My rating: 8/10 This is the perfect example of "opposites attract". They both struggle with their family. The uke's a masochist, very loving and cute and the seme is cold and violent having difficulty expressing his feelings. They help each other bc they're so different. But the uke kinda stalks the seme.
MASOCHIST, DRAMA Tsubasa (uke), the distinguished son of a famous musician, has a secret BDSM kink that he struggles to comes to terms with. When he chances upon Masaki (seme), a man who meets people with his fists, will Tsubasa finally be able to understand his own desires?
Considering the sexualization of violence that takes focus, I kind of expected this story to be more brutal. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm underwhelmed, it's just that my expectations for what this was were different from what it actually was. He merely gets hit a few times while I was expecting him to get beat up; still, though, the sexualization of any violence is always something I'm a big fan of.
When it comes to the characters—specifically Asukai—I'm a bit conflicted. To be blunt, Asukai is super fucking weird, and it constantly toes the line between being endearing and being off-putting. Like for example, after he meets Masaki, he ends up finding out where Masaki lives, and then forcefully makes himself a tenant there. He just barges into Masaki's house and quite literally refuses to leave. And, like . . . That's fucking weird. It's strange. Asukai's a freak. But he's giggling and being all cute when he does it so there is something oddly endearing & cute about it. Like, it's weird, but if I were Masaki, I'd totally open up my door for him, y'know?
However, everything else about Asukai I absolutely loved. A self-professed pervert, I thought his relationship to violence was rather sensual. He can't be stimulated without it—not just sexually, but in a general sense. There's something about violence, and about being abused, that draws him in like a moth to a flame. It invigorates him, it gets his blood hot and lights the otherwise put-out fire in his stomach, but it also brings him such deep shame. The fact that something like violence, and what he needs to do to experience violence, is the only thing that makes him feel alive makes him feel like he's not even human. And I loved that. I also loved the juxtaposition of his infatuation with violence against literally everything else about his personality. He's incredibly cute, the type of boy who blushes easily and giggles when he's embarrassed. Seeing such a cute boy have such a strong desire to be hurt is incredibly attractive.
I could be remembering wrong, but I also don't think there was ever a reason given as to why Asukai has this unique relationship with violence. I actually liked that, I don't think it's something that necessarily needs a reason—he just has a strange kink. He's just different.
I also really enjoyed Masaki's character. Having a man who relies on violence in the way Masaki does paired with a man who pretty desperately craves it is a pretty unique dynamic that I really enjoyed. To Masaki, violence was merely a tactic. He didn't do it (purely) for enjoyment, but rather because he learned from a young age that violence instills a fear in people that makes them listen to you. So for a long time, violence was a tool he relied on, which obviously grew frustrating once he met a man who craved violence and it was no longer this thing he could use to make someone obey. If anything, the way he relied on violence was now detrimental and I found it pretty entertaining to see him subtly realize and react to that. The story never put attention on it, but I think it's definitely a part of his character, and why he slowly started becoming softer. Asukai's presence made him reevaluate everything and grow as a person, and eventually, he came to love Asukai too which I found to be really cute.
However, one flaw I think this story has is the way it handles the conflict both characters have with their parents. I just simply don't think it was fleshed out enough. I understand the concept of it—Asukai's conflict with his father was the fact that he felt stifled by his father's expectations, and Masaki's conflict with his parents was from the fact that he felt abandoned because he was put into an orphanage. Masaki's conflict is done significantly better, as the conflict is interwoven into the resolution of the story, but I still felt it was a little underbaked. I mean, if he was put into an orphanage, I'm wondering why he's even back with his parents? It's never explained.
To end on a positive note, I think the art was absolutely fucking phenomenal. Genuinely, I think every single panel held such a high standard of quality that it's kind of insane
This is the perfect example of "opposites attract". They both struggle with their family. The uke's a masochist, very loving and cute and the seme is cold and violent having difficulty expressing his feelings. They help each other bc they're so different. But the uke kinda stalks the seme.
MASOCHIST, DRAMA
Tsubasa (uke), the distinguished son of a famous musician, has a secret BDSM kink that he struggles to comes to terms with. When he chances upon Masaki (seme), a man who meets people with his fists, will Tsubasa finally be able to understand his own desires?