Im so happy other people noticed this. I was personally a little bothered by how the manga handled the rape scenes. I find it important to bring these heavy topics up and to do it in a way that really shows the seriousness of it all. It shouldn’t be ”shushed” just because it makes some people uncomfortable, but it was just something in the manga that felt a little off about how they depicted it.
BUT GOD! The translation team was so incredibly weird about it! There was no need to show how they had uncensored the abuse scenes in the end note, and have it be a scene of a kid getting sexually abused with a character in the corner saying ”fuck him in the butt”?? I get that they had that little character in every end note but they really couldn’t put it away for such a serious scene? Also hate how they made jokes about ”We want to see sex!”, like if that’s all you want, why translate a manga about sex work and child abuse?
Oh absolutely- personally I thought the rape scenes were executed well because they force you into Sakuras head and make you understand why he is the way that he is. I thought the shock and the violence was part of the point, you’re getting traumatized WITH him and you understand why he’s scared in the way that he is, and what haunts him years later. It’s just showing you the reality of the situation, and the heartbreak, and showing you what the character is growing from. It’s uncomfortable to see but it’s a reality of his life. But he’s grown from that, and he’s more than what happened to him as a child now :]
I do agree that showing the abuse the way they did really does get the point across, the thing that make me feel a bit weird about it is that it was shown in the same way a normal sex scene would be shown, the difference being that one of them is a kid and is very clearly getting abused. Obviously this doesn’t excite any sane person since it’s a horrible thing that is being shown, BUT, knowing that the scene could very much be used as ”porn material” for real life pedophiles upsets me. But in the end I don’t think I have all that much say in how to portray this type of child abuse, since I myself haven’t been abused in this way
The rape scene in itself is extremely uncomfortable, which I believe is the point, with Sakura being in despair over everything that’s happening and heartwrenching dialogue hanging overhead. I don’t like depicting these kinds of scenes with a minor, but I do understand that the point of the scene was to detail Sakuras exact kind of trauma and characterization and to shock the reader with thr reality of this kind of abuse. The depiction in the manga itself is one thing, where you can have a fair discussion over where a line should be drawn and how victims stories should be told… but the scanlation team’s handling of this was extremely poor, what the hell? Taking a scene that was clearly meant to be serious and uncomfortable about a real thing that happens to real people and then putting immature and tasteless jokes over it… plus overexplaining what a transgender man is and being condescending… I just hope this behavior isn’t repeated because that was in profoundly poor taste