otakulys's manga / #drama(421)

I really liked this at first, because I hoped, despite having read enough yaoi to know better, that it was going to be about the main character getting with his love interest after overcoming the psychotic bully who was abusing him. The moment his attacker was given some development, I knew this was going to have a typical Yaoi-land ending. To be fair, as far as rape forgiveness in yaoi goes, this is absolutely not the worst I have seen. At least the uke was upset for a while, and even later, the seme wonders if the uke is still scared after what happened. But it's still annoying as hell. I don't mind rape in stories when the rapist gets what's coming to him, or at the very least doesn't end up in a relationship with his victim. But that's often not how these things go in yaoi. Still, I liked the manga enough to give it four stars despite the rape to love. It's pretty and emotional, and it's *almost* realistic, outside of the sexual assault and coercion.

Don't you just hate it when your grandpa binds your soul with a doll in a spiritual marriage? Don't worry, though. This is Yaoi-land. Anything goes. This story is kind of disjointed and all over the place. It isn't the worst thing I've ever read, but the plot points were very choppy, and the reveals were formulaic. The art was okay, but the plot itself was kind of dull and rushed. I may have liked it a tiny bit more if it weren't for the weird rape-to-love elements, but I dunno. Two and a half stars, but it won't let me do halves.

Kind of a strange story. More than kind of. I need to read it again, but if memory serves, it was around a three or four rating to me.

Guy rapes kid to get back at the chick who didn't run away with him years ago. Kid, of course, is madly in love with him for no reason. (I mean, Yaoi-land reasons, but that's pretty much the same thing.) This is a scary-unhealthy "romance" which, of course, is never addressed as such. If this were real life, that guy would have murdered his lover or gone to jail for something, I'm sure.

Kinda weird. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I guess it could be worse. At least he didn't for sure end up with the guy who raped him, which is pretty rare in Yaoi-land.

The third one was sad but interesting. These stories were all a bit rushed, and some of them were pretty strange, but they were entertaining. This author really has a thing for rimming, haha. Three and a half stars.

Gorgeous art, and I'm intrigued despite the fact that I'm sure the unhealthy stuff will be painted as romantic, etc. Typical of yaoi, and it's pretty annoying, but beyond that, I want to see where it goes.

It's a really messed up story with a very unhealthy relationship from beginning to end, but it works for me somehow. I don't usually like the way abusive/manipulative behavior is often treated as romantic in Yaoi-land, but I think the story here is at least semi-aware of how screwed up the relationship is here. Not that there are three of them, but that it's such a strange, controlling, pushy, co-dependent sort of relationship. Still, I'm glad that it ended on a happy note. I would love to read more involving these three, as long as they always end up together in the end.

I'm giving it four stars only because it says at the end that it's being continued, which I hope is the case. The sex in this didn't really do it for me, but I liked the foreshadowing that was hinted, the deeper drama, etc. The ending is sad only in the sense that the story isn't complete. It's a chapter ending, not the story itself, but I guess the tag could still apply.

Flawed and a bit silly in places, but still an enjoyable read. It might have benefited from being multiple volumes that allowed more character development, etc. But hey, everyone was hot, so I'm happy.