Reviews for Haou♥Airen
Back to MangaThis may very well be the single most disgusting piece of fiction I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing. Given my frequent forays into the eroguro genre, and the fact that I have watched Human Centipede 1 and 2, A Serbian Film, Hostel, Martyrs, and Irreversible, me calling Haou Airen the "most disgusting" is a much bolder claim than it would be had it come from the average person. Haou Airen is not gorier than any of these things, it actually it is not gory at all. It does not have a much larger frequency of graphic rape than some these things, although itcomes close. So why do I say that it is more disgusting than any of them? The lack of self-awareness, for one. It was morally repulsive to me, as it would be to any rational and decent human being. Haou Airen is about a girl who falls in love with her rapist, and it is not a morally ambiguous story, an accurate or unbiased account, or a psychological piece. It deals with the issue of rape in a frivolous manner far more disgusting than base exploitation; Shinjo Mayu, the mangaka, makes it quite clear that she believes brutally repetitious rape coupled with psychological abuse to be not only justifiable, but romantic, if it is done by a smexy guy who just needs some love.
Never-mind the generic and bad art, never-mind the flat and unrealistic characters, never-mind the contrived circumstances, never-mind the plot’s absurdities, never-mind the fact that it was essentially the same shit over and over again, never-mind how so little thought was put into the panel layout that it is nearly impossible to tell who’s speaking; this manga is utter trash regardless, but with the moral aspect taken into account, this is something worse than a 1. Haou Airen is arguably the worst thing I have ever read. It is certainly the most blissfully ignorant, unhealthy, and therefore emotionally harmful thing I have ever read. At least Hitler knew what he was doing when he penned Mein Kampf.
This is the least erotic piece of smut I have ever laid eyes upon. I had to set it aside and just stop at least 10 different times, and it was physically painful to finish. I wish I didn't finish it, really. I wish I never read this shit. I wish I never knew this shit existed. I wish this shit didn't exist. I wish there weren't any societies on this planet that would condone this sort of thing. If you are one of the 558 people who gave this worthless fucking loathsome garbage a “10," then you seriously need to re-evaluate your life, and probably get a therapist. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go lie down and deal with the emotional ramifications of the bile I just read. Fucking disgusting.
I read in one summary that the characters go through many challenges in true love. I found no true love here. Just the "hero" being a brute for a huge chunk of the story and excusing himself in private even though saying things out loud would make everything all right and the love could actually blossom then. To call the female character weak is a bit generic. It's more along the lines that she exists solely for the plot. Her only thoughts and wishes surround loving the male lead despite his assinine cruelty and craving him despite her good judgement. Sheesh, I understand attraction, infatuationand withdrawal symptoms, but I would not recommend this title even as a guilty read which I realised midway when the convoluted self loathing personalities of the leads got too much for me to handle. I don't think it's healthy for girls to associate such dark moments and turmoil with such intimate experiences.
On a separate note, the artwork is commendable. I don't exactly see a bishounen in Hakouron but that's probably because we rarely see kind/gentle expressions from him. While the intimate scenes are titillating enough, they rarely moved me. The bishoujo is not too original looking either and she mostly ends up looking rather forlorn or dejected in most scenes.
While I'm sure it's an enjoyable read if you have your senses about you, I would not want to finish this manga and hope or even remember such a storyline to ever materialise, which is typically why we indulge in manga in the first place. While towards the last volume, the mangaka tries to insert lighter tones and situations and end dramatically, it still seemed like a cheap shot for a manga aimed mostly at Bond fans to appeal to the squeeling otaku.
I just wanna state that for the record, I have no problem with shojo smut in and of itself. Most of the time, it's analogous to shonen ecchi shit and isn't really offensive enough to be worth hating. With that said, there are aspects of shojo smut that REALLY piss me the fuck off (i.e. molestation being played for romance). Let's not forget that every so often, there comes a particular manga that just evokes all manner of visceral disgust out of me. Haou Airen is one such manga and to this day, I still maintain that it's the single most vile, reprehensible thing I'veever read for reasons that you'll soon find out. Enough waffling around, time to tear into this sack of horse shit.
