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Youka Nitta manga
I've noticed a disturbing (at least for me) trend in Nitta-sensei's recent manga titles...
Most of Sensei's post-scandal works (Kisu Ariki, Platinum Pasta, and Spiritual Police) contain dub-con or outright non-con. Kisu Ariki contains rather dubious consent between yakuza heir Tohru and his potential follower/lover Mutsumi. Mutsumi has the brains and opportunity to go straight (pardon the pun), but wants to become Tohru's blood brother and stay by his side because he's in love with Tohru. Out of consideration for Mutsumi, Tohru tries to refuse, but they are stuck on an isolated island together (for reasons that are a bit complicated to explain), and since Mutsumi is the only one who knows how to drive the boat, he refuses to let Tohru leave until he gives in. Tohru agrees to have sex with him, but it's somewhat under duress since he's essentially being held captive by Mutsumi, though he doesn't really seem afraid of Mutsumi. (His response is something like, "You just want to do me, right? So fine, let's do it and get it out of your system.") And once they start having sex, Mutsumi ties Tohru up so that he can't change his mind later and attack Mutsumi. (Tohru had hit Mutsumi in the past for taking things too far, although it was more because he didn't want Mutsumi to get involved in the yakuza world than because he didn't want to sleep with him.) I found this really disturbing, because it's still rape if someone changes their mind even after initially agreeing to sex, but while Tohru seems taken aback, he doesn't really struggle or protest, so it seems to be more dub-con than non-con. Still, I found the whole thing disturbing and a bit skeevy.
They continue their relationship after they leave the island, and I do find the shifting balance of power between the two of them to be interesting, while not feeling entirely comfortable with it. In the beginning, it seems like Mutsumi is in control, but he's so desperately in love with Tohru that he doesn't care about anything else, and Tohru seems able to keep better control of his emotions, and while he cares about Mutsumi, he also cares about becoming the future leader of the gang and commanding the gang members' respect, and it seemed to me that the power shifts back to Tohru because Mutsumi needs Tohru more than Tohru needs him. The power continues to shift back and forth slightly, with Mutsumi trying to get Tohru "addicted" to his body so that Tohru won't want anyone else, and while that does seem to be working, Tohru is showing good leadership qualities, and is so far managing to balance his yakuza duties and his relationship with Mutsumi. I do think that Mutsumi's love for Tohru is obsessive to an unhealthy degree, and while the power struggles are compelling, the story isn't the sort of "comfort reading" that I truly enjoy.
The one-off story "Platinum Pasta" features (I think) a farmer and and a fisherman who make deliveries to a chef at an Italian restaurant and are both in love with said chef. One day after he's nice enough to make pasta for them, they catch the chef alone and rape him. And it's clearly rape--he's running away, and I can make out enough of the Japanese to tell that he's yelling at them to "Stop!" and he's crying during the assault. I could be missing something in the translation, but it sure doesn't seem like role-playing. Afterwards they explain that they're in love with him, and...that seems to make things okay? Apparently then they ask him to choose between him, and he says he'll think about it. At the end, they're comically taken aback when the chef says that he thought the two of them were lovers, rather than being rivals in love over him.
In a recent message, Sensei said that for this story, she wanted to write something that she wouldn't usually write, so she decided to make the story about an "uke who's reluctant to have sex." But I think that "reluctant" is a bit of an understatement--it wasn't a seduction, but a flat-out gang rape, and it didn't seem at all romantic or sexy to me! I know it's a popular yaoi plot, but if there's one thing I hate, it's the rape-is-love trope.
And finally, I had been looking forward to "Spiritual Police," since it's an Otodama spin-off featuring Superintendent Nagatsuma in a prequel as a young rookie detective, and I love detective stories. It started off promisingly enough, although the young Nagatsuma seemed much more naive and sensitive than the more jaded character in Otodama, but I figured that this series would explain how he changed from the idealistic rookie into his current self. I liked Nagatsuma's partner, a handsome but slightly scruffy older guy who reminded me of Kikuchi, and Nagatsuma's lover, a beautiful blind masseuse with psychic powers. (I kid you not!) However, the lover (Aoi) is under investigation by one of Nagatsuma's colleagues, Oribe, a detective in another division, because many of Aoi's prominent clients have been involved in crimes. He wants Nagatsuma to help him spy on Aoi, saying that if he believes in his lover, this will help prove him innocent--although it seems pretty clear that Oribe believes Aoi is guilty. Oribe isn't his supervisor, so I'm not sure why Nagatsuma feels obligated to go along with this--his duty as a cop? Fear that Oribe will expose his homosexual affair to his superiors? Oribe doesn't openly threaten him, although he does hint at it. Nagatsuma sets up the wiretaps in (I think) his own apartment, but then tells Aoi that he can't see him anymore, because he can't bear to be involved in betraying Aoi. (Even though he hasn't, really. The wiretaps won't record anything unless Aoi comes over to his place, and Nagatsuma has broken things off with Aoi for this very reason.) Oribe is first angry, then turned on when Nagatsuma breaks down into tears, and calls Nagatsuma "womanly" then sexually assaults him. Technically, perhaps, it can't be called "rape" because Nagatsuma doesn't protest or fight back, but gives in because he feels that he deserves it for betraying Aoi. Still, it's obvious that he doesn't enjoy it and that it's meant to be degrading, and I found the scene repulsive and stomach-churning. At least it wasn't meant to be a romantic scene, but I'm not sure that I will buy the manga if ever comes out in English, as much as I want to support Nitta-sensei. Maybe if there's no further non-con and Oribe suffers a horrible death, I might be able to let it pass...but I was really disappointed by that chapter. Also, the whole thing just doesn't make sense to me...if Nagatsuma feels so badly about being involved in the investigation, why doesn't he just refuse to do it? It feels like the whole rape scene was just set up to cause more drama and angst. I could understand it better if Nagatsuma expressed conflict over being torn between his loyalty to the police and to Aoi, though maybe the fan translation I read overlooked something.
