If I could give this manga negative points, I would. This is one of those books where I hate the thought of a little sister reading it and getting the wrong idea about a woman's place in the world. Forget strong heroines--this is a woman who erases herself in order to please her boss and let him sexually harass AND abuse her.
Does no one else find it appalling that she is essentially turned into a whore? She acts like she has no choice but to offer her boss blood (read: SEX) because she's "a secretary." She keeps repeating that like a mantra--"I'm a secretary, this is my job." No! Your job as a secretary is to organize your boss's appointments and reschedule clients! Your job description does not in fact, require you to perform acts of a sexual nature, and it's not a romantic seduction to be called in to clean up after his lovers because you're his "secretary." I'm really shocked and disappointed when I read reviews that call a heroine a "slut" because she is caught between two guys. Well, this girl is LITERALLY being told she needs to give up blood/sex as part of her job, and no one sees anything wrong with this?
Ok, not only is that just plain sad but--I can't even count the ways that this is a horrific situation. The fact that she feels that she needs to provide sexual services to keep her job? The fact that her boss, who is in a position of authority over her, uses her like that, and finds no compunction in messing up both her private and professional life according to his whims? Or the fact that despite all this abuse, she's "in love" with him and pines for the day he recalls her to his side?
The heroine is not strong. To say she's strong because she "sticks to her guns" is laughable. It doesn't change the fact that she does nothing to even the power her "love interest" holds over her, as her boss, and as a man in general. Oh, great, she chooses to go work for and be in love with a guy that mistreats her, day in and day out. That makes her strong...how?
The only way she's professional is the way porn conveys that "nurses" are "professional" right before they kneel in front of some guy. The heroine is a weak woman who plays into becoming a huge victim. The "hero" is a lot worse--cruel--but this is supposed to be a manga by and for women, and I know younger girls are reading this, and for that, I really can't forgive the main character for being so weak and spineless--but being labeled as "strong and independent." That actually is what gets me so upset.
Call it what it is. The hero's a heartless jerk, and the heroine is someone so "nice" and spineless that she'll take all his crap and then call it "love." But if you want a better heroine, who's actually strong and professional and independent, yet soft and vulnerable at the same time, try Kimi Wa Petto. Sumire would asskick this "hero" straight from outta nowhere in 2 seconds flat.
I understand guilty pleasures. I was so prepared to read this expecting a romance. I didn't even begin to think I was in for a true, disgust-inducing horror show.