My Brother Married My First Love, So I Stole Her Back (Adult Content)

*Warning - this review covers a title which features sexual assault. Read at your own discretion*

There is a rather notorious term, among many of course, within the erotic subculture of Japanese media called "Netorare". These titles revolve around adultery which can be broken into various subcategories and, as you might imagine, is not looked on fondly by many. However, I was pleasantly surprised recently when I covered An Older Wife's Supple Cage, a netorare title, and found myself really enjoying it. "Maybe netorare isn't that bad" I remember thinking to myself. That was why I was interested to take a look at some other titles within the genre and how I came across "My Brother Married My First Love, So I Stole Her Back". So with that in mind, let's take a look and discuss my feelings towards this work.

Our protagonist is Takeru, a young man who has been struggling in the job market and has decided to travel home for a vacation. This is the first time in years that he's done so as he's been avoiding his brother and his wife Sonoka, Takeru's childhood friend and first love. She's actually the one who goes to meet him when he arrives and, as they travel back home, we learn that she made a promise to marry him when they were younger, something that he took seriously despite their young age at the time. Overcome by both his anger and his desire, he shoves her to the ground and forces himself upon her. After he's done, he fully expects Sonoka to tell her husband about the incident but, when he realises that she hasn't, he decides to take it as a sign to continue his actions with the goal of impregnating her.

I don't consider myself to be easily shocked when it comes to the media that I consume as I've watched many films that would be considered "Extreme Cinema" as well as experiencing transgressive works in the form of novels, manga, video games etc. I say that to emphasise how taken aback I was when this first assault happened. It happened so suddenly within a few panels that I audibly exclaimed, recoiling as I quickly realised what type of work this was going to be. Of course, subject matter isn't damning but execution often is and the way that the story proceeds proved to be poor in this regard. A question I had going into this was why she married the brother in the first place considering how close she was to the protagonist but we never get this answered. The emotional side of this conflict is quickly discarded and we are left with a hollow experience as we watch these character's lust run unhindered.

Speaking of the characters, we can also see numerous issues crop up. Firstly, there is nothing redeemable in the slightest about the character of Takeru. What at first seems like an emotional attachment to Sonoka is quickly revealed to be nothing more than physical desire as he ogles her rear before proceeding to the assault. Guilt and remorse at his actions would not have come close to redeeming him but it would've at least been something but he quickly reveals that he "won't have any regrets", a statement that disgusted me to no end. Sonoka initially comes off as endearing and polite, something that contributed to my horror when she was attacked. However, she ultimately doesn't leave a good impression on me either as it becomes clear that her "love" for her husband is paper thin. Sex with him proves unfulfilling, the result of which is, in her own words, "my love faded away". We hardly see her husband so he doesn't leave much of an impression but he seems like a well-meaning man who cares for both Sonoka and Takeru.

If there is any good to be found in this title, it is in the artwork. It is presented in full-colour and has decent character designs for Sonoka and her rarely seen husband (Takeru's design comes off as bland and uninteresting in contrast). However, it was some paneling and expressions that ultimately impressed me. Admittedly, most of the panels are rather basic in their design and do little to contribute to their contents but there were several full pages where the borders were absent, the scenes flowing into one another in a surprisingly interesting and well-executed manner. As for the expressions, while many of them were your standard ahegao but there are a few that manage to impress with the standout being a panel at the dinner table with Sonoka answering a question of her husband's. The amount of unease, trauma, fear, confusion etc. that I saw in the subtle details left me confident that, if nothing else, the mangaka has genuine talent for art. Let's just hope that, one day, they can put that talent to use on something that has at least some quality in its storytelling and characters.

There is a brief afterword from Shigemiya which discusses their artist's block which gives us some vague information about the productions. Nothing substantial but I always appreciate hearing the mangaka's own thoughts on their experience.

My Brother Married My First Love, So I Stole Her Back was a surprisingly upsetting experience for me and I finished reading with a strong feeling of sadness. The fact that it managed to provoke this response from me means that there is at least something there but this doesn't come close to redeeming this title. 

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