Even if I had to sell my ass on the street corner for 100 yen a poke. First, what HR department would EVER choose to place a socially awkward recluse in sales? It's a bad business move. To increase the bottom line, you play to your employees' strengths. There is nothing wrong with a challenge here and there, but setting them up for failure from jump street won't make your company any profits. It's a waste of payroll. Second, what HR department would allow such discord between employees? Bullying, harassment and infighting between employees doesn't just affect the person being bullied. It creates tension among ALL the employees. People don't work well when they are tense or stressed. Again, you're wasting payroll by allowing that behaviour to go on. Third, and finally, what manager would pair a bully and their victim together to make face to face sales calls? The bully will be too preoccupied getting his rocks off on bullying to bother doing the job right and obviously, the victim will be in no shape to work properly either. It also exposes the company's poor business practices to the very customers the business relies on for profit. This company wouldn't last three months outside of a manga.
Aono makes the very best of a very bad situation. I've seen people attempt suicide for FAR less. However, financially speaking, Aono would be better off finding a business that actually wants to succeed to work for. Because the one he's in is going to be swirling the bowl in less than a year with the way they run things. LOL
You're hinking too much ㄟ(￣▽￣ㄟ). This is yaoi logic lmao ╮(￣▽￣)╭
*thinking
so many words.....but i read like 5 sentences and i agree with you :3
When a mangaka, writer or screenwriter writes a scene, the person reading expects a certain level of "suspension of disbelief". We can accept vampires and werewolves or aliens and talking animals because we expect to suspend our disbelief for them. When a mangaka, writer or screenwriter violates the suspension of disbelief with an everyday action or commonly experienced scenario being tweaked a little too far, you get situations where a reader/viewer will say, "I can handle the talking animals auditioning for a music competition, but how does a giraffe fit through a human sized doorway when its standing on its back legs!?" The reader/viewer is expecting the fantasy of animals talking, auditioning and singing, but the fine line of "suspension of disbelief" is snapped when the reader/viewer is expected to accept a giraffe fitting through a human sized doorway on its rear legs. Is it "thinking too much"? Maybe, but unfortunately, that is what intelligent people do. They think and exercise their brains.
Lol, what... I met with one of the intellectuals that's better than the average human IQ lmao. Enlighten me then and let's watch pew news (≧∀≦)
And intelligent people reads manga to rest their brain, I've had seven hours of exercising my brain that I'm just gonna read anything that can satisfy me. And besides, hardworking people are better than intelligent people ╮(￣▽￣)╭ anyway.
Reading may be my hobby, but that doesn't mean I put my brain in park when I read. That is just a matter of personal preference and habits. I can't condemn you for reading to slow down and take a break and I would hope that you don't condemn me for preferring to read with my brain engaged. Let's not forget who fired the first shot here, in regards to casting about ridicule. I voiced my opinion regarding a plot conflict, but you attacked my reading style by telling me I "think too much". Rather than reply with, "You obviously don't think enough.", I chose to explain why I came to the conclusion I did. Normally, I simply reply to others in the manner in which I am approached. Speak kindly and I will speak kindly in return. Cast disparaging remarks and I will reply in kind. I am capable of being both congenial and vicious. I don't choose which I will be, that is chosen by those who speak to me. In your case, however, I chose to take the high road and offer an explanation of my reasoning. Yet, you continue to cast disparaging remarks about how I read. If you really want me to meet you on that field, I'll be happy to, but don't get angry when you can't take what you have no problem dishing out.
I agree hardworking people are awesome, but intelligent, hardworking people are even better.
Whatcha talking bout??? (⊙…⊙ )
I'm not angry tho. And what part of "You're thinking too much ㄟ(￣▽￣ㄟ)" is not kind? I didn't insult u and only saying my reply lol. Like I said you're thinking too much about my comment (￣∇￣") just lmao (๑•ㅂ•)و✧.
Rather than angry, I'm more amused lol ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~
My sincere apologies for misinterpreting your comment. I hope that you can forgive my overreaction. As you can tell from my responses and comments, I tend to be rather blunt and forward. This has caused me to attract many "troll" types of responses and the responders use a short, antagonistic comment to start a ridiculous "comment fight". I hate it, but it is not in my personality to back down in those situations. I am sincerely sorry for having mistook you for someone like that. You're probably right, I do think way too much! LOL You seem like a fun, laid back kind if person with whom it would be a blast to be friends. I hope this has not tarnished your impression of me. Again, I sincerely apologize.
Damn PREACH
Lmao I agree. The company was supposed to use their cards wisely (aka assigning their employees based on their skill/strength), but what they did was ??? Lmao I was confused why they put Aono on sales when he might be the most awkward duck in the company lmao tho it's good to let the employees face challenges to further push their limitations, but not the kind where the company forces an employee to work on smth that's not on the employee's field (￣∇￣")
I can explain that! It's called "plot device". Otherwise, we would have to wait longer for froggie to find his prince! We cannot have that, now can we?
