I absolutely ADORE this manga. It really isn't meant to be taken seriously. You can spend days or weeks analysing Ayase and Kanou and, for me, it would be fun. But guys, this isn't exactly a romance manga or a "based on actual events" novel. It is erotica. Gay porn for chicks. And, like it or not, there are people out there, like myself, who get aroused by rape, ravishment and forceful intercourse. Get over it, move on if you don't like it and read something else if it is more than you handle.
Personally, I am more captivated by the growth that both Kanou and Ayase have undergone in the last several volumes. I even ache for Kanou at times because he is written as a character who only has one mode to his personality... yakuza boss. Where Kubo can be ruthless on one hand and kind on the other, Kanou is a character with only one hand. He is learning as he goes, just as Ayase is learning. Ayase is learning to be confident, self-assured, honest and unafraid of the world around him. Kanou is learning patience, respect for the feelings of others and what it is like to be loved and accepted as he is, flaws and all. These are poignant lessons we all have to learn in our lives and they are woven through an erotic manga by a writer talented enough to seamlessly blend the two. What is there not to love about this manga?
Never agreed with a comment more, thank you for putting this into words!
Also total agree....and I think he is still taking note of the lessons he picked up on the book on caring for small animals
Thanks!
Hahaha! Kanou is trying, but I can't imagine how hard it is for someone with his history and his current job and social position to change. I had to make some serious personality changes about 15 years ago or so. I was abusive. Plain and simple, I was abusive to my husband. I realized it when I read a "Dear Abby" advice column that had the "50 Reasons to Leave Your Lover" list of the 50 most common signs of an abusive relationship. I had 48 out of 50. That scared the shit out of me. I was going to end up driving my husband and children away if I didn't get my shit together. So, I decided to make changes. I started with that list of 48 things. It was a start, but it still was very hard to change who I had been for the last 30+ years as well as try to remold myself despite my personal and family history. (My mother and grandmother were also abusive and my step-father physically, mentally, emotionally and sexually abused me.) My past had made me who I was up to that point and I didn't know how to be any other way. So, I found myself in our local Buddhist temple. I asked to speak with someone and I told the monk my story. Every last, ugly detail. He taught me how to let go of lingering anger, how to meditate, the Buddhist concepts of enlightenment and that my imperfections aren't something I should hate. Rather, by accepting my flaws and understanding that as a living person, I will always have flaws - and so will every other human - I was able to see my abusiveness as something that can be let go of without losing myself. I had created my flaws, they didn't create me. As easily as I created them, I could destroy them. If I met the me from 15 or 20 years ago, I don't think I would recognize her. I know I wouldn't like her much. But the me today... I like her an awful lot and I am very proud of her. So are my husband and children. I am also lucky that I married the most patient, loving, kind and understanding man on the planet. He stood by me no matter what and he was always there to pick me up when I stumbled.
I know that is why I sympathize so much with Kanou. He wants to change, he just doesn't know how or where to start. The fact that he tries and that he even wants to change at all, make him a good guy in my book. None of us is perfect and we don't need to be. We just need to try to be a better person today than we were yesterday. It will eventually add up and make us pretty darn good.
Thank you for sharing that with me....I am 57 and all I have left is my grown kids, my grandkids and a broken down body. I have not thought about taking that path but you have changed my way of thinking
Webtoons out there. This was a re-read for me, but I think I loved it more the more I read it. The character development and writing are seamless, the sex scenes are hot, but they are also very poignant. You can see the changes in Eric/One and Shell each time they are together. The theme of "hiding who you are to survive" was repeated with every character throughout the story and that made the theme relatable. Regardless of why, we all hide something in order to be acceptable to others. This made the story not only entertaining, but, in its own way, insightful. In the end, I couldn't even hate a single antagonist - well, maybe Brutal because he killed his own daughter - because I could understand where their delusions came from. I'm not saying I liked them or that they were right for doing what they did, but I couldn't hate them either. Making a reader understand an antagonist as well as the protagonist is the mark of a talented storyteller. I hope to see more from this creator. They are off to an amazing start and will surely impress us all again in the future.
