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霸王愛人 [Haou Airen] #1
覇王♥愛人 １ [Haou Airen 1]
One day while walking home from her job, Kurumi Akino finds a wounded young man, and saves his life. He mysteriously disappears after that, and leaves only the name “Hakuron”. Next thing she knows she’s been kidnapped from her school, and is on a private jet with that man, heading to China. It turns out she saved the life of the most infamous mobster in Hong Kong, and he wants her to stay with him.
178 pages, Paperback
First published June 26, 2002
20 people are currently reading
314 people want to read
About the author
Mayu Shinjo
175 books398 followers新條まゆ in Japanese
Mayu Shinjo debuted in 1994 in Shogakukan's Shōjo Comic with "Anata no Iro ni Somaritai". She continued writing for Shogakukan until 2007, with her works appearing in both Shōjo Comic and their other magazine Cheese!. She left the company to go freelance citing a dispute over working conditions and abusive treatment by her editor.
Mayu Shinjo debuted in 1994 in Shogakukan's Shōjo Comic with "Anata no Iro ni Somaritai". She continued writing for Shogakukan until 2007, with her works appearing in both Shōjo Comic and their other magazine Cheese!. She left the company to go freelance citing a dispute over working conditions and abusive treatment by her editor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
November 25, 2015
Definitely check out Sarah's wonderful review. She explains better than me why you shouldnt read or support this manga.
Genres: Shoujo, smut, harem,
Trigger Warning: Rape( The male lead rapes the female lead even though he is in love with her. According to some people he is just missunderstood and dont know how to love due to his past. HAHAHA NO. FUCK THIS SHIT.) Stockholm Syndrome. Stupid Heroine. Possessive-asshole male lead.
Status: Finished
Volumes: 9
Chapters: 52
Thoughts: Even though it's ben ages I've read this one apparently it's still fresh on my mind. Guess what? This may very well be the single most disgusting, blissfully ignorant, unhealthy, and therefore emotionally harmful thing I have ever read. Somebody invent time travelling so that I can go back to past and stop myself from ever reading it.
I wish I never read this shit.
I wish I never knew this shit existed.
I wish this shit didn't exist.
I wish there weren't any societies on this planet that would condone this sort of thing.
I wish 40% of people here didnt rate this one 5 stars.
'Excuses' the fans use to support the rape:
1. Hakuron had a tragic past,and grew up not knowing how to love
2. Hakuron even questions his master about why he did not teach him how to love so,he thought that by having her body,he could keep her with him
3. At one point in time,he felt an emptiness in his heart because he knew he could never get her heart
4. He'd go to the extent of letting his close friend have her instead of him to protect her, cuz the bad guys will think he was just using her so they won't target her.
HAHAHAHA NO.
These are all excuses ok? EXCUSES. NOT REASONS. STOP KIDDING YOURSELF PEOPLE!!
DAMN IT.
Someone explain to me how this series categorizes as romantic? Even for smut, the manga went too far. I am a little bit shocked myself despite the fact I probably knew from the start what I 'm about to see. But indeed this is really harsh and what worries me the most is people how believe that abusing someone sexually until you drive this person to insanity is sexy and a token of love, because the male doesn't know another way to "show his love" and wants to keep the woman he loves, beside him.
If there are people here who believe stuff like that, they probably have a problem separating love from possession. People really should stop considering sh*t like that hot. And;
DAMN IT.
Genres: Shoujo, smut, harem,
Trigger Warning: Rape( The male lead rapes the female lead even though he is in love with her. According to some people he is just missunderstood and dont know how to love due to his past. HAHAHA NO. FUCK THIS SHIT.) Stockholm Syndrome. Stupid Heroine. Possessive-asshole male lead.
Status: Finished
Volumes: 9
Chapters: 52
Thoughts: Even though it's ben ages I've read this one apparently it's still fresh on my mind. Guess what? This may very well be the single most disgusting, blissfully ignorant, unhealthy, and therefore emotionally harmful thing I have ever read. Somebody invent time travelling so that I can go back to past and stop myself from ever reading it.
I wish I never read this shit.
I wish I never knew this shit existed.
I wish this shit didn't exist.
I wish there weren't any societies on this planet that would condone this sort of thing.
I wish 40% of people here didnt rate this one 5 stars.
'Excuses' the fans use to support the rape:
1. Hakuron had a tragic past,and grew up not knowing how to love
2. Hakuron even questions his master about why he did not teach him how to love so,he thought that by having her body,he could keep her with him
3. At one point in time,he felt an emptiness in his heart because he knew he could never get her heart
4. He'd go to the extent of letting his close friend have her instead of him to protect her, cuz the bad guys will think he was just using her so they won't target her.
HAHAHAHA NO.
These are all excuses ok? EXCUSES. NOT REASONS. STOP KIDDING YOURSELF PEOPLE!!
DAMN IT.
Someone explain to me how this series categorizes as romantic? Even for smut, the manga went too far. I am a little bit shocked myself despite the fact I probably knew from the start what I 'm about to see. But indeed this is really harsh and what worries me the most is people how believe that abusing someone sexually until you drive this person to insanity is sexy and a token of love, because the male doesn't know another way to "show his love" and wants to keep the woman he loves, beside him.
If there are people here who believe stuff like that, they probably have a problem separating love from possession. People really should stop considering sh*t like that hot. And;
DAMN IT.
June 29, 2015
My first words to this is: Don't read this unless you're prepared not only for mature content, but brutal and painful experiences for both female and male protagonists. This is the first manga I've read about mafia where for once there isn't a flowery cover or some pretence of morality. This is bloody, gory, heartless. It is everything a mafia story is supposed to be about, and half the time I felt really uncomfortable reading it. But it's realistic, and of all of Shinjo Mayu's work I think it's the most tragic. Kaikan Phrase, Vol. 1 and Love Celeb 1were kittens compared to this ferocious tiger. If you want something sweet and sexy, read Love Celeb. If you want something a little more hardcore, a little sexier, a little more dramatic, read Kaikan Phrase. But if you want something painful, almost bloody awful (in the experiences that the characters go through, and by awful I mean dramatic and cruel) then read this.
Plot
I thought I should discuss this section first since it's the most important thing. Haou Airen is another perfect manga by Mayu Shinjo. Yes it is painful and uncomfortable a lot of the time. It's also ruthless and uncensored. Hakuron is the leading Mafia boss in Hong Kong, Kurumi is an innocent girl who just happened to save Hakuron's life when she bumps into him. They fall in love with each other, and to begin, they are going along great with each other. Hakuron is the perfect guy to Kurumi, gently, kind, just like she expected, but he's protecting her. She knows nothing about his life and how he is a mafia. And because of that when Hakuron's fiance comes into play, things change quickly, people get hurt, killed and murdered and everyone else knows what's happening, including Hakuron. Only Kurumi is still naive, and thus the conflict starts. How do these two deal, it's only a matter of time before Hakuron breaks her, even if he loves her, and that's what he doesn't want.
The Characters
Kurumi is a really sweet, endearing yet naive girl. She's easily tricked, easily fooled. She's too kind-hearted which is why she's tricked in the beginning and therefore creates the conflicts that lasts a few volumes. I guess her good points are that she is kind-hearted, naive, completely pure as well as honest to her feelings and herself. Her negative points in my opinion are well, she is a little weak to be in that position, to be in love with Hakuron. Yet, at the same time, a good compliment. I really hate that she believed Hakuron's fiance over Hakuron. It was so naive. But then again, without it, I guess there'd be no plot would there?
Hakuron is the smexiest most dangerous male protag I've encountered yet in Mayu Shinjo's mangas. I liked Gin from Love Celeb because he was the kind of character that was conscious of his smexiness and who was also boyishly childish (and a little wolfish). Sakuya in Kaikan Phrase was hot in the musician kind of way. He puts Aine above everything else which makes him smexy. But Hakuron, Hakuron is dangerous. He's the leader of an extremely powerful mafia group and he's known to be colder than ice. Yet he's in love with Kurumi. To only Kurumi, he's kind and gently, and he doesn't want to spoil her, until events take place and really, I don't want to go into details.
But both characters are well formed, delectably defined and unique. They have power, fear, sadness, happiness, wants, needs, desires. Shinjo's characters always feel realistic to me. I never feel that I'm reading about some airhead who can't decide between her old love and her new love, and I never feel like I'm being pressured to accept their reasoning. I understand and feel attached. That's why I love Shinjo's characters. They don't feel fake, except how sometimes they are a bit stupid. But in the grand scheme of things, as a whole, those little moments make up the big moments.
