Miyu-chan wa Zutto Tomodachi - Vol. 1 Ch. 3 - Buried

[ItsThatBriGuy]

Mental health issues are seldom taken care of here.

Kazuya can't even get himself some damn Prozac.

 

[Teaching-Feelings]

 

[Nosebleed]

So many people in this comment section incapable of comprehending that giving the bully a backstory does not equal condoning his actions.

This is just good character writing. They're explaining why the bully acts the way he does. In no way is the author painting his actions as justified, they're just giving us important context.

Where is the author asking for your pity? Murai is even still acting like an ass. And Miyu explicitly criticizes him.

I swear to god some people here were bullied in school and now lost all capacity for rationally thinking about a story with a bully. They see one and all they want is for them to die a gruesome death or something. Way to (not) be a moral authority.

 

[HatTrkPatrk]

So the anime on this one is already approved & in the works, right?

Right?

Guys?

 

[HatTrkPatrk]

So many people in this comment section incapable of comprehending that giving the bully a backstory does not equal condoning his actions.

This is just good character writing. They're explaining why the bully acts the way he does. In no way is the author painting his actions as justified, they're just giving us important context.

Where is the author asking for your pity? Murai is even still acting like an ass. And Miyu explicitly criticizes him.

I swear to god some people here were bullied in school and now lost all capacity for rationally thinking about a story with a bully. They see one and all they want is for them to die a gruesome death or something. Way to (not) be a moral authority.

They're also conditioned by decades+ of shitty books, movies, screenwriting & character design in general where the "good guys" have no flaws and the bad guys are just evil for evil's sake. Makes it much simpler for them, and let's be honest, that's something they need.

People who think this way are what we call "dipshits" - they're soft, they're malleable, and they're everywhere.

I often find myself wondering if it's more likely that these vermin were the bullies, not the bullied. There's absolutely no hesitance in them to shit on something for something they've put absolutely no thought into.

 

[darkrider999999999]

Really author?
You hooked us with chapter 1 but now you are loosening the chain in chapter 3 already?

 

[Rafalga]

Imagine going "humanity is doomed, you guys are sick" spiel in the comments over a shitty trope as "bully has a troubled home" which is used like 1000 times in mangas and thats why people are tired of it and rather see the plot point abandoned to save time. Since you know, it's been done for 1000 times before so something fresh would be nice. Stop projecting for one goddamn second

 

[chilzhul]

I dunno guys, but let the author cook. I mean, they said that it's been a year since something happened to bully's dad. The fact that Miyu's incident also happened a year ago tells me this is no coincidence, and this "arc" was made to connect the dots between the two. I mean, one look at the MC and you can tell he's not the one who's gonna move the plot around lol.

Just my two cents.

 

[TNT261]

This just seems so overblown. On the one hand, yeah losing a loved one isn't a great excuse to completely disassociate from reality when you have a child to care for. Getting rid of trash (which is already in bags) for one isn't that huge of a leap. Heck, the kid could do it. That said, the lady's attitude is completely out of line. You don't insinuate having some trash bags is going to attract criminals or that the people with trash bags are committing arson (actually the problem is that they aren't burning their trash). Like WTF? You especially don't end by both bringing up a clearly sensitive topic and telling the person in question to "get their act together" even if there is some truth there, you don't communicate it that way especially not to person in question but their child who literally has no control over the situation. Heck a basically decent person would be asking how they're doing and offering to help out if talking about their home situation at all. Really though if it's been a year and the mother has been this neglectful, someone in the neighborhood should have contacted social services by now. Who TF cares about some trash bags?

I feel like this arc just exists to show how "kind" the MC is and push away complaints of why he doesn't press no-Miyu's identity more. Not that it makes up for the fact this is like the dumbest reasoning for why it's actually okay he bullied a classmate into giving him money (like he didn't even pick a rich classmate). But I'm fine as long as we just move on from this by next chapter.

Also seems like this is to setup not Miyu as being the MC's pseudo abrasive side because he doesn't have a spine is too kind. I'm really curious why not Miyu is going to such lengths. On some level she seems to know the MC's personality. I feel like she was close to Miyu after she moved away and wanted to fulfill a promise or like maybe identity theft is her way of coping? IDK, but so far the mystery of her identity is the only thing worth reading the Manga far, so it'll probably be stretched out as far as it goes. It's not like the Manga can fall back on its stellar character and plot writing to keep readers interested (at least following this chapter).

