30 Day Yaoi Challenge, Day 10: Hot Steamy Glasses

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

Hot Steamy Glasses by Tatsumi Kaiya

We continue our rape-free streak!  This time there isn’t even any sexual assault! Woot!

The main story is about two long-time friends, Takeo and Fumi. Takeo has been deeply in love with Fumi since junior high, but Fumi’s just not interested. In fact, he finds Takeo, a successful CEO and serious otaku, to be rather annoying. (Especially when faced with Takeo’s moe girl collection.) Fumi’s brother, Shogo, and others push Fumi to get together with Takeo, but he won’t budge.

Takeo begins to spiral into depression over his unrequited love, causing Shogo and others to take desperate measures. Finally, Fumi gives in and begins dating  Takeo. Unfortunately, Takeo likes taking things slow and Fumi begins to get frustrated by their lack of intimacy. It takes a trip to New York City to make Fumi realize that Takeo is actually quite passionate in bed!

To top it all off, Shogo suddenly announces he’s getting married to Fumi’s nemesis, Reiko Kawahara! This forces Fumi to move with Takeo. Three years later, and the two are lovey-dovey and doting on Fumi’s adorable niece.

Then there’s one final story about a young writer and his long-time, glasses-wearing crush who have finally started dating. The only problem is the writer has with his new boyfriend is that he’s more interested in his work than he is interested in the writer! But, of course, it  gets resolved in the end.

I appreciated this volume’s lack of sexual assault, but unfortunately it should really be called “Tepid Steamy Glasses.” Takeo and Fumi’s romance was forced, drawn out and rather boring. The short story about the two of them babysitting Fumi’s niece was more exciting than the rest of their courtship.

Fumi had little character development going on. Repeatedly, people coerced him to turn gay and start dating Takeo, which made Fumi feel cornered and defensive. Normally, this is where most creators would introduce moments (or non-consensual sex) where Fumi would realize his true feelings, but there’s none of that here. When Fumi does decide to get with Takeo, it feels like Fumi is giving in to other people’s demands rather than his authentic feelings. It’s only after they get together that Fumi starts showing some romantic interest in Takeo, but, again, it feels like someone flipped a switch rather than natural progression. Thankfully, the short story about the young writer was a little bit more satisfying.

I feel rather meh about the art style. While it’s perfectly fine, I don’t think the angular eyes that Tatsumi Kaiya draws are expressive enough. She even makes up for this by often drawing Takeo’s face “eyeless,” where his glasses imply the existence of his eyes and his expression relies on his other features.

The “straight man turned suddenly gay” trope is another bad habit of BL/yaoi creators. I think that it is mostly untrue to life, though I realize that this genre is fantastical in many ways. But even if BL and yaoi are pure fantasy, the stories often occur in the real world. This just sets up gay men to be objectified by BL/yaoi readers, which I would think is quite annoying for a group of people who are already discriminated against. It’s kind of like the otaku equivalent of thinking every gay man will be your sassy gay friend.

I just find it more satisfying when creators work in actual issues gay men face into their stories instead of creating a gay utopia. It shows respect for the people we are fantasizing about and it can add an element of drama that falls outside the usual, overworked BL/yaoi tropes.

Hot Steamy Glasses is especially bad when it comes to this trope. There is nothing to show readers that Fumi is gay, it’s more like he suddenly decides to cave to the pressure he’s feeling to be with Takeo. Considering how so many LGBTQ people feel the pressure to pretend to be straight because they’re afraid of discrimination or violent retaliation…Well, it just doesn’t feel right.

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30 Day Yaoi Challenge, Day 9: The Man I Picked Up

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

The Man I Picked Up by CJ Michalski

……….I was not prepared for CJ Michalski.

Actually, that’s not quite true. I was very much prepared for the first four chapters of this manga, which focus on the romances that blossom in a gay host club called Boy’s Club Garçon. I was not prepared for the last four chapters that focus on three friends in what seems to be a high school oendan squad, one of whom is being courted by a very cute boy with a lot of talent for cooking. Let’s start off with the host club…

First off is the story of Michiya, a recently divorced man, who is spending some time with his college friend Tamaki, a gay man who owns Boy’s Club Garçon. Tamaki keeps teasing Michiya and asking him if he’s sure he isn’t gay, but Michiya vehemently denies any feelings for men. In fact, he’s so hung up on his ex-wife, he still carries his wedding ring around.

