Ten Count

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Let me start with a caveat. I read the reviews here first and then started reading Ten Count. So, I was initially not happy with the dominating seme and forcing...may be coercion is a better word for it...that is depicted in Ten Count. However, I couldn't get the story out of my mind. It really hits you in your heart. So, I wondered if I was missing something and I read it again.

And here's my opinion. A lot of the reviewers here focus on the BL trope and maybe they're sick of it. But in this story, I believe it truly was a part ... of their dynamic. I'm sure no modern-day 26 year-old would wait 6 months to have sex and even longer to kiss. The main character never advertised himself as a saint. But he showed extraordinary resolve in waiting as long as he did. If it was left up to the protagonist, they'd never touch. So, I think coaxing him to feel pleasure and trying to give him a different perspective because he truly loves his partner is miles away from the blatant disregard of consent shown in other BL manga.

I would implore any new reader to set aside any preconceived notions about the manga and truly try to experience the anticipation and angst that is depicted beautifully in this manga. I've read it 3 times and all 3 times, I ended up crying because of how beautifully they fit together. They need each other. It's almost painful to imagine how much.

Story: 10/10
As I said before, I didn't like the coercion the first time I read this manga, but after re-reading it, for the characters, it makes sense. Because from the first volume itself, Shirotani's heart races every time they meet. I think the author was trying to show that if he really didn't want to push his boundaries, he wouldn't be with someone who says he can't control himself around him. I also really enjoyed reading about their troubled pasts. It was messy, uncomfortable and very sad which is how life is. I found it very realistic.

Art: 10/10
This is the best art I've seen in yaoi manga. Especially the detail in their hands. It was so delicate and beautiful.

Character: 8/10
Although there are fleeting moments when the main characters actually have fun and show some spirit, like the aquarium scene with the penguins and meeting Ueda-san at the cafe, I feel like it could've been explored more. We don't see enough of it. Although the smut was great, it was too much compared to the little character development we see towards the end. So the last 2 volumes were a little out-of-balance for me. I do think it may be because the author was sick and produced very short chapters toward the end. However, I like that not everything was resolved and their relationship was still a work-in-progress at the end. It would be very unrealistic to see everything resolved for an OCD patient within a year of meeting someone new.

Enjoyment: 10/10
I read it 3 times. Every time I read it, I realize something new. It really is a poignant story. Not because of the porn. But because of the painful, ordinary conversations between people that make you cry. My favorite scenes are Kurose's past, the 'Please don't throw me away' scene, 'I guess your tears are contagious' scene, Nishigaki scene, and their beautiful first kiss.

Overall: 9/10
There is coercion in this manga, yes. But it fits with the premise of the manga. Even after they have sex, Kurose shows incredible consideration for Shirotani's condition. He does wait for 6 months. He stops being his doctor within 3 weeks of meeting him. There are reviewers who misrepresent him by saying he's a psychopath, unethical and a stalker *rolling my eyes*. Every time he met Shirotani was either a coincidence or previously agreed upon. He stops talking to him for months on end to give him space sometimes or because he didn't want to take advantage of his trust. And within a month, he tells his true feelings and is very straight-forward. So if Shirotani really didn't want to pursue the relationship, all he had to do was cut ties with him and not show up to their next meeting. I really don't understand the reviewers who say it's borderline rape. Because they assume that a 31 year-old male is somehow a helpless damsel in distress. -_- Anyway, I just wanted to write about my experience because this manga is bashed on many unwarranted grounds. I love it and I'm sure many more people will love this delicate little world too.

Oh, Ten Count. I stumble on it in every second list, and seeing it always reminds me of my disappointment. It made me feel lost. Why build such an enticing premise only to dissolve it in stereotypes later? Truly, the thing that is the most violated in this manga is probably not uke’s ass, but the hope for good story built in the early chapters.