I guess I'm extra disappointed because I love Haru so much, with the equal and loving relationship between Iwaki and Katou. Although looking back, there are a couple of problematic scenes in the first volume, with Iwaki continuing to have sex with Katou during the auditon after Katou tells him to "pull out," though Katou obviously doesn't consider it rape, and with Katou having real sex with Iwaki over the latter's protests while filming the final episode of their TV show. I was disturbed by those scenes, but since the later volumes portray a consensual relationship in which the characters love and respect each other, I'm able to overlook it.
And in Boku no Koe, Jouichi initiates sex with Renji, while the latter protests halfheartedly, though--as Wataru points out--doesn't physically fight back. I'm pretty sure Renji is meant to be insecure and maybe a bit freaked out about being attracted to a guy rather than unwilling, but the no-means-yes trope also bugs the hell out of me, which is why I've always had reservations about their relationship, although I love the relationship between Yumi and Hosaka. (For more meta-ish thoughts on Boku no Koe, see my initial post on the Youka Nitta IJ Asylum, followed by a later post after I'd had more time to think over the series and revise my opinion of Jouchi a bit.)
So, I don't know...maybe Nitta-sensei was always interested in those tropes and is choosing to explore them in more detail now. Which is certainly her right, but I am disappointed, since that's not the kind of story that I'm interested in, and I had wanted to support her by buying her current manga. Platinum Pasta and Spiritual Police are not available in English yet, but I have been buying the Kisu Ariki e-books for Kindle. I find the story interesting enough that I'll continue with it despite my misgivings, though if it branches out into full-on non-con, I'd have to reconsider.
no subject
There's so many layers of issues going on here that I think you have to trust that inside is the Nitta-sensei who wrote books largely without non-con before the scandal. And now is the mangaka who is trying to get herself clear of the scandal and probably doing everything her publishers tell her to do. And as many other BL artists have said before, the publishers demand sex scenes and even certain types of sex scenes. For some strange reason, non-con sells in Japan, which is why it turns up so often in the mangas brought over here. (Although why a US publisher isn't concentrating on finding good stories without noncon is a mystery to me)
There *is* also the fact that you're reading fan translations and that there might be layers to the story lost to us. I know from reading that the Police in Japan have a complicated hierarchy I still don't fully understand, other than you're on the management track or the beat cop track and neither do the two meet. It could be as simple as the fact that Oribe has seniority or age or both over Nagatsuma, and Nagatsuma feels that's enough for him to let Oribe lead the way. Or, Oribe could be from a department that's more important than Nagatsuma's, or Oribe could already be in the management track while Nagatsuma is still putting in his time as a "regular" cop before he gets on the management track. Or, maybe Nagatsuma is just concerned about his chances of getting on the management track and feels he must work well with all who make requests of him. Etc. Etc.
I'm very sure that Nagatsuma did allow Oribe to degrade him out of a deep sense of guilt. Self-flagellation comes up over and over again in other books (Maiden Rose being the first example that comes to mind). "I did wrong, I deserve anything I get" is as bad as "no-means-yes" because it seems to prove the rule to me. If Character A didn't feel like he deserved to be assaulted, he wouldn't let Character B do that to him, but since A does feel that way, he'll let B do what he wants. His "no" becomes a "yes" by default.
I agree with you, though. Nothing post-scandal from Nitta-sensei has even approached Harudaki or Boku no Koe. LOL Theater has a gentleness to it, but it seems tame compared to her earlier works and, unfortunately, what's come after.
love, lore
no subject
I know that non-con is popular with Japanese and (and apparently many American) yaoi fans, and I know it's not all about me--though it sure would be nice if I could get manga written to my specifications! ~_^ Melinda Beasi's reviews over on Manga Bookshelf have been really helpful, since she dislikes non-con too, and will usually note it in her reviews. It's saved me a lot of money, since other reviewers will sometimes call a title "hot" without noting that it's no-means-yes type of plot.
Hmm, and I'd been thinking of doing a post on Maiden Rose--I do like that story despite the dub-con, and find the characters' relationships fascinating if rather twisted.