Maybe we should just make up a reason in our minds? Like maybe they needed more people in sales department and everyone else in quality control had the guts to refuse, unlike MC, or Gouzaka managed to pull some strings (not likely)... something like that.
. . . . or the little "Sales Fairy Godmother" is really a jokester who likes to go around messing up EVERYONE'S lives . . . .
Had me bawling my eyes out, snot running down my face, even my dog looked worried for me kind of crying! It was so beautiful! The art is not usually my style, but it fit so perfectly with the way these characters and stories were written that by the end, looking at other styles later felt kinda weird. So much perfection in one manga should be illegal.
My brother is 6'4", 250#, a complete workout nut, built like a brick shit-house, model like features, fiercely competitive, domineering and an EXCLUSIVE BOTTOM. By the same token, his partner is 5'9", 180#, a computer nerd, relatively plain but far from unattractive, a complete pacifist and an EXCLUSIVE TOP. The only thing all bottoms have in common is that they prefer to be on the bottom and all tops have in common is preferring to be tops. Saying that a bottom should look this way and a top should look that way is as silly and ignorant as saying "all women are weak and emotional" and "all men are brutes". We are all individuals, please don't place people in boxes like that.
Saying, "I like it better when the uke looks like this" is a different story. That's your preference and you're entitled to it. However, saying that someone doesn't "look like a bottom or look like a top" or that a "top SHOULD look like this and a bottom SHOULD look like that" is a step too far. Would you like it if someone said that you don't look like a girl should or a yaoi reader should, or (insert whatever you want) should? There are actual gay people on here who read this, do you want them to think they are not entitled to have their preferences because they don't fit some ridiculous stereotype?
Will you people PLEASE think before you type?! Think of the people who may be reading your comments who are NOT LIKE YOU! Internet anonymity has absolved us of the responsibility of common courtesy to a fellow human being. Take back that responsibility and think of others before you type. Please.
I know, butttt there are a lot of mangas where the stereotypical uke looking person is the top
... or, I should say, the person I was before I met my own Euon(sp). It's like looking into a mirror to the past. I was selfish, I cheated, I stepped on the feelings of others and it never bothered me because I had convinced myself that they didn't actually care about me from the start anyway. Then, I met my the man who is now my husband. He was so good and pure and sincere. And I treated him just as cruelly as I had all the others before him. The difference was, he never gave up on me, he never let go of my hand no matter how hard I tried to shake him off and he always saw the best in me. I didn't love myself, so how could anyone love me? Especially this kind, warm, loving man? One day, I realized just how badly I wanted to deserve his love. I don't remember now what the trigger was, probably something small and silly, but I wanted desperately to be worthy of this person's love. I knew that the "me" as I was wasn't worthy and I needed to change something, I just didn't know what or how. So, I told him what I was thinking and feeling. He replied with, "You've already started." Just accepting love from someone, believing in it, wanting it and wanting to return it was enough to naturally make me act less selfishly, to not want to shake his hand off, to allow him to love me and to open my heart to the truth of his feelings. Occasionally I would slip back into old habits, but never for long. I always noticed right away, apologized and tried hard to not do it again. That was 22 years ago. Now, there's not a thought that goes through my mind that doesn't have my husband in it in one way or another. I don't know what he saw in me when we met, but what you can see in me now is a little bit... no, a lot of him. Some of the worst personalities can be tempered with love from the right person. I'm confident that Hyung will realize this just as I did. If he can love himself through Eoun's eyes, all his doubts will be blown away.
Just reading your comment makes me want to cry...it's beautiful. I wish you happiness for the next 22 years with your husband.x
Aww, thank you! I wish you the same happiness I have found, both with the person you choose and with yourself.
...Or do others get a knot in their stomach when there are cliff-hangers like this for this manga? Every time, every book of this story, I get a nervous feeling when I read it. Not many manga or mangaka can make me that concerned over their characters, but sensei knows just how to push the right buttons. Bravo!
My heart always aches when I read Showa era pieces. My aunt survived the bombing of Hiroshima, though the rest of her family did not. I get a lump in my throat just typing that here. The characters of the first and last story may be fictional, but the events and situations of the people of Japan living through that time are not. My aunt's older half sister was sold to a geisha house in the late 1930s and when the bomb hit Hiroshima that same half sister managed to find my aunt through the destruction and chaos. Their reunion was short lived as her sister passed away from radiation poisoning the very same night. My aunt's sister had been feeling ill since she was found and in her fevered sleep, begged for water. My aunt had no idea that the cool, clean water that flowed past the place where they rested was inundated with radiation. So, she gave some to her sister. To this day she doesn't know if it was the fallout from the bomb or the fallout in the water that killed her sister, and it haunts her. My aunt was just 16 in 1945.
