Fushigi Yuugi, up to volume 10.

[snarp]

People had told me that this series stopped being a romantic comedy after a few volumes, but... I didn't expect all the villains to start raping the heroes to destroy their magical powers. I mean, I guess I can see it happening once, but it's become a recurring theme. They're literally standing around and discussing the finer points of the use of rape as a weapon, as characters in a shounen manga might discuss chi blasts.

...when I put it that way, it becomes clear to me that this manga is Sugar Sugar Rune's evil grandma.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Oh, Yuu Watase. I'm fairly certain that reading everything of hers that I could the first few years I was reading manga may be the main reason I had a fairly low opinion of shoujo for a while there.

[snarp]

See, in some ways I think FY's actually an improvement upon the average, because Miaka has a lot of agency - she makes the big decisions for her little group, and if there's a party in power in her relationship with Tamahome, it's her. When her frenemy Yui allows herself to be led, that's shown to be bad.

But the thing is that - and this is made pretty explicit - the things that make Miaka the heroine and Yui not-the-heroine are that Miaka's 1) inept and in need of protection, and 2) a virgin. Because these are both qualities laden with immense moral value, I guess.