Akaneshinchi Hanaya Sange (Songs of Self Abuse) Three delusional high school boys weave an intricate tale as they search for the meaning of life, love, and everything in between.
The early character development and psychotic-type ramblings were really interesting, and it starts out with good potential, but the book becomes ruined by excessive and crudely drawn sex scenes. They are seemingly meant to be erotic, but the artist's drawing style doesn't suit it, and it just triggers a disgust response. The potential the book had is why I rate it a 2/5 instead of a 1/5. Very disappointing.
It is definitely a different story from the majority of titles we have published in the last years. Very dark and psychological, I am interested to read more of this author.
Juuzen owns a brothel, which he calls a flower shop. His mother recently passed and his girlfriend left him, he is depressed and feels like nothing. He meets Fukuzawa, a high school student, one night at the hospital. Juuzen gets turned on when Fukuzawa has sex with others, so he pimps out Fukuzawa. I didn't understand this relationship or why Fukuzawa loved Juuzen so much. Fukuzawa is very broken and lonely. Haniya is Fukuzawa's childhood friend and school mate, secretly in love with Fukuzawa. Haniya and Fukuzawa have a lot of sex once they get together. The art wasn't for me, characters looked anorexic and angular, everything looked like a giant scribble. Very graphic sex scenes, which is ok, but all the pubic hair was making my eyes water. I don't mind broken characters but these guys were depressing and hurtful to each other.