Still uneasy over "After School Nightmare".
My library had the first volume of After School Nightmare, I keep reading good reviews of the series on LJ, so I decided to pick it up again even though parts of it made me uneasy. The manga is still gorgeously surreal, with strange symbolism reminiscent of Revolutionary Girl Utena, and has pretty artwork. At least in volume 1, the stuff that made me uneasy might not be due to the narrative so much as the characters having massive issues. I'm not sure if it makes the series easier to read though.
I'm not sure how many people who've added me to their f-list reads manga, let alone this series. But one spoilery question I'd like to know about Sou past volume 4 is Does Sou ever stop with the non-con advances on Ichijo, all the while insisting that Ichijo is a girl? Because Sou pushes past creepy, and is heading towards disturbing territory for me. Volume 1's scene where Ichijo and Sou are stuck in an elevator, and Sou pushes Ichijo into a wall and forces a kiss on him, and insists that Ichijo's a girl made me more uneasy now than when I first read it. It's that combination of violent manhandling, sexual harassment, the harasser insisting s/he knows the harassed better than they know themselves, and the linking it to gender, that pushes my squick button. The elevator scene reads as worse for me, because I know it's not a one time instance, there's more to come, and where I left off it looked like Ichijo might return Sou's feelings even though Sou continues to be an overbearing pushy asshat.
I can handle some forms of asshatery. This isn't one of them. I pretty much want rabid bats to gnaw on him whenever he's on the scene. So the idea of Ichijo returning Sou's feelings, and having more Sou scenes makes me want to drop the manga. Even though I really want to know what's up with the school, and the nightmares.
Huh, I didn't know I felt that strongly about it until after I wrote it. I also think I'm reacting to a certain trope that keeps coming up in shoujo manga. (And yaoi, except I haven't read that much of it.)
I'm not sure how many people who've added me to their f-list reads manga, let alone this series. But one spoilery question I'd like to know about Sou past volume 4 is Does Sou ever stop with the non-con advances on Ichijo, all the while insisting that Ichijo is a girl? Because Sou pushes past creepy, and is heading towards disturbing territory for me. Volume 1's scene where Ichijo and Sou are stuck in an elevator, and Sou pushes Ichijo into a wall and forces a kiss on him, and insists that Ichijo's a girl made me more uneasy now than when I first read it. It's that combination of violent manhandling, sexual harassment, the harasser insisting s/he knows the harassed better than they know themselves, and the linking it to gender, that pushes my squick button. The elevator scene reads as worse for me, because I know it's not a one time instance, there's more to come, and where I left off it looked like Ichijo might return Sou's feelings even though Sou continues to be an overbearing pushy asshat.
I can handle some forms of asshatery. This isn't one of them. I pretty much want rabid bats to gnaw on him whenever he's on the scene. So the idea of Ichijo returning Sou's feelings, and having more Sou scenes makes me want to drop the manga. Even though I really want to know what's up with the school, and the nightmares.
Huh, I didn't know I felt that strongly about it until after I wrote it. I also think I'm reacting to a certain trope that keeps coming up in shoujo manga. (And yaoi, except I haven't read that much of it.)