Indigo's manga / #Violence(12)

Fire Candy

Complete | yonekura kengo | 2000 released

The drawing is good but it isn't my cup of tea. It has many components which help turn it into an explosive Molotov cocktail: mad male character, gangsters' rivalry, addiction to drugs, unrequited love, scenes bordering hentai (very explicit graphic content), fidelity to a deceased lover, at least two bisexual male characters (both of them get turned on by blood), same-sex prostitution, violence and gore. I believe that the fact that two of the characters or more are (sexually) turned on by blood, gore and violence is a manifestation of one of the many types of paraphilias; it might be haematophilia, sexual attraction involving blood, but I am not sure about that). Suitable for an adult audience. The ending was rushed and unfulfilling due to its many obscure points. Note: Paraphilias describe the many instances where the sexual arousal occurs in response to objects or stimuli not associated with normal sexual behavior patterns.

Goth

Complete | Otsuichi | 2003 released

Warning: Discretion advised, highly disturbing content, not suitable for sensitive persons. Goth is the story of two teenagers who are attracted to murder and torture, hence the name "Goth". Morino and Kamiyama may share the same attraction towards morbid situations but they aren't the same: Morino is attracted to the pain and the suffering which precede the act of killing, whereas Kamiyama is attracted to killing itself. They both have psychopathic tendencies with no sense of remorse or guilt, except maybe for Morino. The guilt which consumes her however isn't linked to her desire to see other people in pain but to a secret which she harbors. They both hide their own secrets. I believe however that Kamiyama is the most dangerous out of the two because he is an active psychopath whereas Morino is a passive one. They are not lovers but there is a delicate balance between the two generated by their complicity, which in its turn is created by the fact that they are almost attracted to the same thing. This balance might at some point break if the tables are turned on Morino, if she becomes a passive prey instead of being a passive predator. As a work of art, Goth is a very decent one. It has one major flaw though, it lacks a clear point of view despite the fact that this manga's theme is sadly a factual one: each society generates its own number of serial killers and psychopaths.