“Nana To Kaoru” is a on-going manga written and drawn by Ryuta Amazume. For those who do not know, manga are Japanese comics that catered to a wide spectrum of the population in Japan. Unlike American comics (which focused on superheroes) or Chinese mahwa (which focused on martial arts stories), there are mangas for almost every genre under the sun. Including BDSM!
The story is on Kaoru, a 17-year old high-school student who has a SM fetish. He has a childhood friend named Nana who lives next door and always dreamt of having a SM relationship with her. However their relationship had deteriorated over the years due to the fact they belong to different clique in school and they hanged out with different people.
The story starts when one day when Kaoru's mom decided to hide all his SM toys so that he would study for an exam. Worried that Kaoru would find the items in their house, she asked Nana (who is an honor student) to hide the toys. Nana agreed but curiosity got the better of her and later at night, she went through the toys she had heard so much about. She found a one-piece leather suit that Kaoru had and tries it on. After much stumbling and fumbling, she finally got it on but she accidentally locks it and found that she don't have the key!
She approached Kaoru who freed her from the suit but only after having some fun with her. Nana then realized to her surprise that she enjoyed her time in the suit as she was free of all responsibility and subsequently the two of them started engaging in these so-called "breathers".
First off let me be clear; this manga is not hentai. There's very little nudity, totally none for the first couple of chapters, and totally no sex. In fact, the writer, Ryuta Amazume, focused more on the mental aspect of S&M than anything else. The readers (that’s us) are gradually introduced to the characters as well as to the world of S&M.
Amazingly, it works! The manga did a great job showing the world of S&M without being exploitive and showed the amount of trust, self control, and love that a BDSM couple needs to have to keep it going. There’s really character development in this manga with insight into the minds of Kaoru and Nana as they struggle with their roles in their secret relationship. In fact, part of the fun in this manga was the absurd lengths the duo would go to hide their “hobby” from others and how they justified their actions to themselves. They never called their play “roleplay” or even “S&M”, instead calling them “breathers” throughout the series as they were intended to relieve Nana of stress. Yes, that’s weak and the couple knows it too but to do otherwise would require them to confront a situation neither were willing to admit. That they were truly a couple that was meant for each other.
The manga also includes things most people never thought of; like the sheer amount of prep work you need to do for a session and how little an S&M relationship has to do with sex. I especially like the idea of how careful the duo are and how slowly the limits were gradually pushed. It just made sense when you consider how inexperience both Nana and Kaoru are.
I highly recommend anyone who is interested in BDSM to take a look at this manga. Even if you are not into comics, this manga is for you. The series is such a hit in Jpan, there is even a spin-off series, a movie and a one episode anime of it. The only problem is that there is no real English translated comics for “Nana To Kaoru” and given the subject material, there probably never will be. So the only way to enjoy the series in English is to go to scan sites like Mangareader and Mangafox. I put a link below but there are others out there.
Take a look if you want a proper look into a real life BDSM relationship. It’s destined to be a classic BDSM work and you can see it as it happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment