Boy's Abyss - Ch. 174 - Accomplice

[Absent666]

How would Mao even know who Reiji is?
How would he know to call Reiji?
Why would he open with “Esemori’s wife’s uncle” instead of his name?

The writing has been abysmal, it feels so rushed.

Just think in how the events happened:

Chako airs Nagi's marriage with Esemori.
Nagi's past gets doxxed in japanese chan forums and SNS.
Journos snoop around
Nagi suddenly disappears, raising more curiosity.
Mao very likely saw this and because it's very likely his involvement in Nagi's past also got leaked and may have lost everything, reputation and wife as a consequence, had no options, but to reach Esemori, who pointed him in Reiji's direction.

The other option is that:

given Nagi's missing and Esemori entered into predeath unconsciousness (under extreme sedation and end of life care), a relative is the next in the inheritance list and the police or the hospital admin reached Mao to begin the inheritance and funeral arrangements.

 

[TheUniqueRandy]

How would Mao even know who Reiji is?
How would he know to call Reiji?
Why would he open with “Esemori’s wife’s uncle” instead of his name?

The writing has been abysmal, it feels so rushed.

You didn't pay attention.

 

[Camillionaire]

He'll immediately found mao before even searching for him 💀

It's pretty easy to be a detective when your perp returns your phone call. Dunno why TV makes it look so hard!

 

[Judaskiss]

You didn't pay attention.

Methinks it’s the opposite, I’m trying to piece together events logically instead of using rushed manga ways of thinking.

 

[distress]

Damm, did the hard work for him lol

 

[Eighty-six]

Abyss survived 2 axe attempts (around vol. 7 and around vol. 13) because it's popular on digital in Japan and was the top 1 manga in the YJ app amongst a certain demographics (25-30yo women), despite of the low physical sales.

It may be surprising, but abyss final year is being sustained by overseas popularity, especially on tiktok. People just found out about this manga this late.

That is... wild to hear, especially as a person who reads and hears American nerds massively overestimate and generally misunderstand the typical impact of overseas consumption of manga.

I'm not doubting your word-- I'm surprised that the circumstances are such that someone who seems to recognize the aforementioned fallacy is also able to allege what you're alleging.

(The "popular among young adult women" stat is believable, though-- this is absolutely a soap opera in manga form. The fact that this is marketed as seinen boggles the mind.)

 

[Eighty-six]

I’m so confused as to why people call this psychotic pedophilic teacher a best girl. Is it a reference to something?

Especially earlier in the manga, she was very obviously the "catalyst" character that pushed the narrative along in her tainted efforts to help Reiji. In general, she's a very charismatic and entertaining character (personally, I like her facial expressions-- she makes the best facial expressions).

As a matter of fact, her appeal to some readers is precisely that she is a psychotic and possessive school teacher. They find that attractive, if only within the bounds of a comic.

"Best girl" is fundamentally "female character I like", and the story is such that the reader is conditioned to lower their standards and appreciate some pretty reprehensible-on-paper characters. Regardless, there's not necessarily a moral component to the attribution.

Thing is: one can have flaws, but when the character itself is those flaws and embraces them without wanting to improve herself is when it becomes repulsive.

Isn't that still a story being told? Character development can be seen as the character becoming worse or better. We have seen sensei change so much in the plot from being seen as a "reasonable teacher" to a "yandere soon-to-be-wife." I think that a lots people fail today that characters aren't mean to be so black and white rather any shade of grey. That's why I like sensei and she's not even my favorite. Chako is my favorite character. You could talk so much about how twisted she's become from craving love.

I think you two are talking about two different things: the affinity to a character, and the impact of their story.

I don't think either of you are particularly wrong, furthermore-- a character that embraces destructive flaws can be viewed as "repulsive", and they can regardless still have an impactful story. Repulsion is a reader reaction, though, not an attribute of a character.