Setting
In Hong Kong, China this time, rather than a Japanese location, something which I thought was interesting even though they are still speaking Japanese, lol
Writing And Artwork
I think Shinjo's works have always been flawless. I've never really had any objections with them since the only times I ever feel annoyed/angry/uncomfortable is when something brutal happens. Like Rape or something. Rape is pretty big in a couple of her mangas, which is why I say DON'T READ THIS UNLESS YOU'RE PREPARED. Anyway, so writing pretty much 5/5 stars. It's written perfectly for a manga of this type and genre.
As for Artwork. Since this is a book site, I don't really think artwork matters much, shouldn't this be about reading? And the experience of reading? Well if you want to know Shinjo's artwork has always been the easy to handle type, goodlooking and pretty. Though the guys always look like the ideal guy, tall broad shouldered with smexy long hair that almost dangles in his eyes. The females always look small, slender and cute. Generally their chests are a reasonable size too. But meh, for me if the story is good, I can deal with the artwork. If the artwork is irritating then the story has to be really good from the get go. But Haou Airen is just fantastic as always (the artwork I mean).
Overall
I give this four stars. Just like the other Shinjo mangas, because it is good, but it's also dramatic (if you can handle that kind of plotline, I'm sure if I hadn't been in the right mood when I read this, I might have hated this a lot). I love her romances, and this one, I like as well. The end I can't tell you, it will ruin it, but you have to be prepared. It loses stars for rape. I don't condone it, and it did make me really uncomfortable. I won't be reading this again! Don't read this lightly, it's not a happy manga, even if there are happy moments. This is the mafia we're talking about. Shinjo is so far the only mangaka (that I've read) that could be so brutally honest about such an aspect of life. This is no simple romance. I think you can almost think about it as a story about two people finding the strength to be stronger.
Also rather than this focussing on the female protag, I'd rather like to think of this as Hakuron's story rather than Kurumi's.
Plot
I thought I should discuss this section first since it's the most important thing. Haou Airen is another perfect manga by Mayu Shinjo. Yes it is painful and uncomfortable a lot of the time. It's also ruthless and uncensored. Hakuron is the leading Mafia boss in Hong Kong, Kurumi is an innocent girl who just happened to save Hakuron's life when she bumps into him. They fall in love with each other, and to begin, they are going along great with each other. Hakuron is the perfect guy to Kurumi, gently, kind, just like she expected, but he's protecting her. She knows nothing about his life and how he is a mafia. And because of that when Hakuron's fiance comes into play, things change quickly, people get hurt, killed and murdered and everyone else knows what's happening, including Hakuron. Only Kurumi is still naive, and thus the conflict starts. How do these two deal, it's only a matter of time before Hakuron breaks her, even if he loves her, and that's what he doesn't want.
The Characters
Kurumi is a really sweet, endearing yet naive girl. She's easily tricked, easily fooled. She's too kind-hearted which is why she's tricked in the beginning and therefore creates the conflicts that lasts a few volumes. I guess her good points are that she is kind-hearted, naive, completely pure as well as honest to her feelings and herself. Her negative points in my opinion are well, she is a little weak to be in that position, to be in love with Hakuron. Yet, at the same time, a good compliment. I really hate that she believed Hakuron's fiance over Hakuron. It was so naive. But then again, without it, I guess there'd be no plot would there?
Hakuron is the smexiest most dangerous male protag I've encountered yet in Mayu Shinjo's mangas. I liked Gin from Love Celeb because he was the kind of character that was conscious of his smexiness and who was also boyishly childish (and a little wolfish). Sakuya in Kaikan Phrase was hot in the musician kind of way. He puts Aine above everything else which makes him smexy. But Hakuron, Hakuron is dangerous. He's the leader of an extremely powerful mafia group and he's known to be colder than ice. Yet he's in love with Kurumi. To only Kurumi, he's kind and gently, and he doesn't want to spoil her, until events take place and really, I don't want to go into details.
But both characters are well formed, delectably defined and unique. They have power, fear, sadness, happiness, wants, needs, desires. Shinjo's characters always feel realistic to me. I never feel that I'm reading about some airhead who can't decide between her old love and her new love, and I never feel like I'm being pressured to accept their reasoning. I understand and feel attached. That's why I love Shinjo's characters. They don't feel fake, except how sometimes they are a bit stupid. But in the grand scheme of things, as a whole, those little moments make up the big moments.
Setting
In Hong Kong, China this time, rather than a Japanese location, something which I thought was interesting even though they are still speaking Japanese, lol
Writing And Artwork
I think Shinjo's works have always been flawless. I've never really had any objections with them since the only times I ever feel annoyed/angry/uncomfortable is when something brutal happens. Like Rape or something. Rape is pretty big in a couple of her mangas, which is why I say DON'T READ THIS UNLESS YOU'RE PREPARED. Anyway, so writing pretty much 5/5 stars. It's written perfectly for a manga of this type and genre.
As for Artwork. Since this is a book site, I don't really think artwork matters much, shouldn't this be about reading? And the experience of reading? Well if you want to know Shinjo's artwork has always been the easy to handle type, goodlooking and pretty. Though the guys always look like the ideal guy, tall broad shouldered with smexy long hair that almost dangles in his eyes. The females always look small, slender and cute. Generally their chests are a reasonable size too. But meh, for me if the story is good, I can deal with the artwork. If the artwork is irritating then the story has to be really good from the get go. But Haou Airen is just fantastic as always (the artwork I mean).
Overall
I give this four stars. Just like the other Shinjo mangas, because it is good, but it's also dramatic (if you can handle that kind of plotline, I'm sure if I hadn't been in the right mood when I read this, I might have hated this a lot). I love her romances, and this one, I like as well. The end I can't tell you, it will ruin it, but you have to be prepared. It loses stars for rape. I don't condone it, and it did make me really uncomfortable. I won't be reading this again! Don't read this lightly, it's not a happy manga, even if there are happy moments. This is the mafia we're talking about. Shinjo is so far the only mangaka (that I've read) that could be so brutally honest about such an aspect of life. This is no simple romance. I think you can almost think about it as a story about two people finding the strength to be stronger.
Also rather than this focussing on the female protag, I'd rather like to think of this as Hakuron's story rather than Kurumi's.
October 17, 2010
Ideal para chicas vírgenes que no entiendan nada de sexo ni de amor y que quieran hacerse la idea de que mientras más les pegue y más las maltrate su "amorcito", es porque más las ama. Lo peor es que el mensaje misógino y machista es explícito y desvergonzado, ¡y esto lo hizo una mujer! Típica mujer japonesa (en el peor sentido del término), pero mujer al fin.
Lo más triste es que el primer tomo es el mejor de todos, así que imagínense el resto...
Lo más triste es que el primer tomo es el mejor de todos, así que imagínense el resto...
December 22, 2025
Before we begin, I will say that this is probably one of the grossest manga I've ever read because it features one of the most toxic and abusive relationships I've ever had the misfortune of seeing be portrayed as romantic.
If you're considering this manga, please don't, it's bad. It glorifies rape, sexual assault, murder, organized crime, sex trafficking, kidnapping, exploitation, and just about every other nasty thing you can think of.
Like with all my manga reviews, this is an overview of the entire series (which is 50 chapters/9 volumes long) and will contain a variety of spoilers.
The title is, weirdly, not translated, but kept instead as the Japanese reading of the characters. I say this because the series is mostly set in Hong Kong, where Cantonese is widely spoken, and there's an overlap between Chinese and Japanese as a result of Japanese using Chinese hanzi in its writing system.
Now, I don't really know a lick of Cantonese, but in Japanese 覇王 (haou) means something along the lines of "supreme ruler; autocrat; high king" while 愛人 (airen) means "lover" or "mistress." In Mandarin, at least, these same four characters are read as "bawang airen" which do have somewhat different meanings; in Chinese, "bawang" means overlord or despot and "airen" can mean lover, wife/husband, or be a term of endearment like sweetheart or honey.
So, the title means something like "Supreme King's Lover" or "Autocrat's Lover".
The story follows a 16 year old Japanese girl named Kurumi who finds herself in a wildly toxic, dangerous, abusive relationship with an eighteen year old named Hakuron, who is the feared and powerful leader of a branch of the Hong Kong mafia.
Like with Love Celeb, Hakuron's age makes zero sense.
He doesn't act his age, nor does anything about his life suggest he could be this young and still have the power, influence, and skill set that the author claims he does. It appears to just be tossed in so the author could add in some scenes of him and Kurumi at a high school (why a mafia boss would want to or need to attend a high school when he clearly has the resources to get an education privately is beyond me), and I guess so we don't have an unhealthy age gap slapped on top of all the other gross shit.
