Color Recipe

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Since there's only one review here, I will give it a try and write another one to add to the discussion.

Let's start by saying: Color Recipe IS NOT a manga for everyone.

I personally believe that in the genres' section of this website it should include "horror" and "psychological", but that is just my opinion. As anyone who knows a bit about the author Harada's fame, simply saying it's a BL, or yaoi like it is classified here, is just too plain.

The story shows Shoukichi, a hairdresser that is really talented, but lacks the social skills necessary to go well in the industry. He then ... meets Fukusuke, an amazing hairdresser who starts to work at the same salon as Shoukichi. As you can read in the original synopsis, after a few series of events, Fukusuke ends up assaulting Shou and the story goes on from there. I am trying to not go into details to not spoil it too much; I will try my best!

While it is possible to see from the synopsis alone that this might be just another edgy BL with extreme scenes of violence e pure gore –such as some of the author's other works– Color Recipe ends up being different: it's actually pretty scary. Not scary in the sense that the violence was too much (which it was); it was psychological aspect that was the actual frightening part. I genuinely believe that more than just a good BL, Color Recipe is a good psychological horror story.

Harada has a talent; even if you don't like their works you have to admit: they know how to make a good crazy character. However, different from what we saw previously, both the protagonists are extremely well constructed. It is easy to understand and accept why each of the characters act the way they do; we can see why, unfortunately, the victim became the victim and why the predator did the things he did, even though everything was pure madness. Some people might argument that all the situations are just too extreme and unrealistic. While I might agree with some of it, I don't think it is THAT unrealistic; considering that one aspect of the Japanese culture is the desire to avoid causing problems to the people around them, all the aspects of victim shaming and their own mental state being impaired, it is totally believable that the victim is not able to react as we, the readers, want him to act. The entire aspect that makes the story plausible only adds to the terrifying feeling of reading the story.

But well, even though I am here trying to defend this work as best as I can, I cannot ignore that fact that it is not a perfect manga at all. While the first volume is amazing in building the plot, putting pretty good twists, and being overall pretty efficient, the second volume does not live up to it. I remember I felt some chapters were boring or that the situation happening was just too forced. In special, there's a grotesque rape scene that I feel was actually super unnecessary for the story and the overall plot. It was like Harada just wanted to add a scene like this to "spicy things up", and it might be it; I am not going to pretend that this is indeed not their style. However, when it came to this story, I wanted the violence to have a reason, and not being just pure "fanservice" (I don't know if we can call it this, but anyway).

BL can be pretty cliché –I know it from personal experience. So, a few years ago when I found out about Harada I was terrified at first, but then I became curious. While yeah, some of their works indeed made me regret this curiosity, Color Recipe got my interest. It is not just a BL; it is a psychological horror story that it's also a BL. It has a plot, and it has characters that were well constructed. It's not simply another meaningless torture porn. Even though I don't think Harada is the best author in world or anything, I really appreciate the effort of putting something different out there for us, BL readers, to read.

Then, again: I don't think it is a manga for everyone. If you don't enjoy psychological horror, skip this one; if you don't enjoy gore, skip this one. But if you can deal with all of this, give it a try and read one of the most interesting BL manga from the last few years.

From an artistic perspective, this Manga is beautiful. Perhaps an homage to it's name, this manga starts off with several beautifully painted Full-Color pages. The art style continues to impress with clean lines and careful draftsmanship of a salon working environment.

The plot starts off fairly straightforward, but takes a darker turn midway through. I found the characters themselves to be rather unlikable. If you like manga with sweet characters and heart-tugging romances (like from Ichikawa Kei, Junko, Natsume Isaku, ect) then you probably won't like this manga.

However, if you have a darker taste and enjoy manga like Caste Heaven, then you will ... probably like this manga.

Ultimately, I liked the artwork and the pretty characters and the story was intriguing, the characters were unlikable, and not suited to my tastes. Once the series continues publication in Ciel Magazine, I probably won't continue to read it.

I will be frank and try not to give spoilers as best as I can but: This is not a story you should expect a happy ending from. This is not lighthearted and it's not romantic. Be prepared for lots of dark twists are turns. If you can't handle or are triggered by stories with sexual harassment, stalking or r*pe then you 100% should NOT be reading this.

That being said, if you're into that sort of plot this is a great read. This story made me so physically uncomfortable and left me feeling gross- but I just couldn't stop reading, lol. If you're not familiar ... with Harada-sensei's works, the thing you have to remember is that they rarely have a happy plot line. They've become quite known for having sick plots to their manga (although they have some great cute/fluffy works), but Color Recipe hit different for some reason. If I didn't know the baseline for the plot before going in, I would've had quite a few shocks from the twists in it.

I think the reason this manga felt so harsh to me personally is because the 2 main characters felt so real to me. They didn't seem exaggerated. The fact that people as sick as the antagonist of this story really exist creep me out to no end. Harada's characters are always so interesting. When I first started reading I was wondering why the art looked so familiar, and then the plot picked up and I went, "Ahh, this must be Harada and I didn't realize." There's just this sick sense of realism with it that made my heart race with anxiety. This is definitely not for the light of heart. It was nothing I couldn't handle but this story was very psychological. I think Harada-sensei does a very good job of showing what trauma looks like in victims and I thought that was a really nice touch.

The only reason I'm rating this an 8 instead of a 9 or a 10 is because it was so disturbing to me, lol. I enjoyed it in terms of story, but I couldn't /really/ enjoy it until a couple days later when I could let it digest. In the moment, this definitely felt like a thriller manga, at least. Actually I think a thriller or a psychological horror would fit this more than "yaoi" would since yaoi is usually associated with romance. There was no romance in this. It's a very messed up story, but it's so well written. I really do recommend this manga but ONLY if you like dark storylines. I don't think I'll reread it because it makes my stomach churn, lol, but it's a very interesting story.

I would like to start this review off by just simply saying that THIS IS NOT YOUR SOFT FLUFFY SWEET YAOI MANGA. Nah fam if what you're looking for is some of them wholesome yaoi love story and what not, then you shouldn't even be considering this one in the first place.

HOWEVER, for those of you yaoi fans that like some dark twisted plots along with a sprinkle of roughness (if you will lmao) in your mangas, like me ;) , then I would highly recommend this one.

To sum things up, this manga gives out MAJOR obsessive yandere stalker boyfriend vibes. If you're into ... that, then this... my dear friend is something you will LOVE. I personally have been trying to find mangas like this for quite some time but to no avail BUTTT hey hey thank heavans for Harada sensei's wonderful masterpieces.

I would also like to mention that like all of Harada sensei's works, the artwork of this manga is beyond amazing and very detailed. It's impressive to see how Harada sensei was able to express the characters' emotions and sinister dispositions through her art style. It's a definite 10/10

But yea, that concludes my review for this manga. All in all, if you're into that kind of dark messed up plots and amazing art styles...then this is what you've been looking for, my dude.