Despite Tamaki’s teasing, Michiya decides to join him at his luxurious mountain cabin for a weekend. But when he gets there, the only other person there is Sumio. Michiya turns in for the night, but awakes to find Sumio giving him some unwanted blowjob action in bed. Uncomfortable, Michiya tries to leave, but finds that they’re completely snowed in. Over the course of the blizzard, however, Michiya begins to have some feelings for Sumio and vice versa. Michiya comes back to the Boy’s Club to tell Tamaki that he was right all along and that he’s fallen for Sumio, thus foiling Tamaki’s plans to snag Michiya for himself. Then there’s a short story about a young man working at Garçon who reunites with his high school crush through the club before we get to the main story.

One night Tamaki is closing up when he finds a man badly beaten lying on the street next to the club’s sign. He takes him in and nurses him back to health, but this causes the man, named Kouta, to fall for Tamaki. Tamaki isn’t having it, but he keeps Kouta around because the less-beefy club workers like having the muscular Kouta there to protect them from the sudden surge of creepy clients.

Kouta realizes that the surge of creepers is coming from his old gang, so he prepares himself to confront them, and possibly get killed in the process, by surprising Tamaki in his bathrobe and doing some double dick handjob before running off. I have to pause here to mention the ridiculous baseball cap that Kouta puts on between these two scenes that says, (Lord, help me) “Drink My Milk.” This should have been my first clue, but I just thought it was a funny easter egg-type thing.

Of course, Kouta gets beaten up within an inch of his life, forcing Tamaki to let Kouta live in his apartment until he’s fully healed. After a few shenanigans, they unsurprisingly fall in love.

This brings us to the next four chapters… Oh lord.

Hanazono is the captain of the ultra-manly oendan squad at his high school, with strict rules about being manly and not dating girls. So, of course, he’s not too happy when the little Takeo confesses to him and hands him a cute lunchbox. Still, he winds up eating the lunch box (it’s environmentally conscious of him to do so), and accepting more lunch boxes from Takeo every day until Hanazono confronts his feelings.  They then bang each other happily in the club room with Hanazono proclaiming, “this isn’t some meaningless fling with a girl! This is pure man love!” (Their emphasis, not mine.)

The next chapter sees Takeo and Hanazono having some intimacy problems, and a rival from another school who mistakenly kidnaps Takeo. (He meant to kidnap Hanazono, beat the crap out of him and steal Takeo, but he mixed up their names so his friends kidnap the wrong person.) Takeo thinks that Hanazono won’t rescue him and thus beats up his kidnapper instead. Hanazono then bursts in to save the day, and the two wind up having a lot of sex in front of the kidnapper, which leads to some serious nose-bleeding.

The story then switches to Hanazono’s two cohorts, Chin and Kitou. Chin clearly has a thing for Kitou, so when he gets injured in a big fight, Kitou takes care of him. They wind up at Chin’s house, which has a huge bath, and Chin winds up jerking off Kitou. Annnnnnnnnd this is when CJ Michalski starts using turtles as visual metaphors for penises and sex. (Yup, you read that right.) A few days later, muses aloud about his feelings in his school’s restroom when Chin pops out of a stall and the two consummate their relationship. Loudly enough that Takeo and Hanazono think there’s a ghost haunting the bathroom, and start throwing toilet paper into the stall.

I really cannot properly describe all the crack that Michalski unleashes upon her readers here. You’d really have to get a copy and read it yourself to do that.

I did like her art style.  There were different body types and different types of men showcased here, even a bald guy, which is a nice change from yaoi manga where everyone’s gorgeous, but the same.

I’m not too happy about the three instances where there is either outright sexual assault, but I don’t have time to talk about it much today. In one instance, consent was shown a few panels later, so I’ll let that one slide. The first assault, in Michiya’s story, Sumio didn’t continue to assault Michiya after he pushed him away, so I think I can let that one slide too. The last instance was in the crack-filled oendan squad chapters, so I was too distracted by the sex turtle metaphors to react properly. I’m beginning to feel desensitized to all this. Urgh.