Which, to be frank, if Hakuron had just been too old for Kurumi, it would have been a far more mild issue compared to what we get in this horrific story, so if the author had stated his age as 18 despite him acting like a man easily 10 or 20 years older than that to avoid the criticism of "the lead was creepy because he was too old" she seriously has some warped priorities.
Especially since the inherit power balance Hakuron has over Kurumi in terms of money, social influence, connections, and life experience basically are a big part of why large age gaps are terrible.
From the very start of this manga, things are bad. Like, they don't get bad, they start bad and get worse.
During their first meeting, Hakuto bumps into Kurumi on the street while fleeing some enemy mafia people, drags her down an alley, tells her to be quiet when she starts making noise (obviously thinking he's going to rob or rape her), kisses her to shut her up, rips open her blouse, and then threatens her with rape.
Ladies and gentlemen, our male lead.
But, of course, because the author hates her heroine and gave her no brain cells, when Hakuron collapses from a wound and Kurumi has a chance to escape she feels sorry for him and takes him back to her house to treat his wound. Hakuron then continues to be gross, telling her that as thanks he'll teach her how to kiss, proceeds to aggressively kiss her, and in the process forces her to swallow a drug that makes her pass out, all so that he can leave her home in dramatic fashion.
From here on out, Hakuron continually does really slimy, terrible things to Kurumi like:
To be honest, there are very, very few moments when Hakuron is nice to Kurumi, and when he is, it's really nothing that would at all balance out just how terrible he is on a daily basis for no good reason.
I was initially writing a bullet point of each terrible thing Hakuron did, but by chapter seven, I already had a list that was three pages long but that alone told me that this manga is so full of examples of why he's a horrible person that I shouldn't have to point them out. It should be self evident why he's terrible and why this manga is really gross.
Which then brings us to Kurumi, who was done so dirty by the author.
This isn't me attacking Kurumi and victim blaming, but rather attacking Mayu Shinjo for making women out to be this stupid and lacking in any sense of self-preservation, because Kurumi is a terribly written character that is horribly unrealistic and kind of offense to women as a whole because no woman would be fooled by this guy; he's not capable enough of being nice to cause a woman to have battered woman syndrome. He's abusive and terrible from their very first meeting.
Throughout the entire series, Kurumi is constantly going over the same pointless inner turmoil about the ethics of her relationship and every single time she very stupidly ignores the fact that Hakuron is a horrible person that she should in no way care for because he not only mistreats her, he's a crime boss who commits crimes against EVERYONE, but the author presumes that pure-hearted girls think with their pussies and that they are incapable of not empathizing with and forgiving even rapists and killers, so Kurumi generally is on board with being with a man who is described as using force to get what he wants and who she herself witnesses doing terrible things on multiple occasions.
He's definitely a murderer, definitely participates in organized crime (which does all sorts of terrible things like money laundering, drug production/distribution, human trafficking/enslavement/sex slavery, etc.), and is probably already a rapist well before he decides to rape Kurumi.
Like, it's one thing if he's a criminal that does things you could arguably forgive or justify, but there's not really much about Hakuron that could be forgiven or justified, so Kurumi's turmoil over him comes across as her being brain dead and her concerns are often more about "does he love me? he slept with another woman, so he must not love me! boo-hoo!" than something like "wow, should I really be involved with a man who kidnapped me, won't let me go home to my family, kills people, and has all but admitted multiple times that if I wasn't stupidly empathetic towards him that he would have raped and discarded me by now?"
She even, in chapter 1, is all "I don't think this man who is a criminal and takes things by force and kills people and all that terrible stuff is capable of love" and then several chapters later, after she's known him like a day and is POSITIVE she's in love and is all ready to cast aside her past life for him, she's like "if only I'd seen it sooner he's a terrible person! I let vanity get the better of me!"
And it's like, but you actually fucking did know about this sooner? Like, in the very first chapter you knew he was terrible???? This isn't a surprise in the least because you admitted to knowing this already??? Guess she forgot she turned off her brain and let her pussy call the shots until the plot decided it needed cheap conflict.
The bulk of the manga is her whining about whether Hakuron loves her, getting very seriously hurt by him emotionally and physically, her going "despite everything, I still love him", her going back to him after a paltry attempt at leaving him, and then that whole cycle of events repeating itself again and again.
Kurumi even like, loses her memories at one point, which is the only solution author could have fathomed as a way to create enough sweet moments of bliss between her and Hakuron to make Kurumi not react as poorly to being raped and abused when her memories return.
Because, yeah, sure, some good memories after all your trauma surfaces definitely makes the trauma less traumatic. That makes total sense.
God, why is this author so aggressively in favor in abuse and ignorant of the horribly damaging effects of trauma?
Like, this poor girl has been battered to fucking death and was written too weak and stupid to have any semblance of self preservation because women in love are incapable of thinking straight I guess and somehow we're supposed to want her and Hakuron to be together after all this terrible stuff????
Also, the way Kurumi's rapes are depicted ultimately as these hot, salacious things that only serve to make her more attached and in love with Hakuron (i.e. the author saying that trauma bonding and abuse are hot) is just really revolting, especially because Kurumi is never really given any time to heal from all her abuse and the author describes many of these assaults as being so physically brutal they leave Kurumi unable to walk or get out of bed.
Like, she runs away, then immediately goes back to Hakuron to engage in more rapes and dubious consent sex because the author thinks that being raped by a skilled person means it just lights a fire in your loins and now you're addicted to being fucked by them and have to go to them or you'll lose your mind and be incapable of functioning.
Even with Lei Lan/Reiran, who is gang raped by the white tiger group, the way her trauma is dealt with is that she suddenly turns into a sly, cunning temptress who has sex with men to manipulate them to do her evil bidding. Like, the author treats it as if now that she's been "dirtied" in a violent gang rape that she's just... unaffected by men and sex and is now suddenly a highly skilled lover who knows exactly how to wield sex as a weapon when previously she was an inexperienced virginal sort of girl.
It's really unrealistic and also like way to like do her dirty as both a victim and as a villain. I resent the idea that being assaulted devalues a woman and that sexual prowess/experience corrupts women and turns them into fiends who wield sex as a weapon.
She's basically shown to be this horrible person willing to go to extremes purely to get back at a man who didn't return her feelings (one of the most cliched reasons a woman becomes a villain) and it's like, most of what's happened wasn't necessary and the way she's handled is supposed to like make you feel that Hakuron wasn't that bad of a man by comparison to the lengths she's willing to go to hurt him, but like, everyone in this series is fucking TERRIBLE and I hate them all.
Like, Furon, the one who had to cross dress (for some reason), was the only one I liked even though he like had multiple chances to help Kurumi not be in this terrible spot but didn't because mafia loyalty or something. Like of all the people he was the least terrible but he still wasn't GOOD.
Also, on that note, practically every guy in this series wants to fuck Kurumi, who is petite with pigtails and giant breasts and everyone but Furon molests/rapes/has sex with her despite her being like 16 and rather infantalized (she's basically the same character as Hiyo from Love Monster, Vol. 1).
The one guy is even like "eh, she's kinda jailbait but I'm like really into it."
Jesus fucking christ.
I think the only nice part of this series is that Hakuron is shot and killed in the end, so Kurumi doesn't actually spend a lifetime with him, but like, it's shown that he's watching her and waiting for her to join him, so it kind kills the "Hakuron got his in the end for living a life as such a terrible person" vibe and, more horribly, is like "Hakuron may be dead, but Kurumi will never escape him."
Plus, the like four guys from the mafia are still in contact with her despite how terrible they were to her so it's like she doesn't even go get to live a normal life after he's dead and creepily waiting for her to join in for eternity in purgatory or whatever.
This is just 50 chapters of terrible, terrible, gross, gross, nasty, nasty stuff and I hate it.
Horrific manga. I in no way recommend.
If you're considering this manga, please don't, it's bad. It glorifies rape, sexual assault, murder, organized crime, sex trafficking, kidnapping, exploitation, and just about every other nasty thing you can think of.
Like with all my manga reviews, this is an overview of the entire series (which is 50 chapters/9 volumes long) and will contain a variety of spoilers.
The title is, weirdly, not translated, but kept instead as the Japanese reading of the characters. I say this because the series is mostly set in Hong Kong, where Cantonese is widely spoken, and there's an overlap between Chinese and Japanese as a result of Japanese using Chinese hanzi in its writing system.
Now, I don't really know a lick of Cantonese, but in Japanese 覇王 (haou) means something along the lines of "supreme ruler; autocrat; high king" while 愛人 (airen) means "lover" or "mistress." In Mandarin, at least, these same four characters are read as "bawang airen" which do have somewhat different meanings; in Chinese, "bawang" means overlord or despot and "airen" can mean lover, wife/husband, or be a term of endearment like sweetheart or honey.