Plot of the manga can be summed up like so: idiot girl brings complete stranger into house one day, gets abducted by him, and then develops Stockholm Syndrome after she finds out that her captor is a mob boss with a troubled childhood. In other news, this is an escapist fantasy about being whisked away from a boring life at home and then being thrust into an exciting new life full of danger, risks, and other such things with a tall, dark, and handsome man guiding you through all these new experiences (intimate or otherwise).
I personally don't care much for escapist fantasies, but I can at least see the appeal behind them. For a girl who feels bored/wrapped up with their lives, the very prospect of being whisked away into a strange new world is something that may very well be worth fantasising over. Also, that prince charming whisking you away to his fancy mansion bullshit is so 1950s. If there's one thing that the 1980s taught us, it's that an adrenaline high will override everyone's common sense. There's nothing like the thrill of being caught up in a gunfight when you're in the middle of having a nice dinner with your new man and then tending to his wounds after the battle is over, among other such things... cough. So on that front, I suppose Haou Airen isn't /that/ abhorrent. It's certainly a frustrating read for me since I'm a dude who doesn't fantasise about any of this crap, but it's nothing worth getting my boxers in a knot over... yet.
However, this manga had to do /something/ to evoke my visceral outrage. Around the half-way point of the manga, the sexual moments between Hakuron and Kurumi devolve from James Bond-style "50 nos and a yes mean yes, so shut the fuck up and start sucking my old man dick" scenes into full-on brutal rape scenes that drop all the pretense completely. From that point forward, physical/emotional abuse coupled with sexual abuse in varying forms become a frequent occurrence in the manga. So you may be wondering here "what's so bad about this? Maybe it's trying to deconstruct the escapist fantasy it set up in the first place?" to which I say "fuck you and your overanalytical bullshit."
Aside from the fact that I have a markedly low tolerance for sexual violence or abuse, this evokes my visceral disgust because of the fact that this went from a story about a girl putting up with a dangerous new lifestyle with a sexy edgelord by her side to a story about a girl who falls in love with her rapist who frequently abuses her physically/psychologically. There's no self-awareness, no psychological commentary, let alone any moral ambiguity whatsoever (not like that would've helped out much though...). So what is the implication here? Does Mayu Shinjo honestly believe that frequent brutal rape and abuse is justifiable if it's done by a hot guy with a troubled past? I honestly don't know.
Now, it's not like this manga was any good before the half-way point: there were contrivances up the wazoo and if you're like me, odds are that your social justice/feminist senses were going off non-stop because of the fact that this manga is about a girl IN HIGH SCHOOL who gets abducted and spends most of the manga's runtime being sexually dominated by a powerful and wealthy man who CLEARLY has trouble understanding the concept of "consent" (sexual violence not withstanding). Also, this is just a minor note but the characters were nothing more than standard shojo smut archetypes: dumbass girl MC, sexy edgelord douchebag with a troubled past, all the bitches that try to get in the MC's way for edgelord dick but end up losing, the edgelord's friends who try to mack on his chick, etc. You get where I'm going with this. It may not seem apparent at first, but this is a manga that somehow manages to be more abominable than some of the most infamous pieces of horror gornography that exist in this world.
Say what you will about how horrifying A Serbian Film was, but at least all of the sexual violence in the movie had a point! For starters, Milosh was an aging porn star who was looking for a way to continue supporting his family, and then he got ensnared by Vukmir's smooth talk about creating a final porno that would bring glory back to Serbia (only to find out that Vukmir was a demented madman). On top of that, Srdjan Spasojevic has gone on the record saying that the underlying message of the film was that as a Serb, you're fucked when you're born and it doesn't stop even after you die (as evidenced by the infamous "NEWBORN PORN" scene and the final scene where a two men were about to film another man who was gonna have sex with the results of family suicide). So yeah, while A Serbian Film has WAY more objectionable content in it, the entire film had ample amounts of forethought, subtext, commentary, moral ambiguity, etc: stuff that Haou Airen had none of whatsoever.
