THIS
People need to calm down, and just enjoy the story.
Not that you can't criticize and state your opinions, but complaining about something that happened early on in the story, specially considering that the characters have progressed and changed since, is a bit impertinent. (And if you don't agree with someone, explain it nicely)
Plus lets be serious: I'm pretty sure that ALL of us are against rape in a real life situation. The difference in our opinions so far lies in how much we identify stories as being separate from real life, so arguing is pretty redundant since the space I put between how I see life and how I see a story is personal. That being said, if we were to eliminate all the stories with raping themes, how many would remain? Wether we like it or not, its a recurring theme in yaoi, so either don't read if you don't like it, or learn to live with that and continue the story.
Personally, though I agree that claiming that "it all started as an act of love" is false, and there is no point in denying it was rape in the beginning, the same cannot be said for the rest of the story. The more the story progresses, the more it seems to become an act of love.
I personally don`t get why people are arguing if Asami is a rapist or no. First of all, like many have said, this is a fantasy story, it`s not Real life experience. Secondly, yes Asami did rape Aki IN THE FIRST CHAPTER. Since then so many things have happened that they have developed feeling for each other. Therefore it is not rape any more. They love each other. Maybe their start was bumpy but if Asami didn`t leave an impression on Aki, he wouldn`t come to him afterwards. So stop aqusing Asami-he is awesome and I love him. I love Aki,too, because he has developed into a fine main charecter, whom I love to read about. （￣へ￣）