So, the title means something like "Supreme King's Lover" or "Autocrat's Lover".
The story follows a 16 year old Japanese girl named Kurumi who finds herself in a wildly toxic, dangerous, abusive relationship with an eighteen year old named Hakuron, who is the feared and powerful leader of a branch of the Hong Kong mafia.
Like with Love Celeb, Hakuron's age makes zero sense.
He doesn't act his age, nor does anything about his life suggest he could be this young and still have the power, influence, and skill set that the author claims he does. It appears to just be tossed in so the author could add in some scenes of him and Kurumi at a high school (why a mafia boss would want to or need to attend a high school when he clearly has the resources to get an education privately is beyond me), and I guess so we don't have an unhealthy age gap slapped on top of all the other gross shit.
Which, to be frank, if Hakuron had just been too old for Kurumi, it would have been a far more mild issue compared to what we get in this horrific story, so if the author had stated his age as 18 despite him acting like a man easily 10 or 20 years older than that to avoid the criticism of "the lead was creepy because he was too old" she seriously has some warped priorities.
Especially since the inherit power balance Hakuron has over Kurumi in terms of money, social influence, connections, and life experience basically are a big part of why large age gaps are terrible.
From the very start of this manga, things are bad. Like, they don't get bad, they start bad and get worse.
During their first meeting, Hakuto bumps into Kurumi on the street while fleeing some enemy mafia people, drags her down an alley, tells her to be quiet when she starts making noise (obviously thinking he's going to rob or rape her), kisses her to shut her up, rips open her blouse, and then threatens her with rape.
Ladies and gentlemen, our male lead.
But, of course, because the author hates her heroine and gave her no brain cells, when Hakuron collapses from a wound and Kurumi has a chance to escape she feels sorry for him and takes him back to her house to treat his wound. Hakuron then continues to be gross, telling her that as thanks he'll teach her how to kiss, proceeds to aggressively kiss her, and in the process forces her to swallow a drug that makes her pass out, all so that he can leave her home in dramatic fashion.
From here on out, Hakuron continually does really slimy, terrible things to Kurumi like:
- Kidnap her from her school
- Hold her against her will in a foreign county
- Molest her
- Threaten her with bodily harm and death
- Kill people in front of her
- Cheat on her by sleeping with other women
- Emotionally manipulate and batter her to the point that she develops mental illness
- Fail on multiple occasions to keep her out of the hands of his enemies, who proceed to assault her physically and sexually
- Constantly hunt her down and drag her back to be with him when she tries to leave or reject him
- Rape her multiple times, which is shown graphically in the manga
- Use rape to purposefully traumatize her in the hopes it will prevent her from leaving him
- Give her over to one of his subordinates as his "mistress" who then treats her poorly and in her emotionally weakened state over Hakuron's emotional battery coerces her into sex
- Generally be a terrible, inconsiderate, selfish, awful partner who has viciously abused this young woman from the very start, all while it's framed like he's like this because of his tragic past and that it's all just proof of how intense his love and devotion is.
To be honest, there are very, very few moments when Hakuron is nice to Kurumi, and when he is, it's really nothing that would at all balance out just how terrible he is on a daily basis for no good reason.
I was initially writing a bullet point of each terrible thing Hakuron did, but by chapter seven, I already had a list that was three pages long but that alone told me that this manga is so full of examples of why he's a horrible person that I shouldn't have to point them out. It should be self evident why he's terrible and why this manga is really gross.
Which then brings us to Kurumi, who was done so dirty by the author.
This isn't me attacking Kurumi and victim blaming, but rather attacking Mayu Shinjo for making women out to be this stupid and lacking in any sense of self-preservation, because Kurumi is a terribly written character that is horribly unrealistic and kind of offense to women as a whole because no woman would be fooled by this guy; he's not capable enough of being nice to cause a woman to have battered woman syndrome. He's abusive and terrible from their very first meeting.
Throughout the entire series, Kurumi is constantly going over the same pointless inner turmoil about the ethics of her relationship and every single time she very stupidly ignores the fact that Hakuron is a horrible person that she should in no way care for because he not only mistreats her, he's a crime boss who commits crimes against EVERYONE, but the author presumes that pure-hearted girls think with their pussies and that they are incapable of not empathizing with and forgiving even rapists and killers, so Kurumi generally is on board with being with a man who is described as using force to get what he wants and who she herself witnesses doing terrible things on multiple occasions.
He's definitely a murderer, definitely participates in organized crime (which does all sorts of terrible things like money laundering, drug production/distribution, human trafficking/enslavement/sex slavery, etc.), and is probably already a rapist well before he decides to rape Kurumi.
Like, it's one thing if he's a criminal that does things you could arguably forgive or justify, but there's not really much about Hakuron that could be forgiven or justified, so Kurumi's turmoil over him comes across as her being brain dead and her concerns are often more about "does he love me? he slept with another woman, so he must not love me! boo-hoo!" than something like "wow, should I really be involved with a man who kidnapped me, won't let me go home to my family, kills people, and has all but admitted multiple times that if I wasn't stupidly empathetic towards him that he would have raped and discarded me by now?"
She even, in chapter 1, is all "I don't think this man who is a criminal and takes things by force and kills people and all that terrible stuff is capable of love" and then several chapters later, after she's known him like a day and is POSITIVE she's in love and is all ready to cast aside her past life for him, she's like "if only I'd seen it sooner he's a terrible person! I let vanity get the better of me!"
And it's like, but you actually fucking did know about this sooner? Like, in the very first chapter you knew he was terrible???? This isn't a surprise in the least because you admitted to knowing this already??? Guess she forgot she turned off her brain and let her pussy call the shots until the plot decided it needed cheap conflict.
The bulk of the manga is her whining about whether Hakuron loves her, getting very seriously hurt by him emotionally and physically, her going "despite everything, I still love him", her going back to him after a paltry attempt at leaving him, and then that whole cycle of events repeating itself again and again.
Kurumi even like, loses her memories at one point, which is the only solution author could have fathomed as a way to create enough sweet moments of bliss between her and Hakuron to make Kurumi not react as poorly to being raped and abused when her memories return.
Because, yeah, sure, some good memories after all your trauma surfaces definitely makes the trauma less traumatic. That makes total sense.
God, why is this author so aggressively in favor in abuse and ignorant of the horribly damaging effects of trauma?
Like, this poor girl has been battered to fucking death and was written too weak and stupid to have any semblance of self preservation because women in love are incapable of thinking straight I guess and somehow we're supposed to want her and Hakuron to be together after all this terrible stuff????
Also, the way Kurumi's rapes are depicted ultimately as these hot, salacious things that only serve to make her more attached and in love with Hakuron (i.e. the author saying that trauma bonding and abuse are hot) is just really revolting, especially because Kurumi is never really given any time to heal from all her abuse and the author describes many of these assaults as being so physically brutal they leave Kurumi unable to walk or get out of bed.
Like, she runs away, then immediately goes back to Hakuron to engage in more rapes and dubious consent sex because the author thinks that being raped by a skilled person means it just lights a fire in your loins and now you're addicted to being fucked by them and have to go to them or you'll lose your mind and be incapable of functioning.
Even with Lei Lan/Reiran, who is gang raped by the white tiger group, the way her trauma is dealt with is that she suddenly turns into a sly, cunning temptress who has sex with men to manipulate them to do her evil bidding. Like, the author treats it as if now that she's been "dirtied" in a violent gang rape that she's just... unaffected by men and sex and is now suddenly a highly skilled lover who knows exactly how to wield sex as a weapon when previously she was an inexperienced virginal sort of girl.
It's really unrealistic and also like way to like do her dirty as both a victim and as a villain. I resent the idea that being assaulted devalues a woman and that sexual prowess/experience corrupts women and turns them into fiends who wield sex as a weapon.
She's basically shown to be this horrible person willing to go to extremes purely to get back at a man who didn't return her feelings (one of the most cliched reasons a woman becomes a villain) and it's like, most of what's happened wasn't necessary and the way she's handled is supposed to like make you feel that Hakuron wasn't that bad of a man by comparison to the lengths she's willing to go to hurt him, but like, everyone in this series is fucking TERRIBLE and I hate them all.
Like, Furon, the one who had to cross dress (for some reason), was the only one I liked even though he like had multiple chances to help Kurumi not be in this terrible spot but didn't because mafia loyalty or something. Like of all the people he was the least terrible but he still wasn't GOOD.