I think the worst part about this entire ordeal also comes down to all the people on Kissmanga who were blathering on and on about how "romantic" this entire piece of shit was. In between the already piss-poor writing and the mortifying depictions of sexual violence without any hint of self-awareness, the unironic praise this manga received was enough to REALLY cement its place in my book as the WORST thing I've ever read, by far.
I can only imagine the kind of irreparable damage this manga can do to a person who was or still is going through some kind of sexual torment at the hands of someone whom they have feelings for. This manga is repulsive, abhorrent, and virtually every single negative adjective out there. This manga was not made, it was committed. You cannot read it, you can only inflict it upon yourself. Anyway, that's all for now. Feedback's always welcome and with that, I'm out. Peace :)
I wasn't sure what to expect when I read this manga. The whole way through, reading it, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to finish, but I did. Somehow it hooked me. It is basically the story of a financially struggling girl who shows kindness, and rescues a mafia lord. He is so overwhlemed by the only thing he can do is ake her his woman. And this story is about their relationship. I found that the pace lagged a bit - the same problems happened over, and over, and had the resolution come quicker, I would have enjoyed it more. Also the end.. Idon't want to write any spoilers, but I was unhappy with the ending. Or perhaps that isn't quite right - the more I thought on it, the more then ending made sense. But it is a sad, miserable ending.
The art itself was clear to read, and I had not problems figuring out who was talking! (yes, this is sometimes a problem). I thought on the whole the art of was quite pretty. The sex scenes are a bit repetitive, but nicely enough drawn.
I really like the strong, dominant male type. I do! But not for a story this long where nothing in the charactesr seems to change. I just found that Hakuron's character kind of went nowhere. And same with our heroine - she cried a lot. I just thought that the characterisation could have been improved, but I think that had the story progressed a bit more rapidly I would have been happier with the characters
Look, I did enjoy this. I kept reading it! I did want to know what happened between them, and I was also interested in the other dragon protectors. But overall, I think that it is a bit overlong, but an interesting enough read.
This manga is not so much different from Mayu Shinjo's other works. The mangaka seems to concentrate solely on the male character, Hakuron, who possesses such strong personality. On the contrary, the presence of the female character, Kurumi is somehow too weak. The feminist readers might be disturbed, as the main female character is constantly perceived as a sex object, a toy, or what have you. However, if you are someone who enjoys stories such as cinderella, where the handsome prince charming will come to the rescue for the damsel in distress, you might find this manga entertaining. I should warn you though, there mightbe scenes that would be disturbing as they depict some kind of sexual violence. Despite what i have just mentioned, this manga's art is very much enjoyable as girls will easily fall in love with Hakuron's pretty face and cool character.Overall, this manga presents a very strong storyline for a true love, despite of many hardships both characters are going through.
I am a connoisseur of smutty shojo manga. I enjoy relationships with a dominant male most of all. It's what I look for in a smutty manga. I accept that a major theme smut is a man forcing himself on a small, cute, easily embarrassed young lady, and teaches her how to enjoy a sexual relationship, despite her initial claims that "No! It's too embarassing!" However, this particular piece of literature is horrifying. I could not bear to finish the rest of this manga after the fifth volume, because there is absolutely no way that the story could redeem itself after the incident in the hospital.This isn't an example of a hot, passionate, cultured love affair. The first five volumes of this book (without the lavish riches and high school scenarios) could be a somewhat accurate depiction of the horrors of violent sex trafficking.
There is no character development, there isn't even any character depth. There is the "deeper meaning" to why the main character rapes her, painfully, cruelly, and emotionally abusively.
But, it's not evenly remotely a good excuse. (I never want you to leave me! I'm troubled! waaaah!)
