Haou Airen: at least one good thing about it

[dangermousie]

I went trolling to see people's take on Haou Airen, and while greatly disturbed at the 'this is such an awesome story' and 'omg he got a tattoo branded on his back so romantic' comments (people, he is a RAPIST, ok?), I am dancing with glee as apparently HE DIES AT THE END!!!!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssss!

I don't care if he is her true love or what, just the mere fact that he dies so she can hopefully find a really good shrink and get deprogrammed and be normal is AWESOME.

I hope he dies very very VERY painfully. I might dl just the last volume to enjoy for myself.

ETA: Oh, now I won't have to dl. He gets shot by the guy with whom the heroine stayed with when she ran away (who was actually sweet and awesome. Did I mention that our Prince Charming made the poor guy watch him rape the heroine? No? Well, consider it mentioned). It's a pity he only got shot and not eviscerated.

Awww, widdle little rapist was on his way to church to marry his victim. Am I supposed to be sad about it. AS IF.

YESSSS.

But you know what's really disturbing? All the fanbrats going 'awwww, this is so sad' and 'I want a happy ending' (it IS a happy ending, nitwits) and 'he is too hot to die.' *bashes head*

P.S. Why do the other characters are all 'if she only knew the truth about why he killed what-s-her-name, they could get back to puppies and flowers.' I think the fact that he repeatedly raped her is a bigger obstacle in any relationship!!!

BUT HE DIES HE DIES HE DIES!!!!

yesssssss.

Probably not the reaction the sick-in-the-head mangaka was going for.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

This may be the first time I've actually come across a pairing that's too dark for me...I mean, I generally go for dark a lot(I mean, Shuri/Sarasa in Basara are my ultimate manga OTP and just from the first volume you can see how screwed up that is...and that's just step 1 in the screwed upnes...and my current reminisce/obsess OTP killed each other-kinda-while she was trying to stop him from rebooting reality in their first incarnation...) but this just...in makes season 6 Buffy/Spike look light and fluffy, because hey, at least Spike stopped himself and was able to realize he was doing something wrong...it's sad when the soulless vampire apparently has a stronger moral center.

How on earth did I move to Buffy...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Seriously. UGH. Thinking of this manga makes me sick

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I mean...Sensual Phrase sets off my "urk" instincts, butthis is...yeah...I mean, how could it even be called romantic...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

SP is sappy and silly but I don't find it morally repugnant. This? Yikes.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The point I was making much better than I made it.

uh.....

[calledinvain.livejournal.com]

you know, you need some Ouran. Or read up on more HMD. I went looking for it on Amazon Japan, and the last cover looks hopeful and very sweet (waaah, we're half way done!). reading the description of this manga just makes my blood pressure go up, I could not actually fathom reading the actual manga.

I think Bon fansubs decided to hardsub all the files of Witch Yoo Hee now, so I'm dling the third ep. And Yamapi's new drama is going to be airing very soon!

As for Maki's drama, I'm not actually sure when it starts, but I think it's going to be in this month as well - now the question is, is it going to get any fansubs. All those cute boys! And Maki! *sigh* Probably not a chance that Yamapi's bf is going to be playing her love interest, as he's supposed to be the PE teacher and I don't think it's That Kind of Drama. But whatever, I can still look at him and swoon.

Re: uh.....

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I love Ouran. So funny. I ran out of all the HMD volumes available. But I am finishing up on scanlations for Fruits Basket which will keep me happily occupied and more scanlations for Vampire Knight and Platinum Garden.

As to WYH...EEEE!

Probably not a chance that Yamapi's bf

LOL. Who is he?

Yuu Shirota

[calledinvain.livejournal.com]

He's Yamapi's real life best friend. Very sexy, half Spanish, half Japanese actor cast in Maki's new drama.

Re: Yuu Shirota

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I saw his pic and YOWZA. *pants*

Re: Yuu Shirota

[(Anonymous)]

linky?