Also, on that note, practically every guy in this series wants to fuck Kurumi, who is petite with pigtails and giant breasts and everyone but Furon molests/rapes/has sex with her despite her being like 16 and rather infantalized (she's basically the same character as Hiyo from Love Monster, Vol. 1).
The one guy is even like "eh, she's kinda jailbait but I'm like really into it."
Jesus fucking christ.
I think the only nice part of this series is that Hakuron is shot and killed in the end, so Kurumi doesn't actually spend a lifetime with him, but like, it's shown that he's watching her and waiting for her to join him, so it kind kills the "Hakuron got his in the end for living a life as such a terrible person" vibe and, more horribly, is like "Hakuron may be dead, but Kurumi will never escape him."
Plus, the like four guys from the mafia are still in contact with her despite how terrible they were to her so it's like she doesn't even go get to live a normal life after he's dead and creepily waiting for her to join in for eternity in purgatory or whatever.
This is just 50 chapters of terrible, terrible, gross, gross, nasty, nasty stuff and I hate it.
Horrific manga. I in no way recommend.
October 24, 2018
Author, you can't be romanticizing rape! I'm disappointed with this manga.
July 11, 2008
I'm pretty critical of Mayu's silly plotlines, but I can't deny that this one really, really entertained me a few years ago. It got licensed at one point, but then never came out. I think either the people thought that the market was saturated, or else that the market wasn't ready for a story quite this extreme.
Kurumi, a very innocent Japanese high school girl who works nights to help support her younger brothers and ill mother, runs into a man who's been shot while on her way home from work. She brings him home to tend his wounds and they flirt a bit before he leaves. Next day, she's basically kidnapped and it turns out the guy's a Mafia boss in Hong Kong and he's decided to repay her for her kindness by keeping her as his mistress. Actually, his intentions aren't entirely clear. Typical of Mayu's stories, despite her attraction to him, he has so many emotional issues that he doesn't want to taint her with a relationship, but then later when her feelings wane, he becomes insanely possessive and forceful. Mayu's male leads are kind of a standing joke in the manga-reading community because of this behavior. My biggest issue with this series was that Hakuron (the lead) was actually still in high school. Considering all the messed up stuff that goes on in this story (plenty of rape, for starters), I don't think it would've shocked anyone if he'd been in his 20's. Was Mayu seriously trying to make their screwed up relationship more palatable or something?
A series worth reading for anyone who enjoys romance, is OK with graphic novels, and can suspend their disbelief a fair amount. But you'll have to go online for the English scans since it isn't on the shelves.
Kurumi, a very innocent Japanese high school girl who works nights to help support her younger brothers and ill mother, runs into a man who's been shot while on her way home from work. She brings him home to tend his wounds and they flirt a bit before he leaves. Next day, she's basically kidnapped and it turns out the guy's a Mafia boss in Hong Kong and he's decided to repay her for her kindness by keeping her as his mistress. Actually, his intentions aren't entirely clear. Typical of Mayu's stories, despite her attraction to him, he has so many emotional issues that he doesn't want to taint her with a relationship, but then later when her feelings wane, he becomes insanely possessive and forceful. Mayu's male leads are kind of a standing joke in the manga-reading community because of this behavior. My biggest issue with this series was that Hakuron (the lead) was actually still in high school. Considering all the messed up stuff that goes on in this story (plenty of rape, for starters), I don't think it would've shocked anyone if he'd been in his 20's. Was Mayu seriously trying to make their screwed up relationship more palatable or something?
A series worth reading for anyone who enjoys romance, is OK with graphic novels, and can suspend their disbelief a fair amount. But you'll have to go online for the English scans since it isn't on the shelves.
January 8, 2021
I read the first couple of chapters a while ago, and apparently, Viz Media licensed this 15 years ago but they never released the English volumes presumably because of the racy and controversial content, which, if that was the reason, a good decision on their part because this is absolute garbage (If GoodReads had a zero star option, I would pick that). If they attempted to release this today, you can imagine all the outrage that this will get from readers. As for the story itself, you can read the other 1-star reviews because they cover my thoughts on this title perfectly. If you like this manga, or any other work by Mayu Shinjo, then you need to reevaluate yourself. The fact that the average rating of this is 3.71 and there are five star ratings in the reviews section is appalling honestly.
December 25, 2015
Traumatizing. As I read this manga, I got to the conclusion that even if it is this bad right now I might love it in the end. I have skipped some parts because I don't want to be depressed and feel dirty. But I stopped as soon as the main guy gave the girl to one of his friend(?) as a mistress and there's more unfortunately that friend and the guy slept together. I'm so confused, disappointed and traumatized that I regret the 3 hours of reading such disturbing manga. Rape is rape. Too cruel to be understood. This manga have gone too far. I want to go back in time and ugghh. This is seriously the worst!
May 11, 2011
Just ridicoulous ous ous ous...
October 6, 2020
Haou Airen 01 von Mayu Shinjo
Zum Inhalt:
Das Mädchen und der Gangster
"Haou Airen" (dt.: Mein geliebter Herrscher) ist die neueste Serie der EMA-Bestsellerautorin Mayu Shinjo ("Virgin Crisis", "Kaikan Phrase").
Sie erzählt die Geschichte des Mädchens Kurumi, dem auf dem Heimweg von der Arbeit ein verletzter Mann begegnet. Kurumi versorgt seine Wunde, und ehe sie sich versieht, hat sie sich auch schon ein wenig in den starken Fremden verliebt ... Doch so schnell er aufgetaucht ist, so schnell verschwindet er auch wieder. Ihre nächste Begegnung lässt allerdings nicht lange auf sich warten: Kurumi wacht auf einmal in Hakurons (so der Name des Fremden) Privatjet auf. Man verschleppt sie nach Hongkong ...! Wer ist dieser Hakuron? Und was will er von ihr?
Cover:
Das Cover fand ich sehr ansprechend. Zu sehen sind hier die Protagonistin Kurumi, wie sie in einem chinesischen, roten Kleid dem Betrachter entgegen lächelt. Im Hintergrund sieht man die Skyline einer Stadt, wahrscheinlich Honkong. Außerdem wird auf dem linken Teil des Covers das Gesicht des Protagonisten Hakuron abgebildet, welcher eine Waffe gezückt hält. Das macht natürlich neugierig, was es damit auf sich hat und so greift man gern zu dem Manga, um sich weiter zu der Geschichte zu informieren.
Eigener Eindruck:
Kurumi ist eine fleißige Schülerin aus Japan. Da es ihrer Mutter nicht so gut geht, versucht sie diese immer und überall mit den beiden Brüdern zu unterstützen. Um ihr Leben zu finanzieren arbeitet das Mädchen hart, denn Medikamente und Lebensmittel sind teuer. Eines Tages trifft Kurumi auf einen verletzten Mann und hilft diesem indem sie ihn mit nach Hause nimmt. Er stellt sich als Hakuron vor und ist am nächsten Morgen auf mysteriöse Weise verschwunden. Während Kurumi sich noch Gedanken macht, was mit ihm geschehen sein könnte und warum er einfach verschwunden ist, wird sie auf dem Weg zur Schule entführt und findet sich wenig später in einem Privatjet wieder der sie nach Hongkong bringt. Kurumi erfährt so, dass Hakuron ein einflussreicher Triaden-Chef ist und fortan bei ihm bleiben soll…
Der erste Band des Mangas „Haou Airen“ begeistert mit detaillierten Erklärungen zur Person „Kurumi“ sowie tollen Zeichnungen, welche mit viel Liebe zum Detail gestaltet sind. Außerdem ist die Story an sich lesenswert, auch wenn ich finde, dass sie an der einen oder anderen Stelle nicht unbedingt logisch daher kommt. So will mir einfach nicht in den Kopf, wie Kurumi die Tatsache, dass sie entführt wurde doch recht kalt lässt. Nein, stattdessen scheint sie sich vom Fleck weg in den Charakter des „Hakuron“ zu verlieben. Irgendwie doch ein ziemlich starker Fall von Stockholm-Syndrom. Lässt man aber diese Logikfehler bei Seite, so verspricht der Manga doch recht spannend zu werden, denn die Thematik rund um die chinesische Mafia ist mal was Neues und ich bin gespannt welche Abenteuer die beiden erleben werden.
Fazit:
Ein ganz spannender Auftakt und durchaus lesenswert, auch wenn die Geschichte nicht unbedingt logisch daher kommt.
Gesamt:
4 von 5 Sterne
Daten:
ISBN: 9783770465323
Sprache: Deutsch
Ausgabe: Flexibler Einband
Umfang: 171 Seiten
Verlag: Egmont Manga
Erscheinungsdatum: 15.06.2006
Zum Inhalt:
Das Mädchen und der Gangster
"Haou Airen" (dt.: Mein geliebter Herrscher) ist die neueste Serie der EMA-Bestsellerautorin Mayu Shinjo ("Virgin Crisis", "Kaikan Phrase").