The most appalling thing about the nature of her rapes, is that they are intricately painful to watch and the main character is severely mentally scared because of it. There is nothing lustful about these rape scenes, compared to many other scenes of dominance from a man, that are tastefully done, these literally brought tears to my eyes. Instead of lustful, sexy images, for the majority of the story there are images of a beaten, half naked abused girl lying on the ground.
(They range from, but are not excluded to, emotional abuse, physical abuse, kidnapping, keeping her from the outside world for days and even weeks at a time, choking, eating bodily fluids, raping her for days at a time, forcing her friend to watch her be painfully raped, and even a suicide attempt because of it. [these are all given away in the character bios])
This is not sexy. This is mortifying.
This should not be glorified, in any culture.
I read Poisonous flower and Motto Oshiete by Shinjou Maya, and I found them quite enjoyable, although not extraordinary. I decided to read Haou Airen because I like her artwork. However, after two volumes of Haou Airen, I just got fed up with the level at which this manga sucks. I mean, I'm all for willing suspension of disbelief. I don't mind the 'love-at-first-sight-for-no-obvious-reason'. I can handle the 'I'm-a helpless-girl-who-can-barely-breathe-without-the-help-of-a-strong-man' routine. But then chapter 9 happened. How did I get as far as chapter 9? I liked the mafia part of the story, I hoped that Kurumi will become more of a person than apuppet, and I liked the art despite some discrepancies.
A mafia boss who is a ladies’ man, who is dark, handsome and infamous? All tremble at the mention of his name. Women offer themselves to him. Sounds nice. It's not. Because, apparently, he's 18. And, apparently, he goes to school. And he wears a school uniform. I mean, give me a break.
I don't have a habit of writing reviews of something I have not completed, however, I felt it as my obligation to point out that this manga sucks.
I've never written a review before, but all I can say is that this manga was awful. There seems to absolutely no romance in it whatsoever. They claim to be in love, but there was absolutely no development for said love. They just dive headfirst into it. It leaves you feeling empty and takes a mafioso storyline and seems to make it cheesy. I just wanted to write one of these to prevent anyone else from making the mistake of picking up this manga. It's really a waste of time. I hope I helped you.
Haou Airen. How does rape, violence, murder, and tragedy create a romance ? I really don't know, but somehow it did in this story. Usually I'm against these types of things, and I never believed that love could survive through all that pain. But after reading this, I'm left thinking that in this case it can. The thing I like most about this story is that it's not like the others. It's not about an idiot girl falling in love with a guy that continuously hurts her throughout the entire story, to make himself feel better. There's a reason behind everything.I'd continue but i dont want to spoil anything =)
soo moving on !
Kurumi was weak. There really is no other way to put it.
It was okay in the beginning, but to keep her that way for the entire story ?
C'moon. It's ridiculous. When I say that she is a weak person, it has little to do with her lack of strength. The fact that she never really tried to defend herself against those men is what makes her weak. She got taken advantage of so many times, but all she did was cry. She should have kicked them in the balls and ran like heck. =)
I really liked Hakuron. Unlike Kurumi, he had soo many different sides to him. He was mysterious in the beginning, and then a heartless bastard, and after that he... well you'll find out=)
I enjoyed this !
I felt so bipolar while I reading though, but that's what so amazing.
The emotions you'll feel seem soo real.
Anger, happiness, sadness.. It's all in here.
Haou Airen is my favorite without a doubt.
I'd definitely recommend it for you to read=)
Shinjou Mayu... I'm a yaoi fiend. Have read 100's of yaoi. And whilst that doesn't make me new to shoujo, it's odd that I stumble upon Shinjo Mayu and become addicted to her work. Akuma Na Eros, Sex - Love, Love Celeb, Midnight Children, etc... and then this, which seems to promise everything that the others do, and in a deliciously-bundled, 50-chapter lot, too. It took me 10 hours straight to finish it, and I couldn't take my eyes off it. It's trashy, it's addictive, it's bloody terrible... I literally came away with a hollow gut and a snowy haze in my head. I hated lifefor a few hours. I was depressed. So, even now, I'm still wondering; does that mean this manga did its job? Or was it really as horrible as it made me feel?
