i love the art (well, i love the "serious" art, not the SD). it's really distinctive, and flowing; and the colour art is to die for; i'd hang that on my wall.
but the storyline. oi. i liked the way it started; the sudden reversal -- that was very funny, and a nice twist. i can ignore the raping, since it's BL (though i am never pleased by it, and it doesn't turn my crank). but the story didn't go anywhere. it became just a vehicle to repeat the same funny bits over and over, and i stopped finding them funny all too soon. there was no character development and i didn't like the characters. why does naruse have such a thing for akiyoshi -- he's a stuck-up prick to naruse to start out with, he's not very insightful, conceited to boot, and the justification of an initial attraction (he thinks he's not manly) is forgotten quickly. naturally akiyoshi ends up falling for naruse too -- why exactly? because he gets his grandma's charm back? really? that makes up for all the abuse? so ok, i can't take the story seriously or i'll just rip it to shreds.
but if i look at it as pure crack, then it falls way short by being so repetitive, and by making me think that the serious parts should be taken at face value (the non-SD art really pushes it in that direction). now, i am not particularly good with crack anyway, but this example isn't it for me. crack i like is frex yamato nase's chintsubu; that is crack without the seriously disturbing scenes. i am now wondering whether i misread scarlet a an indictment of obsessive relationships, and whether the people panning it were not right; maybe madarame doesn't have the sensitivity to actually write about obsessive relationships in a meaningful way. because this is clearly another obsessive relationship, and it's just used to deliver crack.
i'm rating it above average only because i think madarame at least tries to go somewhere differently, and because i adore the art.