I have learned more about the Japanese Language from yaoi and the wonderful translators who generously gift us with knowledge and information than I have from the several Japanese Language courses I have taken over the years.
どもうありがと！ がんばって！
... If you overlook the dick kicking and buttsex.
Butt buttsex is sooo Disney. Let it Go is actually about Elsa loaing her butt-virginity in the snow
LMAOO
...watching the same porn video over and over and over. After the first 50 fucks, I just don't have any fucks left to give. At least with Sekiichi Hatsukoi readers are teased with the "Days Until Ritsu... figures his shit out or whatever it is he is doing this decade." This, though, is literally the definition of insanity - doing the same shit over and over again expecting different results.
I have a lot of respect for mangaka like Takanaga Hinato, Yamane Ayano, Nakamura Shungiku and Kubo Tite who write and draw the same series for decades on end. But let's be real, these people are artists, creators. It must put a real cramp in their creativity to be stuck with the same characters year after year, decade after decade. If you love one character or story from a mangaka, you'll be likely to love any character or story they come up with. Let them spread their wings of creativity rather than shackle them to characters that have had a good run. It is okay for a manga to finish so the mangaka can start on something fresh and new. Fans have literally caged the creativity of the mangaka they adore with their obsessive love for the characters. The characters can't actually die, but a mangaka's creativity can. And it is the fans who kill it by not allowing a mangaka to end a series and start something new. I get it. I love these series too, but I am also confident that I would love anything by the mangaka I listed above. They are all phenomenal creators, storytellers and artists. In fact, I might like a new story even more that I loved the old ones. But we'll never get a chance to find out as long as their talent is shackled to a series that is long overdue to end.
Well, Takanaga Hinako draw some new manga series and they all are really bad and shitty... Her new furry manga is so bad it's good.
I think she just can't draw new good story. Rape, rape, raaaaaapeeeee
A lot of times what you're seeing is also the mangaka trying to deal with the actual manga industry, not just their creativity waning. The industry itself, the editors and expected genre tropes used to bump up sales, are maybe more the creativity killers than them continuing with the same series/characters for years.
What always got me down about this manga is how much it is branded/centralized around the trope of the tsundere love interest. Unfortunately, even years of character development and plotlines will do nothing for an infuriating tsundere personality if an editor or publisher wants that to be the main selling point of a manga.
*shrugs*
I know that everyone just wants to blame writers/artists when a manga is bad or a series goes downhill, but seriously, there are many things outside their control that can ruin a manga. A four-volume contract when you wrote a plotline that's meant to be three volumes. Editorial decisions you disagree with. Publishing and demographic restrictions (such as age ratings, whether you're demographic is supposed to be teens, boys, or girls) which often reproduce cliches and bad tropes.
Honestly, it's not the best time for BL manga in general, as far as the industry is concerned. There isn't as much genre innovation as there was in the 90s and mid-00s, and what is changing is happening in Korea and with webtoons...
Anyways, that was my tirade! :P
Believe me, I know, understand and agree with what you're saying. I have a close friend who is a mangaka. He loves his art, but he hates his job most days. He draws or writes 27 out of 30 days a month and is paid like a beggar, only to have his editor change his story half way through. But editors are slaves to sales and sales are slaves to the consumer. If you want to see a genre improve, you have to convince the purchasing audience to start the change. Or at least seek it. Keeping mangaka tied to a series or trope is done by those paying 1500¥ a pop to enjoy their tropes and worn out series. And they have every right to do just that, they pay for the privilege. Unfortunately, the mangaka pay an even higher price. Which is why I think the paying audience needs to be more considerate and responsible. Think about what you're asking before you ask for it. That's all.