It starts off well. Kurumi - naive, hard-working school girl - shows kindness to some mysterious guy, who, after a few days (or a day, maybe), has his elites show up at her school to "whisk" (read: kidnap) her away to HONG KONG where she discovers he is the head of a mafia organisation.
Ok, I can swallow that... progress ensues (we already know about kurumi's innocent background and find out about hakuron's severely contrasting, troubled one), and the pair fall in love! ahhh :) Then they end up in a school scenario... this is the point where the "story", if you'll indulge me, gets hard to digest. Later, it's completely discarded and never mentioned again. it's not at all believable, but does serve well for the introduction of probably the most complicated character in the series; Lei Lan.
What happens to Lei Lan in the end, is where everything turns to s***, and that hot, sexy tension, and pure love, turns into mind-numbingly, life-crushing, heart-wrenching pain! from there it's all about rape, and Hakuron hurting Kurumi over and over despite supposedly loving her and doing it for her own good, and not knowing what other way there is to love her.
Um, I'm pretty sure he was doing an alright job before all the rape...
Now, normally I'm a fan of rape fantasy in 99% of yaoi manga I read, but this is probably the first story where I felt really disturbed by it. Usually, and though it's become counter-culture in real life society, the "no-means-yes" plot device used by mangaka is very common. and i'm all for that. But in Haou Airen, there is no way, in a million years, ever EVER, could Kurumi's 'no' have meant yes, in any way... ever... and I mean EVER!!! in a million years... right? ok.
What really, REALLY amazes me is that after this very obvious incident, or series of incidents, is that Kurumi comes back to loving Hakuron, despite doing this to her, many many times. Not just the rape, but (oh god, it's so hard not to write spoilers!!) *ALL THE OTHER ABUSE*... I mean, I can, and willingly do, throw my disbelief high into suspension for almost anything, but this... this, was just... too far into the stratosphere... He says that he loves her more than any other, but how, as the object of that "love" can she really believe that? Kurumi is weak, way too weak.
In other news, it's 50 chapters, yeah? The pacing is disgusting. Really. In places it seems like it drags; in others, important points of conflict are rushed by. "Quick! Let's get this over so we can get back to the repetitive monotony!" :/
So all that ranting done, Shinjou Mayu must have done something right, right? I mean, I finished it... so, what's the problem? Her art is amazing as always; there are enough hooks in the appearance of her intended bishies alone to keep you flipping pages. And though the characters never evolve, never learn, never compromise, there is something addictive about them, and really I guess I'm only talking about the guys there.
Yes, it's a terrible story, and not just because of all the abuse. In fact, if you read Shinjou's columns in each volume about how she's going with life, you get a sense of how exhausted she is while cranking this beast out. The fact that I'm still thinking about how negatively this story affected me a few days later is the basis for wondering whether it did actually do its job. Somehow, on some level, it must have. Certain scenes will linger in my head forever, and others will always remain laughable. One day, I hope I can make peace with Haou Airen, but I don't hope to ever read it again.
I'll be honest...I like seeing a tough guy getting softer but keeping his dominance. It's a type of character I like in manga's...sue me. But this manga had some really interesting features - that rape part...ok, I did not understand that and yeah it was a bit....unusual. It's probably more close to reality actually because thinking you can change one guy's mind set when he had such unhealthy environment is probably wrong. But that's reality and this is shoujo/smut manga. So why in the god's name he rape's her and how can she even become addicted to his body? Stockholm syndrome or something? Let's saythat was the point...but even if that was the point, they could have developed differently their relationship in the first place and after all that raping...why did he have to die on their wedding day? Come on...that was just depressing. I hated the ending. Overall, I like the idea and manga is not all so bad even if they decided to mix too many unrealistic things (like her suddenly flying to Hong Kong and she helping him that easily, in reality he would rape her and then kill her right there probably) and realistic things (like inability to change his way of thinking and the he is living, killing etc.)...mangaka got lost there a bit...ending like that really has no place in a manga where you are turning a hard core mafia boss into a lover boy...that ending was a tragedy...I really didn't like it.
