TwitteringBirdOfPrey's manga / #manipulative seme(17)

Spoiler alert. I can't believe one of the popular tags for this is "touching and pure". This is one of the least pure and saddest, most upsetting stories I've read. Buying children as slaves, taking them from their family, an adult using one little boy for his own twisted sexual desires, his actions eventually pushing him to suicide, and teaching his own child to use and abuse the other boy, who is deeply scarred by the rape and abuse that came from the person he loved. There is no question that they both would have developed PTSD. The ending is no less upsetting as Ryou continues to be in a relationship with the toxic person who hurt him so deeply - an incredibly manipulative, selfish, practically sociopathic seme. I don't see what made Akihito suddenly develop a conscience, and why he didn't treat Ryou better. If he'd treated him well he would have had a totally willing and happy partner the whole time, the boy was crazy in love with him, there was no reason for Akihito to refuse to give him love and support in return when Ryou needed it more than ever, especially if he wanted him to stay. Does he even love him? He didn't say it back, instead he told Ryou that he still sees him the way he's always seen him, which is as a possession. Ryou's happy because it's an improvement from being raped and controlled all the time. There is no romance or love, or it's a very unhealthy and toxic love. Not to mention the evil father suffers no consequences, nor does the butler who witnessed the child and domestic abuse for years and did nothing. On a side note, had their relationship been a consensual master x slave or D/s relationship, those sex scenes would have been pretty hot.

I stopped reading after chapter 4 when I couldn't be happy about their unhealthy codependent relationship and Sou getting what he wanted after how badly he treated Katsura. I ship Katsura and Sakurasawa. He's sweet and cute, and genuinely cares about Katsura, unlike Sou who was just feeding his own ego, and had no right to get jealous. Even if he developed feelings, his ego was his only motivation for a long time, he knew he was disabling Katsura, plus he made him feel bad by acting like he hated it, then hurt him further by telling him he wasn't doing it because he genuinely cared (which Katsura is in denial about), followed by shocking him further by kissing him, then deciding it was all over without asking how Katsura felt about anything. It's almost like he *wanted* to hurt him, then Sou felt better while Katsura became more depressed. So self-centered. In the end, he's still dependent on Sou, and misconstrues it as love. Ugh. Maybe it develops beyond that but I dislike the main couple too much to keep reading. The brother is great though.

[9/10/18] Moved from old "Reading" list. Read to chapter 2.