Okane ga Nai



Okane Ga Nai (No Money!) is a Yaoi series created by Hitoyo Shinozaki and illustrated by Tohru Kousaka.

Ayase, an 18-year old student, is overly naive and trusting; as the story opens, he is being sold on auction by his unscrupulous cousin to pay off gambling debts. He's eventually bought by Kanou, a towering, ruthless loanshark who is doing so to repay Ayase for a past kindness...which Ayase unfortunately has no memory of. Although Kanou is clearly in love, he has issues expressing his feelings; worse, neither is willing to admit an attraction to men, and Kanou further insists that Ayase is the only man he's attracted to. All of which leads to a whole lot of Rape Is Love: in an attempt to keep Ayase around, Kanou claims that the amount he paid for Ayase amounts to a debt he's willing to null if Ayase remembers how they met. Until then, Ayase can repay Kanou by having sex with him: he gets 500,000 yen every time they do the deed to pay off the 120 million yen debt.

The traditional Seme and Uke dynamic featured is subverted by the fact that Kanou is head over heels for Ayase, while Ayase is unsure of how he feels for Kanou and averse to being forced into a homosexual relationship, occasionally giving him the upper hand. The relationshp drama is also helped along by a colourful cast of secondary characters, including Toranosuke Gion, an upbeat and clever Mr. Fixit who often helps Kanou in his schemes, Kaoruko Someya, a well-meaning but abrasive transvestite who acts as the couple's councillor, and the Kuba twins, Kanou's sidekicks and battle butlers.

It should be noted that this series is very graphic in its depictions of sex and violence. Both are played for laughs as well as angst.

Unusually for a yaoi series, the manga is long-running and still ongoing at 8 volumes. Also, the writer is male, despite the yaoi genre as a whole being created by women for women. It often translates to a certain harshness in the protagonists' relationship that is usually not as present in other Yaoi series.

A 4 episode OVA has been made, as well as multiple drama cds.

There is a character sheet available for the character-specific tropes.

Okane Ga Nai shows examples of:

