Ten Count manga review

Welcome once more to the Nyaa! Romantsu! section!

Another jewel that I have discovered recently is this story by Rihito Takarai that is absolutely a must-read.

There are few yaoi stories in which the plot focuses on something more than the relationship between the main characters, and this is one of them.

Ten Count manga began to be serialized in 2013 in Dear+ magazine and the chapters are released on a monthly basis. It’s currently on chapter 25.

The first thing that captures you is the atmosphere that the characters create.

And if you think about it, there are really only two characters and a couple of secondary ones, aside from characters that appear in flashbacks to keep the plot going.

The story – Ten Count Chapter 1

Let’s meet Shirotani Tadaomi.

The first thing that caught me in this story in the outstanding cover artwork that frankly speaks for itself.

Even Takarai-sensei had to explain to readers that this cover somehow gave off the impression that this was a serious, dramatic crime yakuza story, which it really wasn’t.

o.o But I’m sure this ultra-sexy covers also gave off other impresions.

And as you shift through the first pages you see that it’s different, but no less intense.

“Everything in this world…is dirty”

Shirotani Tadaomi is mysophobic. As you know, mysophobia is irrational fear of getting oneself unclean, or being contaminated or dirtied by all kinds of external agents.

But Shirotani has an exquisite, soft and sophisticated aura.

He’s the President’s assistant, and he is coldly and meticulously efficient at what he does.

Accustomed to have everything under control, he couldn’t foresee what was going to happen next.

The President was getting out of the car in the middle of the street, a distracted truck driver could have ran over him…

If it wasn’t by a bike driver that got him out of the way.

That’s how we meet Kurose, as he and Shirotani Tadaomi watch over the President in the Hospital, with only a minor bone fracture and lots of gratitude for this stranger that saved his life.

But Kurose-kun accepts no more and he decides to leave, not wanting to bother anyone unnecessarilly.

The President urges Shirotani to go after him to obtain his number. Shirotani gives him his card but Kurose asks him straight away: ‘Do you have mysophobia?’ Shirotani has no words.

“You should see a doctor about it, then”, Kurose said. Of course he noted how Shirotani had gloves on all the time and how some blood was seeping through, probably from Shirotani washing his hands frenetically.

Shirotani snaps at him: “This has nothing to do with a stranger like you!”

From there we begin to see how serious Shirotani’s problem is. Using disposable gloves, rubbing everything with alcohol at all times.

This yaoi story isn’t your usual romance, it has slightly darker undertones due to the protagonist truly conflicted nature.

And so far, Shirotani hasn’t gathered the will to see a psychiatrist about it. Until he decides to go the next day. Only to find Kurose parking his bycicle.

It turns out that Kurose is a resident counselor at the clinic. So his initial advice wasn’t being nosy for nothing.

As your typical uke, Shirotani freaks out but Kurose stops him, asking to talk a bit, since recognizing this problem takes quite some courage.

They decide to sit at a cafe, and Kurose asks him to carry a notebook, pointing out in a scale of 1 to 10 which are the things he finds most unpleasant, with 1 being the less and 10 being the most.

Here’s where the plot gets going.

Kurose wants Shirotani to do all those things, little by little, as milestones, as this is exposure therapy, often used in patients who have a fear of elevators, for example, or people with a fear of heights.

By becoming familiar with the thing you fear, the irrationality disappears, and thus the origin of the phobia.

Thus the manga’s title.

But this is not as simple as it looks. Watch out for unexpected and clever twists as the intimacy threshold lowers among them!

Now here comes the spoilery section for those who have advanced in the chapters, or those who don’t mind:

 Ten count manga character datasheet

Theme: Psychological, Office, Slice of Life, Dark

Uke: horny, introspected, tsundere, older than seme

Seme: gentle, overpowering, but with a light sadistic streak

Romance story: dark but caring

Ten Count Spoilers chapter 25 and 26

Chapter 26 comes out in January 2016 due to Christmas break.

The manga has been licensed by SuBLime, but we know how slow they are, so it will be quite a while before we see the volumes on Amazon.

Chapter 25 leaves us in a cliffhanger that leaves you quite frustrated, as Kurose hugs Shirotani in the elevator, commending him for all the progress he has made.

But Shirotani wants to define this situation once and for all, as Kurose doesn’t mind living in a dirtied world…with him.

The once passive Shirotani takes assertive actions by sharing the cab with Kurose. The cab stops first at Kurose’s place.

“Goodbye”, he says.

But he is startled when he sees that Shirotani left the cab. They could be entering his appartment.

As Shirotani can’t wash away the memories of their time together.

What does Shirotani want to confirm?

Ten Count chapter 26 Spoilers

It seems that Takarai-sensei had a delay this month. Thus this chapter only has 6 pages.

Update January 26: I’m getting conflicting reports, as chapter 26 is actually a teaser for chapter 27, which was already out in Japan, and after seeing the raws and the translation…. o.o

Then Chapter 28 is due to be released by middle March since these latest two came together.

 

Ten Count chapter 27 Spoilers

Chapter 26 was merely a teaser, as Kurose-kun smelled Shirotani’s hair and the latter didn’t mind one bit.

Shirotani confesses his love for Kurose-kun and how he longed to have finally found someone to make him dirty and not mind being dirtied.

This is a key on Shirotani’s nature, as Kurose-kun deducted that while Shirotani’s mysophobia was an acquired behaviour due to trauma, his true nature is masochistic, a masochistic uke.

And masochism and mysophobia are a terrible combination, but that’s what makes Shirotani so complex, like a delicious and delicate fruit for Kurose-kun o.o, a gentle seme with a sadistic streak.

I mean, his face here in this panel tells a thousand words o.o

Ten Count Spoilers chapter 28

A continuation of a certain scene.

Frankly, you must have seen the raw by now…

Ten Count Spoilers chapter 29 – speculation

Well, seemingly due to be out around March 14-15, it seems a new stage in their relationship is opened. Will Shirotani be completely cured of his mysophobia?

Don’t think so, as it’s largely entwined with his masochistic nature, and Kurose LIKES it that way.

But that presents an ethical dilemma from a counselor’s standpoint.

Can Shirotani dissassociate himself from how his trauma has defined him as a person?

We can be nearing the end of this series as the conflict is nearly solved. But is it really? Only Takarai-sensei will tell us.

She could end it with a bang on chapter 30, or drag it out for 10 more chapters.

Unless she decides to pull a Sekaiichi Hatsukoi and bring us another pair with a different set of psychological issues to solve?

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