I give manga 7 because until that ending came along, the things were tolerable...
I would give this manga more on enjoyment but this ending...OMG...why? That was absolutely horrible.
I personally think that all the raping wasn't so unrealistic since it's really hard to change a mind set of a mafia guy but then I don't understand all his effort before these incidents. I like the character and it's actually well described but it's just that...something is missing...an explanation...something in between that would explain his actions.
She, on the other hand...yeah, I didn't like her...her appearance to be exact...and she was too innocent, a bit too stupid for my liking.
While many will review this manga saying it is disgusting and twisted. The tragedy of the entire story and the feeling of having my emotions buffeted about repeatedly, made this manga memorable to say the least. This manga was so incredibly tragic after lifting my hopes up, that I couldn't stop myself from crying like a total idiot. Somehow over the course of this narrative I found myself getting attached to Kurumi and actually found myself relating to some of her pain. I gave this manga an overall ten only because of the fact that It made me cry so hard. That in itself istruly an art. I almost want to thank the author for helping to give me such an emotional release..... Although the reason I was so emotional when I reached the end may have had something to do with the fact that it was 5:00am by the time I finished and I had been reading through the night. Anyways, If you can't handle hard and real subject matter, then this manga is not for you! This is no fluffy romance!
I really don't have very many complaints about this story. Plot: 9 The clandestine plot flowed nicely through the crevices of darkness present in the male lead. It isn't exactly realistic, but anything is possible. Art: 8 The art style was nice, but I didn't like the female lead's hair. I know,, its kind of a selfish thing to say, but whenever i see long pigtails, I think of Sailor Moon. Even thought this story was meant for mature audiences, the juvenile look of Kurumi made some of the smut scenes seem wrong... unless you are into that kind of thing.Character: 8
Despite contrary belief, I didn't find the main character to be completely useless which is something we see in a lot of shoujo mangas. Kurumi has a strong sense of right and wrong which puzzles her when she became close to the mafia. Also, Kurumi is strong on the inside, able to take abuse but still love with all of her heart.
Enjoyment: 8
This manga was sometimes very hard to read and the emotional side of it can really take toll on you, but i enjoyed most of the smut scenes (I didn't really mind the rape scenes as much I should have). If rape is a topic that you don't like, don't read this manga.
Overall: 8
To say I hated the ending would be an understatement, but it only makes sense seeing this story is a tragedy and not a love-love manga. The author overall played off the complicated love and lust present in the two characters quite well. Overall, the manga did leave a lasting impression, making the reader question morals and the darkness in the world, but also contemplate the silver lining that can be found in these situations. I found the manga to be in the "good" category, and would recommend this to readers who enjoy tragic romance stories with lots and lots of smut!
So basically, this manga is overall amazing. It has a very good plot and story line that keeps you reading. There may be some slow parts but they all tie together to create a manga that's overwhelmingly powerful. Has good "mature" scenes and a tragic ending that makes you cry. I've read it twice, I recommend to anyone who like dominating scenes, a good story line, and a twist ending because this way by far my favorite read ever!
I literally just finished this manga about a half hr ago. I knew I was going to write a review on it, but I needed time to process it all because there certainly is a lot to say. First and foremost, I have read several works by this author, the latest having been love celeb, where I felt there was an exaggerated and slight misrepresentation of how the entertainment industry is. With that said, it was still an enjoyable read. BUT I have to say, the author did a great job of representing what the the mafia world really can be like. I have readseveral reviews where people are utterly shocked and repulsed by the events in this manga, leading to very low ratings and quite cynical reviews..... and to some degree I understand. Because you SHOULD be repulsed, disgusted at times, heartbroken and constantly on an emotional roller-coaster. Especially those who have lived a very sheltered life and cannot even begin to comprehend that a mafia world is not a world full of rainbows and daisies. It can be (and often times) is a very cruel and unforgiving world and I think she represented that in this manga all the way until the end. If you read this manga hoping for a typical easy going love story.....sorry bud, but you came to the wrong place! I needed to emphasize that because I think several people have given this manga such a low rating b/c of how realistically cruel and immoral certain situations were. Which makes you feel guilty for even considering giving it a high rating, which is great bc it can affect you that much. However; I don't think it would be an accurate review of the overall story.
