I Thot You Was a Toad's manga / #prostitution(11)

A story of two male slaves forced to work in a brothel which caters to men who prefer teenaged boy prostitutes, and the subjects of competition and personality clashes, and personal longing in the midst of deflowering rituals. In spite of the trigger-y subject matter, drama and some comedy, the story is a traditional romance and worth reading through to the end. The historic details are interesting and the art is beautiful. Just take some deep breaths at the difficult parts!

Atsuki has to support his family, so he scouted by a rich company president who wants to pay him for sex, and won't take no for an answer.

Tamaquis Wren specializes in yaoi where the uke surrenders himself to love so much, he gives up his own dignity. Dignity is reinstated by love returned, a classic romance trope. This story is hardcore, however, for, instead of love, the sole motivation is vengeance, and there is no surrender, just rage-fueled detachment and dissociation. To extract the cruelest revenge he can, Yan, the son of a murdered king, becomes the favourite catamite in the court of the Chinese Emperor who committed regicide against Yan's beloved father. Bent on destroying his enemies and slowly debauching the Emperor past his body's capacity for tolerance, the only revenge Yan can extract is what he has, himself, endured. In the end, in spite of page after page of strangely utilitarian sex and seduction with child rape, gang rape, slavery, sex cults, drugs, felching, castration, BDSM, odd sex toys, vegetable-slicing(!) and a huge and surprising reveal right at the end, the story is empty and cold, just like Yan. Weirdly, it's the court intrigue and politics that move it beyond mere shota wish-fulfilment smut fantasy and redeem it (for me; I can't abide child rape), transforming it into Wren's best work. It isn't romantic at all and, for once, Wren doesn't pretend that soul-crushing depravity and oppression are romantic. Wren's drawings are distinctive and stylized, but here they focus on lips, hair, eyes, skin and a boy whose naked body is modified to look like a young woman's. Everyone else is nameless, fully dressed and, either a wild-eyed and lust-maddened rapist, or a fellow scheming manipulator — distorted through the lens of obsession. Yan is an interesting character who gains his individual freedom, revenge and personal power, although nothing else — certainly not love.

Abused indentured servant, Shuri, is purchased by Tatsumi to work at the Hanabishi brothel as a male prostitute. Shuri longs to be of real help and comfort to Tatsumi, whom he regards as a saviour, but Tatsumi misunderstands his efforts as attempts to run away. In retaliation, he treats Shuri cruelly, but as dark secrets of his own past begin to emerge, he is slowly won over by Shuri's devotion. A very typical romance genre plot, but Samamiya Akaza's illustrations are breathtaking.

Hans Christian Anderson's allegory about female vanity "The Red Shoes" and the Archers' 1948 cinematic adaptation form the backdrop to Ogawa Chise's romp through the cut-throat business of haute couture in which pairs of bespoke stiletto heels become totems for sexual power and Yuriy Abalkin, the muse, high priestess and prostitute for Alex, whose designs and creations are sought by Yuriy's uncle. Client after client uses Yuriy until he starts to disintegrate into madness and makes a desperate ploy to win the heart of his beloved Alex. This story is a hardcore grand opera of soap and typical of Ogawa Chise, luxurious in bathos and hysterical melodrama. This bitter cup of cynicism is definitely mixed with a good dose of wry.

Company president x starving waif prostitution story. Dated art-style and hackneyed story.

In the past, Chihiro, heir to the Saotome Yakuza, was kidnapped as his father was ambushed and murdered. After he was repeatedly gangraped and enslaved as a prostitute by the Russian mob, Chihiro was rescued by two hot bodyguards, Shirotae and Kuroba, who now, in addition to protection and enforcement, help him relieve the persistent "arousal problem" that was the apparent side effect of his abuse (really?) Anyhooo, Chihiro is now making a play on the "quality" gun trade, finds himself prone to fits of murderous rage, only to be reined in by the young hot leader of the Gojou group. Now that the Russian mafia has returned, it's a wonder how hometown gangster boy plans to make good on honouring Daddy's memory. Yup, that's where it's going for realsies. Kitazawa Kyou likes to craft a slightly unhinged cupcake yakuza always on the edge of a psychotic meltdown. The question isn't whether a reader can suspend disbelief. Obviously not. It's whether the story is any fun to read. I don't know. If it goes too James Cagney, it might be a twitching facial nerve too far.

(1) Innocent young man staves off extortionists by prostituting his virginity with a scruffy stranger.