Shiteageru from the same autor works too).
I’m actually surprised people are even mentioning the rape scene as Takano has in fact raped/coerced Ritsu previous times before. I admitted have long since stopped cheering for any sort of relationship between these two characters because it is utterly toxic. Ritsu is guliable and Takano while “pitiable due to his past” - sarcasm and eye roll, he is truly a disgusting case of “nice guy” that some won’t be able to distinguish beyond his moments of nicety to Ritsu. But like many who have and continue to read this my nostalgia and loyalty to one of the first mangas i had read which introduced me to yaoi has made continue to this journey. I more than want to simply just finish this manga and consider it an accomplishment, that I and others have grown past our initial acceptance of the problematic issues that plague the genre and now see for its entertainment but never as deseriable or worth encouraging even in a fictional setting. however there are others even younger than I reading this yaoi for the first time, with possible this manga being their starting point like myself and are being introduced to a relationship that justifies more than its fair share of toxicity without the knowledge of experience and healthy references. Let’s not shame people for reading this for whatever their reason, but please stop excusing fictional rape as acceptable as well as the workings of toxic relationships. while some can differentiate, fictional abuse/ violence/ sexual violence are just as influencable as any media source to say otherwise is ignorant and harmself