Kemono ai no shikku by Nijyou Akio and illustrated by Uemura Hatoshi

[insaneneko]

Kemono ai no shikku, written by Nijyou Akio and illustrated by Uemura Hatoshi, is an absolutely ridiculous novel that I can't help but go back to. I bought it a while back and thought it was completely worthless (except for the very pretty art), but I recently dug it up and reread it. It's still worthless, but this time I found it entertaining despite all of its flaws instead of just plain stupid. It's a cross between Initial D and a sold-into-sexual-slavery story featuring (relatively) innocent college kid Yuu whose friend Eita gets hooked on driving fast on the mountain roads and racks up huge debt by tricking a good racing car out of yakuza and getting a very good mechanic to mod the car into something spectacular. Yuu ends up being offered as payment (betrayal!) and is taught the art of being a good fuck by the mechanic (who is not only good at making cars go fast but also turning an otherwise normal person into an amazing lay that everyone wants a piece of). There's more, of course. Mainly a bit of a history between the main yakuza (who happens to be the best driver in the area) and the mechanic, but also the typical eye-roll-enducing "fall in love with the asshole who is fucking you" angst. A decent writer could possibly pull this story off, but this writer is most definitely not a decent writer. The characters are inconsistent and completely unrelatable (and mostly unlikable). The story and the characters lurch from one situation (or emotion) to another, probably to satisfy some checklist the writer had to fulfill. The only things that kept me engaged were the art and my affection towards driving on mountain roads from Initial D. So...naturally I wanted to share the badness.



I already explained the premise above. The pic below shows the mechanic Hidaka and yakuza driver Narumi and main character Yuu and his car-crazy friend Eita "meeting" for the first time on the mountain.




After Eita experiences the heights of esctasy that racing induces (by trying to keep up with Narumi, I think) he does the stupid shit I mentioned before and then sells out Yuu.

Hidaka starts off things right away by fucking Yuu. He praises Yuu for being a natural, he's quite a good lay for being a back virgin. Of course Hidaka has amazing technique (and I think a big dick?), and Yuu can't help but feel incredible pleasure in spite of the awful situation. Yuu hangs around the garage and gets fucked (and treated like dirt) by Hidaka.




But when some of Hidaka's car customers try to get Yuu to service them prematurely Hidaka gets mad. Yuu is NOT READY for general distribution yet! Of course we all know that Hidaka isn't just keeping Yuu from others for that reason. It's because it's love! (Ugh)




He can totes be possessive! Possessiveness=love in asshole-speak, right? Also, somewhat gentle during sex. It's gotta be love!




Some really stupid plotty things happen which I won't bother mentioning because SO NOT worth my time typing it out (also, I'd have to go back and look at the book to sort it all out). Important bit of history between Hidaka and Narumi: They were high school classmates, Narumi was a goody two shoes who tries to keep Hidaka from joining the yakuza. Instead he gets sucked in. Hidaka's father was also a mechanic who had financial problems (and I think Hidaka was a juvenile delinquent), and Narumi starts bringing in business for Hidaka. He also starts racing which helps Hidaka get a reputation as an awesome mechanic. The two big reveals: Narumi had actually been the fucktoy of the yakuza higher ups and Yuu looks (and kinda acts) like Narumi used to waay back when. Hidaka and Narumi supposedly have lots of UST but haven't had any sex. Because the story keeps lurching this way and that I could never get things straight, but my understanding is that Hidaka wanted to get Narumi away from the yakuza by substituting Yuu. Yuu thinks Hidaka was fucking him as substitute for Narumi as well.


Yuu angsting while watching the (laughably) UST-ish interaction of Narumi and Hidaka. It just looks awkward to me, rather than tragic and full of longing.


Yuu shocked at seeing young Narumi. We could be twins!


One of the baffling things about this story is how Hidaka is oh so possessive of Yuu but sells him to some random dude who'd wanted his car souped up that he'd rejected previously. Seriously, the dude just shows up and asks for Yuu and Hidaka just gives him up. It's so inconsistent with what had happened earlier it boggles my mind. In any case, Yuu follows random dude to a hotel to find a bunch of guys all ready to gang bang him, which he so did not sign up for. Not only that, but his friend Eita shows up all putting him down and ready to fuck Yuu himself. Hidaka manages to escape and runs into Narumi.


Oh noes! Keita is all bad and nasty!


Everyone (EVERYONE) has warned Yuu that Narumi is BAD NEWS, but when Narumi offers to be his patron he agrees. Narumi turns out to be a nasty piece of work, whipping him and taking pictures of him during sex and threatening to show the pictures to everyone in town. After that Narumi apparently doesn't even fuck Yuu with his dick, instead using fingers or sex toys or medical equipment and mostly hurting him. And drugging him up.


This is not accurate as Yuu should have whip marks on him. Otherwise, a very pretty pic. Narumi's tattoo is cool.


One night Narumi takes Hidaka to the mountain because Eita's car is finished and will be running on the street. It turns into a race between Narumi and Eita's cars, but Narumi and Yuu realize that Eita isn't driving the other car...Hidaka is! And then they find the police have set up a stop point, but Narumi doesn't slow down. He speeds up instead so he won't be beaten, and they get into an accident. Yuu is pulled out by Hidaka (miraculously uninjured!) while Narumi is taken away to the hospital and Eita's precious Porsche blows up.


Hidaka setting Narumi free, aka abandoning him to his fate.


Hidaka tells Narumi that he doesn't have to race or do anything for him anymore, that he is "free." Eita tells Yuu that he's sold his car to Hidaka and thus there is no more debt to pay back. They are free! (Actually free, unlike Narumi...) But Yuu is all in lurve so he chases after Hidaka who drags him into an abandoned barn to have sex.


Finally, fully consensual sex! I love this pic.


Turns out Hidaka had called the cops and had even told them about some of the uber-unsavory stuff Narumi had been doing (getting women addicted to drugs and pimping them out until they "disappear"). In the end, Hidaka gives up on working on racing cars and goes back to being a mechanic for the locals. Yuu hangs around all angsting that he wasn't able to inspire Hidaka into being awesome racing mechanic like Narumi did, but is assured by another dude (who randomly shows up during the story to do stuff to keep the plot moving, but is so inconsistent and artificial I cut him out of my recounting of the story) that despite all appearances Hidaka has chosen him and thus he should hold onto Hidaka as tightly as possible. Eita becomes a test driver for some car company up north. Narumi goes to jail (see: "freedom" according to Hidaka)*. THE END.

*I need to mention another instance of Hidaka being an asshole: He confesses that he wasn't unwilling to fuck Narumi (who totally wanted it) but he didn't because he wanted Narumi to keep driving and he figured Narumi would quit once Hidaka fucked him since he'd only been driving for Hikada's sake. He basically does shit for Narumi and just cuts him off in the worst way at the end! GAH!