Finally, I would like to say that The Man I Picked Up is a horrible title for a book. It sounds like a story that leads to everyone getting venereal diseases. Til next time, folks…

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30 Day Yaoi Challenge, Day 8: Same Difference

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

Some of you have expressed (what seems like) interest in me reading yaoi manga that does not come from my original 30 Day Challenge pile. I don’t know if I could honestly continue the challenge past the original 30 days, or if I could handle reading more than planned, but I don’t mind continuing to do occasional BL/yaoi reviews.

So, if you are interested in seeing me continue this in some form after the challenge, I would suggest clicking on and buying from my Amazon Associates links (you’ll see one below before my review of Same Difference starts and also on my sidebar.) Once I get enough money from your purchases, I will allow all my readers to suggest titles for me to read and review, then let you vote on the final pick. If this is something you might want to see me do, click away!

Same Difference by Nozomu Hiiragi

Finally! I have come upon it! The yaoi manga in my large DMP pile that breaks the rape-y streak! I knew it couldn’t be all bad! 😀

Same Difference is about two elite businessmen in the same corporation. Not only are they the top of the tops, they dominate one tower each of their company’s building. But they’ve never met.

When they finally do cross paths (in what looks like a really cool men’s room with a nice view,) Ozaki decides to come on to the seemingly meek Tsuburaya. Unfortunately for Ozaki, Tsuburaya decides to turn the tables on him and they end up playing a cat-and-mouse game where the winner gets to be the top.

Ozaki thinks he’s about to win when Tsuburaya breaks his cock. It’s then that Ozaki starts to think that he might have feelings for his competitor, but he tries to ignore them. They make a deal for round two, once Ozaki heals, but Ozaki breaks his promise to meet up. This causes Tsuburaya to get a little more desperate, leading to them ultimately confessing their feelings and getting together. Then Tsuburaya admits that he’s been totally sadistic the entire time in order to draw out Ozaki’s true feelings. (Mwahahhaha!)

The second to last story (the final story goes back to Ozaki and Tsuburaya’s romance) is an adorable BL story about a high school kid befriending a set of twins, then falling in love with one despite the other wanting to get with him as well. And there’s glasses! It’s nice to see a little pocket of a different fetish/trope/moe/whatever you call it. I feel like the US just gets a lot of pretty boy yaoi manga and not much else sometimes.

Since I don’t have to talk about rape (Yaaaaaaaay!), I don’t have much else to say about the manga other than that I enjoyed it and the art style was really cute! Everyone has fluffy hair and their mouths look like bird mouths when they go chibi. In case my review didn’t make it clear, this yaoi is kind of comedic (Tsuburaya just *tortures* Ozaki and really makes him squirm!)

There is one thing that I don’t fully understand: the whole “elite” thing. It seems like most of Ozaki and Tsuburaya’s elite status comes from a) their looks and b) talents that have almost nothing to do with their job performance. Tsuburaya is supposedly an interpreter, but we only see him hanging around the office or the company president. It just seems odd that a company’s elite group of workers is determined by attractiveness instead of high-level positions or performance.

Either way, I really liked Same Difference and I hope more work by Hiiragi comes out in the near future.

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30 Day Yaoi Challenge, Day 7: Kizuna vol. 1

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

Kizuna volume 1 by Kazuma Kodaka

Ahhhh, Kizuna. This manga is not entirely what I was expecting in so many ways. The cover art is so pretty. Even though I knew it was new cover art, I thought the insides would be more modern… But they’re so 90’s! Everything’s kind of masculine and line-shaded, with real tones! That really surprised me for some reason. I also wasn’t sure what Kizuna was about. I could tell by the covers of all the volumes I bought that there was something to do with yakuza, but the back cover copy on the first volume showed absolutely no indication of this. Ah, well.

Kizuna is about a young kendo player named Ranmaru and a young yakuza heir named Kei who fall in love, despite something of a rivalry between them. They wind up moving in together during college, but their peaceful, domestic life is shattered when Kei’s estranged half-brother, Kai, runs away from home and ends up moving in with them. To make matters worse, Kai is hell bent on stealing Ranmaru away from Kei.