Sie erzählt die Geschichte des Mädchens Kurumi, dem auf dem Heimweg von der Arbeit ein verletzter Mann begegnet. Kurumi versorgt seine Wunde, und ehe sie sich versieht, hat sie sich auch schon ein wenig in den starken Fremden verliebt ... Doch so schnell er aufgetaucht ist, so schnell verschwindet er auch wieder. Ihre nächste Begegnung lässt allerdings nicht lange auf sich warten: Kurumi wacht auf einmal in Hakurons (so der Name des Fremden) Privatjet auf. Man verschleppt sie nach Hongkong ...! Wer ist dieser Hakuron? Und was will er von ihr?
Cover:
Das Cover fand ich sehr ansprechend. Zu sehen sind hier die Protagonistin Kurumi, wie sie in einem chinesischen, roten Kleid dem Betrachter entgegen lächelt. Im Hintergrund sieht man die Skyline einer Stadt, wahrscheinlich Honkong. Außerdem wird auf dem linken Teil des Covers das Gesicht des Protagonisten Hakuron abgebildet, welcher eine Waffe gezückt hält. Das macht natürlich neugierig, was es damit auf sich hat und so greift man gern zu dem Manga, um sich weiter zu der Geschichte zu informieren.
Eigener Eindruck:
Kurumi ist eine fleißige Schülerin aus Japan. Da es ihrer Mutter nicht so gut geht, versucht sie diese immer und überall mit den beiden Brüdern zu unterstützen. Um ihr Leben zu finanzieren arbeitet das Mädchen hart, denn Medikamente und Lebensmittel sind teuer. Eines Tages trifft Kurumi auf einen verletzten Mann und hilft diesem indem sie ihn mit nach Hause nimmt. Er stellt sich als Hakuron vor und ist am nächsten Morgen auf mysteriöse Weise verschwunden. Während Kurumi sich noch Gedanken macht, was mit ihm geschehen sein könnte und warum er einfach verschwunden ist, wird sie auf dem Weg zur Schule entführt und findet sich wenig später in einem Privatjet wieder der sie nach Hongkong bringt. Kurumi erfährt so, dass Hakuron ein einflussreicher Triaden-Chef ist und fortan bei ihm bleiben soll…
Der erste Band des Mangas „Haou Airen“ begeistert mit detaillierten Erklärungen zur Person „Kurumi“ sowie tollen Zeichnungen, welche mit viel Liebe zum Detail gestaltet sind. Außerdem ist die Story an sich lesenswert, auch wenn ich finde, dass sie an der einen oder anderen Stelle nicht unbedingt logisch daher kommt. So will mir einfach nicht in den Kopf, wie Kurumi die Tatsache, dass sie entführt wurde doch recht kalt lässt. Nein, stattdessen scheint sie sich vom Fleck weg in den Charakter des „Hakuron“ zu verlieben. Irgendwie doch ein ziemlich starker Fall von Stockholm-Syndrom. Lässt man aber diese Logikfehler bei Seite, so verspricht der Manga doch recht spannend zu werden, denn die Thematik rund um die chinesische Mafia ist mal was Neues und ich bin gespannt welche Abenteuer die beiden erleben werden.
Fazit:
Ein ganz spannender Auftakt und durchaus lesenswert, auch wenn die Geschichte nicht unbedingt logisch daher kommt.
Gesamt:
4 von 5 Sterne
Daten:
ISBN: 9783770465323
Sprache: Deutsch
Ausgabe: Flexibler Einband
Umfang: 171 Seiten
Verlag: Egmont Manga
Erscheinungsdatum: 15.06.2006
June 8, 2021
Kurumi ingenia, dulce y bastante contestona cae en las manos del Rey Dragón... Ok, si es todo lo mal que está en el mundo de lo toxico donde "todo vale por amor" incluso secuestrarla para que esté con él sin importarte que tenga a su madre enferma y a dos hermanos pequeños que dependen de ella... una relación abusiva y machista donde la protagonista está todo el tiempo a merced del hombre y no puede escapar... aunque también tiene pequeños detalles, como el ser dulce con ella y a la vez, brindarle la posibilidad de irse... cambia tan rápido de idea ese hombre que sigo leyendo porque me puede saber el final ¿cambiará? ¿ella le pondrá un freno? espero que si, espero que él se de cuenta que por ser el gran señor de Hong Kong entienda que hay más allá de verse el ombligo.
Medio toxico y muy adictivo...
Medio toxico y muy adictivo...
June 6, 2017
Series review:
Well, it started out really good, I'll give the mangaka than:
Local girl saves mysterious man - is later whisked away in a private plane to become the lover of the man she saved. Hakuron is none other than the most infamous mob leader in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, Hakuron is not made for love, and his ideas are more than a little twisted. He truly encompasses the role of a cruel, heartless beast than unfortunately falls in love. While some people see Kurumi as strong, loyal and devoted, I view her as a doormat. And yet... I wanted a different ending for them. That being said; the only person I truly loved, was Foron; one of Hakuron's henchmen/women.
This manga is not for lovers of HEA's so bewarned.
I give the series as a Whole 2.5 stars.
Well, it started out really good, I'll give the mangaka than:
Local girl saves mysterious man - is later whisked away in a private plane to become the lover of the man she saved. Hakuron is none other than the most infamous mob leader in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, Hakuron is not made for love, and his ideas are more than a little twisted. He truly encompasses the role of a cruel, heartless beast than unfortunately falls in love. While some people see Kurumi as strong, loyal and devoted, I view her as a doormat. And yet... I wanted a different ending for them. That being said; the only person I truly loved, was Foron; one of Hakuron's henchmen/women.
This manga is not for lovers of HEA's so bewarned.
I give the series as a Whole 2.5 stars.
November 29, 2019
After taking some time to let go of my anger over this series, I feel it is my responsibility to write a warning review of some sorts. I have watched and read the most disturbing movies and books. Name a movie; I've most likely seen it. I may be a freak, but I am drawn to that stuff.
But...
No one should read this series. Seriously.
But....
We all have free will.
So please know what you are getting into when reading this. This series is so harmful to people who don't understand or set boundaries. This is clear rape. And it goes on for a time. This is not a love story. It is disturbing, continuous abuse.
You cannot love someone and:
-kidnap them
-treat them as your sex slave (a girl who was a virgin!)
-'train' their body by raping them (wtf even is that bullshit)
-pimp them out like garbage to a co-worker
-emotionally traumatize them to the extent of creating Stockholm Syndrome
-etc, etc, etc.
Yes, I'm aware it's fiction.
My two stars is for this book, not the series. I'd give the series a 0.
The fact that people gave this 5 stars.......I need to go hide from the world now......
But...
No one should read this series. Seriously.
But....
We all have free will.
So please know what you are getting into when reading this. This series is so harmful to people who don't understand or set boundaries. This is clear rape. And it goes on for a time. This is not a love story. It is disturbing, continuous abuse.
You cannot love someone and:
-kidnap them
-treat them as your sex slave (a girl who was a virgin!)
-'train' their body by raping them (wtf even is that bullshit)
-pimp them out like garbage to a co-worker
-emotionally traumatize them to the extent of creating Stockholm Syndrome
-etc, etc, etc.
Yes, I'm aware it's fiction.
My two stars is for this book, not the series. I'd give the series a 0.
The fact that people gave this 5 stars.......I need to go hide from the world now......
September 8, 2021
Great, I haven't read in months and unfortunately in the last two books I grabbed the h's were raped by the H.
If I could unread and unsee the last 48 hours I gladly would.
This series is pure trash!
At this point the the only thing that could help is massive brain damage and scratching out my eyes.
I guess I'll go on an other reading hiatus...
If I could unread and unsee the last 48 hours I gladly would.
This series is pure trash!
At this point the the only thing that could help is massive brain damage and scratching out my eyes.
I guess I'll go on an other reading hiatus...
February 23, 2020
En realidad es un 1 y medio. Es bastante malo pero ya que tengo casi todos los tomos (me falta el 9) posiblemente los lea antes de venderlos o darlos o lo que sea. Creo que es de la etapa mala de la autora (es mi opinión).
May 14, 2025
Would give 0 stars. If I ever transmigrate into anything it might be this (from the level of ire evoked and the trivia I know). Looking forward to killing everyone and becoming a Hongkong king pin. Rest in piss, Hakuron.
December 24, 2025
Me ha chocado mucho que esté catalogado como Shojo. No es para adolescentes, es para adultos.
