And so in the latest Yuri Hime the last chapter of Netsuzou Trap was published. What a roller-coaster it has been. So much angst and feelings of wanting to throw your laptop out the window. I know a lot of people hate NTR because of the whole cheating situation and all that. Not pleasant but it happens everyday, someone is probably cheating on their bf/gf as I write this. NTR is so much more than this though. Too many people stopped reading just as it started to get really good. When things started to get interesting. I’m just going to point out some things I see a lot.
“Hotaru’s a bitch, Yuma should stay with Takeda”: WRONG. Firstly Yuma wasn’t in love with Takeda. You can’t force yourself to love someone. It just doesn’t happen that way. When Takeda asked Yuma out her reply was ‘OK’, she didn’t know what to do and she knew Hotaru had a boyfriend at the time so she wanted to be like her. Yuma was right to tell him that she loved someone else. I know everyone says he’s the best character of the series but quite frankly he’s not. What’s the point in going out with someone when both hearts aren’t in it 100%? If you get volume 3 of NTR there’s an extra at the end which shows Hotaru and Yuma in middle school. Hotaru applies make up on Yuma. In these few pages you can tell that Yuma liked Hotaru too: she got turned on when Hotaru put lip-gloss on her lips. As for the whole Hotaru thing if you read the latest chapters you’ll discover that Hotaru is a really lonely person. Her mother died at a young age and her father was too busy with work and his new woman (his mistress perhaps?). She wanted nothing to do with Hotaru and he would leave her all alone. He was literally never home. How do you think a young child would feel about that? Living on her own basically. Hotaru’s only comfort is Yuma. Yuma was the only person who cared about her, the only person who made her feel wanted. When Yuma made new friends and joined the basketball club Hotaru felt abandoned yet again. Hotaru went out with all these guys because she thought that Yuma would never feel the same way. The Hotaru who teases Yuma and causes trouble is just an act. I think Hotaru has some sort of mental illness which is pretty likely. Whenever Hotaru hurts Yuma she hurts herself even more. Some of you don’t understand that but oh well.
“Yuma is so naive”: Yes and no. You can say she’s naive because she didn’t realise she was Hotaru’s cheating partner because she didn’t see their ‘practicing’ as cheating. At the same time though Yuma was pretty clueless to relationships just like many girls I’m sure who have never dated before. As the story progresses her naivety disappears more and more as she realizes her true feelings. She has some of the best character development I’ve seen in manga in a while. If you look at chapter 1 and chapter 26 you’ll see a very different person. A stronger person. (Some refer her to ‘dense’ as well which is not a word I’d associate with her, I think that describes Takeda more).
“Fujiwara is the only person with sense”: You could say that because he seems more clued up than the other 3. He always knows what’s going on while Takeda is clueless as always. When Takeda thinks that Yuma is getting involved with a dodgy guy Fujiwara knows that Yuma has been working at the Kitty Club because of Hotaru and he knows about the stuff the girls got up to together. He was a major pain throughout the manga but at least he backed down from Hotaru because he never loved her anyway and he knew Yuma really did love her. It is highly hinted that Fujiwara is in love with Takeda (the fact that there is a Yaoi spin off is extra proof).
“I hate the whole cheating thing, why can’t they just be honest with each other?”: Well its the whole part of the fun kiddo. Things don’t always run smoothly when it comes to love and romance, especially with teenagers. With hormones running high as well as school and future plans dragging you down its not going to be that simple. I don’t support cheating, I hate it too but it makes a good plot. It’s used in TV soaps all the time. Oh and Yuma and Takeda break up after the ski trip so to be honest they were only officially together for a few chapters anyway.
“The characters are annoying”: I can understand where you’re coming from but everyone can be annoying at times, it’s a human thing.
“Yuma and Hotaru’s relationship is toxic”: Boy I hear this a lot. People say it’s toxic because of Hotaru and her personality. Yeah she’s got 99 problems but with Yuma by her side I feel like she can slowly recover from all the guilt and pain she’s felt deep inside. They love each other dearly and yeah maybe Hotaru should’ve just been honest instead of fucking around with Yuma but things aren’t always that simple. She feared rejection. I can imagine she felt that if she told Yuma the truth she’d lose her only friend and she’d be lonely again, just like she was before she met Yuma. Yuma really loves Hotaru too, you can see she felt uneasy when Hotaru started dating boys in middle school.
I know NTR isn’t for everyone but it really is a great story and one I will be sure to re-read and cherish. I am grateful for the amazing artwork and colour artwork by Kodama, as well as some of the merch that has been released and even the anime (even though it was a bit shit). Gah I feel so emotional as it has been a big part of my life for the past few years. I’ll probably end up writing more posts but for now long live NTR!!!
~November 2014-December 2017~