*actually has Maki's last drama in the backlog*

Re: Yuu Shirota

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*kicks self for forgetting to make sure she was logged into the work puter*

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

***laughs*** That manga sounds uber weird. Rapists should die very painful deaths. Heh >_>

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

That manga is really really sick. Ugh. I need to wipe my mind.

[janlake83.livejournal.com]

Awww, widdle little rapist was on his way to church to marry his victim. Am I supposed to be sad about it. AS IF.

and may i just i started giggling about that one... i shouldn't but ummm i feel the same way he raped her repeatedly and his supposed to be a hero????? umm last time i checked when a girl says no it means no... hence his a RAPIST!!!!!!!!!!! and he didn't do it once and then become remorseful he did it continously... meant he is nto a good guy, his a bad guy and deserved to get his wanker chopped off not just get shot...

i sincerely apologize for my graphic language... that manga was just wrong... rape is not romantic

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

and he didn't do it once and then become remorseful he did it continously... meant he is nto a good guy, his a bad guy and deserved to get his wanker chopped off not just get shot...


Oh, I totally agreed. I wanted him to die painfully. And seriously, he kept doing it for weeks. UGH. The author of this needs therapy.

[janlake83.livejournal.com]

yeah the author needs major therapy time cause rape isn't umm romantic its more like umm traumatic.. the heroine is completely screwed up and umm yeah she wasn't happy with the guy if he had to rape her

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

*snerk*

To be perfectly honest... Haou Airen... *shrug* It's so unrealistic -- even the art -- that I just... can't really bring myself to care. Beyond: "Oh, Mayu Shinjo. I can see your id from here."

Yeah, okay that, and the urge to wash my hands after I'd read it.

It's possible this is a side effect of accidentally wandering into my aunt's collection of late-80s and early-90s (where the Rape As Love plot element was reeeaaaally popular) when I was erm, too young to be doing any such thing. Pretty traumatizing and a bit desensitizing. (I would like to stress here: when it comes to fiction. Fiction.) You want some sick fucks? Those were some sick fucks.

Seriously. Siiiiiiiiiick.

'Course I'm not saying Haou Airen isn't stupid/silly/pretty sick as well, or that you shouldn't be outraged. And yeah, the fanbrats... those that aren't painfully self-aware... need, um, therapy. Lots of it.

But can I tell you (in an attempt to amuse at the ways of Japan) that the hero's death was so traumatic for the fandom, they did an alternative ending on a drama CD?

And not have you kill me?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

LOL. Alternate ending? I just find it amusing. Or scary, that the fanbrats were upset.

I think my biggest problem with something like HA is not even the rape stuff (because fine, fantasies of submission and all that). It's precisely that I am supposed to emotionally root for a Stepford Wife and a Rapist. If MS did the whole 'oh, evil but hot dude kidnapped her for a week of sex,' I'd actually have little problem with it (aside from it not being my thing). It's trying to wrap it into concepts of love and romance that really bugs me.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get where you're coming from. Absolutely. And I'm not trying to get you to change your stance, just shooting the breeze. ;)

I think the thing for me with HA is... I dunno, it's just so obvious. I mean, a lot of Shinjo's work is, but HA is off the charts. I mean, childlike heroine (who barely reaches hero's pecs) with pneumatic chest, dying mother, tragic birth prophecy, selective whipping (artfully torn clothing!) as mafia interrogation device... seriously. Seriously?

And that's the first volume. Before we get to gender switching and suicidal lovers and yeah, the rape.

I guess I just a) never emotionally committed to the characters as anything other than authorial hand-puppets and b) saw it coming.

If it weren't for all that, I'd be just as pissed.

And yeah, Japanese fanbrats... fanbrats the world over. Let's have a communal eye-roll.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

childlike heroine (who barely reaches hero's pecs) with pneumatic chest, dying mother, tragic birth prophecy, selective whipping (artfully torn clothing!) as mafia interrogation device... seriously

LOL.

