It starts really disgusting but immediately from the first chapter, it proves itself incredibly self-aware, and makes zero excuses or apologies for anything immoral it tells.
I must insist that you reach at least chapter 3 or something before deciding whether this manga is trash or not--because it's really not.

Preface: Before reading this, I was reading Stay Gold, which is a romance between a 13/14 y/o boy and his middle-aged step-uncle, but Hideyoshico portrayed it in a way like there was nothing wrong it it. It was absolutely disgusting and left a terrible taste in my mouth, and yet it has a 8.8/10 rating on here and I couldn't fathom why. I needed something to wash the taste out of my mouth but Senpai wouldn't do at all.

So I decided to read this instead: read the master do themes that should only ever be portrayed as wrong this way. And Harada did not disappoint me even one bit.
The writing is really good. The characters are intriguing. The main female character wasn't treated as a stepping stool or portrayed as some clueless little girl--she's fucking fantastic. mega spoiler but:
This is a really twisted manga, but it's well-written. And the twists keep you on your toes. Holy wow.

Oh, and another thing that's absolute best, huge spoiler:

... Last updated on March 15th, 2017, 7:56am

I actually didn't know this was shotacon when I started reading it, otherwise I might not have even considered it, and I only kept reading (despite how utterly disgusting the first chapter made me feel) because it's a work of Harada and I had faith it could turn into something less, I don't know, absolutely revolting.

As I said, the first chapter or two made my skin crawl and even want to cry. I kept going, though, if only to see some sort of resolution to the mess contained there. And then I was completely drawn in by it. I love Harada's way of writing and style of art, but what blew me away this time was how realistic everything was, how issues were faced head-on. There were real conversations about pedophilia and homosexuality and the way society sees each, and the line between the good versus the bad was blurred. Those kinds of stories are my favorite. Real issues dealt with in a real way.

Harada blew me away again. They usually do, but this is a gem that's not for the casual reader. It gets worse before it gets better, but ends in the most fitting way for itself and overall, does not disappoint.

I think the reviewer before me hit the nail on the head. This story is very realistic and very different from other shotas with how the characters are portrayed. In other shotacons the seme doesn't seem to as to be a true predator preying on innocent kids and more or less seem to love the child in their own sick and twisted way. Where as here this seme is a true predator. There is no way to get around it and it is clearly shown and whether or not he really loves the child is to be debated. Also the way the child is portrayed is very realistic and what I would imagine what some children actually go through when they experience something as tragic as this during a time in their lives where they are easily influenced. Therefore it is hard really to rate it but if you are looking for a more realistic shotacon then go for it.

I recently read the "extra" and that led to me bumping up my previous rating by an additional point. The reason I put "extra" in quotes is because I feel like it's not really an extra. In my opinion, it is an essential part of the story. Without it, the core philosophy behind this manga is lost.

This last chapter is what truly made the melodrama until this point make sense. It left a bittersweet yet realistic feeling. That just because you found love doesn't mean that your life's problems magically disappeared. The ending Harada wrote is perfectly fitting and anything less would have been an insult to the reader.

Overall, this was amazing and recommend it to anyone who likes darker manga. I should note that this isn't the typical rape turns to love BL; the consequences and aftermath are discussed very openly here.

... Last updated on July 6th, 2017, 4:13pm

This is one disturbing tale, like yes shotacon is generally a bit disturbing but when portrayed as hentai the seriousness of child abuse is generally brushed over. However it isn't really here, all of the characters are aware of how wrong it is and how traumatizing it is, yet the young boy and nii-chan still desire it. In a way the young boy is shown as purposely acting innocent to spur the nii-chan on... However knowing what something means does not necessarily mean you know what you're getting yourself into... Great art, messed up characters, messed up plot... That's Harada alright

Hmm honeslty once I stewed after reading this I don't think this is really dark. More like incredibly sad. Yeah the themes are dark but ultmately it is the story of two people who need heavy help with a therapist and maybe some anti depressents and never gonna get them thus their problems never being solved and them just spiraling into more darkness. :/

Unquestionably good. Now time for some eye bleach

I read this out of morbid curiosity. welp, this is possibly the most twisted thing i've ever read, and i've read some fucked up stuff before. the layers of the twisted-ness really make the story shine and bring out the real awfulness of it all. it's a story of predation played completely straight and without romanticizing anything, but it begins to twist once yui grows up and the aftermath takes its toll on him.



so yeah, if you need your daily dose of darkness and really wanna to read something completely twisted and awful, this is for you. i need to lie down lol.

I'm conflicted about this story. It's interesting because it's a bit more realistic, in so far as the way some issues keep cascading, impacting more and more lives and how any violence ends up skewing immature minds. Even people who weren't born yet when the first "incident" happened are still being affected by it.
What I didn't really like is that it's all somewhat excused as "being different", "having a trauma", "being in love".At one point I might have believed in that, but it's all too violent and real loving feelings can never lead to any type of violence.
I'm not sure I like the ending either. It feels to me like it's all going to go downhill and end up in a tragedy.

I seriously don't see any future for them.
All loneliness and crave for accepted by only ppl a kid have in his life makes me so sad.
They never grown up to accept who they are and I can see they going to struggle forever.