The author is really best at short chapter fluff series. Conflict doesn't seem like a strength.

The US has homeowner's associations and they can be similarly petty and shitty

With the added benefit of being racist and gatekeepey! Yay! Systematic discrimination. Though I guess that's kinda a moot point in Japan. God I'm really curious to see what happens as their residents become decreasingly homogenous.

 

[TNT261]

This is just good character writing. They're explaining why the bully acts the way he does. In no way is the author painting his actions as justified, they're just giving us important context.

I kinda don't want to respond because what does it really matter, but yeah no. As someone who studies writing two things implied here are just insulting.

1) this is not good character writing. Like let's not kid ourselves. The supposed background is that "something" happened to the bully's father and his mother can't cope. He's apparently been bullying the MC because he needs money and (probably the more realistic reason) he needs a punching bag to vent on.

Here's the thing, this information literally tells us nothing about the character's personality still. Are they hardworking? Well apparently not since they can't take the garbage out (that's not exactly a job a highschooler can't do). Their shown taking care of their mom... but having being do some on the salary of extorting a highschooler who doesn't even have that much money? That's a strike right there and one reason why readers aren't showing interest. Readers give writers a lot of slack and tend to get frustrated when dots don't connect. Were they close their dad and that's why they need to vent? Who knows. The chapter couldn't even give rather the dad died, went for a pack of cigarettes, or cheated and left the family. And it's not like that's something worth being obscure on.

This is partly a lead into the next thing. But none of this chapter has done an effective job in building the bully's character. We just got miscellaneous information that doesn't even do a good job connecting to their actions. The best thing here is that their home life sucks so they seek power and control by taking it out on the MC, but we also could have gotten that with like a fourth of the time waste. That's also partly ruined by the implication they "needed" (or felt they needed) to extort the MC for money. That bit doesn't make any sense and breaks an already fragile reality. Heck, there's nothing even in this chapter about how an indefinite suspension might negatively impact the bully. If anything they should be glad for an excuse to get a part time job.

2) No this isn't "important context". That's one of the biggest concepts of writing. The reader's time IS important (now more than ever with all the content out there) and they don't want to feel like they've wasted time on stuff that doesn't matter. You don't give back stories to everything that walks and breathes (the writer themselves should know that to in the best of their ability give a character a personality just through their actions (which still hasn't been done; even after this the Bully's personality remains "bully #1")). The bully was never made out to be a hugely important character. They were a prop to establish the premise and the main character's "kind" personality early on. And that's it. There was no indication of them becoming a side character and they were dealt with like a chapter one bully you'd soon forget about.

I've seen suggestion the author is connecting the characters' stories and the bully plays a role in that. Cool, but it's on the author to make the readers care (not necessarily like, but acknowledge the importance of) a character before doing that. Name of the game isn't to hint and drop crumbs of why readers should CARE that you're hinting and dropping bread crumbs about a side character (especially when it isn't clear they'll be a reccuring side character).

Whats especially frustrating to readers is that, at the end of the day none of this is important. The author has failed to connect this information to a personality for the bully. The reality is also this information doesn't super matter for the plot and larger narrative. This chapter has gone about obscurely presenting information that at most will be a dot to connect.

3 (well really just an "in conclusion") The mentality that the problem is the readers is just backwards. It's not a reader comprehension problem if the majority of readers came out of reading a work frustrated because they feel their time has been wasted (which is really what this is). It's on the author to make it clear what is happening and why the reader should care. Thus far readers have been presented that they should only care about Miyu and the MC and that's the premise. The author has done nothing to show why we should be interested in a closer look at the bully's life while still lacking core details about the MC and Miyu. The author has failed to establish how this is advancing the narrative. The author has even failed to make the bully a remotely interesting character readers would WANT to learn more about (and that doesn't require making the bully "good" or "redeemable").

