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- Aug 18, 2020
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TLDR: It's a cute yet creepy story best appreciated if you're somewhat familiar with shinto-buddhism (you can get by with just buddhism actually but I feel like you won't get to appreciate the characters as much otherwise).
Thank god I decided to finish it. I was close to stopping because I didn't like drama and I felt bamboozled by the development, but since each chapter was short, it was palatable. That said, the ending makes sense if you consider the Shinto-Buddhist aspects of it (imo should be a necessity actually considering that the title itself says implies as much). Considering the reactions I've read, I feel like people need a backgrounder to appreciate this. It's a waste for this to go unappreciated like this.
Note that in the history of that belief:
1. The concept of reincarnation is vague as a whole since the mechanisms--for lack of a better word--that govern the cycle varies, if they even say at all, depending on which school of thought you conform to, that is if you even conform to one since Shinto would be much more lax on this (I'm pointing this out as if it's a consideration since there's really no concrete evidence other than it being set in japan to say that it's indeed Shinto. I argue, however, that the virtues displayed by the characters is more reminiscent of Shintoism than any other school of belief). The only thing consistent with it is that the point of the entire thing is to break away from suffering.
2. To do so, life relies heavily on causation, so to speak, commonly known as karma. Not going into detail on this and this is again an oversimplification but basically, it's newton's third law of motion albeit in a religio-philosophical sense.
3. With that in mind, the
isn't exactly a plot hole (though it is a glaring deus ex machina) especially when you consider that after having gone through one of the spheres of reincarnation as a hungry ghost and then being enlightened, it makes sense that
4. It actually makes less sense then, considering the core principles, for it to end tragically or for them to be denied of their happiness, since the idea is that all intelligent life--which in the context of their beliefs, does not require self-awareness, only that it is living or in other schools, has a spirit, which is to say, everything--aspire to achieve nirvana and break away from suffering. She wouldn't achieve enlightenment otherwise.
5. You see, the concept of enlightenment varies from school to school such that its definition is largely ambiguous. Popularly, it is thought of as simply "knowing" but of what, no school would really give a concrete answer (i think the primary reason for doing so is that true understanding of its nature necessitates mulling over the idea to get a clearer reflection). However, what's clear though is that they all agree that removal of the Self is necessary, to put it roughly. Something like, "no man is an island" to oversimplify it. Point is, "knowing" isn't exactly accurate, but is the closest you'll get. What this means for this manga, however, is that her epiphany (which, again, although inaccurate, i use simply for lack of a more concrete term) requires finding happiness with the narrator.
So, with all that in mind, it's clear that it should end on a high note since the title explicitly states that the ghost does achieve enlightenment, and with the idea being that all beings are connected, that the narrator is deeply involved in this. Would it have been better for both to have met each other again in another life? Or should it have ended on a much grimmer tone? Both are personal preference. Does it make for better storytelling? I'd say no since 1) there's no build up, let alone, foundation to either one, and 2) both would completely disregard the implications of the title and would not resolve the conflict or match the underlying themes and setting. Logically, time and by extension,
here doesn't matter: it's the idea that they're both happy that does, which in their case, meant
Would the author have thought of all this? Dunno; don't care. All that matters to me is that it makes sense in the context of the story. I'm more creeped out by people clamoring for the guy's misfortune or extending his dissatisfaction (key part of their idea on suffering, btw) which not only makes less sense, but also feels like they value the drama of conflict whether by virtue of self-projection or simply for love of it. The story explicitly showed us that the dude's been through more than what he could handle already. Y'all need professional help.
On another note about another criticism, the guy did age and the art style shows it. Dunno why I see people saying he didn't. If you compare his previous depictions, his lines have gotten sharper, and his face more square. The artist also began including a wrinkle under his left eye, emphasized his cheek lines and in some perspectives, cheekbone wrinkles. This has more to do with a rather unpopular art style, i suppose, but it does show he's aged.
Now then, the good parts outta the way, what are the negatives to this story? Well, I'd say there's a couple, but I feel like these are more from personal preference.
1. The story doesn't really give much in the way of where it's building from so a lot of its influences are left to speculation, which in turn, made a lot of people be less appreciative of the story.
2. Although I realize that part of their regrets and priorities were connected to the concept of enlightenment, because we never really got to know how both leads were outside of romance, i couldn't really sympathize with them. It's more from curiosity as to how they'll resolve it than actually being invested in them. Not really a big thing since in a practical point of view, it still works and eggs you on for more, but it's not satisfying. That's not to say it's bad, but it does feel more like an, "Ah, that's good then" instead of a "NO, WAIT, YES, GOD WTF PLEASE PLEASE". Like a oneshot-thats-good-enough-as-a-oneshot kinda feeling is what I'm getting.
