Edgy BL: Heartless and Color Recipe (nsfw text)
A while back I got back into BL but I wanted to read something edgy, maybe more ero-guro/horror-ish, but like, you know, actually disturbing. Not something that has a disturbing plot but is portrayed in that "oh this is actually romantic" fashion. Which is usually my main gripe with BL lmao. So I went looking around and I found a manga with a very pretty cover, called Heartless.
The premise sounds cool enough, an incubus and his lover get hunted by a bunch of priest type exorcists. Plot wise, I honestly had a bit of trouble understanding what exactly was going on, and what relationship did the relation having priests (heh) actually share at first. Why are these guys having sex? What's going on? Why does this guy want to run away? This story didn't really leave me properly disturbed either, it was more like an action movie with chase and sex scenes, not a whole lot of horror. One good thing about it was the MC, Manuel, who's quiet for the most part of the story. A beat up quiet man? Sign me up! The biggest problem with this manga was the tone, but more about that later.
The next manga I stumbled upon was Color Recipe, by Harada. I'm mentioning this mangaka because I've seen this name pop up like 5 times in 2023 for some reason and I don't even hang around fujo spaces much anymore. I'm also not a huge fan of this... modern BL aesthetic, I don't know how else to describe it. This manga is about two hairstylists falling for each other, and without spoiling too much, one of them gets stalked and sexually assaulted and the usual psychological games ensue. Well, the ending was pretty disappointing and once again I felt like this manga also had a tone issue.
Now let's move on to this tone issue I keep blabbering about. Both of these manga have something in common - they come with the "disturbing, scary, psychological horror" label as described by the fans. Yet for some reason, both manga have moments where the most disturbing moments are coupled with this weird lightheartedness that completely throws me off. In the first one there's an actual, pretty abusive gang rape scene, but in the background there's a character going :) drawn in a funny-haha way?
This stuff drives me up the fucking wall. The second manga also had a few similar moments, coupled with a very lighthearted ending - all things considered. Add to that the very detailed sex scenes I'm not exactly sure whether I'm supposed to be disturbed, horny, or amused. You know, sometimes a serious theme requires a more serious tone, but when a disturbing story is handled in the same way a fluffy romance would be, I'm just confused lmao. I just wanted to see men actually suffering for a change. Anyway, I'm having a hard time describing this, but basically it feels like there's a certain disconnect between the themes covered and their portrayal, which is why I didn't fully enjoy either of these.