 * Art Shift: Sometimes used in comedic situations.
 * Anguished Declaration of Love:.
 * Attempted Rape: Ayase seems to attract these. Culprits include.
 * Badass: Kanou, and how! The Kuba twins (especially Homare) also apply.
 * Because You Were Nice to Me: Kanou's obsession with Ayase comes from the time that Ayase cheered him up when he was in an Heroic BSOD state, long before they came into each others's lives.
 * Bridal Carry
 * Cannot Spit It Out: Kanou thinks he's made it obvious he loves Ayase but has never actually said it out loud.
 * Cast Full of Pretty Boys: An extreme case. There are no women in the entire cast save for Ayase's late mother and his aunt who gets only one appearance.
 * Chains of Love: There is a lot of artwork in which Ayase is in chains.
 * Hilariously parodied in the latest volume with  trying to shackle Ayase to himself after he freed him from the same chains that were tying him to Kanou.
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Gion thought Ayase was female when he first met him.
 * Dude, She's Like, in a Coma: Subverted in the beginning of both the manga and the anime: Kanou almost kisses Ayase while unconscious and drugged. He then opts for the default option.
 * The Farmer and the Viper: Who knew that being kind to a stranger four years before would garner Ayase virtual house arrest by Kanou?
 * While Ayase does suffer quite a but under Kanou's hand, let's not forget that were it not for Kanou's love for Ayase born from their initial meeting, Ayase would be sold as a slave to some stranger and never be seen again.
 * A Glass in the Hand: Kanou crushes a highball glass after pouring its contents over a jerk's head.
 * Heroic BSOD: Many times for Kanou.
 * Hot Dad: Kanou's father, judging by the flashbacks to his past, although he is a Jerkass like his son.
 * Huge Guy Tiny Guy: Kanou is much taller and stockier than the frail-looking Ayase.
 * I'm a Man, I Can't Help It: Kanou is pretty bad at resisting Ayase's allure even in situations where he knows Ayase wouldn't appreciate such attention.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:.
 * If I Can't Have You: To Kanou, Ayase is his possession and anyone trying to take Ayase away from him shall feel his wrath. And that's never pretty. This is basically the entire premise of the story.
 * If It's You It's Okay: Neither Kanou nor Ayase were attracted to males before hooking up. Kanou isn't really attracted to anyone but Ayase, and Kanou is still the only guy that Ayase feels attracted to.
 * Jurota Kosugi: As Kanou. Yes. But then again, Kanou being the Seme, it isn't completely off the mark.
 * Lolicon: as a Running Joke, Kanou calls Mizoguchi (his tailor) a lolicon, a freak, a pervert, etc, every time Mizoguchi gets too gushy about imagining Ayase in different outfits (such as a maid outfit).
 * Love Hurts
 * Love Redeems
 * Love Makes You Dumb: Kanou, please think logically about your actions! He does try. And then, he sees Ayase being cute, and all coherent thought flies out of the window...
 * Off-Model: Honestly, this is drawn with almost unforgivably poor proportions.
 * Happens an awful lot, often with a disturbing Lolicon/Shotacon effect. This is even worse. It doesn't help that Kanou is a huge man.
 * Paper Fan of Doom: In the second OVA
 * Pitbull Dates Puppy: Kanou and Ayase. And how! Subverted to a point. Their relationship is supposed to work out somehow.
 * Kanou is a ruthless loan shark who won't hesitate to sell the organs of someone who owes him. The "Cooking with the guys" omake hints that he's definitely not above outright murdering people. He has an endless thirst for money and is extremely possessive and jealous of Ayase. Both his attitude and huge physique (6'5'') are intimidating.
 * Ayase is naïve, innocent, and delicate both in body and mind. All he wants is to be happy, and that others were happy as well. He is short (5'5''), very effeminate and cute.
 * Poor Communication Kills: From both protagonists, but especially Ayase, who's been like this for years, unable to express his opinions and instead going with what he thinks the others will like. He also has trouble turning his thoughts into words (mainly because he's afraid he says something wrong and upsets others).
 * Rape as Drama: Ayase gets raped on his first night in Kanou's hands. At first there's heavy drama, Ayase being terrified of Kanou; later on it dissolves to less obvious tension between the two. The rape as a "bad move" for Kanou's agenda gets a lot of panel time, in both more lighthearted ways and something that depresses Kanou.
 * Rape Is Love: At least from Kanou's point of view.
 * Romantic Runner-Up: Homare and later who also has taken a shine to Ayase.
 * Stalker Shrine: What  makes dedicated to Ayase.
 * Stockholm Syndrome: One interpretation of Kanou and Ayase's relationship.
 * Suddenly Sexuality: Ayase has a mysterious power to make straight guys sufficiently homosexual to either fall in love with him or simply want sex with him.
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome: Quite a bunch of characters, but especially Kanou and the Kuba twins.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Ayase. If there were two signs and one says "towards rapist/slavery/death" and the other one says "to safety" and he will always choose the former. Might be Justified this usually happens to victims of rape, human trafficking, and abuse because they think that there's truly no way out. Plus, it doesn't help that Kanou is a member of the Yakuza...
 * Troubled but Cute: Kanou, unsurprisingly for a seme.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: In many omakes and side arts, (his Chibi form especially), Ayase is depicted with angel wings...
 * What the Hell, Hero?: There is a bit of this about Kanou's treatment of Ayase. Gion calls him out on it, but despite Homare and others not bothering to hide their disapproval, no one else has the guts to actually say it. Mostly because Kanou is a little touchy on the subject of Ayase.
 * Work Off the Debt: Ayase is expected to use his body to pay off the cost of rescuing him from the slave auction.
 * Yakuza: Yeah, pretty obvious based on Kanou's business (and appearance), but what the hey.