Doujin Review - Fake Love X Treatment
Nedokoro Mitsuki's Fake Love x Treatment covers the dark depths of loneliness and the slippery slope to sexual exploitation—a sexy and gripping read!
Review by Kashou.
I love porn. Most people won’t admit that openly, but I always do. However, porn is a pretty shallow medium. When it comes to plot, the best porn has to offer is “Damn, I slipped and fell on a dick.” And that's always bummed me out. I've never seen a porno that's offered me a life lesson or shown me something that made me want to be a better person. Doujins, on the other hand, often have. Nedokoro Mitsuki's Fake Love X Treatment is one of those doujins.
Sexuality is considered a result of horniness, but sexual desires and sexual experiences are the sum of a myriad of feelings. Unfortunately, that means that sex is the culmination of negative emotions. And of all the factors that lead to adverse sexual outcomes, loneliness stands at the top. Loneliness is the equivalent of a -50 HP and wit debuff. Not only does it affect your health, but it also affects your decisions. And if you couple that loneliness with something like financial issues or being unfulfilled in life and work, it's a guaranteed spiral.
Fake Love X Treatment Synopsis
Fake Love X Treatment follows Mai-chan, a twenty-something-year-old who’s stuck in an endless cycle of dead-end part-time jobs and a severe lack of confidence. The story makes it evident that Mai-chan's professional efforts are often subpar, and she struggles with work. Despite that, her shift manager (Ryousuke) invites her for dinner. That process repeats until Ryousuke manages to win Mai’s love and gets her into bed. But while Mai thinks that she’s finally found some good in her life, her situation couldn’t be farther from what she imagines. All Ryousuke saw in Mai was a cheap fuck and someone to exploit. Not only is Mai-chan Ryousuke's side girl, unbeknownst to her, but he's also filming their intimate encounters and selling the videos online.
A Million Mai-chans
Unfortunately, what happens to Mai-chan happens to millions of women. When watchdogs sound the alarm that porn companies feature material uploaded without users' consent, it's not some puritanical virtue signal — it's the truth. And as any person in that situation can tell you, porn companies rarely make an effort to remove content, and even if they do, it's still a life ruined. Ending up in that situation is relatively easy, but as Fake Love X Treatment demonstrates, loneliness and disillusionment play a substantial role. And whether Nedokoro Mitsuki sought to give us a solid depiction of that or it came about accidentally, their doujin eloquently explains the spiral.
Mai never mentions being lonely, but certain behaviors are glaringly obvious to anyone with a passing knowledge of them. Everything about Mai's personality portrays a lonely person disillusioned with the world around her; she herself acknowledges this when discussing her dead-end jobs. And it's those things that make her a perfect target for exploitation. Merely giving a person like Mai-chan enjoyable times out, showering them with affection, and endearing them to you gives you a lot of control over them, and that's what Ryousuke does.
A Walking Target
Here's a statistic that most people don't want to accept: pedophiles don't commit the majority of sexual crimes against minors and children; it's opportunists. Similarly, ugly bastard-looking strangers aren't the biggest threat to women; it's usually people they know. The person committing the violence seizes a chance to make a victim; who or what that victim is becomes unimportant to them. And something that makes people more likely to be abused is loneliness.
Loneliness and disillusionment are cognitive debuffs. Isolation and stress actually change your brain chemistry; it's not in your head. Someone who is clear-headed and generally satisfied with the world tends to tolerate less bullshit from others. But a person who's struggling will rationalize, ignore, and overlook red flags, and they'll take a lot of abuse.
Towards the end of Fake Love X Treatment, we see Mai displaying all these behaviors. She knows that she’s merely a pleasure object to Ryousuke, yet in her loneliness and her need to have something better than what she has, she believes his lies. The more she allows herself to be taken advantage of, the more her self-esteem issues build, and the easier it is for more predatory behaviors to happen.
Fake Love X Treatment Production Details
I wasn’t familiar with Nedokoro Mitsuki before I read this doujin. However, I can assure you, they gained a lifelong fan. To be blunt, I don't like FAKKU’s current selection. Since their on-and-off again issues with payment processors, FAKKU's range now only caters to people who have mommy issues and refuse to admit it, so they wank to ultra busty women. Finding a doujin with stellar art and a slim hottie on that website was a blessing. I loved Mitsuki-sensei's art.
Much like Leonardo DiCaprio will tell you, lithe women in their twenties are perfection. We need fewer High School of the Dead-styled waifus and more Love Live!-styled ones.
God may never let the Jews reclaim the Holy Land, but he lets them bang girls who look like Ariel Rebel, and that's more than man deserves. That said, Mitsuki-sensei's art was marvelously erotic. Mai's contours and muscles were realistic, and her expressions went straight for your heart.
The doujin’s tones and shading were pleasant to look at, the transitions were smooth, and there are numerous subplots if you look for them. Fake Love X Treatment is a 5/5 doujin; you can read it on FAKKU's Unlimited subscription service.
© Nedokoro Mitsuki / FAKKU
Sample images have been used in accordance with the United States Copyright Office Fair Use Section 107 and the European Union Information Society Directive Article 5.3(c).