Me parece muy fuerte que en mi época esto fuera lo mejor.
Da igual que sea ficción, este manga contiene abusos, violaciones, vejaciones. misoginia… etc. No es un romance, es un abuso disfrazado de romance.
Que romanticen esto es muy heavy.
Es para hacérselo mirar, pero con mucha terapia...
Me parece muy fuerte que en mi época esto fuera lo mejor.
Da igual que sea ficción, este manga contiene abusos, violaciones, vejaciones. misoginia… etc. No es un romance, es un abuso disfrazado de romance.
Que romanticen esto es muy heavy.
Es para hacérselo mirar, pero con mucha terapia...
February 11, 2018
It’s an intriguing series but I don’t like how the author finally gives you a high point only to rip it away and literally kill your hopes for a happy ending.
November 26, 2018
Okayish....
October 24, 2019
Good introduction, though it's a bit rough in some places.
November 6, 2019
Tóxico pero entretenido xD
January 17, 2021
I really don't like the insta love and the violence.
July 3, 2021
Shinjō is on my favorite author list!
December 22, 2021
辞めとく。
理由は沢山。一つはこの話の筋は愚かな。一つに攫ってセクハラして逃げて襲って抱きしめたいたくなる？馬鹿馬鹿しい。彼女は香港までつられてけどみんな分かる？彼女は混沌語話せるの？みんなは日本語？ばかばかしい。彼女をいじめる女達はどうやっていじめるの？同じ言葉を話せるわけがない。話はめちゃくちゃ悪いだしポルノみたいにから辞めとく。
理由は沢山。一つはこの話の筋は愚かな。一つに攫ってセクハラして逃げて襲って抱きしめたいたくなる？馬鹿馬鹿しい。彼女は香港までつられてけどみんな分かる？彼女は混沌語話せるの？みんなは日本語？ばかばかしい。彼女をいじめる女達はどうやっていじめるの？同じ言葉を話せるわけがない。話はめちゃくちゃ悪いだしポルノみたいにから辞めとく。
January 19, 2016
see full review @ Katie's Corner
I’m continuing with my obsession with Mayu Shinjo’s works. However, there are not much left. There definitely be two more reviews, but at that I won’t be able to review all of her works, and truly I only review the ones that I found interesting enough to read a second time. But let me get back to the review as talking about my future projects is sometimes boring
Please bear in mind that from all of the author’s work this is the cruelest. Wait, can I say cruel? Let me elaborate. It’s twisted. The story is about love, but Hakuron’s (that’s the main character and the leader of Hong Kong mafia) idea of love is twisted. The story has lots of murder and also rape, which is why I say that his idea of love is twisted. But what is most interesting is that he truly does love Kurumi, and that love makes him do stupid things. Like what? Heh, If I told you I would have spoiled a major event and to say the truth I would have spoiled the whole story. Because before he does anything there are characters to appear and make Kurumi’s life hell and take her love from her.
Why do I love this story if it’s mostly murder and twisted love? I believe because of the characters. No matter what cruelty Hakuron does, even if he infuriates me to the point of hating him, I still like him as a character. He truly encompassed the role of a heartless, cruel beast that unfortunately falls in love. Why unfortunately? That is my opinion, but if he didn’t he would have been alive and wouldn’t have wounded Kurumi, but at the same time the love that he felt towards Kurumi made him a better man in some aspects. Kurumi is a great character. Her strength and her love amaze me every time I read this story. You might think of her as strange. She should have run when she had a chance, but she stayed. She loved Hakuron too much.
I mean if we look at the ending, and it’s something that I didn’t expect. The cover of the 9th volume is Kurumi and Hakuron in wedding attire, you could never guess that the wedding will be a tragedy. Involuntarily I remember Hakuron’s words:
His death is very powerful. The last dialogue between him and Kurumi s fantastic and makes you cry. You do want to hold hope that he lived, but the words that Foron says 3 years later shatter your heart. I’m writing and my eyes are teary again. But what I loved is that in the end the author makes you smile, how? No, there’s nothing about Kurumi’s future, I do believe she’ll either stay single or will marry Foron and absolutely random guy. But I’m more for her staying single, she won't be able to love anyone like she did Hakuron. The only thing left from him is a cat. I did think that she would have a baby, but the author thought not to do it.
Are you ready to start this story of love and hatred? Get ready to not see rose-colored love all the time. This love is hard and is cruel in its way. Enjoy it to its fullest and don’t forget to share your thoughts below! Stay tuned for more reviews as well as promos. Don’t miss your next favourite book or manga. Happy reading!
XOXO
Katie
I’m continuing with my obsession with Mayu Shinjo’s works. However, there are not much left. There definitely be two more reviews, but at that I won’t be able to review all of her works, and truly I only review the ones that I found interesting enough to read a second time. But let me get back to the review as talking about my future projects is sometimes boring
Please bear in mind that from all of the author’s work this is the cruelest. Wait, can I say cruel? Let me elaborate. It’s twisted. The story is about love, but Hakuron’s (that’s the main character and the leader of Hong Kong mafia) idea of love is twisted. The story has lots of murder and also rape, which is why I say that his idea of love is twisted. But what is most interesting is that he truly does love Kurumi, and that love makes him do stupid things. Like what? Heh, If I told you I would have spoiled a major event and to say the truth I would have spoiled the whole story. Because before he does anything there are characters to appear and make Kurumi’s life hell and take her love from her.
Why do I love this story if it’s mostly murder and twisted love? I believe because of the characters. No matter what cruelty Hakuron does, even if he infuriates me to the point of hating him, I still like him as a character. He truly encompassed the role of a heartless, cruel beast that unfortunately falls in love. Why unfortunately? That is my opinion, but if he didn’t he would have been alive and wouldn’t have wounded Kurumi, but at the same time the love that he felt towards Kurumi made him a better man in some aspects. Kurumi is a great character. Her strength and her love amaze me every time I read this story. You might think of her as strange. She should have run when she had a chance, but she stayed. She loved Hakuron too much.
I mean if we look at the ending, and it’s something that I didn’t expect. The cover of the 9th volume is Kurumi and Hakuron in wedding attire, you could never guess that the wedding will be a tragedy. Involuntarily I remember Hakuron’s words:
His death is very powerful. The last dialogue between him and Kurumi s fantastic and makes you cry. You do want to hold hope that he lived, but the words that Foron says 3 years later shatter your heart. I’m writing and my eyes are teary again. But what I loved is that in the end the author makes you smile, how? No, there’s nothing about Kurumi’s future, I do believe she’ll either stay single or will marry Foron and absolutely random guy. But I’m more for her staying single, she won't be able to love anyone like she did Hakuron. The only thing left from him is a cat. I did think that she would have a baby, but the author thought not to do it.
Are you ready to start this story of love and hatred? Get ready to not see rose-colored love all the time. This love is hard and is cruel in its way. Enjoy it to its fullest and don’t forget to share your thoughts below! Stay tuned for more reviews as well as promos. Don’t miss your next favourite book or manga. Happy reading!
XOXO
Katie
June 26, 2013
Summary:
One day while walking home from her job, Kurumi Akino finds a wounded young man, and saves his life. He mysteriously disappears after that, and leaves only the name Hakuron. Next thing she knows she’s been kidnapped from her school, and is on a private jet with that man, heading to Hong Kong. It turns out she saved the life of the most infamous mobster in Hong Kong, and he wants her to stay with him.
STORY 5/10
It could have been good if it weren’t for the continuous rape scenes and the FREAKING ENDING! This manga is really twisted and it made me frustrated. I spent the whole day reading it and it disappointed me, BIG TIME. I went through an emotional roller coaster, almost shed some tears, made me want to rip my heart out because I was really in pain but for what?! Another thing that made me want to rip my head off was the repetitive scenes( eg. kidnap, amnesia, rape, betrayal and a lot more). It’s very tiresome to read. One second she’ll be alright, the next second she’ll be kidnapped, she’ll be raped, she’ll be rescued, she’ll be kidnapped again, she’ll be raped again, again and again. And the most frustrating thing was the ending! GHAD. Why did the main characters went through all of that pain? Just for what? It was useless. But at least, it really stuck to the main point that the male lead was really cursed.
ART 6/10
Well done. The scenes were drawn fine, I guess. It was just okay. I’m not really a fan of the art of Shinjo, only her stories. So, I guess that’s it. Too much bloody scenes for me. The proportion of the body and the head of the characters is kinda weird for me. And SERIOUSLY, what’s with the pigtails? What is she? kindergarten?! It simply looked like “the hare and the hound”.