But first I’ll get over the art quick. You see the amazing covers? Elegant, clean, and enticing, these images indeed sell. But the manga itself isn’t like that. Sure, airy and emotional, its art has personality and shines in sex scenes. ... It’s hard to describe it, but sex scenes in Ten Count are memorable and poignant, easy to follow, arousing and fittingly disturbing. They carry the atmosphere of the manga. But overall, while the art has its sexy moments, it’s not that stable or clean. The author struggles to cope with humans having noses, characters are often “off-model”, and the bottom partner contorts unrealistically, displaying a worrying case of gynecomastia.

The beginning of Ten Count sets ground for a great psychological yaoi playspace. Shirotani, the “uke” main character, is older, put together, but traumatized; he is a client for the therapist “seme”, which puts him in a protected position. The whole situation is ambiguous, it’s unclear whether the goal is to help him or to groom him, which adds to the thrill. Though, by the way, I would also call this the most questionable part of the manga. Rapey yaoi, which Ten Count also belongs to, is many and habitual, but problematizing therapy is new and dangerous. This is porn, but it's important to talk about mental health with care.

The true treasure is, of course, the topic of mysophobia. Not only it is rare in manga, which can attract many sympathetic readers, it’s also a perfect fetish for yaoi with poor consent standards, because a mysophobe is necessary mindful of touch, follows a set of rituals, and there’s the possibility of increased sensitivity, explored in Ten Count in form of Shirotani’s skin being damaged from overwashing. Basically, you get a character who remembers where and when he is touched with ridiculous scrupulousness and meltdowns because of it. It’s a lot to play with!

Ten Count indeed starts with this delicious mixture. An older high class corporate servant man gives in completely when touched by an attractive dominant stranger in a suspicious treatment deal. He's scared, yet hopeful, lustful, yet crying prettily. It’s so very intriguing and hot. But quickly all of this is forgotten in favor of cheap drama. Even the perverse motive of touch being arousing, but distressful is dropped to make space for simpler run of the mill sexual scenarios.

The additional offense is misogyny. The main reveal of the series is that everything is the fault of a pubic-hair-twirling evil rotten woman our pure heroes need and will punish. The whole event is so unrealistic and weird, that it is clearly just an excuse for a bogeyman, who also happens to be the only major female character. And revenge feels like a cheap and unfitting solution for a manga about therapy with pretense of psychologism.

At the same time, ironically, the MC in later half acts like a bad flighty woman stereotype. Unwilling to self-reflect, he provokes his partner, then shifts responsibility and breaks down in hysteria in an endless annoying cycle. The dark brooding top remains largely a non-personality. Medical and ethical issues are forgotten in favor of love insecurities on the level of “I want to be with him or I don’t”, “I may hurt him”, even though, as many readers point out, it’s unclear at which moment this love even emerges. They tend to ignore it in porn, but still it’s 50+ chapters of a romantic relationship which started as a turbulent doctor-patient gig, the shift must have happened somewhere. Basically it's "they wanted to count to ten, but forgot about it at six" type of plot.

Yet I have to admit that seeing a half-naked bishounen in dimmed light in a medical setting still makes my blood quicken. And there is a reason I am writing this review, despite my extensive criticism, the fact that I read Ten Count a while back, and a wealth of reviews written by others. Ten Count would inevitably attract my attention since I am a mild mysophobe myself. And despite the many flaws in the execution, the initial concept in it is stellar, brimming with a delicious dark mood – alluring, visceral, intoxicating, and transgressive. Ten Count is flawed, soiled, overhyped to death, yet still a gift, which I don't accept its entirety, but can't not appreciate as an idea. I cannot in good faith advice completing it either, but I recommend making acquaintance to the curious inclined readers.

My friend made me read this... Now, I'm gonna say - yaoi isn't my cup of tea. But it started really nice. I liked the concept!

Then it went downhill from there... The relationship between main characters could be so much better. Instead, the author just made a huge mess halfway through the story. Really. It started as really heartwarming and interesting story. Then it became porn
I really wish that characters would be more fleshed out too.. Shirotani is your typical uke, just blushing and being submissive. I really doubt a real person would act like he did. I really wish he'd stand his ground. Instead ... the fact that he was raped was potrayed as very romantic

I'm not buying it. I had fun reading first ten chapters. But after a while it's just porn without any plot