I know that it's just a manga, but I have to agree with many of the reviewers when they say that the first story portrayed and glorified an extremely unhealthy relationship. The themes here, rape and abuse, were made rather trivial by the author. Ryou, the abuser, is portrayed as a bad dog who doesn't understand what he's done wrong. He is obsessive, manipulative, and violent. He follows Akio around and waits for him like a dog in the rain. Unless, of course, a girl happens to walk by and offer marriage, in which case Ryou will go off with her and only come back to Akio when he feels like it. Of course, he will look very contrite and dog-like, and Akio will forgive him anything because he's an idiot. Whenever Ryou is "bad" (
such as violently raping and trying to murder his lover or going off for months at time with some chick
), he gets a smack on the behind with a rolled up newspaper and the reader, I think, is supposed to say, "Aww, how cute!". Well, I don't think it's cute. I think it's sick. Akio is not a dog. He's a human being who should know right from wrong, and if he doesn't, he should be locked up for the good of all mankind. Many reviewers here state that this story does not trivialize or glorify rape and abuse. I have to disagree. Akio says,
! "To kill me and make me totally his, isn't that the wonderful declaration of love there is?"
This is a direct quote. If that's not glorifying the abuse, I don't know what is. Statements like this are made several times in the story. Yes, Akio's friend tries (unsuccessfully) to talk some sense into him, but his efforts are rather weak and very easily ignored. I just don't think that this mangaka understands the themes she's trying to work with here. Since she's written another manga with the theme of "I'll rape him until he loves me!" and that completely trivializes abuse in the first volume of the series, I believe that I'm right.
I have this to say: It's NEVER okay to abuse the person you claims to love, never EVER. It doesn't show that person how much you care, only how screwed up you are. Why do so many authors (especially those of the BL genre) believe that abuse equals love? Maybe it's that luckily, they've never had to experience that kind of abuse. And so, they don't understand how it feels to see it so trivialized. Or maybe many women believe that having a lover obsess and become crazy over you is romantic and flattering because, again, they've never experienced just how terrifying it can be. I'm never quite sure.
What bothers me the most about this is
that so many readers of BL have gotten so used to seeing rape (and violent, brutal rape in the case of "Scarlet") in their manga that they don't comment on it. It's only the cheating done or the attempted murder afterwords that's commented on or even upsetting. As a survivor of rape and attempted murder at the hands of an ex, I can say that both things bother me pretty badly.
I'm not saying that these things are wrong to be included, but that there is a way that they should be included. Showing it as a testament to love is the wrong way to go about it. Seeing that made me feel a bit ill. I really hope that there aren't kids out there that will believe this stuff.
As for the characters themselves, both were idiots in their own way. One allowed the cheating and abuse, like Schetenei said, and one did the cheating and abusing. But it's hard to put your foot down and make ultimatums when you're afraid to lose the one you love, so I can more side with Akio than Ryou here. Cheating is also never okay, especially when one uses "but I'm weak-willed and lonely!" as an excuse. If I tried that crap, my husband would buy me a one-way ticket to Abu Dubai and tell me to kiss off. Yes, later we find out that there is a reason that Ryou cheats on Akio.
Apparently, Akio has never actually told Ryou that he loves him.
It's an extremely trivial reason and it does not make cheating and abusing his lover right.
Honestly, I wanted to like this first chapter. I loved the art and the facial expressions really did make me hate Ryou less than I ordinarily would have. However, between the abuse and characters who need to have some sense beaten into them by Mr. T, I just can't like the first story.
Now, the rest of the manga is good, and I truly enjoyed it. The second story. is sweet and well-written. Both characters are cute and I feel like their relationship has more meaning than that of the couple in the first two chapters. The third story is good as well, though short. I'm giving this manga a higher score now that I've read the whole thing, though the first story nearly had me tossing it aside completely.
(-163)
(+233)
