otakulys's manga / #dark(197)

Read this in Yami BL. Very sad and twisted, but kind of sweet in a messed up way. At least they finally got to touch, sort of.

Very different art back then. It had an interesting concept, though. Choppy, but you could still figure out most of what was happening.

The way people were acting, I thought this was going to have a sad ending, but it was perfect! THIS is what I want. This is the hurt/comfort that I crave! Why can't there be more yaoi like this? Where the seme loves and protects his uke, and the harm comes from some other piece of crap? There's no force or rape to love or any of that garbage. Just real emotion. Plus, for me it's the psychology of trauma and the character working through it that draws me to violence and rape in manga, so it makes me sad that so often rape is romanticized or treated like a firm handshake. This was exactly what I was looking for. The beginning was a bit clumsy and rushed, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was very happy with where it went. I imagine people are freaking out because the rape was so graphic and the character actually had a realistic reaction to being assaulted, but the tags *did* say there was rape, and every chapter had a warning for violence, etc. So why are 90% of the comments people bitching about it? If you're a delicate person, skip stories that say that they contain violence and rape. At any rate, I really enjoyed this one, and it's the embodiment of my list, "Rape that Doesn't End in Love."

Oh man. Part of me wishes I had just read without seeing spoilers, but it was good to know going in that this is NOT yuri, and I don't know why it thinks it is. Even in the beginning, it was never indicated as anything more than friendship, and that girl isn't even the main character anymore. The focus is on a girl with a crush on her male childhood friend. At any rate, this is super messed up, and I'm kind of bummed that it's been abandoned. No update in at least seven years, so I guess it's dead. I wanted to know what happens.

I'd be interested to read more about hot, lesbian vampires, lol. This was an interesting little one shot. Shame it's so short, though, because it'd be fun to examine the complicated relationships. And everything that happens after.

Wow, this is definitely twisted. What a messed up relationship. But I enjoyed the manga, and I really liked the parallels to the fairytale, The Red Shoes. It's a less literal approach to it, though it still maintains that concept of never being able to take the shoes off. In the fairytale, a huntsman has to cut off her feet to save her life, so I guess be happy that wasn't you, Yuriy. Lol Seriously, though, a lot of creepy sexism goes into shoe designs, if you dig into the history and concept. They look pretty on your legs, but they aren't good for you. I've had jobs where I was forced to wear heels, and it's not great. Anyway, Adam, you fucking sociopath. It started out seeming like Yuriy was the one in charge, arogant and confident sort, but that wasn't the case at all. The way Adam smiles all passive and calm, like nothing is happening, wtf. It's his own fault things go the way that they do, but I honestly feel like Adam wasn't punished enough for what he did. The ending came so quickly. I get that it was something major for what he likes to do, but I feel like Yuriy should have been killed. He treated him awfully and he doesn't deserve to have him in the end. That would have really crushed his spirit, and he deserves that. At any rate, the happily ever after doesn't seem fitting to the story, but it's sweet enough. The whole tale is pretty creepy and disturbing, though. Manipulative love to the most unhealthy degree. Also, did I miss something? What was the secret? That Yuriy whored himself out? I wasn't clear on that. I did like the history with the uncle and his rival, though. That was a nice little addition. I love when enemies turn out to have been involved, especially when there's still sexual tension there.

I wish there'd been more development in that first story, since it had potential, but the way it ended worked really well. Sick and wrong, haha. The other one was typical of darker yaoi, I'd say. Still, pretty messed up, even if the guy kinda had it coming.

This is a strange set of stories in that one of them is super cutesy and one of them is about child rape. But okay, whatever works for you, author. The first story is really sweet, so I rated this a four based on that story alone. The others were probably more like a three, partly because they didn't always have a natural flow from one major moment to the next. I hate stories about clones because the concept of replacing someone with a duplicate is depressing to me. Like, does the person you loved originally not even matter anymore? There's an episode of Black Mirror that touches on this very well. It's soul-crushing but it's very reflective of the issues behind the concept of creating a copy of someone. Overall, not the worst thing I've ever read. There are some weird things in the stories that don't fit, for me, but I did like elements of all of the stories included, so hey.

Pretty weird and random so far. We'll see what happens.

Noooooo, I want more! Honestly, it's not even that great, but there is so very little yaoi with actual plot and action. Yaoi horror is so rare, and this isn't just a case of smut with blood and vampires or something. It's an actual horror story. But it's gonna take forever to upload. D: I hope it's a long story, at any rate. And maybe more like this will come about. The translation is okay, and it's greatly appreciated that they took the effort to do it at all. Art is pretty, story is a bit abrupt, but I'm sticking with it. Hope it doesn't disappoint.