I cried because of the last chapter, and I cried after reading your aunt's story....
I'm so sorry for all their suffering, especially that in trying to help she's become haunted over her small, kind action.
The same here... I hope someday humanity finally learns from its past and stops violences between men.
Thank you all for your kindness and kind words. Keiko is an amazing woman with a strength of spirit that is unmatched. She lost one family to gain another in her husband and six children and many grandchildren. She rarely allows herself to linger in the past, but on those rare occasions when she does, she chooses to remember her loved ones fondly and not beat herself up over what can't be changed. Whenever I read a manga where the idea of a "perfect Japanese woman" is described or mentioned, I instantly think of Keiko. She is who I want to be "when I grow up". If I can be half the woman she is, I'll be in pretty good shape. I'm 47 and still working on it. LOL Thank you all, again.
Reversible couples FTW! I adore yaoi, but the idea that a neko is a neko forever and a tachi is a tachi forever always seemed too far fetched for me. I grew up surrounded by my brother, who is gay, and all of his friends and lovers. I get why the stories are written that way, but it stretches my suspension of disbelief to breaking. I mean, the main audience for yaoi is women and they need to relate to a character, so the uke is that character because it's not like they, the female audience, can ever top a guy - not without hardware. Now that times are changing and the reality of homosexual relationships are trickling into mainstream ears, we are finally seeing what sex is like between two gay men, rather than what a woman thinks sex is like between two gay men. In real life, gay couples act like Rio and Etsu. And I couldn't be happier to see this dynamic finally being portrayed in my beloved yaoi/BL. Bravo/brava to the mangaka for portraying it beautifully and so sweetly. Even if this is only shounen ai, the fact that the subject was broached, it lifts my heart.
There also exist gay couples who are more comfortable with a role (top/bottom), my best friend prefers to top, but with his previous boyfriends he told them that if they wanted to reverse anytime he also could bottom, just not his preference. But i really agree with you that most gay relationships are not well portrayed in yaoi manga 'cause they're meant for female readers mostly.
I feel the same only like A FEW I have read like not even a lot in my 3yrs of yaoi life have read many that include couples like this. And most show the top as a tall and hot guy with the uke a small cute guy. Also not really how it goes irl. I'm just guessing cuz most women are smaller than men. But with that I have read a handful where the bottom is a muscled/hunky guy and the top is the same or skinny even. What's funny is when they show the bottom have "breast like pecks" and flushed. Idk just also my thoughts on how yaoi has changed and how in some ways lacking too, but I still truly enjoy them <(￣︶￣)>
Crossdressing is a delicate issue and a delicate balance in male x male relationships. For those who are genuinely transgender or those who feel more comfortable in women's clothing, the subject is easy to tackle, but in situations where both men are quite comfortable as men, crossdressing can be depicted as a rather sad and hurtful situation for one or both parties. This manga approaches the subject from the best possible angle and with the best possible outlook, particularly from the seme's POV. Most gay men are not women in men's bodies, but men who love other men. There is not necessarily anything particularly feminine about them. So, the idea of being viewed as a woman can be hurtful and distressing. Here, from the start, the seme was aware of his feelings for the Haruto side and the Aisha side of his uke and ultimately felt a stronger attraction to the Haruto side, the "real" side of his uke. Thus, it is apparent that his attraction is for the male Haruto and all the aspects of that person, be they in crossdress or regular male clothes. In short, Haruto made the costumes sexy, the costumes didn't make Haruto sexy. And who wouldn't prefer that outcome, male or female?
... but they have no idea what the words really mean. Christ! What has our educational system been up to for the last 20 years?
Stockholm's Syndrome is not evident in this story. At no time did Yuuya sympathize or seem to try to sympathize with his captor. Stockholm's syndrome is borne out of a desire to survive by the captive, a desire to cope with their own situation. Therein, they attempt to "play nice" in order to receive better treatment. As time in captivity progresses, they begin to sympathize with the captor. This is where feelings of connection are born. Yuuya is shown at the very beginning to have had nebulous feelings for Kanade. He rushed home to meet him for their "no promises" date on Saturday and was disappointed when he failed to show up the week before. Yuuya's feelings were evident before the kidnapping. Had his feelings for Kanade been of lesser value, his kidnapping would have easily severed their ties. Instead, his feelings grow once he realizes they exist. He doesn't love Kanade because he feels sorry for him. In fact, he feels no sympathy for Kanade's childhood and upbringing at all and says as much when he tells Kanade, "I hate bastards like you." in college. Yuuya loves Kanade of his own volition before and after the kidnapping. Granted, kidnapping and rape are not the best way to get someone to recognize their feelings, but it does make for an action packed plot in fiction.
