So, I think that it's still the Mom being the bad one here. She's been gaslighting him so hard that his own mental state involves gaslighting himself into finding a means to blame and hate himself more so instead of her. After all, this "conversation" with his cousin and then his Mother is not actually happening, he's having a mental breakdown or experiencing a nightmare while asleep right now that has him dreaming about her and the incident, and he's so damaged by it that his perception here is twisted even in his thoughts and dreams about it.
Blood on the Tracks
- Thread starter MangaDex
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mom schizo and son cope
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Yikes, I feel bad for the mom now,,,
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@lonelypotatoonabench
@Takuism
I'm not surprised that the mother probably has some sort of past trauma herself, but the way the author is revealing it is starting to reach the point of bad writing for me personally. For every asshole that exists out there, they were usually raised or influenced by other bad experiences/people in their life first and are just coping as an adult at some point.
@Takuism
A pretty reasonable take and I hope it's the one we're left with, but I wouldn't be surprised if the writing starts to just go all over the place for a bit more "crazy" because the author tends to have a good idea that develops well into the mid point of the manga, but then they don't know how to have an ending that gives proper closure to everything that was built up and usually reach a dumpsterfire of an ending. At least that's the trend I've noticed in their past works.
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i feel like sometimes this manga goes deeper than i could understand, i think it's very well-written it's a really great psychological story and shows toxic parenting in a excellent way. i'm not sure what the latest chapters are bringing to the story but i have high hopes.
Dex-chan lover
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This manga is as deep as it is forced, it's not making you think, it's FORCING you to think on purpose for the plot, that's how I feel anyways, cause I was super invested in this when I first started, but these last 5 chapters it just feels like I'm only reading them cause I wanna reach the finish line, there's no really intriguing feel to it or anticipation for the next chapter, also couldn't care less which path this ending takes, bad or good I just want it to be done.
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I'm literally afraid of Oshimi Shuzo since I've read his previous works. I can't start reading this lol
Just had a 2-hour marathon and here I am. By following the mindset that "it was the son all along", you are literally being gaslit by the narrative. Let's be logic, a child at that age can and will always be victimised and/or antagonised by their parent(s) and never the other way round. The son has experienced several mental meltdown, causing him to either drift away from or get close to his mother. Regardless of how he tries to convince himself that he is innocent, the years long of being manipulated and gaslit by his own mother make it difficult to tear away from his attachment to her. The conversation he had in the latest chapters are made up by his own belief and the segmented words from his mother's interrogation, but never the words that she said her own. She constantly said that she projected her childhood onto him, in other words projected her own traumas onto him, imposing an image of atone onto him rather than his true self. It is how she perceives him, and he succumbs to that poorly graphed together perception that she had fed him to believe, at least for the time being. And unless he is finally able to unlearn that perception, he can never be "his own person".
Plot-wise, I think we are reaching the stage where we start to explore Seiko's past and the traumas that have driven her. However, unless we know about that from her own perspective, we can fall for Seiichi's untrustworthy narrative about her, which is built up on scattered evidence and a lot of assumptions.
Plot-wise, I think we are reaching the stage where we start to explore Seiko's past and the traumas that have driven her. However, unless we know about that from her own perspective, we can fall for Seiichi's untrustworthy narrative about her, which is built up on scattered evidence and a lot of assumptions.
10/10 After reading it all in one sitting I can only think of two problems (but the seconds more important). 1 the pp thing like really? With no stimulations other than a kiss it’s a bit retarded but it’s passable if you make some head cannon. 2 What’s happening in chapter 90 if this is all not a nightmare then this was not properly foreshadowed you may argue that it is but this seems like a big stretch for such a grounded and well written series with little coincidences. If this is a episode then that’s all fine but if she’s really there at that place at 4am and not going into his house I can’t buy it. This seems like a fever dream more than anything.
Fed-Kun's army
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I saw it coming a mile off bit I'm still surprised
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The MC was abused by his mom, and similarly his mom was mistreated- maybe she was unstable to begin with- but she was further pushed to the edge to the point she wanted to disappear even early in his childhood- by the relatives.
I'm not defending the mother's actions, but rather saying- as with most things and most people- there's a context. She was made the way she was just like you're made the way you are.
As someone who can sympathize a lot with the story- no tossing kids off cliffs involved nor tearing up love letters- but plenty of corporal punishment, moving countless times, isolating from extended family and later after shit went down- a fair bit of undeniable abuse (both my parents were fucked up, then, quite frankly)- that's how it is.
I appreciate the author making a more complex character- not a villain so much as just a fucked up person as all people are (I'll just go and say I agree with the whole "humans are the real monsters" trope, not all are, but to not be one is something that needs to be built, learnt, given the right environment).
