Theres a tag and it says yaoi, yaoi is a subcategory for romance going along with bl...so yes it is romance and they are romanticizing a toxoc relationship. So readers have a right to say that it is romanticizing rape cuz it is, if they wanted a sociopathic or psychological story they shouldve thought twice and labeled it psychological not yaoi, cuz then their putting out sick stuff like that acting like its cute. Also yes it is fiction, but yu have to know what youre doing and as an author the fact that people think there is such a thin line between romance and thrillers or horror mangas is such a pet peeve for me thas why i hate the killing stalking fabdom too like its such a good story but they ruin it by romanticizing it. But yeah thats my view on it and many other people feel that way so i feel like this comment doesnt make any sense to me But yea everyone has different opinions and tastes
It's romance because they develop feelings for each other and have a love story of their own, even if it's a twisted one. I don't know if you know the definition of romanticizing but it does not mean to make it into a romance or love story, it means to make it seem like it's better or more appealing than it actually is. Romanticizing rape would be if the story made it believable that rape itself was genuinely pleasurable, romantic, or sweet or the action of rape was an acceptable way to show love, but it's not the case. They are both toxic characters, and one forced himself on the other, but because the other character was blatantly twisted, he not only accepted it, but reciprocated it, then they chose to have a relationship that worked for them. You don't have to add a tag to know, as a reader, that these weren't ordinary people with ordinary tastes, and that their romance wasn't a model for a healthy relationship.
I also was talking about how people say YAOI specifically romanticizes rape, which isn't true at all. Lots of yaoi stories do that, sure, but 90% of straight hentai is much worse, lots of yuri is forced or "accidental", and plenty of shoujo anime ACTUALLY romanticize forcing yourself upon someone else because they try to show a cute or sweet couple where the girl thinks it's romantic and okay for the Male to force himself on her. And there's a lot more of that then yaoi.
Well, what you and other people like you don't get is the fact that ROMANCE WITH TWISTED PLOT ALSO OFTEN HAPPENS IN STORIES OTHER SEX ORIENTATIONS. So I agree with what @Kurokurage said. There's no such thing as "romanticizing yaoi" cuz (again) it also often happens in every other sex oriented stories.
I wish there was a way to upvote replies lol
Oh and FYI, yaoi doesn't only mean sweet romance between males. Looks like you really need to improve your vocabulary comprehension more. So let me explain it to you.
1. YAOI MEANS SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO OR MORE MALES.
2. Shounen ai means romantic relationship between two or more males.
3. Romance genre is the kind of story that include romantic relationship between two or more people despite their genders.
4. Psychological genre is the kind of story that involves psychological case or thinking in the story.
In short, your saying (So readers have a right to say that it is romanticizing rape cuz it is, if they wanted a sociopathic or psychological story they shouldve thought twice and labeled it psychological not yaoi, cuz then their putting out sick stuff like that acting like its cute.) is completely bullshit and unacceptable. What's wrong with labeling a yaoi AND psychological stories as YAOI? It's still yaoi for fuck sake. Although if your complaint was the absence of psychological tag, then I would've agreed with you. However, you seem to misunderstand that yaoi has to be all happy, fluff, cute, and innocent. If anyting, that would've been shounen ai instead of yaoi. I hope you won't misunderstand these terms again and make an unvalid argument again in the future^^
Anyone crying out "yaOi RomAntIcEZ RApE" or whatever has to understand something: you're dealing with a character who is clearly a sociopath and a character with a twisted personality, and both aspects are acknowledged on both sides. It's obviously not meant to be taken as a serious love story or a model or other romances. Both are absolutely twisted characters, and this is just a story. Still, if you're able to have an open mind and understand that it's a work of fiction, it's sweet in it's own way, and the crazy twist of character is fascinating!
Personally, I love it when seemingly sweet or innocent characters go full on yandere for their loved one, and I actually shamelessly love Harada because she often does this. That is, however, because I'm mature enough to be able to separate fiction from reality and be tolerant of other peoples' tastes even if they're they're different from my own so long as they don't harm anyone in real life, and not because I'm some horrible person who condones rape or kidnapping or anything irl.