Ningen Shikkaku (ITOU Junji)
Notpia
Wow. Seriously, what the fuck did I just read? 1990's yaoi is weird.
Nii-chan (harada)
Alright, I decided to reread this since my curiosity got the better of me. This story is basically what happens when three incredibly antisocial people, all very out of touch with reality, affirm and comfort each overs actions. In this case: stalking, pedophilia, rape, assault, grooming etc... The boy here has been groomed by 'nii-chan,' and so when he finds him again as a seventeen year old he pursues a romantic relationship with the man as a way of reliving what he went through as a ten year old with him. The girl in this story, at first seeming an innocent and somewhat insignificant sideline to the 'relationship' of the man and the boy, somehow becomes more entangled when shes told the full story. Does she tell someone and try to get help for the boy? No. She reaffirms him and the man seeing eachover as being fine. She only has issue with it when she discovers who the man is. Is it because she knows he's a bad person? No. In fact, we're told her own father slept with the man and groomed him when the man was a child himself, which landed him in jail. She then tells the boy she wants to get revenge on the man for this. So, they tie him up, and the boy rapes and degrades him while she electrocutes him. Its A okay though, since afterwards the boy says he's in love with the man. A year later, he and the boy surprisingly meet at a cafe to kiss and reaffirm their love for eachover. The girl cheers. Mix in a couple anecdotes about how nobody in this story thinks a relationship between a child and adult is weird since they love each-over, and you have the perfect story to indoctrinate children into thinking that relationships with adults are perfectly fine! I totally disagree with people here saying it's not romanticizing pedophilia. Even if Harada meant this as a way to reveal a victims mindset and show the process which one can get groomed, they do it in such a way where it both reaffirms the victim experienced little trauma from the experience (in fact, enjoyed it) and defends pedophilia as something which can lead to balanced relationships rather than the horrific thing it actually is. Inadvertantly or not, this story comes off as defensive of the concept of pedophilia and makes no real effort to show the reader their relationship is wrong. For a good comparison, it's similar to Cuties in execution. As a general rule of thumb, if you want to make an intiguing story about a very messed up concept you need to show the viewer that it is a messed up concept. Otherwise it just becomes a voyeurism for that messed up concept and not an actual critique of it.
Prison Lab