Confidential Confessions

A manga series by Reiko Momochi, each volume is either a stand-alone story itself, or contains several different stand-alone stories, each story focusing on a tough issue for the protagonist to either overcome... or succumb to. Said issues include but are not limited to abuse, prostitution, drugs, HIV and AIDS, bullying, and falling in love for the first time...with someone of the same gender.

A sequel series, the two-volume Confidential Confessions: Deai was released May 2006, featuring protagonists who enter (and try to get out of) the deai-kei industry.

It ran from 2000 to 2002 and was licenced by Tokyo Pop. As of April 2009, it is out of print.

Tropes used in Confidential Confessions include:

Abusive Parents/Domestic Abuse/
Adults Are Useless: This is the case for why some of the issues go on for as long as they do. There are some exceptions, however:
- In "The Door", Manatsu's mother is oblivious to her daughter's depression. What is her response to finding that Manatsu keeps a collection of her scabs in a book? To tear it up and yell at her. This motivates Manatsu to slit her wrists for the first time, and her mother has a My God, What Have I Done? face as she dials for an ambulance. While she does become nicer, she's completely oblivious to Manatsu's quest with Asparagus to find the perfect way to die.
- Suzuki's parents take charge when she finally tells them about Coach Todo harassing her. While they say it's her choice on suing him or not, both say that they have her back and love her.
- Kyoko's parents are painfully oblivious to how her struggling with grades and her weight is not a lack of effort. With that said, the story ends with them taking Kyoko to rehab, agreeing that college can wait.
Adult Fear:
- Manatsu's mother has to call emergency services when she accidentally drives her daughter to a breaking point, motivating her to slit her wrists. She talks with a counselor about what to do once Manatsu recovers.
- Kyoko's descent into addiction becomes hard to hide when dealers blackmail her parents with photos. They attempt to lock her in the house away from anything and anyone that may provide her drugs, only to find cocaine everywhere. There are bags taped to the toilet, hidden in pencil cases. Kyoko tries to physically grapple with them as she starts feeling the effects of withdrawal. When they throw away all the cocaine, Kyoko starts stabbing herself with a pencil, saying that she needs the drugs to get better grades and enter Tokyo University.
All Abusers Are Male: Unfortunately, the stories featuring abusive relationships all have a male abuser and female victim--kinda surprising, considering the other subject matters and how seriously they were handled. The only female abusers are all in stories on bullying, rather than domestic abuse.
All Just a Dream: Tragically so. In the story about a girl who falls for her also-female best friend, she comes over one night to see her friend beind molested by her father. The step-mother comes home then and stabs him to death, and the protagonist takes her friend and runs away. The two find an abandoned mansion, drop out of school, confess their love for each other and then make love, vow to stay together forever...and then in the last two pages we discover it was all an instantaneous daydream by the protagonist, who really stabbed her friend's father. She stands there, laughing crazily while her friend calls 911. Maybe. It's not that clear.
All of the Other Reindeer: In Volume 4's story Tomorrow has a slight variation--Luka is only bullied by the Alpha Bitch and her Girl Posse, but everyone else in class (save for the protagonist) simply ignores her and watches the bullying from the sidelines, for fear that they'll be targeted next.
Bittersweet/Downer Ending: Sometimes the best ending the protagonist can have is bittersweet to some extent. This is usually because even if they make it out of their situation, they have a friend who isn't so lucky, they have to go to rehab or a mental hospital, they're scarred for life...
- "The Door": Manatsu regains her will to live after Asparagus dies by suicide. She realizes that if you are dead, no one will mourn you or blame themselves for your date, and you lose control over how others see you. Asparagus's funeral is undignifying; while the bullies come to pay their respects, they justify what they did as "a few pranks" when Manatsu yells at them for driving her friend to suicide. While she hasn't quite repaired her relationship with her mother, Manatsu decides that life may suck but she's going to try to live and make it better.
- Kyoko's story ends with her parents driving her to rehab. Her college career is shot, and they accept that she's not going to Tokyo University any time soon. When they realize that her friends weren't responsible for getting her hooked on cocaine-- in fact, they didn't even know until drug dealers tried kidnapping them-- her dad says that the real journey begins now for Kyoko. She is going to feel the cocaine cravings for all her life and has to make the decision to commit to her new sobriety. As if to emphasize this, the girl that gave Kyoko her first hit of cocaine comes to see her off and sneaks her a bag while talking about how she's also going to rehab. Kyoko feels the craving...and thinks about how hard her friends and family are working to help her recover. She tosses the bag out the window. Said friend then runs in the streets high, where a car hits her.