The thing is, I am not emotionally invested in the characters either, wasn't even before the whole 'he rapes because he loves' thing started, but even with indifference, the act of rape is just...I find it so repugnant as used here, that it's not that I care because I liked Kurumi and she is getting raped, or I cared for Mob Guy and he is a rapist, but because I just find it really emotionally repellent to see it treated with approval. I can't detach myself.

I have no problem with the 'enjoy it for the absurdity' attitude at all (just wanted to make it clear) or even 'hey, it's hot smut, who cares about the plot' attitude either (though I can't share either because it pushes my buttons and not in a good way). It's just the 'awww it's so romantic' in fanbrattish that's driving me off the wall

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

It's just the 'awww it's so romantic' in fanbrattish that's driving me off the wall.

Well, hells yeah. Crap like that should go die in a fire.

*makes scary face*

But oh man, is the absurdity awesome or WHAT? And the fiancee! Who becomes a whore in the school basement to get revenge!

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Haha, was re-reading HA because of this discussion. And.

I'm sorry. I cannot hate this title.

Or even the fucked-up mangaka.

Because?

It is just... so...

Okay, so, rapist!Hero gets shot, right? And Heroine makes it out to be her own fault. And he's sent to the hospital and he needs blood, blah blah, and she gives him a transfusion of luuuuuuuuuurv and Stockholm Syndrome, and he wakes up and is like, "the fuck, I totally gave you as a sex toy to my second-in-command, what are you doing here?" And she runs away desolate.

But it is awesome. Because. He actually LOVES her, right? He's pushing her away to PROTECT HER, right?

So when his third-in-command is like, "way harsh, dude, her blood is in your body, she totally saved your ass."

So when everyone is gone the Oh!So!Tortured!Hero BITES HIMSELF.

AND MAKES OUT WITH HIS OWN BLOODY WRIST.

FOR SERIOUS. TONGUE AND EVERYTHING.

FOR LIKE SIX PANELS.

Because (as we see him think) it's the closest he has to being with her.

*dies and is ded*


I literally have no words, okay? Mayu Shinjo has robbed me of coherent speech. It is the most fucked-up indulgence of shoujo/romance tropes ever, and I can only applaud.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

OK...I am laughing so hard that if I was drinking, I'd be snorting it out of my nose. I think I've gone from being disgusted to rolling on the floor at the stupidity. Still, I think I can keep this attitude only if I don't see any more sex scenes from HA.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

I so love that scene. It's like the Holy Grail of shoujo angst. When does the guy really love you? When he's necking his own mangled limbs for a taste of YOU!

Still, I think I can keep this attitude only if I don't see any more sex scenes from HA.

Yeah... if anything, they get more creepy and explicit after the rape. I think the only thing that saved me from giving up entirely is I would repeatedly pause, squint, tilt my head and think: "Now, that's only going to work if his penis is three feet long..."

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

When does the guy really love you? When he's necking his own mangled limbs for a taste of YOU!


ROFL.

Btwm you mentioned that he gave her to his second in command to protect him right? Couldn't he afford to buy her a ticket back to Tokyo instead? Where she'll be safed and not a sex toy to someone else? Seriously.

MS's forte if you can call it that, is drawing sex scenes. Her plots and characters? LOL. Though compared to this, Sensual Phrase was full of tight plotting and exquisite characte development (not something I thought I'd ever say after reading SP :P)

Yeah... if anything, they get more creepy and explicit after the rape.

I read through the entirely of volume 4 because I was sort of in 'this cannot be it, right' mode and yikes. If MS has a boyfriend, they must have a hell of a weird relationship.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Couldn't he afford to buy her a ticket back to Tokyo instead?

Aha! Mayu Shinjo is three steps ahead of you! He TRIES to send her back to Tokyo, but en route she is kidnapped by the White Tiger people (the group his fiancee went to, who whipped Kimure before), who open a broadcast channel so Hero can see Heroine stripped and groped by Villain.