CHARACTER 5/10
REALLY WEAK female lead. She is the dumbest, most dependent and all of those annoying stereotypical shits. I don’t know if she’s mental or something. Hating and loving at the same time the guy she said she fell inlove with for more or less than 24 hours. Ghhad. I want to rip that freaking head of hers. The male lead is too much. He is too forceful. He said he loves her so much but he rapes her because she hates his guts for killing a girl in front of her. Seriously? Are you following me on this one?! -.- I can’t believe this. There was no character development either. The girl remained as the dumb masochist and the male lead remained as the sadist lover till the very end. They are both twisted and I think they both deserve each other.
MY FEELINGS 7/10
This manga made me feel a lot of things and that’s what I’m looking for in mangas—to make me feel like I’m one of the characters or I’m with them. It really made me feel pain, frustration, anger and every negative feeling, especially at the ending. Psssh. When I finally let my feels subside because “at last! they’re getting married” then BAAAAM! the mangaka kills the male lead. WHAT WAS THAT?! I’m tired. I’m exhausted. Really.
If you want to experience what I’ve experienced then go right ahead, READ IT. It’s your choice.
One day while walking home from her job, Kurumi Akino finds a wounded young man, and saves his life. He mysteriously disappears after that, and leaves only the name Hakuron. Next thing she knows she’s been kidnapped from her school, and is on a private jet with that man, heading to Hong Kong. It turns out she saved the life of the most infamous mobster in Hong Kong, and he wants her to stay with him.
STORY 5/10
It could have been good if it weren’t for the continuous rape scenes and the FREAKING ENDING! This manga is really twisted and it made me frustrated. I spent the whole day reading it and it disappointed me, BIG TIME. I went through an emotional roller coaster, almost shed some tears, made me want to rip my heart out because I was really in pain but for what?! Another thing that made me want to rip my head off was the repetitive scenes( eg. kidnap, amnesia, rape, betrayal and a lot more). It’s very tiresome to read. One second she’ll be alright, the next second she’ll be kidnapped, she’ll be raped, she’ll be rescued, she’ll be kidnapped again, she’ll be raped again, again and again. And the most frustrating thing was the ending! GHAD. Why did the main characters went through all of that pain? Just for what? It was useless. But at least, it really stuck to the main point that the male lead was really cursed.
ART 6/10
Well done. The scenes were drawn fine, I guess. It was just okay. I’m not really a fan of the art of Shinjo, only her stories. So, I guess that’s it. Too much bloody scenes for me. The proportion of the body and the head of the characters is kinda weird for me. And SERIOUSLY, what’s with the pigtails? What is she? kindergarten?! It simply looked like “the hare and the hound”.
CHARACTER 5/10
REALLY WEAK female lead. She is the dumbest, most dependent and all of those annoying stereotypical shits. I don’t know if she’s mental or something. Hating and loving at the same time the guy she said she fell inlove with for more or less than 24 hours. Ghhad. I want to rip that freaking head of hers. The male lead is too much. He is too forceful. He said he loves her so much but he rapes her because she hates his guts for killing a girl in front of her. Seriously? Are you following me on this one?! -.- I can’t believe this. There was no character development either. The girl remained as the dumb masochist and the male lead remained as the sadist lover till the very end. They are both twisted and I think they both deserve each other.
MY FEELINGS 7/10
This manga made me feel a lot of things and that’s what I’m looking for in mangas—to make me feel like I’m one of the characters or I’m with them. It really made me feel pain, frustration, anger and every negative feeling, especially at the ending. Psssh. When I finally let my feels subside because “at last! they’re getting married” then BAAAAM! the mangaka kills the male lead. WHAT WAS THAT?! I’m tired. I’m exhausted. Really.
If you want to experience what I’ve experienced then go right ahead, READ IT. It’s your choice.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2011
The heroine, Kurumi Akino is spineless and passive while her love interest, Uon Hakuron is a douche. I felt bad for her while reading this.
(some of the summary is copy pasted from wiki ;p)
Akino, living in japan who is taking care of her family, finds a man wounded and helps him back to health and then the next day she’s been kidnapped from her school and is on a private jet with him, heading to Hong Kong where she finds out that he is The Leader of the Dragon Lord Organization(The Mafia).
He wants her to stay with him and refuses to take her back to japan,(even telling her that she has no money to get back and offers that she can sell her body to him wth?) she runs off (Hakuron even tells her that she can't run from him and because he's the leader of blah blah blah that he can have whatever he stinkin wants)
and a group of men captures her in attempt to make some money from her through prostitution. Hakuron arrives just in time (uhh..yay) and claims that she is "his woman"
After he saves her, he scolds her (how dare she run after he sexually harassed and threatened her D:< ) and tells her that he would have given her money if she just asked for it...What?
of course he then feeds her all sorts of words, confessing his love to her:
"How can i win over your heart?"
"Money, Power, anything you desire i can give it all to you!' :(
"How can I make a beautiful girl like you, love me?"
*Tear* ;(
She gives in(awwwww)and she end up having sex with him anyway (a few minutes after she was almost raped nonetheless....) and she claims that she is in love with Hakuron and decides to abandon her family.
Wait....What?
Of course there is more to the story that i left out and it was interesting enough to keep me reading but still...come on now, SERIOUSLY -__-
(some of the summary is copy pasted from wiki ;p)
Akino, living in japan who is taking care of her family, finds a man wounded and helps him back to health and then the next day she’s been kidnapped from her school and is on a private jet with him, heading to Hong Kong where she finds out that he is The Leader of the Dragon Lord Organization(The Mafia).
He wants her to stay with him and refuses to take her back to japan,(even telling her that she has no money to get back and offers that she can sell her body to him wth?) she runs off (Hakuron even tells her that she can't run from him and because he's the leader of blah blah blah that he can have whatever he stinkin wants)
and a group of men captures her in attempt to make some money from her through prostitution. Hakuron arrives just in time (uhh..yay) and claims that she is "his woman"
After he saves her, he scolds her (how dare she run after he sexually harassed and threatened her D:< ) and tells her that he would have given her money if she just asked for it...What?
of course he then feeds her all sorts of words, confessing his love to her:
"How can i win over your heart?"
"Money, Power, anything you desire i can give it all to you!' :(
"How can I make a beautiful girl like you, love me?"
*Tear* ;(
She gives in(awwwww)and she end up having sex with him anyway (a few minutes after she was almost raped nonetheless....) and she claims that she is in love with Hakuron and decides to abandon her family.
Wait....What?
Of course there is more to the story that i left out and it was interesting enough to keep me reading but still...come on now, SERIOUSLY -__-
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 25, 2012
I cannot believe I'm admitting to this one in public, but I happened across this manga and I actually enjoyed it. It is was dirty and unfortunately deals with some stupidly messed up characters.
The lead girl is the typical vacant innocent the reader is supposed to supplant with themselves. More than half her lines involve her shouting out the name of various characters in times of distress.
This story also deals with rape in an uncomfortable way. I sort of gave it a pass because the girl didn't like the rape at the time. She knows it's wrong and doesn't pretend to enjoy it at first. This story ends up becoming more like a study of stockholm syndrome and that I can get behind.
None of the characters really stand out, but the art was enjoyable. The story moves along well for the most part. Though it was laughable that the lead male not only is the boss of a Hong Kong mafia, but is a high school student as well. (That only is in play for one particular storyline though, and only vaguely mentioned later. That storyline is an intriguing catalyst for the rest of the story.) Also, the main girl is shown to care for her family, especially her sick mother, but after she is shipped to Hong Kong, she completely abandons her family.
Still, despite all the issues, it was an enjoyable read provided you don't mind any of the stuff I've just mentioned.
The lead girl is the typical vacant innocent the reader is supposed to supplant with themselves. More than half her lines involve her shouting out the name of various characters in times of distress.
This story also deals with rape in an uncomfortable way. I sort of gave it a pass because the girl didn't like the rape at the time. She knows it's wrong and doesn't pretend to enjoy it at first. This story ends up becoming more like a study of stockholm syndrome and that I can get behind.
None of the characters really stand out, but the art was enjoyable. The story moves along well for the most part. Though it was laughable that the lead male not only is the boss of a Hong Kong mafia, but is a high school student as well. (That only is in play for one particular storyline though, and only vaguely mentioned later. That storyline is an intriguing catalyst for the rest of the story.) Also, the main girl is shown to care for her family, especially her sick mother, but after she is shipped to Hong Kong, she completely abandons her family.
Still, despite all the issues, it was an enjoyable read provided you don't mind any of the stuff I've just mentioned.
September 18, 2020
One of my favourite Mangas. I have read this story numerous times and the ending is still as heart wrenching as it was the first time.
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