Just a brief note: I decided to take Cafe Kichijouji De Volume 1 
Secretary’s Job? by Miki Araya
Let me start by telling you why I picked up Secretary’s Job?. Just from the title alone I could tell that there would be no high school-ers involved, and because there were lots of smiling faces on the front and back cover. “This is going to be cute,” I thought as I bought it and when I picked it up again today.
LIES.
Okay, Secretary’s Job? was only half-lying. It was pretty cute, UNTIL THERE WAS A RAPE SCENE, and then afterwards it was cute again.
Can I admit something to you? I am absolutely sick of talking about rape happening in yaoi. We’re only on day four. Can I have just ONE yaoi with no rape in it whatsoever?
And this wasn’t even a plot-centric rape scene like yesterday’s manga, Affair
To make matters even worse, the victim woke up from having been raped, didn’t even remember it, then put two and two together because he woke up with semen coming out his butt. But is he upset because he was raped? Nope! He’s upset because he can’t get pregnant and give his attacker an heir. (The attacker is the son of a CEO, therefore an heir would be needed.)
ASDFJODISGHWEOIGN! Can you get more Stockholm Syndrome than that? Yup! The victim and the assailant get together after being torn asunder by a stupid misunderstanding on the victim’s part. Gag me with a spoon.
Thankfully, the two stories didn’t tread into any icky categories at all! They were really cute! One, like the first story, was about a secretary and another employee getting together. It could have gotten weird because the premise for them to get close was a bet to see if the regular employee could get the secretary in bed, but it wound up being heartwarming instead of forceful. The second one was similar, but with two college students who found themselves being drawn together despite one wanting to beat the other in a popularity contest.
I do like the art though. Despite more pointy chin syndrome and at least one case of yaoi hands, the art reminded me a lot of Yasuko Aoike and her tendency to constantly draw wide, open mouths.
I’m going to keep Secretary’s Job? only because it did sort of redeem itself after the first story, but I feel like I have to apologize to you readers. I don’t want to keep talking and whining about rape, coercion and all the nasty tropes of yaoi, and I’m more than sure you don’t want to hear it for the next month. I can only hope that I come across at least one volume in my 30 Day Yaoi Challenge with nothing that sets off my ick-senses.
Yaoi sucks
To each their own.
I’m kind of embarrassed. I lettered this title, and I don’t remember a rape scene. There was the usual no-but-really-yes but I don’t remember anything forceful. To be fair, I also remember one line that went something like, “Bang me so hard you knock me up,” after which I banged my head on my desk (nearly cracking my tablet), and memories are foggy after that :-/
Too bad you’re only reading print because I have a few good BL recommendations from the DMG imprint.
Don’t be embarrassed! I’ve worked in the industry and I can’t remember everything that’s ever happened in the manga I worked on either. Also, please don’t take my reviews of the content personally. Your lettering was superb, and you’re not responsible for what Miki Araya and her editors decided was a good story.
I re-read the aforementioned scene, and basically the secretary gets pushed down, he tries to protest, but the CEO’s son doesn’t let him get more than a word or two out as he continues. Then the secretary wakes up, doesn’t seem to remember a thing and only realizes what’s happened thanks to the semen coming out of his ass. When the CEO’s son wakes up and sees that the secretary is gone, he’s immediately regretful for losing control. So it’s not super obvious that it’s rape, but there’s no actual consent from the secretary’s side of things, just attempts to stop him and then various noises. That’s made even worse by the scene immediately afterward where the secretary isn’t upset by anything except the fact that he can’t give the CEO’s son an heir. I didn’t like the whole first sex scene to begin with, but that really raised my hackles. The “knock me up” line is actually from their second sex scene, when they’ve reconciled and professed their love for each other. (That is quite the line, isn’t it! The rest of the stories had cheesy, over-the-top lines like that at the beginning of their sex scenes, but nothing THAT cheesy!)
I do want to check out some DMG titles, but I just haven’t done it yet. Perhaps I’ll try to do that soon, but not for this challenge. I have some Emanga.com points sitting around somewhere.
The whole “bang me till you knock me up” bit is one of the more striking verbal instances of Miki Araya’s general cracktasticness, which is usually most notably expressed by the amusingly stagy–and sometimes borderline anatomically impossible–exaggerated full-body poses her characters often strike (usually while fully clothed) to express emotions such as surprise, disbelief, or bolt-from-the-blue sexual attraction. If one of the other DMP books you bought was “You Are My Queen,” you’ll soon see what I mean about Araya’s cracktasticness, both in terms of the poses (which she and/or her editor must have decided needed to be seriously toned down for “Secretary’s Job?” due to its being set in something more vaguely resembling the normal business world) and in general. The good news is that, as far as I recall, “You Are My Queen” is pretty much rape-free–although it does have one or two other dubious elements.
DMP BL titles I liked that didn’t include anything resembling rape include “The Paradise on the Hill” (interfaculty romance at a boarding school) and the manga version of “Only the Ring Finger Knows” (schoolboy/schoolboy romance). Unfortunately, both of these came out so long ago that if you hadn’t already read them, there may not have been any copies left in print to be sold off at the warehouse sale.
Right now I’m feeling like other dubious elements might get a pass because I’m so sick of the rape. Today’s blog post will have more of that.
Thanks for the suggestions though. I’ll have to check these titles out if I find them somewhere. 🙂
After I logged off I thought of another, more recent DMP manga that fits the “no rape” profile as well–the two-volume series “Only Serious About You.” (I think the author is Asou Kai.) This is about a playboy gay business executive who flirts with everyone, but eventually strikes up an increasingly serious relationship with an over-conscientious, initially straight single father who works at the cafe where the business exec eats most of his evening meals. They actually spend the entire first volume just becoming friends, even though the cafe employee and his elementary school-age daughter wind up accepting the (genuinely) altruistic businessman’s invitation to stay at his conveniently-located apartment in order to cope with various medical and child care emergencies.
I have that manga! It’s so cute! I wish it were on the challenge, but alas I’ve already read it.