Hero then proceeds to take a helicopter and a plethora of machine guns to shoot out the hotel they're camped out in. Upon her rescue he's like, "well, I can't keep you, can't send you back home... here, I'll hand you off to my second. He hates you, so he won't touch you." But he's underestimated the power of a Shinjo Sue...

If MS has a boyfriend, they must have a hell of a weird relationship.

I dunno, man. You have to admire a woman who embraces her kink so openly... and who doesn't seem to take herself the least bit seriously.

And hey. Whatever she's selling, the Japanese public is buying.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

open a broadcast channel so Hero can see Heroine stripped and groped by Villain.


So basically like she was with the Hero, only the villain is probably not as hot ;D

to take a helicopter and a plethora of machine guns to shoot out the hotel they're camped out

OK, now I am going to hell and it's all your fault. Because your totally hilarious descriptions are just awesome and this sounds so cracktastic that I can't help it. I started it again. I found I can deal with it just fine and just giggle and giggle if I pretend that there wasn't any raping in vol 4 as midway into 5 they are having consensual sex all over the place (literally) which is ok with me. But SO FUNNY.

This manga is so funny. Though I think I now know more about some of the mangaka's more peculiar fetishes than I wanted to.

You know what totally bugs me though? She keeps calling him Hakuron-san in bed! WTF? Leaving aside the whole 'why is she polite to someone who wasn't nice to her,' I'd think they sort of progressed to waaaaaay beyond that stage :D

You have to admire a woman who embraces her kink so openly... and who doesn't seem to take herself the least bit seriously.

LOL. I have this image of her unfortunate boyfriend going 'but honey, can we just watch TV tonight?' 'Noooo, go get your strap on at once!'

Heh.

And hey. Whatever she's selling, the Japanese public is buying.

Hey, it might be porn but it's really really pretty porn that at least pretends to have a plot :D

[blushingsigh.livejournal.com]

I feel bad for stumbling on this post two years too late but it was really hilarious to see tatterpunk's and your exchanges and I'm going to have to agree with tatterpunk in that I cannot hate Mayu Shinjo or her fucked up work because she embraces her kink and I honestly don't believe that she takes herself seriously at all. AT ALL. AT ALL. And until I read your post, I used to think it was a only guilty pleasure for older women who would definitely want to burn the hero (??) of HA in real life but since the character is fictional they don't really care ... because it's a really ridiculous manga. And then I find out from you that some people actually like the SOB that was the hero (again, ??) of HA. I hope that one day Mayu will tell everyone that no one should take her manga seriously, in that hope that maybe fanbrats can understand that rape=/=love.
To deviate a little, I'll tell what was really disturbing: I once unfortunately stumbled across a Draco/Hermione fic ('Tear you Apart' I think) where Draco controls Hermione using a cruciatius curse and rapes her. The rape scene was painful to read. It was like the fictional equivalent of the infamous 9-minute rape scene in 'Irreversible'. But you know the worst part was the fact that these reviewers were like 'OMG!SO HAWT!'. I felt like throwing up after reading that.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Ugh, that story sounds awful.

The thing is, I don't find rape kink stories appealing (appaling, yes, appealing, no) but, as you put it, if it's someone reading it for that and knowing it's sick in rl, it's one thing - 15 year old fanbrats finding it romantic is horrifying though.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

"Now, that's only going to work if his penis is three feet long..."

Maybe THAT is his secret angst :P

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Hee!

I agree with you that Shinjo's sensual scenes are a real strength of hers, and was dutifully impressed with Sensual Phrase, but... Man, HA is just outright porn. I mean, everything but genitalia. And a lot of things you didn't think you could show without genitalia -- Shinjo puts her subtle genius to work and is like "yeah, they're going there. let me draw you a map."

And I will say this: as a Shinjo heroine, life can be pretty rough. Your boyfriend is emotionally closed-off with an annoying obsession with your virginity, you have near-constant threats of rape and amnesia, not to mention the risk of any minute being smothered by your own bazooms.

