Sensual Phrase/Kaikan Phrase (17 volumes + 1 Special)

Manga-ka: Mayu SHINJO

It's best to avoid anything with the name "Mayu Shinjo" on it unless you enjoy reading misogynist rape-fic that reinforces harmful myths about female sexuality. For example: "good girls" do not initiate sex or have sexual agency but can/should be "awakened" by a forceful, domineering male; women's/girls' sexuality and bodies do not truly belong to themselves; sex is something women "have" which is to be "taken" by men; girls "enjoy" being forced into sex. And finally, the myth that men who dominate and manipulate women sexually and emotionally actually love them. It's also pretty creepy the way the author's female protagnists tend to physically appear to be little girls - apart from generous busts - while the male love interests look like adult men. This series is promoted as erotic fantasy by the publisher (shame on Viz for licensing it in the first place), but it's really porn for girls in the most anti-feminist sense: it eroticizes the domination of women and their bodies and deliberately confuses sexual violence with sexual fantasy and romance.

Viz's Book Description: "As a budding poet and lyricist, Aine is on her way to an audition one fateful afternoon. Absentmindedly stepping into the street, she barely avoids getting struck by an oncoming vehicle. Not only is the cute teenager lucky to be alive, but her brush with death turns out to be a date with destiny. The driver of the car just happens to be Sakuya, the charismatic and fabulously handsome lead singer for a band called Lucifer. In short order, Sakuya and his crew compose a song using Aine's lyrics. The tune proves popular with the band's fans and Sakuya decides he wants a relationship, both professional and personal, with Aine. There's only one small requirement: The lyrics Aine writes must be erotically charged. And guess what? Sakuya fully intends to introduce the young and inexperienced girl into the world of sensual delights. Does Sakuya actually care for Aine, or is she just another sexual conquest for him? Will Aine fulfill her dreams and become a professional lyricist, or has she simply sold her soul to Lucifer?"

I bought/downloaded a few volumes of this series thinking would be sexy and fun, if a bit cheesy. It's not. It's horrifyingly misogynist. The dialogue and plot are just stuffed with blatently sexist assumptions. The heroine is always being forced into sexual situations by the lead male, with her internal dialogue reassuring us that she "really wants it" so it's "not really rape". Sexual assault is constant threat in the heroine's life, both from jealous girls and enemies of Sakuya, and too often she blames herself for others' victimization of her in standard abuse victim fashion. These near-assaults occur solely for Aine's rock idol crush, Sakuya, to rescue Aine - and then promptly take advantage of her. Whenver Sakuya makes advances on her she reacts as though the sexual feelings and situations are "happening" to her without her having any control over them (see above about "good girls" not having sexual desire and needing to be forced into it to remain good AKA feminine). I do NOT recommend reading this book without a firm feminist background. Well, I don't recommend it period, but it is particularly bad for readers who don't understand the difference between real sex and the negative myths about sex that permeate our culture. This isn't cheesy, harmless fantasy. This is woman-hating, rape-as-sex porn. For girls. Wrapped in a fantasy of romance and sexual violence that has nothing to do with authentic female sexuality and everything to do with patriarchal oppression of female sexualiaty. This is the kind of material that teaches girls, and women, to eroticize male oppression. Not cool.

If you want to know what this series is like without buying the book, sample the author's work thru scanlations from Shoujo Magic. There's one short story where a girl and boy "fall in love" after he rapes her. Sensual Phrase's plot is only somewhat less blatently misogynistic than that, but it's really the same idea.