Can you feel sympathy for the mom and then also denounce what she did? Yeah. Can you feel sympathy for people and hate them- even knowing their buttons due to the power of empathy- use them to destroy them? Also, yes. And so on. I wouldn't say the mom is necessarily "irredeemable," but forgiveness is just that- sentiment, and not something owed or whatnot. Some things, most things can't be undone. You just have to live with it and move on.
In a sense I'd bring up Hitler as an example of sympathy, though- if you want to look his history up. Grew up possibly an illegitimate child (ironically possibly part Jewish as a result), had an abusive asshole of a father whose Austrian nationalism probably contributed more than a bit to Hitler's pan-Germanism (as a middle finger to his father's beliefs), experienced homelessness in Vienna and failed to get into art school, and went through the traumas of the first world war and experienced mustard gas-
He's a monster, but the worst monsters are always human. I don't say that to claim some "let's treat everybody kindly," "both sides," or whatever bullshit pacifistic wishy-washy nonsense, but rather because when you acknowledge that you're no longer just dealing with the idea of them, but them themselves. Empathy allows for better cooperation- better animosity- even, when deserved, better cruelty and retribution.
I'm not defending the mother's actions, but rather saying- as with most things and most people- there's a context. She was made the way she was just like you're made the way you are.
As someone who can sympathize a lot with the story- no tossing kids off cliffs involved nor tearing up love letters- but plenty of corporal punishment, moving countless times, isolating from extended family and later after shit went down- a fair bit of undeniable abuse (both my parents were fucked up, then, quite frankly)- that's how it is.
I appreciate the author making a more complex character- not a villain so much as just a fucked up person as all people are (I'll just go and say I agree with the whole "humans are the real monsters" trope, not all are, but to not be one is something that needs to be built, learnt, given the right environment).
Can you feel sympathy for the mom and then also denounce what she did? Yeah. Can you feel sympathy for people and hate them- even knowing their buttons due to the power of empathy- use them to destroy them? Also, yes. And so on. I wouldn't say the mom is necessarily "irredeemable," but forgiveness is just that- sentiment, and not something owed or whatnot. Some things, most things can't be undone. You just have to live with it and move on.
In a sense I'd bring up Hitler as an example of sympathy, though- if you want to look his history up. Grew up possibly an illegitimate child (ironically possibly part Jewish as a result), had an abusive asshole of a father whose Austrian nationalism probably contributed more than a bit to Hitler's pan-Germanism (as a middle finger to his father's beliefs), experienced homelessness in Vienna and failed to get into art school, and went through the traumas of the first world war and experienced mustard gas-
He's a monster, but the worst monsters are always human. I don't say that to claim some "let's treat everybody kindly," "both sides," or whatever bullshit pacifistic wishy-washy nonsense, but rather because when you acknowledge that you're no longer just dealing with the idea of them, but them themselves. Empathy allows for better cooperation- better animosity- even, when deserved, better cruelty and retribution.
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@Thanastar
I personally think it's just the MC gaslighting himself into thinking it was his fault when it really wasn't. It's something victims do. He wasn't necessarily seeing his mother's actions through her eyes. So the entire part with his mom being "pressured" was just his warped take on it. Again, gaslighting himself.
Also, I'd say it has less to do with "acknowledging bad guys are bad guys for a reason." I find that this is more about there being no reason. His mom is mentally ill. And honestly, that's enough to be "complex." Sometimes there's no real motive behind actions, and there's not always a tragic backstory. Sometimes there's just a crazy fucking mom.
Even if the mom did have significant trauma, I would feel no sympathy. The same goes for Hitler. Having an understanding of why someone is the way they are doesn't help me sympathize with them. It's simply an understanding. Empathy? Sure. But no, not sympathy. No disheartening past can make me feel sympathy for murderers. I only feel sympathy for victims; for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I personally think it's just the MC gaslighting himself into thinking it was his fault when it really wasn't. It's something victims do. He wasn't necessarily seeing his mother's actions through her eyes. So the entire part with his mom being "pressured" was just his warped take on it. Again, gaslighting himself.
Also, I'd say it has less to do with "acknowledging bad guys are bad guys for a reason." I find that this is more about there being no reason. His mom is mentally ill. And honestly, that's enough to be "complex." Sometimes there's no real motive behind actions, and there's not always a tragic backstory. Sometimes there's just a crazy fucking mom.
Even if the mom did have significant trauma, I would feel no sympathy. The same goes for Hitler. Having an understanding of why someone is the way they are doesn't help me sympathize with them. It's simply an understanding. Empathy? Sure. But no, not sympathy. No disheartening past can make me feel sympathy for murderers. I only feel sympathy for victims; for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Never have I read a manga that could keep squeezing my heart like this. Pure pleasure. Oshimi Shuzo is immensely talented, well, apart from making decent male main characters imo. They are a bit too brain-dead to me in his works, not like it matters to me that much.
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