Sleeps In Sunbeams's manga / #Dark(14)

You don’t get the opportunity to enjoy characters like this very often, so be sure to give yourself time to savour these wonderfully dark, twisted men who seem perfect for each other.

Really different, dark and disturbing. The two MCs are shaped by tragedy, abuse and neglect and while they fall in love with each other they don’t have a healing relationship. Given their history, it would not be believable for love to be a cure all, and sadly, elements of abuse and control creep into their relationship. I wish for a sweeter ending for poor Jiwoon, he seems fated to be with abusers.

This school was like Lord of the Flies meets the devil for sheer survival of the fittest and destroy the weak themes. The bullying was insane level cruelty, I could really understand why a demons offer would be irresistible for anyone and it did make me want the demon side to win. In this story, the humans were the cruelest of all. I loved the art, the fight scenes got progressively more exciting and I thought the ending was great.

Trigger warnings: Rape, domestic violence, abusive seme Izumu-kun is a quiet college student who tends to avoid social outings. When he catches the eye of Kurokawa-senpai, the older student sweeps him into a relationship that has the lonely Izumu feeling content. That is, until senpai starts showing another side to himself. An intensely jealous and possessive side that is so extreme that Izumu is shocked to realise that Kurokawa is even jealous of the time he spends at his dead cousins grave. In a fit of jealous fury, Kurokawa goes so far as to rape Izumu on the grave of his cousin. Obviously senpai is yandere. This is a psychological story and Izumu is the one who apologises after Kurokawa hits him and abuses in any way. This is clear domestic violence, to the point others comment on his injuries. While I love a good yandere story, if they cannot protect and care for their lover even from themselves, then it’s not for me. There is NOTHING romantic about an abusive relationship. Even with senpai’s backstory, there is no justification to rape, hit, demean etc, the one you profess to love. All I see is a future of bruises and excuses.

There is no doubt that this is an interesting story. Hyunsung has a stalker who becomes increasingly invasive in his life. The relentless nature of his stalking and his own passive nature has him accepting the gifts and intrusion into his life, even when he finds it stressful. I found him frustratingly irritating tbh, because I don’t relate his passivity and even when he turned the tables or made a move to move on, he was unable to truly keep the stalker from his life. It’s not even as though I felt him falling for his stalker (though he did have some obvious compassion and a level of caring at the end). The gap between what Hyunsung did and what I wanted him to do (or what I would do) was too big for me to find him a sympathetic character. I did enjoy the stalkers obsession and control. He was a cleverly created character but I feel that I don’t understand his motivations enough for him to be truly relatable or have me cheering for him to win Hyunsung over. Why did he pick Hyunsung, and where did he see him first? Does he still stalk the others that were mentioned? Where does he know the other nutter stalker from and why are they so hostile toward each other? Still, despite my thoughts and questions I really had a great time reading the story.

A highly twisted story; dark and depraved where you can’t help but to feel a bit sorry for the boy who was always overlooked in favour of his sibling. There is nothing nice or cute about this story, but it was interesting. And disturbing.

A bunch of dark and even depressing stories. Twisted relationships and imperfect endings, these were interesting but not something I would read again

A gritty and painful story. A life in the Yakuza is stained in blood and this story was drenched in rape, loss and death. It was very well done, but it sucked.

Trigger warning: Rape Ouji no Hakoniwa: This was quite a dark story and the mangaka really did well sharing the pain felt by the broken Yuzuru. No longer the young master, Yuzuru was used to doing what it takes to get by. He was so tough yet fragile, I really felt for him and absolutely hated Iwase when he raped him too. All that TLC, ruined. Definitely a psychological aspect to the story with a Stockholm style relationship though the extra chapter lightened it a bit. Dannetsu Senjou no Kodou: Two roommates sharing a dorm with a line down the middle. This was a story where the seme bought girls to his room and made out right in front of the one he liked. He was deliberately cruel, though the uke would just put his headphones on and ignore him. I would have preferred the uke move to a different room and get away from that toxic relationship, but he was one of those “But I want to be near him” guys which just makes me roll my eyes when I see nothing likeable about a character. A weak uke, weak in character. Not my favourite type to read about. If he stood up for himself just a little and wasn’t such a doormat I would like it, but as it stands, it irritated me.

High school student Toda Yuji used to be best friends with Kojima Isagi when they were young. But as they got older they drifted apart, moving with different friendship groups. Now Kojima is a delinquent who cuts class frequently and a loner who is avoided. That was until he had a brief connection with Toda while leaping out from the 3rd floor at school. Then the two boys reestablished their friendship and roamed at night doing whatever they pleased. Toda had that angry teenage, lash out vibe going; turning his back on his mother and school work, beset by nightmares of the time when Kojima saved him as a child. Kojima was a neglected child of a mother who didn’t want him. But his bond with Toda was perhaps the most real part of his life. Events escalated until crisis point with both boys in a dire dilemma. But bonds of loyalty ran true, and while there was no romance between them, it became clear that they could be good for each other. This was a darker story than expected with a psychological element and rather realistic with the teenage angst.