But wow, do you get a lot of head.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I was literally goggling at some panels in 'did she just drew what I think she did or am I hallucinating. Nah, she went there.'

Heh.

not to mention the risk of any minute being smothered by your own bazooms.

ROFL. I keep wondering how the poor dimitted heroine of this even walks without falling over. I have to say, no wonder all the men are nuts for her. How many big busted silly submissive and secretly slutty chicks are wandering out there?

an annoying obsession with your virginity

Not for long :D

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

P.S. I'm reading her latest, which is a comedy, and I think this might cleanse your palate... maybe? You probably need something in between Mayu Shinjo offerings... Otherwise it's like eating two ginormous bags of Doritos at one go.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

I'm reading her latest, which is a comedy...

And there's a Sakuya cameo!!!!

EEEEEEEEEE!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am sold. What's life without a little guilty pleasure. What is is called?

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

SERIOUSLY YOU NEED TO SEE IT FOR YOURSELF





my amusement is boundless. much like the mangaka's lack of shame.

[fivil.livejournal.com]

Huzzah!

I hate things that conform to the stereotypes in the worst possible way - like in Western media whenever they talk about manga, they say "it's all about sex and violence" so to read about a manga with SEXUAL VIOLENCE, it's just not on. Giving the whole thing a bad name (like, I don't like manga much myself but I know it's not all about sex & violence).

I remember a friend telling me these yakuza films she watched always had a consentual sex scene that somehow turned into a rape scene. But from my understanding those weren't going for romantic, at least.

And ugh, fanbrats. If it's plain repeated rape then there just can't be any romantic justification for it, period. Weirdos.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

And ugh, fanbrats. If it's plain repeated rape then there just can't be any romantic justification for it, period. Weirdos.

Yeah. Their thing was 'but he is soooo hoooot.'

UGH.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh, this sounds weird. I came across this theme few times in paperback romance novels - He raped her (because he is some sort of bandit or because they are married by contract or something like that) and she ended up loving him to bits. AS IF!! AWAKE, people!!!!!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I came across it in a few novels too. Some women must have fantasies like this ('The Sheik' is basically like the above manga only in novel form and it was THE book of the 1920s) but for me, yikes!

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I figure this manga is along the same vein as many a romance novel from the 70s and 80s that featured rape as part of the "romance". I've read some discussions as to why that sort of polt device is for some reason acceptable in the romance world (it's out of fashion now, but you still run into novels with it). There was some discussion that in more conservative society that having the heroine raped by the hero was a way to get around having the heroine be labeled as a slut for sleeping with the hero without marriage. The Smart Bitches even wrote a very interesting article about it here. Very interesting, you might want to give it a look.

As for my part, having come across scenes like this in older romance novels, they make me very uncomfortable. I don't fly into rage mode and I have been known to finish some of these books, but afterwards I'm of the "that book wasn't for me" mentality.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I agree with those discussions and those stories have quite a tradition. I am thinking the the Sheik books and all those dreadful Elinor Glyn novels. aliterati actually recently did her term paper on that and we talked about it a lot. I think part of the reason the rape fantasy is somewhat more out of fashion over here is because it's a more liberated, sexually, society so the 'that way no one will think I am a slut' thing is less interesting.

The problem with any rape fantasy that goes anywhere other than the description though is when it tries to combine hero and rapist into one. I understand the problem. When it's a rape fantasy, you want a good in bed hottie who is in love with you doing it, not a fat ugly guy getting off on the feeling of power. But the problem is that any guy who would do it to the woman he loves automatically is labelled as scum by me (and a lot of other women) so the thought of him being romantic hero just breaks the whole story apart for me.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

This is my reaction too. No matter how good the hero is, if he is presented as a rapist at all, I can't justify him being the hero any more. I remember the first time I read a book that had that element and I was just shocked. I hadn't yet run into the fact that it was a pretty common element in older romance novels. Nowdays I'm not so shocked by the element, I just avoid those type novels if at all possible.