otakulys's manga / #rape(198)

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.

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.

I liked it up to the rushed ending. I felt like it could have done well with a bittersweet ending, but it was ultimately like "oh hey, I guess everything is fine now!"

Welp, this was last updated five years ago, so I'm likely never going to get to read the ending, but its predictable enough for me to guess how it goes. This isn't a horrible manga, and it isn't fantastic, either. I like the concept, but it was pretty confusing throughout, didn't have the same impact.

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.

I love it so far, hate to wait for an update but it's worth it. I'm hoping there'll be a bit more action (both of the nonsexual and the sexual nature) in the upcoming chapters, but I'm intrigued either way. I appreciate how attractive so many of the characters are, too. This art is gorgeous, and the artist really knows how to portray different types of attractive features, so we can generally tell everyone apart pretty well. And I know that BB is a rapist and all that, but he is so damn hot. I mean, Yuuto, you're the uke in a violent yaoi manga. If you're gonna get assaulted, it may as well be by a good looking dude, right? Ha.

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.

I really like this so far, especially in the sense that they didn't immediately fall for one another and live happily ever after. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens, and I hope it continues to explore the fact that he always loved this boy like a brother, rather than erasing all of that to make them a couple as easily as possible. Poor babies, either way. Can't wait for more.

Kinda gross so far, but it could go either way. If it addresses how fucked up this all is, cool, but since it probably won't, I can't give it more than two stars. I'll change it if I'm wrong, but it's so gross how easily forgiven rape is in so many "romance" stories. My guess is that it'll turn out the friend wanted him all along, so it was okay that he did that. Cause that's how it works? *eye roll*