Boy's Abyss - Vol. 17 Ch. 164 - Shadow

[straightlycurved]

I'm too dumb for this shit.

 

[Ignore]

Reiji, please don't stick your dick in her. At this point I'd even be fine with you fucking your own mom, but don't ruin this nice lady too

The better question is, can the mangaka resist the cheap shock value of Reiji and his mom getting together?

 

[Ignore]

I mean people do tend to default to poverty olympics when they want to shoot something down.

Dude, most of the USA is way worse off than this town.

 

[Camillionaire]

At this point I can't keep track of all the backstories and shocking reveals and "Here's the truth..."s. I'm just here to see who wins the Reijibowl and if Miss Shibasawa finally totally cracks.

 

[Ignore]

That's some "you shouldn't be depressed because a starving African child has it worse than you" tier of argument.

Compared to the town as shown and described, the EU and USA are hellscapes.

 

[noneedtothink]

Not gonna lie, I'm so confused I forgot who Reiji's dad is.. if that was ever revealed because I'm lost at this point

I almost forgot that thing even on the topic of the whole series

 

[Remedil]

Let's all jump into the abyss together

 

[F3mb0I69]

It's about time already someone made hentai doujin of Reiji with his mom

It’s the right thing to do.

 

[Keetonman]

I wonder how many more corners the mangaka will write themselves into and then out of again.

 

[darkeden112]

I can fix Reiji's mom!

 

[D0ncoming5torm]

Mine

The better question is, can the mangaka resist the cheap shock value of Reiji and his mom getting together?

Minenami-sensei:"I might have one, but I am NOT a pussy!"

 

[danbellucci]

10 chapters later the mum wakes up and says
"so that's what she told you, huh? No, what REALLY happened at Lover's Abyss is...."
20 chapters later Reiji's REAL dad returns
" She still thinks that after all this time, eh? It's about time I told you what REALLY happened at Lover's Abyss"

 

[ALacie]

If I'm understanding correctly, Yuko was willing to die with Uryu, but when Nozoe said he'd die with them too, Yuko kicked Uryu away to prevent Nozoe from following through with it. Yuko decided to keep living and killed Uryu to prevent Nozoe from committing suicide with them.

There was no grand manipulation or anything. Nozoe couldn't imagine a life without Yuko, and Yuko didn't want Nozoe to die. That's what drove their actions that day.

 

[Absent666]

If I'm understanding correctly, Yuko was willing to die with Uryu, but when Nozoe said he'd die with them too, Yuko kicked Uryu away to prevent Nozoe from following through with it. Yuko decided to keep living and killed Uryu to prevent Nozoe from committing suicide with them.

There was no grand manipulation or anything. Nozoe couldn't imagine a life without Yuko, and Yuko didn't want Nozoe to die. That's what drove their actions that day.

The actual truth was that she wasn't willing to kill herself, but was coherced to die with Uryu. It was the version she said to the police too, because the incident reached the local press. She was crying a river when Akira caught them before Uryu pushed her to the river too (ch. 104). Yuko even told Akira if Uryu was rescued, he would've ended up murdering Yuko nevertheless (ch106).

Esemori basically hallucinated with a Yuko who was a teasing floating corpse, when in reality, she just wanted to live with Akira.

 

[Sloth295]

So Yuko did love Esemori.

always has been, but tragedies coming one after another

 

[jonnywarlock]

I'm so numb towards this manga and almost everyone involved in it that that revelation had me going "Huh. Would you look at that."

 

[Rogojinen]

I think it was far from a useless clarification. Reading back on ch 104, there was a clear artistic license in the panel where Yuko suddenly had her white night gown, and here reality shatters Nozoe's ideal and artistic blur. That was Akira's whole struggle in that arc, he couldn't be there for Yuko because the fucked up environnment she was a victim of messed with his teenage romance. It's fine, he was just a kid, but Yuko was too.

So, yes, she wanted to live and she wanted to be with Akira. She's real, not one of Akira's edgy characters or prior to that one of his fantasies.

I also feel again terrible for Uryu, who was pretty much used like Gen after. He showed up for Yuko, but it seems the murder took its tool on him, add to that potential other manipulations as he took the brunt of Yuko's reaction and malevolent turn. Since she couldn't rely on anyone, she'd start to use others to eliminate those harming her.

This is why Uryu said "Oh" and got it when Akira said he was going to die with them. Not saying that he saw then in him another guy wrapped around Yuko's orbit (not entirely untrue), but mostly just another guy that couldn't stand another this whole whirlwind of dark shit around her they've been roped into. And the tragedy being that Yuko wanted none of it, and showed she clearly didn't see the two guys the same way. He ruined his life for a girl, that saw him as the next best thing.

She was fine with Uryu killing himself but not Akira. So since he proved he loved her by showing up this time and saving her, she returned the favor and affirmed herself to, while killing to protect their love.

With the way I'm reading this now, there might have been a way for it to end well, right on the riverbank, but it was clearly snuffed out once the outside world crept back in. A teen died, so yep, hard to be all lovey dovey after that and plan your escape to the big city.

So Nozoe held on even more to his ideal of Yuko and dedicated hs life to put it to print; and Yuko kept on working on the ways to cope she came up on her own (I'm going to have a child in this town) + putting through hell everyone in her orbit so that they'd stay (miserable) with her + killing anyone harming her or her coping bubble.

This is depressing, because all are very human and realistic in their contradictions, and limited followthrough. Despite how they abused her, Yuko never managed to give up on being a good daughter helping her family, when she should have gotten them all arrested and fucked off to Tokyo. Same for Akira, he was under the impression that he couldn't do anything for Yuko but frankly, I can't remember him trying anything at all, except running away literally, or talking to her to access the damage since last time. He's a coward and a terrible friend.

So for Reiji, with the end in sight, I think he should take from this that it's healthy to be selfish. He should at the same time aknowledge his mother's pain while making it clear it doesn't absolve her for her own share of blame and agency.

 

[Lustrist]

SHE WANTS TO LIVE

 

[lastKANAshimi]

an interesting note is that from esemori's telling of the story, he managed to do something for yuko, even if he thought he was manipulated into doing so while in this telling, yuko was the one who decided and acted.

in the end they might have wanted to be together but they were too incompatible at this point and only managed to see what they wanted to see.

 

[Angoldd]

In a few chapters in the future:

Reiji wakes up, totally disoriented.

Reiji, sweetheart, you finally wake up! You've been in a coma for 4 years!

His mother, Yuko, informs him, while her husband Nozoe comforts her.