Hoshi no Yakata by Tori Maia centers around the employees of an S&M club. The artwork is beautiful and graphic and the storylines are generally filled with angst and sugary sweetness. It is 5 volumes long and highly explicit. S&M is a main focus so there are toys used and the sex is painful for the one playing the role of the submissive.
There are many different characters, but they are easy to tell apart. Each has their own look and personality. I definitely got attached to many of them. They know what love and emotional pain are. The employees of the S&M give up their bodies to the customers, or “guests” as the master insists on calling them, but their hearts are their own.
The art is beautiful and although the anatomy is somewhat average for a yaoi novel- slender men with toned muscles- I found the rendering to be exceedingly beautiful and there were less skinny little boys with big eyes than usual. The detail is also worth mentioning. The backgrounds are lovely, the shading is intense and moody at parts, but the outfits are kinky and meticulously depicted.
The raunchy, painful sex is definitely a big part of the manga, but the storylines are worth paying attention to as well. You could read this just for the story if you wanted to, although you might be a little distracted on the way.
Warnings: There is rape, but it is not a main storyline, not too explicit, and no one falls in love with their rapists. If you’re really really bothered by incest, there is a teeny tiny bit although there is no sex. Only inappropriate touching.
You can read this here.
