otakulys's manga / #Twisted(143)

3.5 for being kind of weird and rushed, but interesting, haha. It's too short for what it is. It's definitely on the disturbing side, but it's kind of funny despite it being about something horrible. Just that twisted "person beneath the surface" thing. I'd like to see that explored more, but without it being a cheesy comedy. I feel like most things like this are played for easy laughs rather than the dark essence seen here. It's a shame that isn't more common.

Aww, nooooo, so sad! He really loves that guy, and the guy is a total jerk. Not that it absolves the first guy of his sins, but that's so sad. I can't say that I hate it, though. It was interesting, and it wasn't painted as healthy or anything. Still, my poor heart.

I really appreciate how Harada handles evil characters. She sets her work apart from yaoi where these things happen, but the author treats them as cute or part of romance. This is how shota, rape, abuse, etc. SHOULD be written--as the evil, fucked up things that they are. Her stories can be so subtly twisted, and if you took out the pedo aspect, that would have been the case here. It was too short, though. I'd like to see more about the characters. Either way, I love Harada for her beautiful art, dark and complex stories, and intense character emotion. But I especially love her for making messed up things happen and not pretending that they could ever be forgiven. ETA: Oh yay, it is continued! Glad that it was mistakenly labeled as finished. Just as screwed up as ever. I like the new girl. I hope something interesting happens with her. Maybe she's as fucked up as the rest of them. This is definitely the first time I've ever read a story about a young man who's in love with a pedophile. Count on Harada to make that work.

I don't like this one as much as the sequel. It isn't as careful and psychological. This one is more self-indulgent, I think, and I find it odd that the teacher would be so careless as to risk this sort of thing getting out when he'd carefully groomed the first boy over a period of time. It's an interesting concept, the process of breaking in a plaything, and the prequel was disturbing and sad, but very well done. This was... okay. It had a slight edge to it, but it ultimately felt more like typical yaoi BDSM than Harada's work usually does. Though that thing with the toy and the classroom is definitely screwed up. I've never seen that used in such a dark way.

Harada is the master of subtly manipulative and evil characters. The ending was a bit more spelled out than most of her stuff, though. I feel like readers knew what the real situation was before the reveal, so it didn't need to be so overt. Still, creepy-crazy face is always off-putting in a fun way, haha.

....What?

2.5 stars based on just the first story, but I'm waiting to see if more comes out. I think I've read this one before. It's familiar, but then, a lot of these stories are similar. I'm not a fan of rape being excused in any way, but it's a pretty common theme. If the author goes on to show that she meant for the first story to be as fucked up as it is and hadn't intended redemption in the seme's explanation, that'd be great. I'm not holding my breath, though.

If it weren't so common to easily excuse rape in yaoi, I might have had more of an interest in examining the ambiguity of what happens with the uke in this story, but as is, the encounter between the main characters smacks of "it's okay that he raped you cause you were denying that you liked dicks," which is pretty gross. There were some interesting concepts that came up in little hints, but none of them were fully realized. 2.5 stars just for having some semi-intriguing concepts. The ending line, though. Wtf.

Haha, started reading it because it had cutesy art but was listed as horror, so I was intrigued. Definitely takes a sudden turn. I wish it weren't so short and abrupt, but I definitely like how it flows so quickly from cute to horrific.

Not entirely sure what was happening there. I mean, it was messed up and intriguing, though as a one shot, it leaves a lot out. The way it ends, it isn't clear whether or not this was a roleplay between them the entire time or overcompensation on the part of the younger brother.