Hybrid Child is told in three separate stories. The first story, which appears to be set in the Meiji period, introduces the creator of the hybrid child, Kuroda, an embittered ex-samurai.
Kotaro Izumi, the young layabout heir to an ancient clan, is waited on by his hybrid child Hazuki. Hazuki is a fully-grown adult male hybrid child to whom Kotaro has become attached, despite Hazuki's frequent taking him to task for not studying enough and accepting his responsibilities. When Hazuki collapses one day, a panicked Kotaro seeks out Kuroda, who informs him that Hazuki is one of the early model hybrid children and therefore can't be fixed. Hazuki is at the end of his life cycle.
Kotaro is devastated and refuses to accept this. When Kuroda sends him off to seek a magical item he calls the "droplet of the moon," Kotaro rushes to find it.
This first story doesn't contain any shota elements to speak of, though it does raise the issue. Kotaro muses on the fact that hybrid children are "the rage among rich old men" due to their suitability to being molded to become "a toy representing the height of male fantasy." But Kotaro dismisses the idea for himself as Hazuki's owner: "I never thought of doing anything perverted like that, though."
The second story, however, does delve more into this difficult area. Retired samurai Ichi Seya has a hybrid child named Yuzu who wants to relieve his master of his persistent sadness. Unbeknownst to Yuzu, Seya is being targeted for assassination in revenge for a samurai operation he took part in.
Yuzu wonders why he isn't growing any taller. As hybrid children grow when they are loved, he wonders if Seya hates him:
He tries to initiate sex with Seya, but Seya stops when he realizes Yuzu isn't feeling any arousal. Seya is attacked by the assassins the next day, receiving an injury that blinds him. When Seya tries to send Yuzu away, saying he deserves a better master, Yuzu tells him that he wants to share his pain and sadness. In the end, Yuzu grows to full adulthood, having shared the bitter of Seya's life with him as well as the sweet:
All of their arguing, of course, covers the fact that Kuroda and Tsukishima are in love with each other.
When Tsukishima is sentenced to commit seppuku, he and Kuroda finally acknowledge this on their first and last night together:
Considering the shota scene in the second story, the news that Hybrid Child will be made into an anime is surprising. Although it's historical fact that samurai had sexual relationships with their juniors, and Seya is a samurai, I can't see how the producers are going to make that scene palatable for the modern audience.
Yaoi fans differ in their tastes. Personally, I don't care for shota - I want characters to be well over the age of consent, with the exception being YA type stories (i.e., the Romeo and Juliet/Twilight teenagers in love scenario). (And of course - I am completely against child sexual abuse or exploitation, both in real life and as depicted in art.) I've heard that many Japanese yaoi fans are into the older male/much younger male dynamic, which Nakamura plays into here. The fact that the hybrid child isn't a "real" child or human is a neat dodge, but then so is the cover illustration:
The two on the cover are not an adult "owner" and his younger hybrid child, but the fully-grown hybrid child Hazuki and his young human owner, Kotaro.
Hybrid Child has its disturbing moments, as well as moments of pure emotion and beauty. It's yet another example of the freedom Japanese mangaka have to tell unique stories seemingly without censorship or interference.
