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Today we're exploring the tropes of dramatic rape and lovers from Stockholm. These are widely found in yaoi manga, and also in many shows and movies. I'll use Finder as an example for these, but you only need to go to Netflix an notice them in some movies. Dramatic…
If you are interested in yaoi, then you should know a few things coming into the genre. Anime or manga bearing the yaoi flag often feature little-to-no female characters and are often set in homosocial worlds. Angst is a must for many of these stories, and concerns has risen as acts such as rape and incest have become more apparent in yaoi.
Oh god I agree so much with your post!!!! While I may not hate it to your extend the whole noncon/ducon thing in yaoi has been bothering me for a while now. I was thinking the whole time, is it really just me who doesn’t like it ? I have yet to find a yaoi anime that doesn’t have rape/sexual harrasment or rape = love in it. This is sad …
Both are psychological horror-esk yaoi manga that involve kidnapping, rape, and just general mind-fuckery.
Personal Thoughts: Okay so first this manga is only for people fine with darker themes as there is some abuse and rape. If you are not okay with those themes, this isn’t the manga for you. There is “forcefully asking for sex” ie. rape between the two main characters in the beginning. I didn’t like that, but it’s a common trope in yaoi unfortunately, so I had to deal with it. Fudou pisses me off cuz he’s so rude, but he kinda gets better? Other than that though I’m really enjoying this story. They both have dark pasts and it’s sad and Shiraishi just wants his parents’ acceptance but then he starts to have feelings for Fudou and it’s kinda sweet *cough* plus the good smexy scenes *cough*. Also the artwork I find gorgeous. No like I’m seriously in love with this author’s art style.
There are mysteries and secrets on Akihiko’s end, too, what with the attractive dark-haired young man staying at his house and calling him “Aki.” Love triangle? Speaking of Akihiko Kaji, he keeps staying over at Haruki’s apartment after drinking too much. At one point he falls down, out like a light, on top of Haruki in his bed! Fujoshi Gasp! Fujoshi Squeal! Can I just say that I’m so glad there was NO drunk rape? I must have watched too many bad, rapey yaoi OVAs or else why would I be relieved over the common decency and basic self-control shown by Haruki? I mean, if this was
Finder is as alluring as hard to read because of its tropes. This yaoi manga has so many tropes that it’s perfect to study them. However, tropes can become a waste stone when abused. Game of Thrones is famous for the abuse of dramatic rape. There’s so much sexual violence in the it that it feels like a significant part of the show is just a huge trope device machine to just shocking the audience. Many comedy movies use the Stockholm game to match their characters, but at a certain point it all feels forced, or all movies feel the same.
This OVA is a yaoi genre in its purest and truest form. Also, the animation art is so excellent, just like Kirepapa, another Yaoi anime under the same company.
In this case “idealizing” would’ve been better given that your words were objectively worse: “obsessive, almost leering fascination”, “a certain prurient glee in the way the author continues to serve up the same dish, time after time, to the point where it’s there for more than strictly narrative purposes”. Whereas, in reality, your reading couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, the abuse is prevalent but unlike with the rape fantasy trope in yaoi, in BF, as critics have noted, the portrayal of rape is “universally negative and traumatic” (Wikipedia).
I am a big anime fan and I get what you mean but I also think that rape culture is just more of a thing in japan. It's not just gay stuff. Rape is implied or clearly shown in a heck of a lot of straight anime too and there are plenty of yaoi, BL anime that dont feature rape.
While i generally agree that these types of tropes are really undesirable and isn’t the type of portrayal that I personally want to see, i disagree with the writer’s take on it. One thing they dont seem to take into account is the reality that, similar to romance, the yaoi genre is made by women, for women. So rather than being rooted in misogyny, i would argue that these problems stem more from what women are interested in. It’s no different from how there are similar tropes of rape and toxic relationships very prevalent in the romance genre. It’s unfortunate, but I feel like as long as there is a market for it, yaoi will continue to be made this way.
