A hidden sadist x an unaware masochist.

Izumi is perfect.

Student council president, top of his class, always composed… No one would guess he’s secretly dating Ichii, his sweet, soft-spoken classmate—and the school’s beloved “prince.”

Ichii is usually so gentle with Izumi… until the day that he isn’t.

And suddenly, “gentle” is no longer enough.

As Izumi discovers a different side of Ichii—and a far more confusing side of himself—the rules he’s always followed don’t seem to fit anymore… and he’s not sure he wants them to. Try as he might to deny it, some feelings refuse to stay hidden.

Content Warnings: Explicit sexual content, school setting, dubious consent/consensual non-consent, sado/maso kink

After reading this, I’m not sure what to make of it. I was entertained by it for certain, it’s full of copious spicy scenes, but some of it troubled me. I’ve read BL manga with sadism in it before, but for whatever reason, it doesn’t sit well with me for this one.

Let’s start off the bat with Izumi and Ichii, who are the president and school prince, and are secretly dating. By all accounts, they are a wonderful couple, filled with mutual caring and gentle romance.

Izumi often remarks on how gentle, affectionate, and careful Ichii is with him…until one day, when Izumi tries to hide a male student’s confession to him, Ichii completely loses his chill and shows a hidden, sadistic side to himself, punishing Izumi with rough sex until Izumi promises not to lie to him again. Ichii gets really possessive, too, wanting Izumi to only have Ichii on his mind.

There are many episodes of rough, illicit sex in places where the two can be caught–classrooms, the boy’s bathroom, etc. Izumi protests at times to Ichii, who just keeps going with the roughness, and later Ichii reveals to Izumi that he’s figured out Izumi’s true side: Izumi actually enjoys being roughed up and threatened and embarrassed.

We see through flashbacks that Izumi had a bit of an unfortunate upbringing. He is the third son in the family; the two older brothers were groomed to take over his father’s business, and so all of the attention went onto them, while Izumi was left to his own devices. Izumi thrived at being perfect–getting good grades, being a great class president–but a part of him craved being yelled at by his father, or failing a test just to disappoint him. This is supposed to be the hint that Izumi, deep down, is someone who desires punishment, hence Ichii is actually the ideal boyfriend for him.

I think what made me so uncomfortable was the super-fast 180 Ichii pulled on Izumi, switching from gentle to bullying. Later we see that Ichii has always had a hunch that Izumi was always like this, and is trying to bring it out of Izumi so he can be more of his true self–which seems like it could be romantic, but it just seems a little bit…off-putting to me.

Despite my qualms, I did enjoy reading this. I do like darker manga and read a lot of messed up BL, so I’m surprised this one bothered me a little. But it’s not enough for me to give this a poor review. I would just proceed with caution if you’re going to read this, that’s all. I’d give this 3.75 stars and round it up to 4.

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Spicy Milk Candy is available now directly from the publisher or from a variety of online and instore booksellers, in both digital and print editions.