I completely agree with you!! But to me this author's work isn't really "psychological", it feels more like it's romanticizing this kinda stuff. If this story, for example, was ACTUALLY a psychological piece, it would show more of the effects the rape had on Asaichi and his psyche, and wouldn't just brush over it and jump to a "hot sex scene" with Yoru. When people get sa'd it seriously affects their mental wellbeing and often makes them afraid of sexual activity, which definitely did not happen in this story. These dark themes are popular across yaoi manga/manhwa and I KNOW no one reads it for the "psychological" aspect. Some people genuinely don't see anything wrong with this rape stuff (you can even see that in this comment section) and even find it hot. You could argue "let people like what they like" but when you're talking about something like rape, the normalization of it in these stories does real harm by desensitizing them to it and making it seem like a less serious issue than it actually is, affecting how they treat it in the real world. I think it's the same issue as with (real) gore. It's like when people say "I watch it because it's interesting to see how human bodies work" but like let's be serious you're just deranged and want to watch people get their lives taken away from them. sorry for going off topic but anyways you read my mind with your analysis on the characters. the whole time i was just thinking "what does he even like about asaichi??" and it REALLY pissed me off when they tried making the rapists look like some silly little guys after. sorry for the rant lol im tired
i see a lot of people praise Harada's but honestly i kinda dont get it. so i read this work to try to give their works another try but idk. I do agree that harada is good at making characters and realistic settings but i think those two things are what i dont like. I found this work hard to enjoy because i didn't really like asaichi as a character. He's rude, bummy, and trashy. He can't even play instruments(this really irritates me like bruh), and apparently, his singing is mid. This entire type of story reminds me of romance manga where the mc male lead is a loser self-insert who just has a beautiful and perfect girl(yoru) fawning after them. But at the end of the day this isnt the type of story where all the characters are perfect and sometimes theyre supposed to be unlikable(doesnt make me hate asaichi any less but anyways). What i didnt like is that after asa got raped he realized how terrifying it is to be a bottom espicially with another male dominating him. He makes this realization yet he never realizes thats also what he did many times to yoru by pushing his neck down, yelling at him to shut up, and calling him slurs(these being ways he asserted his own dominance onto yoru). After Asa got assulted he didnt apologize to yoru about how he acted the same in a sort of way. And even after realizing penetration is scary he still engaged in it himself without a second thought. I also dont like the fact that yoru takes it like a dog and just loves asa so much. But even though asa is an asshole i dont think, however bad a person you are, you deserve to be raped. Rape is never a fair or just punishment and it is truly terrible for asa to go through such a thing, even if he did go too far by treating the girl the way he did. This manga lets that blonde guy off the hook way too easily, and even tries to paint them in a silly light, and they just kinda become like cool, chill people near the end.
Even though i still dont really like harada and i also kinda dont like any charcter in this work. I think to myself "who am I to judge these characters too much". This story is meant to show imperfect characters, and to complain too much about them is like complaining that a high school girl in a coming-of-age movie is too insecure or too immature, like thats the whole point. So i believe these are the types of works that you cant really judge the characters too much because it isnt trying to be an ideal romance manga but rather a realistic one. So ig i do understand why people like harada's work because in a world with so many romance mangas that only show the good of every relationship, harada isnt afraid to show the horrifying and real sides of life. I also think i might just be someone who just doesnt really like psychological stories. idk i dont see the point in torturing myself by reading a bunch of dark stories like haradas, so everyone to their own ig...honestly i just feel confused and conflicted now. if anyone wants to give me their insight dont be afraid to