I appreciate that as well
Tho i also think his sex scenes with ray should not have been explicit at all
sorry this turned out long af, nbd if ya skip it.
Yeah I’m sure many do. I have mixed feelings on that. As uncomfortable as those scenes can be, only so much can be expressed through dialogue & drawings so I find sometimes it's important to witness them to better understand the significance & mentality of the victimized character. When Ban sleeps with Ray he’s feeling a plethora of emotions; and those sex scenes show Ban’s infatuation with Ray that Ban believes is love. Rays indifference; and Ban being aware of that, trying to ignore it, still desperately clinging to Ray, & having any feelings about this mistreatment at all; do separate those acts self-harm sex from when he sleeps around with ppl he has no feelings for. The weight of that sad, complicated confusion Ban feels when sleeping with Ray likely wouldn’t be as well understood if it weren’t from a more realistic (aka drawn/shown) perspective. It helps immerse us in Ban's experience during sex with Ray, which is likely a core cause of what leads him to self-harm in the first place & sleep with strangers. and tbf if a reader doesn’t like that kind of immersion but still likes the plot, there are other ways to enjoy the story.
However, the extent of explicitness needed to relay the aforementioned element of a comic’s storyline will always be up for debate & depend on the reader. I’m sure many would argue you could achieve exactly what I said above with less or no visible SA in the comic at all. Some may say it’s not enough.
My personal opinion is that each individual needs to remember, for themselves & the opinions of others, that our morality meters & bias are formed from the conglomeration of our life experiences - positive, negative, & neutral. When it comes to topics surrounding trauma; each persons understanding & personal experience with trauma will affect their reaction related to it; often forgetting that just like their own experiences led them to their consensus on the topic, it’s the same for others that don’t share their point of view. On all sides of conflicting opinions, a persons stance came from their own life experience that led them to that conclusion. And, just like how an individual feels justified in believing they’re "right" bc their life experiences have led them to believe so, gotta remember that other persons life experiences led them to think the same. When really these are topics that have no "right" answer. (not that SA is merely matter of opinion - I mean utilizing it in fiction like this) I believe nobody should be torn down in the comments for their opinion. Experiences yield good & bad consequences, but that doesn’t equate to the concept of experiences themselves being a right or wrong thing.
Appreciate how the author did not give us an explicit rape scene with that 3P SA. Just ML walking into the room, even angled it so that you barely saw MC giving head & it completely covered him getting fucked. Bc we don’t need to see that shit to get how sad & awful it is, and its relevance in the story
I mean it could also have to do with the fact that ML’s a minor and laws may not permit them from drawing all that together, not sure. But the blowjob guy’s dick was visible & uncensored so I don’t think so.