which_chick | (no subject) (Reply)

Still on page 10, Edward beats himself up. The typeface isn't the same as spoken dialogue and it doesn't have word balloons. This is him thinking, not him talking. Plus, y'know, his mouth is full. He thinks back to when he'd sneak and voyeur and so forth. It's a guilt wallow, repeated on the left leaf. Note particularly the third panel. I am not a visual person -- I do words -- so it's a hell of a thing for me to sit there and look at pictures until I figure out what the hell they're supposed to be. This was one I had to look at with effort, to force it to resolve. Anyway, Edward gets a faceful, which we-the-readers can feel all okay about because he deserves it. He bites Ashely because 僕を許さなくていい -- it's best if you don't forgive me. Guilt. Everything goes better with guilt. YAY GUILT! You know, probably I should have been Catholic, as much as I like guilt.

On page 11, we can see that Ashely knows his knots. It's a Japanese thing, cultural. There are lots of FAQs on the interweb for this sort of thing, should you have some free time, a lot of rope, and a willing partner. Not a whole lot of import here, other than that. There's dialogue that I didn't bother to read.

By page 12, though, it gets interesting. There's no dialogue on the right face, but the left face is absolutely classic dialogue. Classic. I was tickled to discover this the first time I flipped through it -- there was much rejoicing because I could read it. Before that, the last time I'd been so thrilled to be able to read something was with Frog and Toad are Friends in the early 1970's. There was fangirl squealing when I read this, scary as that may be to contemplate.

Edward: あッにいさ　もっと　　もっと　非道く　して Ah! Niisa- You're being so very... so very cruel
Ashley: 非道く?　どんな風に? Cruel? How is that?
Edward: 欲しい...にいさんの...おねがい I want... your... please
Ashley: 俺の?　何をどうして欲しいって? ちゃんと言わないと分からないぜ My...? What is it that you want? If you can't say it properly, I won't understand you.

The "You can't have it until you say it" thing is a trope of the genre -- it shows up all over the place in the world of pretty boys fucking for the amusement of women. (I've also seen it in real life het fucking, but that's mostly because it's fun.) Generally, in entertainment media, the people who are told to articulate their desires aren't in a position to have much shame left, and so it is with Edward. He's tied up, he's nekkid, he's hard, and he's begging.. And, y'know, it's not like Ashley's gonna LET HIM GO, is it? I think we're all reasonably sure that's not going to happen. He might as well just ~~Answer the question, Claire~~ say it.)

Edward: にいさんのコックで僕の後ろの口を嬲ってください Please, with your cock, tease my asshole. (Gotta admit, he does what he's told. That is a pretty damn literal translation, there. It's slightly more effective in the original because the sentence structure unfolds more pleasingly. It is, however, no less bold in the original. Edward's not mincing words.)

Flipping to page 13, we have what I read as Very well, my prince, as you wish. For those with an interest in radio-carbon dating yaoi manga by the scope of the practices depicted in, this is late 1990's era stuff. :) Rimming is a later-era practice. (The idea of radio-carbon dating yaoi manga and/or the general run of slash fanfic by the sexual practices depicted therein is something I think would make a wonderful master's thesis on the opposing forces of normative adaptation and the transgressive appeal of porn. It's not going to be MY master's thesis, but it could certainly be someone's. I really think the data exists. The trend lines exist. Not fucking rocket science, here. Someone should study this for me, please.)

On the left leaf, Edward has time for revelations. This is also a trope of the genre. Generally, we do not get the thoughts of the person doing the fucking. We get the thoughts of the person *being* fucked, likely because we're (female audience is assumed for this material) supposed to empathize with him. Man, 俺の受けをするなら彼の思いを散らかますよ. (Another one for

not_your_real). Anyway, Edward's revelation is that back then, when he looked at Ashley, he thought he was beautiful, strung up like that. Yep, I'm seeing that.

On page 14, we have more fucking and more revelation. I should probably read this but it's time to get dressed for work. Also, guys in yaoi manga are... more liquid than you might think reasonable. It's the style of the thing.

The last page is a happy ending, which you can grasp even without words. They live happily ever after. Seriously. Happy endings are quite, quite frequent. It's a thing. So, y'know, niisan tied him up and fucked him. This is not a barrier to happiness. Look. Fucking Smallville fanfic has a lot of happy endings. How can you have a happy ending with Lex and Clark/Superman? They are ENEMIES. It'll all end in tears -- there is no happy ending there. There are happy endings in the oddest places, places where you would not think a happy ending *could* be (Lucius Malfoy x Harry Potter, with a happy ending, built on a french folk song? Bet yer boots. It's a lovely thing, too.) and I can only conclude that chicks dig happy endings. There are (sometimes) unhappy endings, but the bulk of the time, things turn out reasonably happy.

I'm okay with that, really.