Blatant Lies: The Tokyopop ads for the series claimed that it contained "Real teens. Real problems." None of the teens are real, they're all fictional.
Choosing Death: The subject matter of the very first story "The Door".
Contemptible Cover: Sorta. The covers have words like "rape," "drugs" and "prostitution" super-imposed over terrified/sad girls...a good idea for what the stories contain, but you wouldn't want to be caught reading it in public.
Double Standard: In-universe, sometimes deconstructed or subverted.
Dropped A Bridge On Her: Kyoko's addict-friend shows up to see her off in the final pages, and is then unceremoniously hit by a car offscreen, owing to running in the streets while high.
Drugs Are Bad: Volume 3 in particular shows that while cocaine may help one earn higher grades, lose weight and appear happier, the effects of withdrawal are not fun. Nor are the dealers that blackmail their customers on finding out they may have connections to wealthy parties.
Driven to Suicide: Explored in "The Door". Manatsu meets Asparagus, and they both talk about wanting to leave this imperfect world and their pain. The more they bond, however, Manatsu realizes that she genuinely enjoys spending time with her new friend, and hesitates as they raise money for suicide pills. Manatsu ends up not going through with it, and mourns when Asparagus succeeds in slitting her wrists.
Dysfunction Junction
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Whenever the protagonist ends up prostituting her body.
Karma Houdini: This happens to an infuriating degree.
My God, What Have I Done?: Kyoko's father has this reaction when he discovers just why his daughter is taking drugs.
Only Known by Their Nickname: In the story The Door, the protagonist Manatsu befriends a suicidal girl whom she knows as "Asparagus." She only learns her real name (Toshie Tanaka) at her funeral, after Asparagus finally succeeds at one of her attempts.
Papa Wolf: Suzuki's parents immediately take action when she finally breaks down and confesses to them about Coach Todo's harassment. Her dad in particular tells the principal that unless they do something about Todo, they will sue the school over harassment, looking like he wants to physically beat up Coach Todo.
Rape as Drama/Rape as Backstory
Sadist Teacher
- Coach Todo is a Villain With Good Publicity who is known for turning girls into athletes. None of the graduates mention that he has a habit of groping his students, most of whom are minors, making them wear tight shirts. When Suzuki tries to point out that the outfits are impractical for competitive tennis, he responds by scheduling a meeting and forcing her to bathe him and shakes his privates at her.
- Volume 4 has an entire school made of these. The girls are subjected to abusive punishments for wearing the wrong-color panties, among other arbitrary rules. It takes the protagonist nearly being beaten to death for things to change.
Schoolgirl Lesbians: Part of Volume 4.
Stalker with a Crush: Not meant to be romantic in the slightest and the protagonist is genuinely terrified of the guy.
Teens Are Monsters: Are they ever.
Together in Death: Attempted by one girl's ex-boyfriend. He calls her for "one last happy memory." She goes to the house to see he's laid out a dinner for them...and then he locks her inside and threatens to kill the both of them so they can be together forever. She ends up wounding him and her friends call police before he can carry his threat out, though.
Truth In Manga: A lot of the situations can and do happen in real life, and some of them are genuine problems Japan is facing--a minor example would be, the story about a sexually-abusive tennis coach, the protagonist getting groped on the train. She learns from her rescuer that he and a few others are petitioning for women-only cars to avoid this.
Well Done, Daughter Girl: Kyoko in Volume 3 desperately wants to earn her father's respect and love by getting into Tokyo University, but her grades just don't match up.
Yandere: Both male and female examples occur.
You Are Not Alone: Suzuki at first is in Heroic BSOD where it seems that only her parents support her in going after Coach Todo; her classmates beg her not to file suit because Todo will take it out on them even if Suzuki wins her suit or transfers schools. Then a random Heroic Bystander teen rescues her from getting groped on the train, grabbing the harasser until the authorities arrive. He tells Suzuki that he and a group of men, and boys, think it's awful when others stand by and do nothing and that she's not alone. This makes Suzuki realize that she has to take a stand, and exposes Todo's true nature on the school's PA system.