3. It looks so innocent but the undertones are all hella dark. Not a bad thing, but if you're looking for wholesome-wholesome--which I was--this ain't it.
4. Each chapter is short. It's not really a bad thing, but it does mean that a lot of em contains extensive narration of events. Although the manga does it well--not too short, not too long--it makes me feel like I'm missing out on a lot of other things.
5. It does a great job showing how the 2 leads communicate. It's both creepy and cute. Why am I putting it as a con? It's creepy and cute. I think you might understand if you read it. If you don't, well, then just know it's creepy and cute.
6. It painted the other characters in a terrible light. I get that they're just worried for their friend and from a certain perspective, it's the guy who's being an ass about it all. So at some point I started feeling like the whole conflict was overblown. It's not, really, if you look at it objectively, so I guess that's more to do with points 1 and 2 from before.
7. It made me open a can of worms.
8. And now I'm eating it.
9. I'm half and half about this point since I didn't really notice until I started reading the comments. This is similar to the 1st con I mentioned but whereas I meant circumstances in the first, this time I'm talking about it's influences and the myths and tropes it's coming from. On one hand, I thought there wasn't really a need to do so considering that it's explicitly stated on the title, but on the other hand, I realize that it's not really a popular topic and even if it was, there's too much ambiguity surrounding it. I don't really think it's a con, but I suppose considering the reaction it's garnered, it actually is.
10. I really just don't like ending lists at 9. I don't hate it, sure, but I strongly dislike it. Enough for me to list it as a con since the manga only gave me 9 points to work with instead of 10. One could say it's not a bad thing; after all, that's one bad thing less, but those that don't find lists ending with 9 items uncomfortable are often, if not always, sociopaths that take pleasure in watching others squirm at the sheer awkwardness of being one short of the conventional, satisfying 10. Subversionists with masochistic tendencies the likes of which often cunningly cautious and intuitively calculating. To borrow a quote from Alfred in Dark Knight, these are the people who think it's good sport and aren't looking for anything logical. They just want to watch the world burn. I mean, look at the number 9. See how it mocks you by ending it's curvature not on a full circle, but midway, imitating 6 but whereas 6 you'd often find pleasurable and the first to perfection, 9 seems to deny you of anything and everything you ask of it, arrogant of its power and stature among singles, and a narcissism that refuses anything that does not resemble itself, constantly reminding us that it's a step above others and denying us of companionship, certainty and confidence. Well, I don't really hate it, but frankly, selfishly, I really, really strongly dislike it.
Thank god I decided to finish it. I was close to stopping because I didn't like drama and I felt bamboozled by the development, but since each chapter was short, it was palatable. That said, the ending makes sense if you consider the Shinto-Buddhist aspects of it (imo should be a necessity actually considering that the title itself says implies as much). Considering the reactions I've read, I feel like people need a backgrounder to appreciate this. It's a waste for this to go unappreciated like this.
Note that in the history of that belief:
1. The concept of reincarnation is vague as a whole since the mechanisms--for lack of a better word--that govern the cycle varies, if they even say at all, depending on which school of thought you conform to, that is if you even conform to one since Shinto would be much more lax on this (I'm pointing this out as if it's a consideration since there's really no concrete evidence other than it being set in japan to say that it's indeed Shinto. I argue, however, that the virtues displayed by the characters is more reminiscent of Shintoism than any other school of belief). The only thing consistent with it is that the point of the entire thing is to break away from suffering.
2. To do so, life relies heavily on causation, so to speak, commonly known as karma. Not going into detail on this and this is again an oversimplification but basically, it's newton's third law of motion albeit in a religio-philosophical sense.
3. With that in mind, the
20 year age gap
she reincarnates as human, at the very least. There's nothing to say that you don't directly reincarnate right away. Only that if you are enlightened, you're closer to breaking away from suffering.
5. You see, the concept of enlightenment varies from school to school such that its definition is largely ambiguous. Popularly, it is thought of as simply "knowing" but of what, no school would really give a concrete answer (i think the primary reason for doing so is that true understanding of its nature necessitates mulling over the idea to get a clearer reflection). However, what's clear though is that they all agree that removal of the Self is necessary, to put it roughly. Something like, "no man is an island" to oversimplify it. Point is, "knowing" isn't exactly accurate, but is the closest you'll get. What this means for this manga, however, is that her epiphany (which, again, although inaccurate, i use simply for lack of a more concrete term) requires finding happiness with the narrator.
