Kominka Gyaru to Renovation Gurashi - Ch. 8 - What we can do

[jaymsjags06]

I'm glad the coworker ended up not being a complete insufferable scumbag.

coworker is a better guy than MC
i really don't know what FMC likes in MC, his personality is very weak for a guy as strong and tall as him. I know he got divorced, but it just puts me off

 

[Zeralinz]

I like to imagine the extra security they are making is a Tom and Jerry trap or something

 

[panda_opu]

We all face this bro😐

 

[weguccino]

bro still not communicating with her and getting to the bottom of wtf happened lol. ex came in and smashed the place and can do it again, stop being a pussy and ask her.

 

[jaymsjags06]

bro still not communicating with her and getting to the bottom of wtf happened lol. ex came in and smashed the place and can do it again, stop being a pussy and ask her.

i realized that in a way they deserve each other, both have bad communication skills

 

[UdenEmpati]

coworker is a better guy than MC
i really don't know what FMC likes in MC, his personality is very weak for a guy as strong and tall as him. I know he got divorced, but it just puts me off

It's more than just that he's divorced, it's that he's a big dude who has always been looked at with suspicion since he was a kid.
He goes out of his way to be as non-threatening at all times as possible because his size alone puts everyone around him on edge. He has to walk on eggshells and be actively passive & demure, because the moment he raises his voice he just becomes a loud, violent, crazed brute.
We see that in flashbacks of earlier chapters with school peers, we see it in this very chapter where even Karen's coworker thinks he looks frightening when he gets momentarily heated talking about what Karen's going through.

And in Japan in particular, there's a strong social undercurrent of conformity and not rocking the boat or going against the grain. His very appearance does just that, and it's made him a target in the past, including taking the fall in the divorce with his ex-wife falsely accusing him of domestic violence toward her.

All of that, over his entire life, has turned him into a shell of a man who can't even defend himself, because he'll always be framed as the aggressor.

So his demeanor and defeatist attitude makes perfect sense, as aggravating as it may be to witness in the ongoing situation where he does need to step up.

And he's already starting to turn a corner here, but it's also not even 10 chapters in, so it will take time. Life-long trauma and stigma like this doesn't just go away at the flip of a switch.

 

[TNT261]

Thanks for the chapter and update. Should it be "the look on her face..." at the end? I don't usually correct, but his or her face would be a fairly significant change (whether a third person narrator is saying something about the coworker or the coworker is thinking something about how he has no chance).

He assumed it was her ex, but there's been no confirmation on her side that I could find.

Given it's likely the same person destroyed the childhood secret base and then her home in the present, coupled with the fact she called him by his first name (and he used hers), my guess is it might be an older brother who's just a moocher/lowlife trying to strongarm her for money, and has always been violent and delinquent-like.

Plus, it'd be extra weird if this guy was an ex-boyfriend, since the base was trashed when she was like in elementary school. Sure, it's not completely impossible some kid in her class did the deed back then, and she ended up dating him later on or something, but that feels like a way bigger leap (and more narratively convoluted) than him simply being her brother.

Yeah I immediately assumed a toxic parasitic family member (brother based on how old he look) based on the dialogue last chapter (I thought she confirmed it, but can't remember). He definitely acted like someone that thinks he can get away with anything because whomever is forced to be related to him. An ex isn't that hard to get rid of. An ex really shouldn't know where you live if you just started renovating a house you inherited. A sibling is privy to all that knowledge and easily burst into your life feeling like you have to help them out because you're related.

 

[TNT261]

It's more than just that he's divorced, it's that he's a big dude who has always been looked at with suspicion since he was a kid.
He goes out of his way to be as non-threatening at all times as possible because his size alone puts everyone around him on edge. He has to walk on eggshells and be actively passive & demure, because the moment he raises his voice he just becomes a loud, violent, crazed brute.
We see that in flashbacks of earlier chapters with school peers, we see it in this very chapter where even Karen's coworker thinks he looks frightening when he gets momentarily heated talking about what Karen's going through.

And in Japan in particular, there's a strong social undercurrent of conformity and not rocking the boat or going against the grain. His very appearance does just that, and it's made him a target in the past, including taking the fall in the divorce with his ex-wife falsely accusing him of domestic violence toward her.

All of that, over his entire life, has turned him into a shell of a man who can't even defend himself, because he'll always be framed as the aggressor.

So his demeanor and defeatist attitude makes perfect sense, as aggravating as it may be to witness in the ongoing situation where he does need to step up.

And he's already starting to turn a corner here, but it's also not even 10 chapters in, so it will take time. Life-long trauma and stigma like this doesn't just go away at the flip of a switch.

On the last point 100%. So much of who we are gets coded in childhood and then our brains constantly reinforce that coding every single day. Changing that is a LONG process. For one negative self talk like that has been reinforced over at least two decades, and it has resulted in real consequences for the MC (really bad social ones especially). A lot of people need external support to make the type of journey the MC needs to make. And once they do start, it's not a straight road as there's a lot of times people just naturally fall back into the negative self talk that they've learned in childhood and feel safe in. There's no on or off switch. This wouldn't be a good story at all if we ever saw the MC became this super confident guy who could "just do it". Reality is that the best the MC can ever do is 1) recognize that he shouldn't be made to feel ashamed of himself 2) make an effort to have more self confidence and put that towards positive actions and 3) feel rewarded or better yet supported for 2.