After an incident where Ranmaru gets drugged by a professor who wants to rape him, Kai saves him and winds up rapes him instead, thinking that Ranmaru wants it because the drug is also an aphrodisiac. But when Ranmaru starts calling out for Kei in the midst of it all, Kai realizes that he’ll never win Ranmaru’s heart. And so, he gives up and winds up going home shortly afterward. Then the story starts to shift back in time. Kai in elementary school forming a deep bond with one of his father’s underbosses, Masa. How Ranmaru and Kei met and became lovers. Kei struggling through the death of his mother, Ranmaru struggling through injuries that prevent him from ever playing kendo again and finally, Kai getting kidnapped and raped by a jealous man who wants to have Masa all to himself.

Obviously I haven’t escaped yaoi rape. This time I’m less pissed off by it though, but only because things are trickier The three big problems I have with the rape depicted in this volume is that a) the scene where Kai rapes Ranmaru is pretty gratuitous (the other scene isn’t played to get the readers excited); b) Kai doesn’t pay for his actions like the other rapists do because it was “consensual” thanks to the aphrodisiac/date-rape drug; and c) Kei kind of starts of his relationship with Ranmaru by raping him. I don’t think I have to explain my first problem, but I do need to talk about the other two.

Ranmaru’s professor/would-be rapist gets beat up by Kai before the guy can do anything except drug him, kiss him and start fondling him. Kai then goes back to kill the guy (or at least seriously maim him) and sticks a knife in at least one of the guy’s hands before Kei shows up, stops Kai and then proceeds to beat the crap out of the professor himself. Fast forward to when Kai gets raped, Masa stabs Kai’s rapist, then rips his guts out with a knife before pushing him out the window to his death. And what punishment does Kai get for raping Ranmaru, though he knew that Ranmaru was drugged and helpless, under the pretext that it was “consensual”? Kei makes him walk home from Shinjuku. *sigh*

Mostly, Kei is a very supportive boyfriend and for that I can applaud him. Kei just wants Ranmaru to be okay, he isn’t mad at Ranmaru for “sleeping with” his brother (their words, not mine) and he’s happy that Ranmaru loves him. He bends over backward to give Ranmaru emotional support during Ranmaru’s rehabilitation. BUT, and this is a very important but, before all this good stuff happens, Kei confesses his feelings for Ranmaru by grabbing him and forcing him down. Ranmaru protests, then decides he’s okay with it. He even thinks about how he could fight back, but is choosing not to do so because Kei is saying his name “sweetly.” Had Kei not said “I love you,” during this intercourse, Ranmaru would have broken Kei’s arms. Kei even begs forgiveness and apologizes as he’s doing it, which begs the question: Is this rape? Is Ranmaru’s silence a form of consent?

I feel hesitant to answer that last question, as silence as consent will be argued by the defense in the upcoming Steubenville rape trial, where a number of high school boys assaulted a girl who was extremely drunk, to the point where she was vomiting and blacking out. I won’t even bother to use the word “allegedly” because these kids were dumb enough to take photos and videos, then post a number them up on social media websites. The question won’t be whether or not they are found guilty, as much as on how many charges will they be found guilty.

Back to Kizuna, I think that Kei was (unfortunately) raping Ranmaru. Ranmaru was initially trying to get Kei to stop, but he did not. If he had, he would have only assaulted Ranmaru. That Ranmaru became quiet, did not clearly imply consent for me, especially because he was just not fighting back instead of silently participating. What did imply consent for me was when Ranmaru threw his arms around Kei and said “Too bad. If you hadn’t said that…I would have beat you up and broken both your arms.” (A funny way to consent, I know.) But by then, Kei had already crossed the line into what I am considering non-consensual intercourse. As Ranmaru said next, “there’s supposed to be an order for these things, idiot.”

