UPDATE: I first read this in 2014 and read it again today and the story is progressing so well. It is VERY well written, original story. It's not the usual "I love you for raping me" storyline so I don't understand the people who alluded to that? The main uke Azusa is FIERCE and very interesting....something that not all that common in Yaoi world.
If you read chapter 9 then you would understand the story more and why Karino is doing this. Why no one is scared to talk, why the caste system continues.
But people should be WARNED: this is a dark, twisted storyline meant for ADULTS who enjoy these kinds of stories.
First of all,I LOVE Ogawa Chise. I love all of her work, her art and story telling are impeccable and they go together with each other perfectly. Her stories are DARK which adds to her charm. People who don't like rape or any darkness in their yaoi should stay far away. I think she always does it right, so here we go....
Spoiler alert!!
The theme is brilliant , the whole power structure and caste system is so interesting! Karino was always meant to be the main love interest of Azusa, from the very first chapter he is longingly and obsessively looking at Azusa. He is the one beside Azusa in the beginning and it makes sense for him to have developed a sort of obsession or better yet...love/HATE feelings...for Azusa. He has been wanting to overthrow Azusa for a long time now because that is his only way to get much closer to Azusa. Yes, Karino played a lot of games in the beginning (blushing and such)but again that was his way of finally overpowering Azusa. He went through a lot to finally overpower this one guy.
Nobody would think this is a normal and healthy love story and of course love is not the main focus here, dominance and violence is but that does mean Karino has no feelings for Azusa. I think he is too immature and arrogant to express it but that does not mean he feels nothing. His boredom is only part of the reason for his obsession but I honestly think a bigger part is unexpressed feelings. Those feelings can be anything...anger, infatuation, jealousy,LUST, etc...I think there is hate involved too and obsessive love as well. There is no simple formula for these things...and I like that complexity.
Let me also add that I like Azusa, he does have depth and something in his childhood/the relationship with his mother probably made him want to cheat his way to the top. Being king means he won't have to feel small. But when he was King, he was not a good person, he was a actually a tyrant! So how do you get rid of Tyrant and make him feel like nothing.....Chise did this part very realistically in that she had someone of lower rank, like Karino, embarrass and humiliate Azusa but in a way that would feed into our sadism-masochism thirst lol...he has to break Azusa for Azusa see him, so he blackmail was needed.
Then starts their sexual relationship which I found to be really hot. I think Karino is super sexy especially with his glasses on....so if you like hot semes then Karino is one. I might have glasses fetish....I don't know.
May I also add, Azusa starting to have feelings for Karino is needed for this story to develop. That was the whole point, for Azusa to see Karino as more than just a past servant and now as a King, he had to develop SOME feelings. It makes things more interesting. I see it as sado-masochisms relationship and I think there could be love in that kind of relationship, not saying this is love but there could be. This feeling of being dominated by someone can consume a person to the point that they are all you think about... I don't always like the love-rape yaoi themes but sensei does it right. She is brilliant.
Let's see how this goes, can't wait for more chapters.
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