As far as the characters go, it isn't unique in the representation of the female heroin being naive and head over heels for the male character. If this story continued, I would've loved to see more complexity in how Kurami's (female lead) character develops and adapts to this harsh world. A part of me wanted her to adapt to the point where she slightly becomes a part of it, but then that would take away from the innocence of her role and I think at times there is strength that can grow from enduring so much pain. Anyone that can go through the stuff she goes through and can still stand, it's difficult to view them as "weak"...But getting a little more street smart would've been cool to see.
Hakuron ( male lead) I think his character is pretty bad ass. I like how the author takes you on a ride with this guy because you feel all kinds of things which can range anywhere from love to utter disgust and hate. I think considering the environment once again, it was good to give this character so much range.
As far as the relationship between these two go, you have to come to your own conclusion b/c it is at moments simple and lovely then before you know it, it becomes complex and dark and vice versa. Trying to understand becomes harder and harder as the story develops. The psychological analysis you run through your mind leaves you at moments wanting to cheer for them but on the flip side makes you feel guilty for even daring to consider such a thought. That's what i think makes it brilliant b/c it will take you on a ride and considering the circumstances, it can be difficult to process. The love they share is disturbing and twisted to say the least, but I think that is what's unique about it. Again, it is not meant to be a lovey dovey feel good manga, this shit is hardcore fucked up in more way than one, but for some reason in this dark and twisted fantasy.....you do still sense the romantic sides of it.
Some situations can get a bit repetitive, thanks to the continued ignorance of the female character.... which can be a bit frustrating, but hey, it does stick to her intended role of being naive to this world so it makes some sense. Plus, although you feel at some points you want her to "man up" I can't help but feel like if her character started to change in that way, then it will divert from the importance of her innocent outlook on life, which is a big factor in the dynamic of her and Hakurons relationship.
I agree with some in that, the panel could have been executed better. It was at times difficult to differentiate who was saying what. Also, the translation to English I wish was better at times ....I mean come on "embrace?" lol....you'll see what i mean if you read it haha.
I won't comment on the ending like other reviews have b/c in my opinion revealing any feelings about it can also spoil it.
Overall, this is most definitely worth a read. But prepare yourself young grasshopper, bc sh*t gets real fast!...if you want rainbows and daisies, take your butt to the PG club friend, or find a Disney movie and live a blissful life. Excluding lion king :( ...ill never let it go. lol jkjk (but not really '_' ) haha. ok tootles!
The story line hasn't been anything similar to what I have read in the past. It was very different from anything else. The ending was not something I was expecting. My favorite character was Hakuron. I rather enjoyed his character a lot. Shinjou's artwork is so amazing. Her male characters are the best I have seen by far. I would give to have such artistic talents. All of her works have similar story plots and art works, however I think this one is different from the other works I have read such as Kaikan(Sensual) Phrase, Love Celeb, After School Wedding, Ai wo Utau Yori Oreni Oborero, Fiancée Shitai, or Sexy Guardian. All these works and many more contain similar female personalities and male dominance and lustful attitudes.
However, I did have one problem reading the series of books. After so many chapters I had to stop reading it. I felt overwhelmed with the amount of drama that happened all at once. Most of the action happens in the middle of the manga. I gave up reading it for a while and because I only had two volumes left to go I finished reading it today. I recommend reading this manga, even if it takes a while to finish.
