Blood on the Tracks - Vol. 11 Ch. 90 - Watching through Mommy's eyes

[Theozilla]

I figured the mangaka wasn’t going to “reveal” to be that Seichi was the one who pushed Shige, glad to see I was right.
Basically this chapter is showing us how/why Seiko “saw” Shige as Seichi, and how she’s viewed her son and the “prison” of motherhood/housewife for her entire life.
Now the how/why Seichi’s own psychosis is able to now understand his mother’s psychosis is implemented vaguely/clunky in regards to the suspension of disbelief, but I am pretty sure I get what the mangaka is trying to do narratively/emotionally.

 

[kiero13]

Aight first 3 pages in... I kinda hoped the author wouldn't do this reversal thing.

Same sentiments after reading it whole even if its still unsure if he really did or just his mom being unstable.

 

[Dundun123]

Okay okay that's enough Sei. Quit fucking around your mind up now. God this weird psychological tangent needs to end already. Give the boy a break mangaka man Jesus.
And I'm not here for the portrayal of victimisation of the mother. She's an abuser plain and simple. Sure we can empathise. But we won't forgive

 

[wewedamdam]

alright so... who is the real crazy here

 

[Xunder]

Bruh

 

[pihip]

I'm not sure I'm following what's happening anymore.

On one side, Seiichi who claims he's been stifled by his overbearing mother his whole life, and what we've been led to believe so far.

On the other, Seiko sees her son as some sort of monster who's pressuring her into doing what she did, including sending Shigeru to his sort-of doom.

... should I even believe either at this point?

 

[SSJR2]

Okay, so maybe the mom or Sei is schizophrenic??? I don't know, completely lost at this point lol. All i know is one or both of them must have mental issues.

 

[alessaaa]

it really feels like this is just sei trying to rationalize his moms actions by pinning it all on himself-- especially since he hasn't done that previously. i'm keen on trusting the author showed us the true, accurate events at the start- back then, sei was co-dependant, but not struggling with reality like he has been lately.

 

[djamel90]

did the author draw a new character or what? because we've seen sei interact with other characters that was just fine and he never showed those symptoms that this author suddenly implanted in him. idk whats the plot in here anymore but if the author decided to draw MC as bad guy then he did really bad job at portraying it throughout this manga

 

[cyjonek]

Mmmm, okay. That's some creepy shit here.

 

[GeneraleRusso]

Did Junji Ito possess Oshimi? Jesus, i'm creeped to no end.

 

[Karoku]

??????????????

 

[nonexistent696969]

dangg

 

[Hiruel22]

I hope that Sei is just trying to justify his mom actions and nothing else pls. I don't think that Oshimi is gonna fuck this up implying that Seiichi all this time have been the cause of his mom being like that cuz at this point that doesn't make sense.

 

[Soracifer]

I Guess till now we saw the story in the delusional perspective of Seichi, this Is probably the real aspect of world and character? Probably the girl he likes Is also pretty ugly

 

[Tinson]

I think that Sei has been feeling guilty for his mother getting arrested and trying to justify his mother actions by placing himself as her burden, so it's kind of like Stockholm syndrome I guess? I don't think this is the real Sei or the real scenario, he's just going crazy with how messed up his life is.

 

[Jet20829]

Yes

 

[shokaiko]

wtf

 

[H_G_L]

joker all over again hahaha. thanks so much for translation the is crazy hahaha

 

[DevLogger]

I'm waiting for the reveal that this actually all the delusion of the Father! He's feeling really stressed and guilty, and is having a terrible dream about it all! That, would make a lot more sense, I believe. Seiichi was on the path of recovery, got a cute girlfriend, and had broken away from his miserable home life, only to...suddenly feel some kind of massive regret over it all? This is a bit of a paradox, some might say: if he really is the bad guy in the story, he's not going to be feeling regret, he might even be satisfied that he's caused so much anguish; if he's not evil, why feel regret when Seiko was guilty all along? I guess, one might say that (good) Seiichi is feeling regret for his father's sake, but it's doubtful since daddy did not appear in this sequence.

That is why I hate this kind of unreliable narrator trope: the author can basically come up with shit on the fly, without really having to tie it back to events that have already happened, because "everything was a delusion", and gaslighting ensues. Everyone being confused about what's really going on is not a success in storytelling, imo.