A lot more innovation is coming out of Korea right now, but the tropes and fans remain the same. There is still homophobia and disdain for homosexuality shown in webtoons, though it is not anything like it was in the 90's manga. I am not going to gripe about rape because I am old enough and wise enough to know that there is a purpose behind the rape trope whether non-paying readers like it or not. The paying customers' opinions are the only one's who count to the publishers and they seem to have no trouble paying plenty to read it. I know I do. Whether the children here realize it or not, their yaoi is little more than soft-core gay porn. And, like it or not, porn is all about sexual fantasies. For women, those sexual fantasies involve "love", but that doesn't stop them from being sexual fantasies. And the #1 sexual fantasy among females is, and has always been, ravishment and rape. So, I think most "rape complainers" are just scared because they read something that society tells them is wrong and they liked it. Well, rape is wrong... in real life. But this isn't real life, it is fiction/fantasy, where anything goes because no one can get hurt in fiction. That is why we have fantasies. It is a place where we can do all the things we can't in real life. Personally, I dig the idea that a person I am attracted to is so attracted to me that they can't control themselves. It's hot. Fantasies don't need to be cluttered up with morals and societal mores. It's a fantasy!! Keep it simple.
The only innovation I can't get behind is omegaverse. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it, it just doesn't do anything for me. To me, it is an excuse for prejudice. Basically, it is okay that omegas are treated like garbage because of how they were born. This has a lot of veiled and overt correlations to everything from homophobia to racism to ableism. Don't get me wrong, I'm no social justice warrior, but I get turned off when people are treated as "less than" because of something they were born being. Maybe it's because I'm pretty different myself and have yet to meet a single person who isn't just a little "different". Yet, we are all human and deserve to be treated as such. Sadly, the countries that my favorite media comes from don't quite have that viewpoint yet. I still hold out hope though. Give it another 30 or so years. LOL
Wow! I pretty much agreed with everything you said!
I find it odd how there is a disconnect on here about how 70% of BL is softcore porn. Fantasies will always be troublesome if you treat them as if they are reality. But you don't watch a porn video, and then think, "Wow, that guy having sex with his teacher is really morally abhorrent!" You automatically get that it is fantasy/roleplay. But there are a lot of readers who treat manga as if those relationships are supposed to be an ideal, real relationship.
"Manga are not relationship or sex how to manuals!" LMAO I can't tell you how many times I have said that line in comments! I actually have to take breaks from this site because I lose my damn mind over some of the things readers say here. I mean, I get it. The typical age for the audience here is between 11 and 20. With the vast majority having a very limited life experience scope. I'm 49 and have lived a life full of experiences that would make most sailors blush. So, I get why the kids here are the way they are. But I'd be lying if I said it didn't drive me nuckin' futs! The lack of separation between fantasy and reality for some readers is pretty scary. I mean, you can see similarities or draw correlations when the rare manga has a good theme or "moral to the story", but viewing a manga as an "ideal" is like using porn as a step by step guide to sex! Ever tried that? It's hilarious and it doesn't work! LMAO Hilarity aside, since this site is not age restricted, the best we - and the young people reading - can hope for are responsible, older, mature, experienced readers who are willing to guide these kids through the truth of what they are reading. Sadly, that requires the young ones to listen and that is a rare occurrence. I try when I can, but, honestly, it is exhausting trying to keep up with some of the wild things some of these readers come up with. The intolerance, prejudice and obstinance can be overwhelming. If I help just one young person, I've done my job... I guess.
Remedial writing. The plot, the writing, the character development, the climax and even the sex scenes felt like they were conceived, blocked and written by a child. Or at the very least, a novice. The author has great potential as an illustrator, but needs some serious work on their storytelling skills. Maybe a collaboration with a pro writer would help.
I don't think I have tapped through pages faster with any other manga. I wasn't skimming either! I was just in a hurry to find out what happens next! And that's still after having read it twice before! Kabu and Nirasawa are two of the hottest and most intense characters I've ever encountered and I love every frame of their crazy, complicated relationship. Though the words, "I love you." never pass Kabu's lips directly to Nirasawa, it shows in every action he makes. He is the ultimate seme, second only to Finder's Asami, in my book. Nirasawa's devotion is second to none. Such an amazing couple with such an amazing story.
