Rating this any less than an 8 is a crime in my opinion. Few other manga have dealt with the issues this one tackles with the same level of sensitivity, honesty, and realism as this manga, and this was written nearly 50 years ago. To anyone who says it's "exploitative", it would be exploitative if the mangaka provided no semblance of recovery for Jeremy. It would be exploitative if the mangaka seemed to dwell on Jeremy's suffering in a way that seemed fetishistic or voyeuristic. She doesn't. The repetition of his abuse is to help establish how said abuse can wear on someone over time and the helplessness that one feels being forced to endure such cruelties over and over. Some people are so dense that they need it spelled out for them because they can't otherwise conceive of what it's like. To claim this manga is exploitative is to be overdramatic. While it is fiction, it's realistic enough that it could perfectly describe someone's messed up childhood, or that survivors of sexual abuse reading it could see themselves in Jeremy or even his older brother. It's a bit of a product of its time concerning certain characters but not glaringly so, and honestly, I haven't found an original manga or other work written by anyone gay or straight that has penned that was this cohesive and true-to-life.

The main story is good, it touches on the effects of rape, it also potraies the aftermath with great detail hence the 17 volume length, however as a manga reader looking for the genre romance, i disagree, this is NOT romance, reader be-aware.

I've read this manga five or six times now. It is my most treasured manga series and I set aside 2-3 days every few months to devote to rereading it in one sitting.

The first time I read it, I, like others, found the second half to drag, and was sorely disappointed with the ending, which didn't feel like an ending at all. In retrospect, I had been reading the series as a BL love story. Once I let go of that, and started seeing the story as a psychological exploration, with the sexuality and romance serving as a prop rather than a focus, the whole story clicked and felt like an absolute masterpiece.

Rather than being poorly thought out, I think everything in this manga was done with carefully deliberation and preparation. If you read Hagio Moto's other works, or some of her interviews, you may come to agree. The first half the story is the descent into darkness, with a fast-paced, focused plot that gives the feeling of a world that is becoming smaller and closing in on the protagonist.

I think the second half of the story serves an contrasting function. The pacing is noticeably slower, almost meandering. There is a gradual increase in the introduction of new characters and plots, some of which seem only loosely related to the main characters. All this feels very intentional and supportive of the "redemption" aspect that defines the second half of the narrative. As the reader, it feels like the world slowly opens back up, and life goes on, never quite in the same way, but in some way.

I personally find the ending brilliant. It took me some time to get over the lack of closure and satisfaction, but I think this is what contributed to my desire to reread the manga again and again. Rather than being the result of thoughtless impatience on the mangaka's part, I think it is a well-designed gesture to tie up all the loose ends of the plot, while leaving the overall character development and narrative experience open-ended.

SPOILERS

This manga has brought me to tears, you really feel so sympathic towards Jeremy, when going through the rape he experienced you hope someone will notice his pain, but many turn a blind eye. I have never before read a manga where i wished so much for the MC to be happy.

I know this is a yaoi manga, but i still wish he ended up with Vivi in the end only because she seemed to have such big love for him and even when she thought he had cheated on him with a guy she still wanted to forgive him, i think he deserve a girl like that who seemed to love him unconditionally. I feel like he would really end up happy if the two ended up as endgame instead of Ian who did fell for him, but hurt him a lot throughout the manga.

The best review imho is by LikaLaruku. The ending was dissapointing and honestly spoiled one of the best and longest yaoi stories for me ^^;. There were ALL conditions for a happy BL ending, but the author chose the most incoherent one. Still will rate it highly, because i liked most part of the story and it's still worth reading (many thanks for all the scanlation groups and carfish especially).

I have a problem with sad stories and I feel too much sympathy for Jeremy to continue this one. The sexual abuse was terrible and treated well, but it was just so well done that I just can't bear to continue with the story. It's done well and the art is decent and I wish I could continue but I just can't.

