Breath

Breath

By Ochi Chifumi

Overall: Mediocre
Smex Factor: Sexy Sexy
Art: Generic
Status: 5 Volumes; Complete

Review: Guys like this one give gay people a bad name! You can't just BLACKMAIL someone into being your sex slave, besides being UNETHICAL and AMORAL, it's just...ridiculous. And he has very little motivation for even making this guy into a sex slave.

Remember, when you're writing, always have a REASON for WHY things are happening!

Not to mention that this guy is just a dick. Or an asshole. You know. He actually relishes the fact that his sex partner "hates the idea of having sex with a man," and, purposefully, all he does is humiliate him. This is the type of bullying that makes kids kill themselves. Granted, the man being bullied here is in his late twenties, it's still destructive for the psyche and causes self-loathing and depression.

These stories (because this is just one in a whole GENRE) would be TEN MILLION times more interesting if they all didn't end with the abused and the abusee FALLING IN LOVE. Now, I know I hate on this type of relationship constantly, so I feel I should clear something up: All types of romance and love exist. And love is INFAMOUS for being illogical, I can't deny that. HOWEVER, if you are going to address an unusual, illogical, COMPLICATED type of romance, it's up to you to make it more than the contrived bullshit that so many of these BL writers roll out. In fact, I think MOST romances should be like that (SUBSTAAANCE), but these completely unbelieveable ones especially. And what's more unbelievable than a romance started through anger, rape, and HUMILIATION?

And you know what? If you're doing anything DRAMATIC, and I mean ANYTHING, then you should be doing it in-depth rather than all this melodramatic, shallow crap. PLEASE! SOMEBODY TEACH THESE PEOPLE HOW TO WRITE!

So the uke is a lame caricature of all the lame, wimpy ukes that populate these kind of romances, and the seme is the same lame seme that gets pulled along with how needy the uke is, and their relationship grows out of some weird codependence. (Like Twilight!)

Seme needs to take care of uke, uke needs someone to take care of him. This is love, evidently. /exaggerated eye roll

Then add in a psychotic ex-lover and an almost-even-MORE psychotic twin. What do you get? Emotional baggage and... an underage orgy? Eughh?

So, seme further devolves into his tragic past of LOVE IS DEAD TO ME, and I HAD A BAD SEXUAL EXPERIENCE, SO I BECAME A SLUT (?). SO THAT'S WHY I RAPED YOU, YEAH, SORRY ABOUT THAT. AND NOW THAT I CAN SEX YOU CONSENSUALLY, I WILL REJECT YOUR LOVE FOR NO REASON. [More wangsty, I'm-not-good-enough backstory.] WANGST WANGST WANGST. BY THE WAY I LOVE YOU. WE'RE SO HAPPY TOGETHER.

AAAAAAAAAAAAH IT'S THE ENDLESS CYCLE.

Also, someone? Please call the police when people are about to commit psychotic crimes of passion, rather than running around aimlessly, trying to stop them yourself. Really, the police are equipped to deal with that kind of thing, and they usually get to the scene faster than injured men who are WALKING.

The final two chapters are about the psycho brother, and about how, if you stab people, you'll get off scott free and hook up with a sexy doctor. MAN, I LOVE YAOI.