The premise of this manga is interesting, but I was very disappointed in the end. Every aspect of the manga was weak. It was all there, and it had such promise, but it all just crashed and burned after the first few chapters and never got better. Story - 5/10 simply because the whole saving a mafia member thing and relocating to Hong Kong is interesting if not unique. However, after that, I got nothing from the plot except for an abusive, possessive male lead taking advantage of the weak female lead. Over and over again it happened, with no development in either of the maincharacters. There were a few plot twists along the way, but honestly they were predictable and uninteresting. Everything still revolved around the main pair and their dysfunctional relationship. The ending is a nice twist, but that's about all I can give it.
Art - 4/10, the way the people were drawn just felt off. Necks were too big and so they looked thuggish, the faces in profile views were oddly proportioned, and the girls have that awful Barbie look with Lolicon faces, tiny frames, but massive boobs. Most of the scenes lacked careful background and detail, though a few large spreads were drawn out nicely. The art did get better in later chapters, but still, it always felt off to me. Plenty of smut throughout, too.
Character - 3/10 Least favorite part of the whole manga. There was NO real emotion between the two leads, just an awful case of a brute getting away with being awful to the weak lead simply because he's hot. It's basically Stockholm Syndrome. The sideline characters are actually pretty interesting, with a cross-dresser and a conniving rich girl, but they get so little time compared to the prolific main pair that it barely matters.
I almost don't know why I put up with 50 chapters, except I will give it credit for being addicting. You want to know what happens next, even though you know it's not very good anyway.
In the mind of other people- this is a terrible, horrifying piece of work. In My opinion, I thought the story was just crazy at first, but as the story progressed it started to get me into it. At the time, I was not accustomed to smutty manga, so I cringed a lot. I do not recommend this manga for people for who are not used to this genre of manga, but I do for the ones used to it. The problems the lovers face were too sad and cruel for my taste, but after they find a way to make things better, you startto possess feelings for the characters. You want them to be together. I started tearing up by the time I got to the end. In conclusion, I rate this 8 overall and find this manga to make someone emotional if you read all the way through.I truly recommend this manga to the smutty readers, knowing once they get past the pain of the obstacles the couple face, they will love it.
When i was reading the manga i was honestly unprepared for the explicit scenes but once you are accustomed to it you might somewhat enjoy it The story is simply put a girl who has to support her family financially, she falls in love with a wounded man who turns out to be a mafia or triad boss they fall in love and this is there story. while reading the manga i continually wanted to know what happened next but sooner or later it gets repetitive and you can guess what happens next. in the story its a bitter sweet end, when you think back whatyou just read you understand how the events lead up to the final moments and you can either get sad over what happens or feel it was going to happen one day.
While reading i found the art very clearly drawn and the text very clear so i knew who was talking which is a plus. i found that the scenes were well drawn and the characters attractive. but i feel they shouldve invested more time into the back stories of the side characters and main characters so you understood the overall story better
Overall i really enjoyed this manga finished in a day found interesting enough and controversial enough that i wanted to write a review and i hope you got something out of this
ok i'm a real fan of mature,romantic, -you-are-mine- type of anime. and i dont mind excessive usage of sex but sometimes you seek true romantic sex scenes! however by the time i realized i've already finished the manga! that means i couldnt stop reading! yeah i know it seems contrasting but, while you are a little disgusted by the characters action, you want to see the end of it.! The Story: It was interesting with the mafia involved but, it was a bit draggy and unbearable. Art: Yes, i can say that the art was really good. Mangaka really created a good atmosphere about howshe felt.so 9 for the art!
Character:
ok, -i-love-you-so-i-am-doing-this-for-you- thing is really going wild in this manga! i mean i love macho men. and a bit ecchi :D but this type was the first that i've read. i can't understand how can she like that man! i mean normally other mangas start with romantic intimations. anyways, the girl sometimes seemed stupid which i hate..
enjoyment:
if i finished all 50 chapters in 6 hours, it means there is something enjoyable :D
overall:
if you like, macho,aggressive,smut,romance with obstacles this is for you! however expect many nast things ..