There are pics listed for this manga that are not part of the current pages available for said manga? It is like there was more than 7 pages at some point and now there aren't. WTF?!
I was also shocked when I saw that...
The art was amazing, the sex was hot, the writing was smooth and the plot really took me by surprise. Smut AND love?!?! Who knew it could be done so well!!! I loved the theme that a healthy relationship can include all the strange and wonderful fetishes and perversions you can imagine. What makes a healthy relationship is communication, compromise and growing together as a couple. This was a stunningly beautiful portrayal of that theme. A healthy relationship doesn't have to be boring or vanilla and wild fetishes or a high level of sexual experimentation doesn't prevent a person from being capable of having a healthy love relationship. This was really one of the most beautiful and romantic manga I have read in a very long time. I hope to see more of these types of "deep themed" manga from this mangaka. Porn isn't exactly the place to learn important lessons about relationships, but when it does happen, it is such a treat.
Whether you enjoy omegaverse manga or not, this is a manga not to be missed. Though the prevailing themes of omegaverse move the plot, greater themes of love, acceptance, understanding and self-confidence create the resolutions to the conflicts. This is not a "sex solves everything" omegaverse manga. This mangaka is far more talented a storyteller than that. Personally, I have even suggested to my granddaughter that she read this manga. It is one of the few manga that uses the omegaverse to highlight common situations that anyone who is viewed, socially, as "different" might face. Which, I think, young people should see from many perspectives in order to understand that not everything needs a political rally, governmental law, lynch mob, suicide or Facebook frenzy to solve. Sometimes, just the love and acceptance of friends and family (blood or chosen) and a little self-confidence can overcome many social adversities. This manga is one that tells those types of stories poignantly yet simply and always with a positive "moral to the story" and an HEA. I hope this manga continues on with a good long run and, when the time comes, ends as beautifully as it began and continued.
OK granma
Awww, does baby need attention? Do mommy and daddy not hug you enough? Do the mean kids at school ignore baby? You poor thing. Okay, I will give you attention. Are you ready?
GO FUCK YOUR HAT
Feel better now?
If you say so
And still you persist. You really do crave attention bad. I get it. But, even if you disagree with my opinion, don't you think you would enjoy the positive attention that an intelligent discussion would provide rather than trading insults like a couple of school children?
Unless... are you a masochist? It's okay. I am too. I just prefer my humiliation to be dished out from someone who really knows me and can trigger just the right responses from me. I guess we all have our own preferences. But if you need someone to verbally abuse you, I'd be happy to help. We could get to know each other and then my humiliation would feel that much more intense. Reply back if I'm right and if you want me to show you some of the things I have learned as a Dom.
Lmao I was just joking, didn't know that it'll get this bad. I'm not an edgy youngster who dismisses anything from their elders just because they're old. Then I wouldn't be in an 18+ website, no?
Anyways I'll go Frick my hat as you said.
BTW I agree with your comment. This manga is heartwarming. I thought it was boring and got sleepy in my first read.
Sadly, this is NOT a restricted website and the majority of yaoi readers here are well under 18. Also, you don't have to be a kid to crave attention. All humans crave it. We are social/pack animals after all. It is the same if you are 16 or 61. How you go about getting that attention is what changes with age and experience. As you may have guessed, You're not the first person to reply to me as you did. I am actually a very tolerant and understanding person, just not in the face of unnecessary rudeness. As I am sure you have surmised.
I would agree that this manga has its slow moments and it really doesn't fit the yaoi genre. In fact, if I am not mistaken, it is technically shounen ai. I can't remember if the sex scenes are explicit or implied. This manga is more "Madame Bovary's Lover" or "The Story of O" where most yaoi is "Debbie Does Dallas." (Wow, my porn references really show my age. LOL)
At any rate, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I enjoyed that part of our conversation far more than our previous interactions. I hope we can do this again and just skip to the conversations.