That's my rant. Like just do not lower the standards for writing and especially don't do so while insulting actual good writing and putting the blame on readers/the audience. Story telling is nothing more than a form of communicating art. If readers are frustrated and don't understand what is going on (even in the case that reader comprehension is the problem) that's STILL on the author and proves the writing needs work. That's a failure on the author's part to properly communicate the story and characters through writing. Good writing is hard work. Don't degrade it.

 

[OliveOilOilOil]

I kinda don't want to respond because what does it really matter, but yeah no. As someone who studies writing two things implied here are just insulting.

I suspect the author (who is also the writer) tossed way too many Chekhov's Gun (assuming that they are useful at all) to make any sense of it all. The first two chapters made it rather obvious that some clues were needed to try and solve a murder mystery (that is real Miyu's death).

Assuming that this is going lead to some Revenge Shop style plot, this chapter is akin to tossing all the possible evidence all over an escape room and asking readers to try and solve the mystery in reverse. Though the tags don't seem to suggest something like this was to be expected (and so isn't attracting the intended audience).

The only possibility that any of these make sense is that the author is going such a roundabout way that the plot sets off a very long chain reaction to reveal the reasons that led to real Miyu's death (A leads to B, leads to C...H leads to J blowing everything up, K who is caught up then is left to do L...leads to X) and new Miyu is out to tie up every loose end.

Otherwise yes this is rather poor story-boarding for someone who has already written out all the major plot points well in advance. Though I have seen other titles with worse quality and still selling like hotcakes.

 

[wallsg]

We occasionally get stuff stuck to our door if we're not active enough on NextDoor for the Board's liking.

Screw being active on that damn gossip site ("a car stopped in front of my house at 7:50 AM and the guy in it kept his head down looking at his phone the whole time then drove off, beware!"). The only reason I haven't deleted that account is that my wife sometimes wants to look at something floats by on the email notifications.

You should TELL your HOA to show you where in the CC&Rs it says you must be active on a web site. If they can't then tell them to stop harassing you.

Gladys Kravitz

 

[wallsg]

Setup is interesting but not with this MC. Well, good try i guess. Its a good think that they don't show what adulthood looks like for doormat characters like him since its pretty much %100 certainty that they will be FUCKED with this mindset in adult world and it won't be some small shit like launch money.

This doormat's going to end up working himself literally to death at a black company and along the way be scammed out of all of his money by some fake charity organization. Guys like this are perfect exploitation targets for both abusive companies and scammers.

 

[Imbued]

I can't even be mad at this Yuushin dude he is a genuinely nice guy.

But Murai was using other kindness, i can't stop mad.

 

[silverpetricof]

Thank you for the translation.

 

[zayn_zaz]

Did the news of miyu chan's death not phase him at all?
dude your childhood bestfriend just died , show a little reaction

 

[iririuuu]

wow i remember why i let this manga on hold for a looong time, this mc is such a pussy

 

[Bonzalez]

I can't even be mad at this Yuushin dude he is a genuinely nice guy.

You can't be mad at a guy for being a braindead pushover? Well that's your prerogative I guess. I think he needs to use his goddamn brain instead of still considering Murai a friend. Like if he was saying he wanted to be friends with Murai again, that'd be one thing, but no he still believes they are currently friends after all evidence to the contrary being shoved down his throat

 

[Lekmir]

It's pretty disturbing how many commenters here are just out for blood and revenge instead of reformation. Isn't a world where people help each other out better than one where people ruin each other's lives?

Nothing about the writing here suggests that this makes the bullying "okay". It suggests that there's a better path than cyclic revenge.

When I see how people are acting in this thread, just wanting to see people be punished and have their already messed up lives ruined, it explains a lot about the state of the world.

I know, right?

 

[jagfanbb]

The deal is, trash pickup in Japan isn't usually a free public service, it's one you gotta pay for. Sometimes pretty expensive. One of my expat buds used to have endless tales of woe about it. Something you notice if you ever go over to Tokyo or another big city, public trash cans are few and far between.

So basically, all the trash piling up does signify that his mom's a mess, but more than that it signifies that they're broke.

Meanwhile, so far this deal is hell of spooky and I'm into it.

Public trash cans are few from a terrorist attack in the 70s. There were plenty before that.