And this, folks, is why I really hate rape in yaoi. Even if the lines are fuzzy, even if it actually moves the story forward, rape is a crutch in this genre. It is rarely treated in a way that is respectful to the victims. Instead, it is more often used to show the readers a steamy sex scene between two people who we’re then forced to accept as lovers, in spite of the somewhat heinous act just committed. It is used in lieu of learning how to properly write up the beginnings of a healthy, but passionate relationship. It’s just far easier to blur the lines of what is consensual and put in something steamy. I hate it.

What makes it even worse is that Kizuna did not escape this trap because, even though it spans multiple volumes, it had to start off as a one-shot like many yaoi manga are forced to do. It is probably cheaper for yaoi publishers to just do one-shots, but it stifles the creators and forces them to be tawdry in a bad way instead of creative. Frankly, I don’t really want to spend much of my money on bad, tawdry comics. So when we get down to it, this is why I usually don’t buy BL and yaoi.

Despite all this, I do think Kizuna is well-written in every other part and I do enjoy reading it. I am hoping that the next four volumes are not as rape-tastic.

 

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30 Day Yaoi Challenge, Day 6: Apartments of Calle Feliz and Yakuza Cafe

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

Yes! It’s our first double feature! Quite by mistake because I started reading Apartments of Calle Feliz by est em on Jmanga because of the sudden announcement that Jmanga is closing up shop soon. I have a small pile of unread manga on the site, so I didn’t want to miss the chance to read what I paid for. And thankfully…

Apartments of Calle Feliz (alt title: Happy End Apartments) by est em

calle feliz

…THIS ONE DOESN’T HAVE ANY RAPE! *happy shoujo sparkle twirl*

I love est em. She writes the kind of BL and yaoi that I wish was saturating the market. Not only is it intelligent and well-written, but her manga often avoids the over-used BL/yaoi tropes.

Calle Feliz is about a young writer named Luca who moves into an apartment on the end of the aforementioned street after getting kicked out by an old flame. He’s facing quite a bit of writer’s block because his publisher wants him to write happy endings, but Luca has never experienced one himself. His roommate, Javi, who is also the landlord, inspires him to write about the building’s residents.

This launches into vignettes about the love lives of these people (men, who all happen to be gay, of course) and how their unhappy relationships wind up getting resolved. The first couple is a fashion designer and his shut-in, artist boyfriend who has chosen not to wear clothes or leave the apartment for the last three years. Second is about a (usually) decisive man who can’t chose between two identical twins for his lover, so he chooses both, much to their chagrin. The third story is about a puppet maker who wants to help a young boy who refuses to speak, but the puppet maker is constantly reminded of another young boy he loved. The fourth is about a deaf man and a former circus performer (he might be transgender or a drag queen or just a cross dresser, I’m not sure) who lets his old coworkers stay illegally in his apartment, and winds up becoming very tired of them. The last story is about Luca trying to give the mysterious Javi a happy ending in his book. Luca has difficult unraveling Javi’s past, it seems like Javi had a bad breakup, but that doesn’t seem to be all of it.

Calle Feliz was a really pleasant manga to read. Of course, I’m already a fan of est em, but it felt like a relief after all the rape-y manga of the past week. The only thing I could wrinkle my nose at was an implied, but consensual sex scene between the puppet maker and an underage lover. (That particular story focuses on going through puberty.) Though I didn’t like it and I can’t get too into it without revealing major spoilers, the sexual component did come from a situation that seemed more like actual love between the pair than abuse.

I’m already used to est em’s art style. It’s definitely not your typical polished, pretty, bishounen-everywhere art style, so some fujoshi might not like it. But I can’t recommend est em with anything but the highest of praise. It’s a shame that Calle Feliz and another one of her titles, Working Kentauros, will soon be unavailable to read (They’re unavailable for purchase since yesterday’s announcement.) Hopefully SuBLime or Digital Manga Publishing will think about picking them up again.

Yakuza Café by Shinano Oumi

I picked up Yakuza Café because I’ve actually read a few yakuza-related BL/yaoi titles that I really liked. I was hoping that this would be one of them, but no.

The premise starts out alright. A young man named Shinri without any other family to turn to is invited to stay with his estranged father. He goes and finds that his father is a former mafia boss, who has quit the yakuza business along with a number men from his clan. Together they’ve started a cafe, but it isn’t doing so well. Shinri deduces that it’s because the tea is terrible and the atmosphere isn’t much better. Thus he begins working in the cafe to turn it around and make it successful.

