Ten Count

My friend made me read this... Now, I'm gonna say - yaoi isn't my cup of tea. But it started really nice. I liked the concept! Then it went downhill from there... The relationship between main characters could be so much better. Instead, the author just made a huge mess halfway through the story. Really. It started as really heartwarming and interesting story. Then it became porn I really wish that characters would be more fleshed out too.. Shirotani is your typical uke, just blushing and being submissive. I really doubt a real person would act like he did. I really wish he'd stand his ground. Insteadthe fact that he was raped was potrayed as very romantic I'm not buying it. I had fun reading first ten chapters. But after a while it's just porn without any plot

Oh, Ten Count. I stumble on it in every second list, and seeing it always reminds me of my disappointment. It made me feel lost. Why build such an enticing premise only to dissolve it in stereotypes later? Truly, the thing that is the most violated in this manga is probably not uke’s ass, but the hope for good story built in the early chapters. But first I’ll get over the art quick. You see the amazing covers? Elegant, clean, and enticing, these images indeed sell. But the manga itself isn’t like that. Sure, airy and emotional, its art has personality and shines in sex scenes.It’s hard to describe it, but sex scenes in Ten Count are memorable and poignant, easy to follow, arousing and fittingly disturbing. They carry the atmosphere of the manga. But overall, while the art has its sexy moments, it’s not that stable or clean. The author struggles to cope with humans having noses, characters are often “off-model”, and the bottom partner contorts unrealistically, displaying a worrying case of gynecomastia. The beginning of Ten Count sets ground for a great psychological yaoi playspace. Shirotani, the “uke” main character, is older, put together, but traumatized; he is a client for the therapist “seme”, which puts him in a protected position. The whole situation is ambiguous, it’s unclear whether the goal is to help him or to groom him, which adds to the thrill. Though, by the way, I would also call this the most questionable part of the manga. Rapey yaoi, which Ten Count also belongs to, is many and habitual, but problematizing therapy is new and dangerous. This is porn, but it's important to talk about mental health with care. The true treasure is, of course, the topic of mysophobia. Not only it is rare in manga, which can attract many sympathetic readers, it’s also a perfect fetish for yaoi with poor consent standards, because a mysophobe is necessary mindful of touch, follows a set of rituals, and there’s the possibility of increased sensitivity, explored in Ten Count in form of Shirotani’s skin being damaged from overwashing. Basically, you get a character who remembers where and when he is touched with ridiculous scrupulousness and meltdowns because of it. It’s a lot to play with! Ten Count indeed starts with this delicious mixture. An older high class corporate servant man gives in completely when touched by an attractive dominant stranger in a suspicious treatment deal. He's scared, yet hopeful, lustful, yet crying prettily. It’s so very intriguing and hot. But quickly all of this is forgotten in favor of cheap drama. Even the perverse motive of touch being arousing, but distressful is dropped to make space for simpler run of the mill sexual scenarios. The additional offense is misogyny. The main reveal of the series is that everything is the fault of a pubic-hair-twirling evil rotten woman our pure heroes need and will punish. The whole event is so unrealistic and weird, that it is clearly just an excuse for a bogeyman, who also happens to be the only major female character. And revenge feels like a cheap and unfitting solution for a manga about therapy with pretense of psychologism. At the same time, ironically, the MC in later half acts like a bad flighty woman stereotype. Unwilling to self-reflect, he provokes his partner, then shifts responsibility and breaks down in hysteria in an endless annoying cycle. The dark brooding top remains largely a non-personality. Medical and ethical issues are forgotten in favor of love insecurities on the level of “I want to be with him or I don’t”, “I may hurt him”, even though, as many readers point out, it’s unclear at which moment this love even emerges. They tend to ignore it in porn, but still it’s 50+ chapters of a romantic relationship which started as a turbulent doctor-patient gig, the shift must have happened somewhere. Basically it's "they wanted to count to ten, but forgot about it at six" type of plot. Yet I have to admit that seeing a half-naked bishounen in dimmed light in a medical setting still makes my blood quicken. And there is a reason I am writing this review, despite my extensive criticism, the fact that I read Ten Count a while back, and a wealth of reviews written by others. Ten Count would inevitably attract my attention since I am a mild mysophobe myself. And despite the many flaws in the execution, the initial concept in it is stellar, brimming with a delicious dark mood – alluring, visceral, intoxicating, and transgressive. Ten Count is flawed, soiled, overhyped to death, yet still a gift, which I don't accept its entirety, but can't not appreciate as an idea. I cannot in good faith advice completing it either, but I recommend making acquaintance to the curious inclined readers.

Ten Count is a great example of how to ruin a good idea with stereotypical yaoi stuff. Story The topic discussed at the beginning is quite original, because it gives a field for showing off and developing the topic well, but well not in this life. The first two volumes are quite neat, because we have psychological motives here, including work with a psychologist i.t.d. The subject is well developed and then it flies down at the speed of light. Yes, the typical yaoi pwp starts. Plot what plot? The next two volumes are typical bad yaoi porn, in which seme looks like he has no emotionsand was a soulless, deaf stone, and uke also begins to show typical stereotypical character traits. In Volume 5, at least we have the reason why the main character suffers from misophobia. Okay, at least we got it, but it's a shame it didn't get further developed. I cannot say anything bad about the last volume neither good too. Characters Due to the fact that they lack depth and more detailed presentation. Although the main character overcomes his problem, he does it in such a strange and non-realistic way that I have no words. There is no question of any good representation of misophobia. And the second, although it intrigued me, his character is actually quite damaged. Art Fairly well done, but it does disappoint a bit sometimes, especially towards the end. summarizing The story had a lot of potentials, but oh well. It was destroyed by the author who, apart from this series, has some really good manga, but they aren't very popular. Maybe she just wanted someone to be interested in this series. Bad idea. But maybe she just didn't know what to do with the plot. It's a shame.

I'm thinking I might pick this up again in the future when it's been completed because the art is just too beautiful, but I felt the story + characters were really lacking, especially after volume 2. I loved the first two volumes and was expecting that, if it continued the way it was going, it'd become a new favorite. But Kurose's behavior from volume 3 on really turned me off, and I felt that Shirotani was a really flat character that had far too many stereotypes. But, like I said, the art was beautiful and I'm a sucker for that, so I might pick this upagain when the final volume comes out in Japan and try it in Japanese the second time around.