So, with all that in mind, it's clear that it should end on a high note since the title explicitly states that the ghost does achieve enlightenment, and with the idea being that all beings are connected, that the narrator is deeply involved in this. Would it have been better for both to have met each other again in another life? Or should it have ended on a much grimmer tone? Both are personal preference. Does it make for better storytelling? I'd say no since 1) there's no build up, let alone, foundation to either one, and 2) both would completely disregard the implications of the title and would not resolve the conflict or match the underlying themes and setting. Logically, time and by extension,
the age gap
meeting each other alive and marrying like how they planned. What does that marriage require? That they're both of legal age.
Would the author have thought of all this? Dunno; don't care. All that matters to me is that it makes sense in the context of the story. I'm more creeped out by people clamoring for the guy's misfortune or extending his dissatisfaction (key part of their idea on suffering, btw) which not only makes less sense, but also feels like they value the drama of conflict whether by virtue of self-projection or simply for love of it. The story explicitly showed us that the dude's been through more than what he could handle already. Y'all need professional help.
On another note about another criticism, the guy did age and the art style shows it. Dunno why I see people saying he didn't. If you compare his previous depictions, his lines have gotten sharper, and his face more square. The artist also began including a wrinkle under his left eye, emphasized his cheek lines and in some perspectives, cheekbone wrinkles. This has more to do with a rather unpopular art style, i suppose, but it does show he's aged.
Now then, the good parts outta the way, what are the negatives to this story? Well, I'd say there's a couple, but I feel like these are more from personal preference.
1. The story doesn't really give much in the way of where it's building from so a lot of its influences are left to speculation, which in turn, made a lot of people be less appreciative of the story.
2. Although I realize that part of their regrets and priorities were connected to the concept of enlightenment, because we never really got to know how both leads were outside of romance, i couldn't really sympathize with them. It's more from curiosity as to how they'll resolve it than actually being invested in them. Not really a big thing since in a practical point of view, it still works and eggs you on for more, but it's not satisfying. That's not to say it's bad, but it does feel more like an, "Ah, that's good then" instead of a "NO, WAIT, YES, GOD WTF PLEASE PLEASE". Like a oneshot-thats-good-enough-as-a-oneshot kinda feeling is what I'm getting.
3. It looks so innocent but the undertones are all hella dark. Not a bad thing, but if you're looking for wholesome-wholesome--which I was--this ain't it.
4. Each chapter is short. It's not really a bad thing, but it does mean that a lot of em contains extensive narration of events. Although the manga does it well--not too short, not too long--it makes me feel like I'm missing out on a lot of other things.
5. It does a great job showing how the 2 leads communicate. It's both creepy and cute. Why am I putting it as a con? It's creepy and cute. I think you might understand if you read it. If you don't, well, then just know it's creepy and cute.
6. It painted the other characters in a terrible light. I get that they're just worried for their friend and from a certain perspective, it's the guy who's being an ass about it all. So at some point I started feeling like the whole conflict was overblown. It's not, really, if you look at it objectively, so I guess that's more to do with points 1 and 2 from before.
7. It made me open a can of worms.
8. And now I'm eating it.
9. I'm half and half about this point since I didn't really notice until I started reading the comments. This is similar to the 1st con I mentioned but whereas I meant circumstances in the first, this time I'm talking about it's influences and the myths and tropes it's coming from. On one hand, I thought there wasn't really a need to do so considering that it's explicitly stated on the title, but on the other hand, I realize that it's not really a popular topic and even if it was, there's too much ambiguity surrounding it. I don't really think it's a con, but I suppose considering the reaction it's garnered, it actually is.
10. I really just don't like ending lists at 9. I don't hate it, sure, but I strongly dislike it. Enough for me to list it as a con since the manga only gave me 9 points to work with instead of 10. One could say it's not a bad thing; after all, that's one bad thing less, but those that don't find lists ending with 9 items uncomfortable are often, if not always, sociopaths that take pleasure in watching others squirm at the sheer awkwardness of being one short of the conventional, satisfying 10. Subversionists with masochistic tendencies the likes of which often cunningly cautious and intuitively calculating. To borrow a quote from Alfred in Dark Knight, these are the people who think it's good sport and aren't looking for anything logical. They just want to watch the world burn. I mean, look at the number 9. See how it mocks you by ending it's curvature not on a full circle, but midway, imitating 6 but whereas 6 you'd often find pleasurable and the first to perfection, 9 seems to deny you of anything and everything you ask of it, arrogant of its power and stature among singles, and a narcissism that refuses anything that does not resemble itself, constantly reminding us that it's a step above others and denying us of companionship, certainty and confidence. Well, I don't really hate it, but frankly, selfishly, I really, really strongly dislike it.
