The feeling I had while reading this manga was akin to hopping into a cold shower when you expected a hot one…it just *completely* threw me off guard. Not that I was expecting light cutesy BL fluff- to be honest I had no expectations and didn’t even read the summary on the back before starting it – but it sure wasn’t this.
Deeply psychological, dark, and emotionally heavy, Cut is a bit of a bumpy ride, sans-seatbelt. If you think a yaoi story can’t wrap in almost all the words a very-well-earned M rating can list for reasons other than shock value, much less do it well, let this one show you the possibilities.
As for the yaoi part (let’s not forget that part!), the seriousness of the subject matter weighs on the relationships between the characters in a way that really affects the story dynamics, like the sex is hot but not necessarily arousing in the sense that you probably won’t be reading with one hand, because of all the intense psychological baggage that’s very much at the forefront – coincidentally this lends a dark symbolism to the seme/uke dynamics as well. Don’t let that deter you though – this is unabashedly unique in the themes it chooses to deal with (mainly self-harm), and the sensitivity in which it handles them. The character development is unmatched as well, especially for the BL genre – speaking of which, it’s a shame that a large portion of people who may really enjoy it will be scared away by June’s bright pink stripe emblazoned on the front with aforementioned genre label, because it transcends the yaoi genre in the same way that labeling Yuri on Ice purely a sports anime is leaving a heck of a lot out of the picture – except maybe for the total opposite reason. (that comparison may only make sense to me because I’m on my third glass of wine; I’m still not apologizing)
(TL;DR)If you like psychological yaoi, put this one on your reading list, provided self-harm doesn’t trigger you. The sensitivity in which it handles this theme in the MC’s sex-heavy relationship is unique, and it’s an intriguing and dark read with a nice ending to boot.