Spammy's activites

BL with suicidal protagonists who find a will to live again and (ideally) are doted on by their love interest? I’ve read Bakeneko Katatte Sourou and 3 Ban Sen no Campanella, which feature protagonists like this.

Irresistible lure that leads him to his enemy's heart. The one who contributed the most to esta...

I am continually humbled by the fact that I used to look at a lot of older yaoi and immediately dismiss it as being bad simply for the time it was written or the retro art style—and this story is another reminder of how stupid I was to think and do that. The comments praising it are what got me to read it and really they’re warranted.

It really is so good, the development from enemies to lovers was just deliciously angsty, with a lot more nuance than I expected going in. I’d tried to read it a couple of times over the years but just assumed it would be shallow slave story like I’ve seen before and dropped it. I’m glad I continued this time, it was dynamic and well planned, and the characters revealed themselves to be equally sympathetic. Shitty seme trope felt actually justified—especially when you came to understand how the seme’s worldview was shaped. And a lot of people don’t like the uke but I actually found him to be super endearing. He’s sensitive and kind, above all, and this has been taken advantage of by others. And I always eat up a good story about the conflicts between love and duty to your countrymen or family ╮(￣▽￣)╭

Look I get that people don't like rape in fiction, but aside from this being very explicitly tagged from the get-go which means you probably shouldn't read it if you're sensitive to that sort of subject, I've gotta argue in favor of this manga and its portrayal of SA since I've seen a lot of negativity about it online and on social media.

I was actually pretty impressed with this story and the way it went about addressing the subject. I think it's an interesting, realistic, and non-romanticized thought piece and exploration of how, if ever, a relationship can develop or become balanced after something as horrific as assault like that. The author used this story as a sandbox to explore just how far one would have to go to seek redemption and equality after a rape, which is the most debasing acts that can happen to another person. It never once seeks to justify the main characters' actions--they're always shown as they are, something that's not good, pleasurable, or a solid foundation for a healthy relationship. They're both very, very damaged people with a lot of instability, and the story did a really good job of making sure the reader understood that instability. It constantly frames their actions as, like, a question: when can rape be moved on from between them, and when is balance restored to proceed with a healthier (not healthy) dynamic? Does the MC having been black out drunk alleviate some his blame? Does the ML raping him back restore balance at all? Does the MC saving the ML from being raped by others restore blance? Does saving his his life restore balance? It's a really interesting a complicated set of questions that there isn't any clear answer to.

Also...media literacy y'all! Just because there's portrayal of a serious or bad subject in fiction does NOT mean it's endorsed, or shown as a positive thing. It's pretty clear that the author isn't showing that rape is good, just because the main characters work it out in the end doesn't mean it wasn't treated with the gravitas it deserves.

Older Yaoi with good plots? I've read Maiden Rose, Gerard to Jaques, Antique Bakery and a few others, I've found that a lot of older yaoi tends to have really emotionally resonant stories.