otakulys's manga / #brothel(5)

The art is pretty, so typically I would be slightly forgiving of some obnoxious but typical yaoi tropes. But this doesn't even have to do with the pathetic uke. What about the other prostitutes? What happened to the one that was flipping out and begging them to stop? Did he get executed? I couldn't figure out what was going on at the end of that scene. But the fact that all of these people had been mistreated and tormented, there's no forgiving that. I don't care if this rape to love BS ended in the seme being sweet to the uke. What the hell. The uke isn't the only victim that matters. Super grossed out right now. I always hate how rape and abuse are okay as long as there's twoo wuv at the end, but it doesn't usually branch out to other people who never get their own happy ending. I really liked a lot of the art, and if they'd gone the dark route and really explored how awful this place was, I would have liked it. Instead, all is forgiven because the seme had a sad childhood. Boohoo. All of these people you're raping and forcing into prostitution aren't having a grand time either, and they aren't doing that crap to others.

I understand why so many people are saying they felt unsatisfied with this manga. There's definitely something annoying about it. I feel like it would have been better if Kichou hadn't been so annoying and wishy washy all the time. At first, it made sense that he was doing things to protect Kagerou, but then he would lure him in and lead him on, then act like a dick, and all of it was supposedly because he loved him, but that didn't really add up overall. I hate how cocky and smug he was all the time. And of course the mildly rapey sex, all with that creepy smirk. So yeah, I'm annoyed, too. I wanted to really see Kichou suffer at some point and truly regret the way he handled things. I feel like I would have preferred an ending with Iwasaki getting what he wanted. But ultiimately, I am glad they have a happy ending. If I take out all the parts that annoy me, I really do like the concept of the story. Two boys, raised in a brothel, and their forbidden love--it was a recipe for a really good manga, and it could have been so much better. But it wasn't awful, and the translation was good. The art had weird moments but it was mostly rather beautiful. So 3.5 or so stars.

Mixed feelings so far, as this is a weird freaking manga. Oddly gets LESS weird when the hell brothel comes in. But I like the art, even when it's strange. I'm intrigued, at any rate. I hope it doesn't disappoint. Four chapters isn't enough to be sure, but I hope that it's long enough to satisfy what it's set up. Also, lol at whoever tagged this as "slice of life."

Feels a liiiiittle convenient that he's seemingly run into the guy he raped and had consensual sex with him. But hey, it's yaoiland, so whatever. I was mostly intrigued because it's really rare in omegaverse to have the alpha feel guilty for raping an omega. I would love to see that played out more, like genuine trauma from his own actions. I'm guessing this will mostly be smut, which bums me out since I like more story, and the smut so far didn't do much for me. But it's not a bad manga as of chapter one. I guess we'll see how it unfolds. CHAP 2: Still interesting, and the sex as therapy for his past trauma is nice. I really like seeing someone truly damaged by the awful thing they did, specifically rape. You just never see that explored, and it's even rare to see a rapist in a BL even acknowledge that he is one. So I do like that, if nothing else. I wanna see what's going on with that other omega at the brothel, though. I hope he gets a spin off.

Huh. That was a very strange, very convoluted manga. There were things I actually liked about it, despite all of the weirdness inserted here and there. I think the ending confused some people because it's so abrupt, then it's followed by a bunch of "afterwards" type stuff. The story ends with both of the original couple realizing they were both in love, and the asshole one deciding to leave everything behind. It also means the new couple stays together. Everything after that is snippets of things in the past, or personal introspection. I actually kind of love "second love" stories with all the heartbreak that comes from the loss of a first love, then the healing that comes after with a person who actually treats you right. This is such a weird story, and it's all over the place, so I can't say that it was as satisfying as it could be, but I did appreciate seeing those themes. They're rare in yaoi. Most of the time the unhealthy relationship wins in a love triangle. The art was strange and the visuals were seriously disgusting at times, but I don't know, I think this was worth the read. I can see why a lot of people wouldn't like it, but I give it a solid B. I hope someone translates the sequel, though I worry about what might be revealed then, given how damaged everyone is in this one.