So, the TL;DR of this is: Will you millenial brats with the intelligence of circus fleas please stop with the armchair diagnoses you gleaned from the latest episode of House or CSI Miami! Take an actual psychology course whose curriculum isn't an hours worth of surfing Google for the latest victim trends! You sound like harpies with nothing better to do than bitch about whatever new trendy cause you found to trumpet on fucking Facebook! It doesn't make you sound any smarter to actual intelligent people - they laugh at you - and only endears you to other circus flea brained idiots. Step up your game, learn something and be admired by the admirable, not the gallactically stupid!
I wish I could frame this! LOL! I LOVE it (๑•ㅂ•)و✧
Hahaha, Thanks! I'd reached the end of my patience with the "Stockholm Syndrome" comments, in case I wasn't obvious about that in my original comment. LOL
Dang-- this is what I am searching for in the comments section... I'm just a millennial brat too, but I don't really agree with the comments of others about Stockholm syndrome... Thank you for commenting such a wonderful and helpful information.. :) (=・ω・=)
wow wat an honor to find such an intellectual being stick up for the rapey yaoi mangas. god bless u
I don't think everyone in your generation is an idiot and I don't even blame those who are idiots for their situation. Unfortunately, the majority of public school systems, and a surprising number of universities, in liberal countries follow the same general guidelines for teaching students and critical thinking skills in those systems are grossly ignored. The change in education over the last thirty years has been horrendous. It's blatantly obvious that administrations of public and higher education systems are determined to turn out scores of mindless future voters who will simply "buy" whatever the government wants to sell them without ever considering the idea that they could research topics and find the truth of the matter on their own. Public school systems and universities no longer teach students HOW to think, they merely teach them WHAT to think. So, of course, those in your generation will jump on the first bandwagon that shambles by. Ideas like historical significance, facts and reality are shunned because they make students think rather than "feel". Decisions based solely on emotion tend to always be bad decisions. Hence, I pulled my children out of public school and home schooled them. Give it another decade and you won't be able to find enough young people who possess critical thinking skills to make a football team. LOL
Thanks... I think??? I just don't think erotica should be viewed through the same lens as general reading material. Particularly in the case of young readers having access to material that is outside of their range of emotional and intellectual maturity. Since I can't stop young people from reading, it's better to try to mentor and educate them. Though, I admit, I do get a little frustrated at times. I'm no genius, far from it. So, what I know and relay to others isn't hard information to find if one does even the most remedial research. This causes me great frustration.
Hehehe :') I agree with you... I am someone who's dropped out of school because of depression and attempt suicide... But you know what they told me? "We are not trained to these types of things.. and we wouldn't like our students to be traumatized." They didn't even give us a letter proving that I am dropped out of school... And in return, I was the one who got traumatized and for so many months I can't get it out of my head... So I think that most universities are like that... If only there's homeschooling here in Philippines... :')
I'm so sincerely sorry that you had to go through something like that on top of having depression to such a degree. God! It doesn't take a PhD in psychology to know you don't treat someone with depression the way you were treated. Just a little basic human kindness and sympathy would have been better than what they offered you. Have you considered taking courses online? Or, perhaps, studying with others like yourself and then testing for a GED? If you're serious about wanting to finish your education, I would be glad to help you find the resources that are available to you. I'd even be glad to help you study if you want me to. Take your time to consider it and send me a mail here if you'd like my help... you can also send me a mail if you just want to chat. Okay?
Sorry for bothering you about my issue... But I seriously want to go and finish my senior high school and go to college.. I gave it some thought for a very long time so... I would like some of your help, but it would be pretty much like disturbing your time for someone like me since I'm just a Filipino :) Thank you very much :')
First, you're not JUST anything. Whether you are from the Philippines or you are my next door neighbor, if you want and need my help, I'll give it. Otherwise, I would not have offered. Second, you're not disturbing anything. Time is something I have plenty of and if it can be used to help you, I want to do it. So, from here on out, please see yourself the way I see you... as someone worth my time and effort. Okay? I will mail you here so we can discuss details privately. See you there.
Well said, thou there's a high possibility that there's more iGen here than Millennials.
It's possible. The most common ages, for readers of this genre, on this site seems to be between 15 and 23. That's based on what I've read in the questions section where the questions "Who reads yaoi?" and "Who are you?" has people answering with their age.
For it's era, the manga was pretty good. I mean, neither protagonist died and they weren't tragically split up, as far as we know. See, that's the plot hole. Too many questions were left unanswered. What happened when they told the parents they were living together? Did they confess their true relationship to them or just keep playing "brothers"? If they keep up the brothers bit, does the Dad push more omiai on Shintarou? What happened to Cunterella, I mean Machiko or Pachinko or whatever the hell that little bitch's name was? Does she find out about their relationship and how does that play out? Honestly, it felt like they wrote this manga to go on for much longer and then stopped half way.