There are many things the manga does well. I think it accurately depicts the feelings of someone being sexually abused. It's dark, but I appreciate that it does this realistically. A lot of manga in the Shonen Ai/Yaoi genre treat rape like it's a mosquito bite or something. The victim gets over it and forgets it quickly. But this shows the damage that sexual abuse actually causes.

However, logically this manga is a mess. I can't really bring myself to believe the reason why the abuse starts.
There were many things that made me go "this isn't how things would really be handled", which takes away greatly from a manga that is trying to be realistic.

... Last updated on March 1st, 2020, 7:35am

I don't know why everyone's saying the art of this manga isn't great because to me the 1970's art style is genius. Jeremy reminds me of a roman statue; beautiful, androgynous, seemingly strong yet fragile like he could break at a touch. the visual character progression is well done as well. It's not necessarily an age progression because the story only takes place over about a year or two but more like a state of mind progression where the characters gradually become more and more mentally unstable. honestly, I wish there were more characters in other mangas who look like jeremy with his sad angelic face.

The story itself is gut wrenching depressing and surprisingly familiar to me. I'm not exaggerating when
I say that this manga literally changed my life, hopefully for the better. It resurfaced memories I never knew I had as well as a past I didn't know existed, maybe because I was able to connect to Jeremy so well. The author was able to pinpoint all of the feelings a victim of abuse experiences. Guilt, shame, anger, depression, a feeling of insanity, of breaking into pieces. I don't think I can express how much jeremy, a fictional character of all people, means to me. So, as you can tell the character development is extraordinary.

As you can probably assume by now, this story is not for the weak hearted but I encourage that even if you don't like sad mangas to read it because I feel it is an important read. It accurately deals with the subject of sexual abuse and a victims struggle. So, if you ever wanna feel more in tune to others' experiences, read this manga! In conclusion 10 out of 10, will read again.

It's so cruel, intense, suffocating , I can't help trembling and then painfully grieved for Jeremy's fate.
This is the first manga I've read that treats "sexually abuse" theme so serious. The vivtim didn't fall for the culprit or succumb for the passive pleasure, he fought for his freedom even though it resulted in cruel consequense . But the craziest part is Jeremy's mother, she's too cruel that I who rarely ever hate somebody or some characters in my life can't help extremely being irritated with her.

The manga is old, the art is not really attractive but its story telling is incredible, like a movie without a cheap fanservice like many other manga nowaday.

when jeremy fell into the painful world, i fell together with him. hagio sensei are skill full in using imagery of breaking and crumbling in showing the inner turmoil in jeremy and in doing so my own mind was shaken too. how many times had i cried along with jeremy i wonder? with every painful encounter with greg, with every pieces of him chipping away to nothingness tears kept falling down. hagio sensei knew how to draw every painful memory out of the reader and mingling it together with jeremy's, the art style that seems simple is actually the most valuable tool in showing true emotions and tragedy in this world.

but i dont only hurt and cried. surely some readers that have this kind of fetish can also feel it - throbbing of desire deep into our core. i had read many yaoi that deals with the issue of control where a party is helpless and his body is own by another - but no manga ever make me thirst so much, consumed by the pain and by inflicting the pain. this is a tastetement to hagio sensei skill in drawing the most painful expression of terror and helplessness that without any explicit scene even the most yaoi hardened reader cannot stop but felt tingling of excitement. other readers might view us as weird - but to any reader that have the same inclination as me - read this.

that is for the first part of the story, the solitary death of jeremy that is both painful and arousing. the second part of the story is the collective madness of the world, where ian and jeremy wound and heal each other with various other broken characters heal and wound them too. this part is slow and moderate unlike the first part. jeremy's pain in the first part is too intense that after that everything else become duller. that is not to say it is boring - far from it as various events happened and everything unfold as we understand the characters bit by bit. but the readers can calm down and try to understand each character without being caught up in the pain. sometimes i feel there are too many wounded characters in here and make everyone's pain diluted, but hagio sensei were able to handled them to make every one of them lend a hand towards jeremy's salvation.

im glad i fell down with jeremy and im glad to be able to crawl out of it together with him.