I'm going to attempt to keep this as low profanity and NSFM as possible for a series like this. Do keep in mind that I am writing this review as we near the end of season 2, and there is projected to be 3 total seasons. ------------------------------ The bad: Personally, I believe there is a fine line that an author can walk between "toxic yaoi" and outright abuse. This story leans so far into the abuse territory that I'm not even sure it qualifies as toxic anymore. To most yaoi readers, it is not uncommon for us to experience darker elements (such as non-consensual sexual acts) inthe stuff we read. However, it gets to a point where the things you are reading have no feasible way to be redeemed. That is where this story leads us.

As the reader in this story you will be presented with two main love interests (as of chapter 61):

1) The first of these love interests is an emotionally, physically, and financially abusive man who also happens to be a sexual abuser. This man abuses not only the main male lead, but every single person around him. Within the first few chapters we watch him burn a naked man with a cigarette and also do despicable things to our male lead. To further add, this character only brought our main male lead into his life because he thought it'd be a good way to toy with his evil brother.

2) The second of these love interests is a loan shark who has sexually assaulted the main male lead on two separate occasions. Oh, and did I forget to mention he has been in this character's life since he was 13-14, while he himself was in his 20s? Whether or not one wants to label this grooming, it is undeniably disturbing.

The characters (other than the main male lead) are outright insufferable. I felt myself becoming irrationally angry at fictional men in a fictional story. And every single time these characters would do something somehow worse than before, there is no better word to describe the feeling than aghast. How the author expects you to choose between two horrific people is beyond me.

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The good:

The good things found within this story are few and far between.
- The art is really nice. The characters are drawn in a semi-realism style that many find to be very pleasing to the eyes. Even when the narrative itself falters, the art is incredibly consistent.

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This is framed as romance, but it does not function as romance—even dark romance—because it lacks consent, reciprocity, and narrative accountability or redemption. It cannot even be read as a psychological thriller, as the narrative clearly pushes toward a romantic endgame. Ultimately, it reads as abuse and coercion rather than the romance it is attempting to present.

Edited on Feb 6 2026 for clarity about characters and their behaviors in the first few chapters. Originally posted Dec 17 2025.