Boy's Abyss - Ch. 183 - They Were the Boys and Girls of That Town

[paela69]

https://forums.mangadex.org/threads/boys-abyss-ch-182-nobodys-there.1816729/post-22186180

I WAS ALMOST RIGHT LAST CHAPTER, GODDAMMIT MINENAMI-SENSEI YOU ABSOLUTE GOAT

 

[Hyperssensei]

Thank you for this amazing series. I've been reading this for 3 years since I started university. I will look back at this series remembering my young adulthood.

 

[Madbunny]

I will post Ryo's reply to a reader that was on her twitter here:

Thank you very much!

Shiba-chan was consistent until the end and was the best heroine. 🎉

Yuko has permanently won over Akira, so she was finally able to separate from Rei.

By anon:

Yuko was able to let go of Reiji because Esemori embraced her feelings fully in the end. That's something his younger self wasn't able to do.
Read another way, by playing along with Yuko's delusion, she realized Akira was no longer the incel he was in the past who rejected her because she was defiled. He accepted her entirely despite not being the real father.

While he didn't take her with him in death, he took the emotional curse that she held all those years off of her shoulders.

 

[FullTimeWeeb]

Ending was kinda weird, but i stayed for the psychological impact it gave me o7

 

[Beatrice]

I will post Ryo's reply to a reader that was on her twitter here:

By anon:

Yuko was able to let go of Reiji because Esemori embraced her feelings fully in the end. That's something his younger self wasn't able to do.
Read another way, by playing along with Yuko's delusion, she realized Akira was no longer the incel he was in the past who rejected her because she was defiled. He accepted her entirely despite not being the real father.

While he didn't take her with him in death, he took the emotional curse that she held all those years off of her shoulders.

That's a stupid interpretation. Yuko has never been described as delusional to my knowledge. Never had the luxury. She always believed Esemori was the father, so that must have been plausible to her.

 

[hungvenuss]

They're living together at the mountains working for Shino'oka.

wow,really?

 

[Hardik_7547]

Um... WTF!? Well, thanks a lot for the translations.

 

[Madbunny]

That's a stupid interpretation. Yuko has never been described as delusional to my knowledge. Never had the luxury. She always believed Esemori was the father, so that must have been plausible to her.

It is ambiguous, it can or not be. I also believe she was never delusional, only Esemori's tho.

 

[ItsukiLonelyDriver]

wow,really?

yes, on page 22 Gen says: "that woman's living with them, right?", the woman he's referring to is Nagi, since he doesn't like her he wouldn't want to meet her, and Reiji is in the truck in the parking lot when Chako waves to say hello.

 

[Aezeryel]

thank god this manga is finally fucking over

i'm assuming that was Reiji waving in the truck on page 23? this guy really dragged us and every other character in the series through his 183 chapter journey of suicidal ideation and he didn't even go through with it in the end. not gonna miss this manga one bit

If you disliked it that much, why not drop it?

 

[Beatrice]

It is ambiguous, it can or not be. I also believe she was never delusional, only Esemori's tho.

It is definitely ambiguous. I moreso meant that the poster was inserting too much when the meaning is simply that Esemori was finally accepting Yuko and doing something right for her, which finally set Reiji and Yuko free. Whether he's actually the father didn't matter in this context.

 

[punpunpun]

If you disliked it that much, why not drop it?

i dislike trainwrecks but it's hard to look away from one in slow motion. there's something to be said about the spectacle, if nothing else.

 

[vanCham]

Um, okay?

 

[sunafururu]

Man that sure is an ending.

So it's clear to me that the guy in the truck is Reiji. No other male characters have light hair, and the way Chako talks about him, I can't see him being dead. And the only person Gen told not to wait for him with Reiji, so literally could only be him. Meaning "that woman" is likely Nagi.

I think Reiji's mother finally snapping at him and him getting to yell back at her was the closure he needed to get past the abyss. She was the final thing actually weighing him down and tying him to the town. I feel like this would have been more obvious with even just a few more pages of Ryo's signature "characters looking at things with certain expressions to convey feelings" panels, which we might just get in the tankoban.

They did set up Reiji possibly finding peace in the mountain village where Shino'oka lived, I just didn't expect that plot point to come back after Reiji's continued descent.

Kinda hate that we got a last minute fakeout with Nagi's true name (people keep saying it was Haru, no, that was one of the many fake names she used while living with Mao, which is why her real name was censored in the flashback).

Honestly, this is the ending I was expecting. A cut-away with a flash-forward that only hints at the good ending, almost exactly like how Himegoto ended, complete with a last minute redemption for the guy who was a creep to the protagonist, did a crime, and became a shut-in (Gen in Abyss, Nemoto in Himegoto).

(Also ftr this is only a few years later, not 20 like some folks are assuming. Age-20 release refers to Gen being released now that he's an adult, ie 20 years old, implying he was previously charged as a juvenile.)

Sensei, however, feels completely ignored in the ending, which is odd for her having clearly been an author's favorite. I think I would have liked her abandoning Mao in front of a hospital more, or even just leaving him on a bridge for thematic purposes. Sensei going full Misery on the guy is just a little out of left field.

Also I just gotta say: Yuko being on her death bed up until Esemori died is just weird as hell. She seems pretty fine now??? So it's weird that we're also not really getting a resolution for her either.

All in all: I guess I won't really feel satisfied until I see what gets added for the tankoban so I can make my final thoughts.

 

[ninjasamuri]

https://imgur.com/C5kxhLL

Respect for using a 1999 HxH meme

 

[ninjasamuri]

Sensei going full Misery on the guy is just a little out of left field.

Well you can't just let a Pedophile live, he had to be dealt with somehow, Introducing his character at all, especially this late was a massive mistake but once it's done it has to be resolved one way or another

 

[Rumimi]

was honestly kinda into ending it with an actual lover's suicide but it's sweet the author wanted to give them some relief.

this feels like the only way reiji and his mom could close things out and keep it positive, so happy ending, i think.

wish we had more time with gen or an epilogue for yuri. im so sure she roasted one dude tho bc geez. what a night to lose everything. what a night.

unless... she's with....nagi...and reiji now...............?

 

[AcidVlad]

What a disappointment I'm glad I never bought the volumes in the end. SnK-like ass end tbh

 

[fgsfdss]

Thank you When/BCS for the quality across the entire series.
Looking forward to the epilogue.

 

[Absent666]

yes, on page 22 Gen says: "that woman's living with them, right?", the woman he's referring to is Nagi, since he doesn't like her he wouldn't want to meet her, and Reiji is in the truck in the parking lot when Chako waves to say hello.

And the only person Gen told not to wait for him with Reiji, so literally could only be him. Meaning "that woman" is likely Nagi.

The actual line is

Datte, ano onna to kurashite'n daro?

Besides, he is living with that woman, isn't he?

Text in the RAWs, plus the final art Ryou uploaded with Rei and Nagi as 20 and 23yo adults respectively makes it a bit more explicit about that woman being Nagi.