Sneaky Red

I have to preface this by saying that this is not a comic for everyone. Honestly, it would be difficult for me to argue against someone criticizing this comic for romanticizing abuse because, at heart, it really does. But I can say, at least, that it's difficult to write an idyllic love story that explores the idea of abuse without, either accidentally or purposefully, romanticizing some aspect of it. Don't write it off! The comic is well aware of itself, which automatically makes me rate it higher than 80% of the stuff out there. In terms of general storytelling, the flow is good, the characters dynamicand quite fleshed out for a 6 chapter book, and the art is this endearing mix of old style and new style manga. Sometimes the development kind of makes you step back and think, "wow, that's pretty lucky, since that could have gone really, really bad, really fast," but suspension of disbelief, man. The translations right now unfortunately suck, but I still appreciate having them. Where the comic packs a punch is its realistic yet interesting characters. This is one of those books where a misfit minority is represented, and represented well, which is why you might see high ratings despite the fact that you personally don't think it's all that great. However, if you recognize yourself in the angry, emotionally stupid Haru or Misaki, the guy who deludes himself in order to not to come to terms with his sexual proclivities, I would highly recommend reading this, and if you don't, well I'd still recommend you read this if only for the art. I would say more, but I've probably said enough already. As always, don't try this at home!