Nekota Yonezou’s Hidoku Shinaide/Treat Me
Gently is eerily similar to Madarame Hiro’s Kawaii Akuma/Cute Demon, both
authors used the same trope, one which is quite prevalent in yaoi: boy wants
boy and rapes him because he doesn’t have the balls to say it or act in a
respectable manner, and after months of sexual assault, the victim eventually
falls in love with his attacker….
Okay, folks, I’m not into BDSM or anything
even remotely sexually abusive, and I don’t really care what two consenting
adults do in private, but rape is rape. Period. And rape does not constitute
love. Sorry, but all the sickos out there who think they can just force someone
to their will because they’ve got it in their mind it’s “okay”, nah-ah, it don’t
work that way.
This is one yaoi trope I cannot stand, and
I’ve read so much of it, I want to hurl. I think I’ve only come across one
possibly two yaoi where the victim actually fought back and the perpetrator got
what he deserved. In real life the victim does not ride off into the sunset
with his abuser. *kisses and hugs* ‘Oh I love you!’ And that’s why I have a
hard time swallowing these type of stories, even though there have been some
truly bizarre real life cases, where the victim (usually a child) refused to
escape even when an opportunity presented itself.
Anyway, that’s where these yaoi begin, but
thank God it’s also where the similarities end.
With Madarame Hiro’s Kawaii Akuma, I was
disgusted from the first page to the last. Aside from questionable artistry,
the attacker/seme Naruse Fuuta is an arrogant, rich, spoilt, borderline mentally deranged and an extremely
abusive asshole with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He’s cute in the
beginning with his big puppy eyes and sweet façade, but turn your back and
wham! Seriously, the character is despicable. Just when I thought I’d read
about every badass seme out there, this one takes the cake. At least Ayano
Yamane’s Asami Ryuichi has half a heart, and Claus in Maiden Rose realizes he’s
a rotten bastard in the end and tries to repent. A bit of an exaggeration, but
you get the drift. Naruse confesses to a cute boy in school, Akiyoshi Tooru,
who refuses his advances, then he goes berserk. He literally repeatedly
assaults Akiyoshi physically, mentally and emotionally for months. Goes on
summer break, returns, and is twice as big, stronger and more of prick
than before. And Akiyoshi is the worst uke, a spineless wimp. I get it, he’s scared,
hell I would be too in his position, but then he falls for Naruse…? In some demented way, these two
guys deserve one another.
This yaoi is just so over the top, I can
scarcely decide on an appropriate rating. It’s difficult to find any good
qualities when the bad looms like a massive storm cloud. So, I give it two
stars, for the fact that Madarame Hiro had the guts to push an old trope to its
limit.
Treat Me Gently by Nekota Yonezou starts
virtually the same. Maya sees Nemugasa cheat on a test, something he’s never
done before, and in exchange for keeping the secret, he tells Nemugasa to take
off his pants (blackmail on top of assault). Maya does take advantage of the
situation, forcing Nemugasa to have sex with him. But here’s the difference,
Nemugasa isn’t such a pushover and Maya’s bullying isn’t near as horrific as
Naruse. Most of the sexual interaction happens outside of school, in private.
Another point I found intriguing was how Maya used lubricant; rapists don’t
generally give a shit whether they inflict pain.
Maya does truly care about Nemugasa even
though he picked a horrible way to show it. Once they get over the bullshit
misunderstandings, Maya becomes a doting seme, and he does eventually
apologize. It takes Nemugasa a long time to forgive him, but in the end they wind
up in a long-term faithful relationship that spans into college. Treat Me
Gently was touching in parts and I got a real sense these two young men cared
about one another deeply.
This yaoi certainly had its flaws, and I
didn’t care for the nonconsensual sex, but at least the plot development went
well beyond abuse and control quickly; Maya and Nemugasa evolved. So, I give
this one four stars. Now, I’m going to wash my eyes out and read something
completely different. :P
Happy Yaoi Hunting!
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