In the middle of all this, Shinri tries to get closer to a certain member of his father’s clan, Mikado, and winds up touching his elaborate dragon tattoo. Well, this sends Mikado into an uncontrollable rage and he rapes Shinri as a result.

Yup. Touch the guy (in a certain spot) and he’ll fly off the hook and rape you. That’s the premise of their budding romance.

Rape and the inevitable relationship that follows aside, because how much more can I go on about rape, this manga sucked because there wasn’t any buildup or tension before the romance started. There was a little bit of a reveal that Mikado had influence on Shinri in the past, and that Shinri greatly admires him. This would have been a perfect way to segue into a normal, healthy romance, but then the rape happens. Afterward, Mikado is Very, Very Sorry, But He Can’t Control Himself When People Touch His Tattoo. (*major eye-rolling over here*) It stalls the realization of their feelings for each other, but they eventually get together.

Then we get to a perfectly good story about another one of the former yakuza in Shinri’s clan: Zaouji. As a  young man, he decided to make his way by stealing from men he sleeps with as a prostitute, but winds up falling in love with one of them. The man turns out to be yakuza and wants Zaouji to join up too, but it takes his death to get to Zaouji do it. The final story is about Mikado misunderstanding something Shinri says, and Zaouji torturing Mikado for that and for raping Shinri. Which, I have to say, was nice to experience as a reader who doesn’t like how these fictional rapists get absolved, but not so nice when you consider that the creator has such a blasé attitude about rape that they’ll make an extra story about it where the attacker only gets teased for such a heinous act.

The art is pretty good, it reminds me a lot of You Higuri’s style, but I found everything else except Zaouji’s short story to be lacking. No buildup, no tension, a ridiculous premise for the relationship AND rape? Nothing about Shinri and Mikado’s story excites me. I’m disappointed on so many levels.

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30 Day Yaoi Challenge, Day 5: Caramel

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

Caramel by Puku Okuyama

Caramel is about a young boy named Iori who is planning his move to Tokyo for college. He finds a great deal on rent: he just has to do all the housework, cooking, etc. and the rent is free! Iori is fine with all this, since he’s been helping his parents take care of his three younger siblings for most of his young life.

Except the advertisement is misleading. Roku, the man who placed the ad, wants someone to sleep with him at night too! Because he’s scared of the dark. And he kisses people to say “thank you.” Still, the slightly uncomfortable Iori accepts all this and toughs it out, until one day Roku just throws him down and molests him while Iori repeatedly protests.

Iori runs away for three days, but slinks back to his apartment because he’s sick of sleeping on the floor. He doesn’t want to see Roku again, but, of course, Roku  eventually comes back from work. Iori isn’t too happy, but he’s too sick to move and when he sees how upset Roku is that he left, he…FEELS REALLY BAD FOR LEAVING ROKU. Then immediately after that, Roku opens up his shirt to take Iori’s temperature with an underarm thermometer and Iori freaks out! But it’s not Roku’s fault! Iori shouldn’t freak out over such a little thing! It’s not like he’s a girl! Why’s he so uptight?

……ARRGGGGHHHHHHHH! I just can’t. I picked up Caramel because it looked so cute and sweet!  The art is really cute, even if I can’t get over why Iori has such an ugly haircut that I can’t see any man wearing unless he was transgender. I thought Caramel was going to be a cute, but sexy manga… I want to give up hope of ever finding a yaoi manga without a lot of non-con right now. But I know they exist! I have copies of such manga! They might not exist in the pile of yaoi and BL I picked up from the DMP sale though… *sigh*

Back to Iori and Roku. They end up together, of course. Iori gets over it because while they’re fighting over the whole issue, particularly about Iori wanting to sleep apart from Roku now, Iori breaks Roku’s glasses and that just erases THE WHOLE THING. After they get Roku’s glasses fixed, Iori starts thinking that Roku’s actually pretty cute!  It just develops naturally from there. No more mention of the molestation. Roku is more gentleman-ly towards Iori (A.K.A. He’s less of a jerk.) Everyone’s happy.

