I Thot You Was a Toad's Favorite

For people going on about the rape scene, Yuuma said later that he didn't follow through with it. He stopped before putting it in. So yea it was nasty of him to intend to do that, but he refrained.

Aside from that, this manga felt so rushed and I was confused as to what was happening half the time. It doesn't seem like it's well written. Overall it was a nice read, but nothing I would read again.

“Me Thinks the Lady Doth Protest Too Much” is my commentary on the demonization of romanticized rape in fiction and the potential hypocrisy of the reader in the closet. Just very recently I participated in a thread where a fellow reader was complaining about the offensiveness of the vitriol directed at yaoi stories with romanticized rape and the readers that like it, and after going through the barrage of negative comments in this manga’s forum, of which some have gotten really ugly, I have to say that my perspective has somewhat shifted and I can better appreciate her/his viewpoint. All of this negativity brings to mind C. Wright Mill’s “Sociological Imagination” about how people live trapped in their own bubbles without understanding history, themselves and the world around them.

It seems that a lot of readers confidently opine on “rape” in yaoi but most of those comments show a lack of understanding of the yaoi genre itself, and to a great extent of even themselves and the reasons why they enjoy Yaoi to begin with. There seems to be a huge misunderstanding in the yaoi community in how rape is depicted and how, depending on the context, is supposed to be interpreted. Rape in Yaoi is situational as it may be presented in the context of either“real life rape” or “romanticized rape” with varying quality of execution. The romanticized rape trope demands suspension of disbelief and disassociation with real life morality. It is not prescriptive of rape or condoning rape, because Yaoi NEVER condones real life rape, it is simply a trope in the romance genre that caters to a universal female fantasy of being seduced (preferably forcefully) and sexually dominated by their target alpha male. The reader is not supposed to apply real life morality to this trope, because it has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with a sexual fantasy.

Modern sensibility towards real life rape within misogynistic cultures compels us to demonize the rape trope in fiction, becoming a sort of “intellectual” imperative to be critical of it (even if we enjoy the trope), irrespective of actual intellectual depth; something that very unfortunately has shamed women that enjoy the romance genre into the closet by contemporary society for fear of being branded with the scarlet letter as “internalized misogynists”. However, I would argue there is no shame in the trope because it is fiction, nothing but an individual preference like anything else that bears no relevance on one’s moral or intellectual constitution. I understand that the concern of real life rape is a very serious issue and a lot of people have difficulty separating that from the stories they read, but nevertheless it must be done. Mature, sophisticated or creative readers have no problem making this distinction, separating reality from fiction, understanding that even though real life may reflect on fiction, it is not the responsibility of fiction to conform to real life, otherwise, it wouldn’t serve as an effective form of human escapism.

Comments such as “I do not like rape” in yaoi or romance genre forums can be interpreted as not only misguided and self-serving, but derogatory indeed, because it is implying that there are yaoi readers that “like” or “condone” rape, when it is accurate to say that NO yaoi reader (or mentally healthy readers in general) likes or condones rape; only rapists like and condone rape; therefore, such comments are indeed redundant because *emphasis on word* NOBODY likes rape. However, there are a multitude of readers that do enjoy romanticized rape in fiction, which is why is still widely used across genres. We don’t think of those that enjoy slash in horror as “internalized mass murderers” do we? Or that someone is condoning “gruesome murder” for liking the tropes in slash; logically, liking romanticized rape in fiction does not mean condoning rape in real life, again, because one has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

