Oh thank you. You have just sparked my interest in this manga!
Oh why? Is there too much drama in there? I kind of would like to know just in case I ever got the chance to start reading this ╮(￣▽￣)╭ .
hahaha Well why only behind the ears? What if the guy has some weird kink like a foot fetish for example, in which case I can recommend an excellent home made feet balm for pollitos (and I just can't believe I wrote a joke about this; mom please don't read (￣∇￣") )
Wow stabbed!! :( Well you can always knock him off his feet first by sending your flip-flop flying after him but I've gotta warn you, being constantly bitten by flip flop's stings can render a guy impotent for life, so use with caution lol (●￣(ｴ)￣●)
haha Oh but I wasn't putting forward any arguments against love in general, just the kind of love encountered in such unfortunate situations. I think that love is not something everlasting per se, it needs constant grooming and care. It is a good idea though to wear protective gloves not just to do some sanitization because it is contagious. Even people who don't believe in love might fall in it against their better judgement; I wonder what will you do when it happens to you? I hope that you have some form of fluffiness assurance policy ⁄(⁄ ⁄·⁄ω⁄·⁄ ⁄)⁄
hmmm Why this manga did not end in a ménage à trois situation?
The answer is simple, it is Shouji who realized first that he is in love with Terumi and he wanted to have him all for himself. Later on, Terumi was carried away by the same feeling and he persuaded Honami not to do it with Shouji as a top. Hence, they were mutually possessive of each other, in a situation that excluded Honami.
This manga can trigger different responses in readers. In this manga, Sadahiro Mika showed us how ephemeral and unstable feelings can be. The problem doesn't lie with Shouji as much as it lies with Terumi. I think that Shouji's sin was greed whereas Terumi's sin was lust.
I think that Shouji was motivated before lust and love by a sentiment of coveting what Honami had as soon as he realized that Terumi had feelings for him. He could have stepped down and told him about it, about how Terumi used to follow him on his motorcycle while he was riding the bus, but he had other plans. He went to great lengths to make Terumi's his, so why would he want Honami in the picture? The same thing goes for Terumi. In this manga the road towards Terumi's heart was his lust and Shouji triggered that big time. As a result he coveted Shouji as much as the latter coveted him and they developed almost an obsessional desire for each other. Again, this explains why this manga couldn't have ended in a ménage à trois situation.
Honami was the center piece at the beginning but as the story developed he became marginal and even more marginal towards the end, unessential for both of them.
Of course, some might argue that Honami isn't an angel which is true, but for me Shouji is like a small viper which infused its poison since the start. That poison is lust and it circulated in Terumi's blood creating a new situation where the so-called love and loyalty he had for Honami, were forgotten overnight.
I read this manga almost a year ago when I was trying to develop an idea about yaoi and it left a bitter taste in my month. It reminded me of "The Rose" poem by Pierre de Ronsard which described how ephemeral beauty can be, well it is not only beauty but love and friendship too, in some cases. Love can be like that rose which uncloses its "purple mantle" to the light only to loose the glory of its "raiment red" before the day is dead.
Actually there is a minor misunderstanding. When I first read your comment, I thought that it is awkward that SM has automatically been associated with "codified" BDSM as if they were interchangeable. However, before I replied to you, I had to check one point to clarify the root of the misunderstanding. I had to check to see if that term is given a particular definition from the point of view of those who practice BDSM and indeed it turned out that some people define it or consider it, to be more precise, as a subset of BDSM. In light of this, you made a valid presentation. However, there are many people, especially within academic circles, who don't use the term SM, sadomasochism, to signify a subset of BDSM or as a generic term which can be substituted with the former. Since the first time I had been acquainted with the term by reading Freud's work, it has been strictly considered as an analytic tool to grasp one of the many aspects of the psychic structures of the human being. The difference between the two approaches is drastically noticeable. If sadomasochism were to be apprehended from within the mantle of psychoanalysis, then it can be described in this case as a behavioral tendency which encompasses BDSM practices, "non-codified" sadomasochistic practices (in contrast to "codified" BDSM practices), non-sexual sadism, "moral masochism" etc.
If the mangakas' depiction of the type of the relationship between both of the protagonists were to be considered under the light of psychoanalysis theories, then it is correct to say that she has indeed portrayed a form of a sadomasochistic relationship. Of course, her approach wasn't infallible, there were too many loopholes and ambiguities. That being said, I would like to thank you for sharing your thoughts. Without your comment, I would have remained oblivious to the fact that some people use the term SM in a different way than it is used in psychoanalysis literature. Indeed next time I use this term, I will make sure to differentiate it from "codified" BDSM (i.e. as it is practiced within BDSM communities). Thank you again.