You see my frustration, right? That’s not how romance should work. This shouldn’t be something to fangirl over. I could handle an unsolicited kiss, or something similar, but in this case the victim felt so uncomfortable that he ran away and freaked out when his attacker touched him. The attacker then manages to regain his hold on his victim, and the victim develops a serious case of Stockholm Syndrome.

So I find myself questioning if the prevalence of non-con in yaoi is a matter of wanting to see men being abused like women are often abused. If it’s a sort of subconscious revenge porn disguised in romantic fantasy. In which case, there are no words to describe how deeply disturbing I find that. Men really do get raped, molested and abused just like women do. Maybe it happens less to men than it does to women, but when you look at statistics about sexual abuse, they always talk about how many victims stay silent out of fear so it might not be true. If it’s not subliminal revenge porn, then is it a secret desire to see abusive relationships wind up to be happy, healthy relationships? I am trying to wrap my head around the logic of it and failing.

I’m really hoping that I’m wrong. I know a fair amount of fujoshi and I can’t imagine them getting excited over non-con in these ways. There must be something I’m not getting about the appeal of it. So I’m going to end the review here, and ask that all the fujoshi reading this explain why non-con is exciting to them. I need to understand. I can’t keep talking about it in yaoi without insulting all fujoshi and I don’t really want to do that.

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30 Day Yaoi Challenge, Day 4: Secretary’s Job?

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Daniella Orihuela-Gruber

Just a brief note: I decided to take Cafe Kichijouji De Volume 1  out of  the challenge because, after reading it, I realized that it wasn’t yaoi or BL, it was just about cute guys being cute together. That means we’re down to 33 books total for the 30 day challenge. Not that it’s going to be easy on me because I have 5 omnibus volumes of Kizuna in the mix, which means it’s going to be more like 38 books. *sigh*

Secretary’s Job? by Miki Araya

Let me start by telling you why I picked up Secretary’s Job?. Just from the title alone I could tell that there would be no high school-ers involved, and because there were lots of smiling faces on the front and back cover. “This is going to be cute,” I thought as I bought it and when I picked it up again today.

LIES.

Okay, Secretary’s Job? was only half-lying. It was pretty cute, UNTIL THERE WAS A RAPE SCENE, and then afterwards it was cute again.

Can I admit something to you? I am absolutely sick of talking about rape happening in yaoi. We’re only on day four. Can I have just ONE yaoi with no rape in it whatsoever?

And this wasn’t even a plot-centric rape scene like yesterday’s manga, Affair. But I guess I shouldn’t expect so much of yaoi manga. This is why I don’t usually read it.

To make matters even worse, the victim woke up from having been raped, didn’t even remember it, then put two and two together because he woke up with semen coming out his butt. But is he upset because he was raped? Nope! He’s upset because he can’t get pregnant and give his attacker an heir. (The attacker is the son of a CEO, therefore an heir would be needed.)

ASDFJODISGHWEOIGN! Can you get more Stockholm Syndrome than that? Yup! The victim and the assailant get together after being torn asunder by a stupid misunderstanding on the victim’s part. Gag me with a spoon.

Thankfully, the two stories didn’t tread into any icky categories at all! They were really cute! One, like the first story, was about a secretary and another employee getting together. It could have gotten weird because the premise for them to get close was a bet to see if the regular employee could get the secretary in bed, but it wound up being heartwarming instead of forceful. The second one was similar, but with two college students who found themselves being drawn together despite one wanting to beat the other in a popularity contest.

I do like the art though. Despite more pointy chin syndrome and at least one case of yaoi hands, the art reminded me a lot of Yasuko Aoike and her tendency to constantly draw wide, open mouths.

I’m going to keep Secretary’s Job? only because it did sort of redeem itself after the first story, but I feel like I have to apologize to you readers. I don’t want to keep talking and whining about rape, coercion and all the nasty tropes of yaoi, and I’m more than sure you don’t want to hear it for the next month. I can only hope that I come across at least one volume in my 30 Day Yaoi Challenge with nothing that sets off my ick-senses.

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