My reference to Shakespeare’s “Methink the Lady Doth Protest Too Much” underlines some of those judgmental readers that emphatically demonize both the trope and those that openly enjoy it; those readers that time after time continue to erroneously apply morality to stories framed with romanticized rape, even though they are not supposed to, because again, it is a trope with pre-established rules that demand suspension of disbelief and real life morality; but specifically, it emphasizes the potential hypocrisy at play, the fact that the same readers (some of whom are vitriolic) that continue to disparage the trope, that despite their judgmental attitude and continued expressions of disapproval, they still continue to read Yaoi stories with romanticized rape in them; an indication that far from hating the common yaoi trope as they emphatically profess, they actually like it. Otherwise, it is illogical for them to continue to read the same type of stories or authors that are known to use the trope if they actually hate it so much; after all, there are multiples ways of knowing what a story is about before engaging with it, whether by checking the tags on the manga or by browsing the comments from other readers; Case in point, people disparaging this story as “rape crap” when it’s clearly tagged with Sadahiro Mika as one of its authors/contributors, a mangaka known for consistently using rape (in both contexts) in her stories. Since romanticized rape is such a fundamental prevalent aspect of Yaoi, it would better serve such readers to stick to shounen-ai or authors that rarely use the trope, read the tags and comments, but contrary to such common sense, those readers continue to gravitate towards stories with romanticized rape. Again, if indeed they hate it so much, why continue reading it? After spending so much time in the forums, one starts to recognize fellow users, with those hiding behind the veil of Anonymous making it more difficult to ascertain.

And I suspect those that are more on the vitriolic side are the ones that enjoy romanticized rape the most, and their belligerence arises from their dissonance between liking the trope and societal pressure, or pressure to make themselves look “intellectual” or even conscientious, when their very action of applying morality to something that it’s not supposed to be, shows their lack of knowledge on the subject, that they in fact don’t understand the Yaoi genre, its origin and the different tropes that construct it or worst, that they don’t even understand themselves. Romanticized rape in fiction holds absolutely no moral value, it does not convey any type of prescriptive morality, it has nothing to do with moral fiber or intellectual depth, as its only purpose is to cater to the female fantasy of sexual submission, and nothing more.

Too much slut-shaming. Not enough middle-aged father should fucking know better shaming. She's not much older than a kid. What's his excuse?

why did you make mohamed as a pig siting on the coran in the last page ? for the people who are translating you shouls be asheemed
they should'nt be allowed anything racist here.

I think there is something a little more subtle in Kurose's speech than it sounds like.

"I came to love Shirotani-san ... It's because Shirotani-san has mysophobia."

Shirotani clearly interprets that to me that it's his mental illness that attracts Kurose, and in that case, how would it serve Kurose's agenda to cure it, but Kurose is aware that Shirotani thinks he's dirty because of some past trauma involving his father. Maybe the attraction is about getting Shirotani to accept the fact that he has already "been defiled" or "warped" (in the language and self-talk of a mysophobe) , and that he can't change the fact that this happened to him, but meanwhile, the world hasn't ended, he hasn't died and he is loved and desired ... in spite of being "dirty" and "warped". Acceptance is the first part of working through a condition like this.

"I can't help but get excited by you getting warped and you accept no one else but me."

What Shirotani thinks is warped — ie.., sex — isn't, but if he persists in thinking it is, Kurose will still love him all the way through it. That's the biggest love confession a person can give: that they are willing to love another, warts and all.

"The feeling of not wanting to hurt Shirotani-san and the feeling of defiling you so badly are both existing inside of me."

Well Kurose doesn't see Shirotani as defiled at all. He is, after all, Kurose's ideal. He loves him and doesn't want to hurt him, but also desires him — the fulfillment of which Shirotani sees as defilement. It isn't. All Kurose is saying is that he wants to break through that blockage that Shirotani has which prevents him from enjoying human touch, specifically Kurose's touch.

We can see it is Kurose's action. If he didn't care, he would've used Shirotani to get off in spite of Shirotani's misery. Instead, all he has done is help Shirotani to get off.

So, does it never explain why they were GLOWING when they were hauling off the mannequin? It had sorta seemed like an important detail, then was sorta just dismissed and forgotten. Very curious.

Arsifer ... Latin: Carrier of Ars. Best named horse ever!

His name is nose.......................................

Phew! Every time I'm finished a new chapter in this manga, I have to take a deep breath and let it out. Shirotani is so fragile, it's as though a puff of breath could shatter him. I hold my breath while he agonizes over ev-er-y lit-tle thi-ing. Kudos to Kurose for never exploding. He must really love Shirotani. Also, I love how Shirotani is able to use that love to engage more directly and realistically with the world. That's a beautiful message. But, damn! It's hard going.