And I mean that's all this Manga really is. Like it's not that complex. Our two leads are building a home together because they need - even if they won't outright say it - somewhere they can feel safe, warm, and comfortable. The MC especially just needs to trust that there's someone who sees & cares for him, and someplace where he can feel safe and not be constantly forcing himself to feel & act small while trying not to make others feel uncomfortable (really while trying to avoid being treated like a threat). He not only went through a messy divorce, but that divorce was complete social assassination with his ex wife manipulating the narrative so that everyone (including his parents IIRC) thought he was being physically abusive. The MC himself is such a gentle soul that he thought he was at fault in some way he didn't realize. It sucks.

It is an extreme dramatic premise for the sake of the Manga (I'm actually not sold on it myself), but it is the premise we have and sets the stage for what our main character is dealing with. He doesn't feel safe or comfortable anywhere. He doesn't feel like he can be himself without hurting someone or being seen as a threat. His life is in shambles because someone took advantage of that and turned people against him even more, and at the heart of it all instead of blaming his ex wife he blames himself and refuses to trust himself. This is a romance Manga, but the primary hook here is building a place of belonging & trust. That's going to take a long time for the main character, so at least the author can milk out as many chapters as they need to.

 

[UdenEmpati]

Thanks for the chapter and update. Should it be "the look on her face..." at the end? I don't usually correct, but his or her face would be a fairly significant change (whether a third person narrator is saying something about the coworker or the coworker is thinking something about how he has no chance).

Each chapter has a line of text that's bolded that serves as a narrator/outside viewer giving a parting "message" of sorts related to whatever's transpiring at the end of the chapter. The previous one was after Kazu and the co-worker came to an understanding about Kazu's involvement with Karen, and it read:

"Two men who care about Karen join forces"

So the similarly bolded statement of this chapter is correct, because it's referring to the co-worker's realization that Karen likes Kazu, and that he (the co-worker) will see his crush on Karen unrequited. It's that same detached observer/narrator parting line, and it's directly referencing his moment of "ah, I don't stand a chance here, after all."

 

[OWMWO]

Coworker get cuck.
Sorry dude but you are not this manga MC.

 

[Akiles117]

The series will be on hiatus for the next issue, 2026 Vol.12 (on sale Nov 25),
The next chapter will be published in 2027 Vol.01 (on sale Dec 25)!

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt???

 

[yuriie]

Shouldn't the last panel be "The look on her face says it all"?

you're right
fixed, thanks!

 

[Skater901]

you don't have the right, O you don't have the right,
by the way you don't have the right, O you don't have the right

 

[sirmidor]

The coworker berates him for not being proactive, then proceeds to... do nothing at all himself. What a bitch.

 

[sedition]

Did the same guy destroy her secret base when she was a child and what she had now?

Peak awkward when she got together with an ex boyfriend who trashed her childhood base and her base now

The story is very obviously leading us to believe it was her older brother both times, if it's not I'll be wildly surprised.

 

[ARXGB1]

Nice

 

[SaturninSektor]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Kagimizu]

It's more than just that he's divorced, it's that he's a big dude who has always been looked at with suspicion since he was a kid.
He goes out of his way to be as non-threatening at all times as possible because his size alone puts everyone around him on edge. He has to walk on eggshells and be actively passive & demure, because the moment he raises his voice he just becomes a loud, violent, crazed brute.
We see that in flashbacks of earlier chapters with school peers, we see it in this very chapter where even Karen's coworker thinks he looks frightening when he gets momentarily heated talking about what Karen's going through.

And in Japan in particular, there's a strong social undercurrent of conformity and not rocking the boat or going against the grain. His very appearance does just that, and it's made him a target in the past, including taking the fall in the divorce with his ex-wife falsely accusing him of domestic violence toward her.

All of that, over his entire life, has turned him into a shell of a man who can't even defend himself, because he'll always be framed as the aggressor.

So his demeanor and defeatist attitude makes perfect sense, as aggravating as it may be to witness in the ongoing situation where he does need to step up.

And he's already starting to turn a corner here, but it's also not even 10 chapters in, so it will take time. Life-long trauma and stigma like this doesn't just go away at the flip of a switch.

The number of times I see people bitch and complain about misunderstandings or conflicts in manga because they're applying Western sensibilities to a piece of Eastern media. People just do not seem to realize that a Japanese comic book (because that's ultimately what manga are) is going to be written with Japanese values in mind.

Though the bit about misunderstandings is easier to understand, since they're just inherently lost in translation. Japanese is very context-dependent with a lot of homophones, meaning that it's a lot easier for someone to say one thing and for the other to take it as meaning something else entirely.

 

[bosbarret]

Could they not just install a new door and be done with it?

 

[medrus_358]

Hope this leads to him being a little less spineless

We're on chapter eight so it's still a little to early, you know how manga progression works