Crime and Punishment - A Falsified Romance

joe

Joined
Mar 3, 2018
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Stumbled upon it because it was featured on main page. Speaking of featured works, I wish it was more higher so you wouldn't have to scroll for it as it would be more exposed to people.

Speaking of manga it was quite enjoyable, I'd say time well spent. In high school "Crime and Punishment" is mandatory book in literature classes in Russia and CIS countries. Looking back at it now I wish I actually read that book, but at the same time I think it doesn't really matter if I didn't read it. Throughout all time of literature classes you're sort of forced to read books which are written by men and women who are probably smarter than you and definitely have more real life experience than you. These books rarely make any sense for school kids and furthermore you can't really spend much time with teacher analyzing and discussing it because next book is waiting its turn. To be fair I've never read the book myself at the time, but I remember having shits and giggles talking about my friends about Raskolnikov killing that old lady. Now I am older and I know I'd never understand it, I guess I should pick it up (again) and do my homework.
 
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Mar 24, 2018
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Read the actual book. I'm not a big reader, but was forced to do so as a part of high school curriculum, and in retrospect am glad i did.

This retelling is not bad per se, but often so unbearably on the nose with referencing source material, that it begs the question how much exactly of value its own merits are.
 
Joined
Aug 18, 2018
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The manga follows ideals closely from Crime and Punishment as the manga was based on the book. Though the manga may not be a complete original idea, I believe the mangagaka did a fantastic job at retelling the story into a modern manga format.

The manga gives a great introduction into the actual book if one has not read it before or vice versa. The ideas are fascinating and the thought process of the characters are riveting.

As you can tell by the use of adjectives, I think highly of this work. Maybe cause I'm a lot older than when I first read the book, but at the same time not that old.

This is a manga that I would highly suggest for anyone looking for a manga that is more realistic, in the sense of emotion and thought process, to a very interesting storyline.
 
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May 1, 2019
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I vaguely remember reading this in high school. Didn't finish it. The only thing that stuck with me was how neurotic the main character was. This manga gets that point across for me fairly well. All the rape was too on the nose for me.
 
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Aug 1, 2019
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this manga is so bad at storytelling, the logics are flawed, the motives behind the murder and suicide are meh,... what did I just read omg
 
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Feb 15, 2018
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(spoilers)

As someone who loves the original Crime and Punishment and just recently reread it...

The first half of this manga is really special. I felt like the mangaka did a good job modernizing the story while keeping the original themes and ideals that were conveyed in the original Raskolnikov. Miroku's dingy tatami room, the luridly obscene red light district... Tokyo is a very good setting to retell the events from Dostoyevsky's St. Petersburg. I LOVED how the old woman was transformed into a JK scumlord of a prostitution ring... I loved every part of Miroku's plan, and all the details that went into making it unique from the original. Incorporating the yakuza was also interesting, and it gave a lot of meaning to why the MC ended up having to confess in a public space. The first part with Risa was so enticing. I was shaking when she walked into the apartment, when she called him her hero and held him in her hands. Very very impactful scene. OG Lisaveta was purely a device to sully the righteous theory of Raskolnikov's plan. She was an innocent bystander, whose death he had no way of justifying to himself. However, even though Miroku kills Risa out of hate, her death wonderfully torments him all the same.

I found that Miroku is much more sentimental than Raskolnikov. In Tsumi to Batsu, MC is very obsessed with his own identity and the sacredness of his thoughts. Since he grew up feeling owned by the path carved out for him by his mother and sister, he wants to prove to himself that he can make a life all for himself. I felt like this was a very interesting approach to the original concept of committing a crime to free oneself. It's not really explored in the original book, but I think it was a worthwhile analysis and provided a new perspective. Raskolnikov's vice lies in his need to live under his ideal, and that he could not escape from his own unrelenting code of honour. Raskolnikov could not bear to watch his theory of the will to power crumble as he tried to live under it, and that was the source of his internal suffering. Meanwhile Miroku is more shallow in that regard. He adopts those ideals from Sudo, when he realizes that he is not really living.

It was a little annoying being constantly reminded of how attractive he is, how much of a genius he is... My boy Rodya was good looking, but he also never showered and Razumikhin has to buy him clothes so that he doesn't go out in literal rags. He was a man who was so detached from the world, he lived solely in his head. Miroku comes off as egoistical and flighty. Especially towards the end, I lost all respect for him. Miroku never had any true beliefs, he has no core. He just wanted to be like Sudo. He is a hollow manga protagonist.

At first I really did like Echika, I genuinely liked her relationship with the teacher and his kids, it was an interesting way to build that wretched family. I did miss the original Katerina Ivanovich's descent into madness and her coughing, she is revived in this story as the teacher's mother but she doesn't really say or do much. I liked that the mangaka decided to make Echika a more volatile character than Sonya, who on the other hand is a blinding figure of magnamity that would rescue even Mephistopheles from sinfulness. Echika is guilty in her own right, and in this adaptation she and Miroku have a very distinct kinship from the original couple's. I thought it was an interesting take. It could've been good.

Though I think that the mangaka here has a bit of a weird fetish with exploiting high school girls... Why did she take off her clothes when her husband died..? I thought that was tacky, especially since that scene is re-emphasized often. Sonya is my favorite character in the original book and I can't help but feel that her adaptation was handled carelessly. I feel like the mangaka did not really let her redeem herself. Sonya has a lot of epic moments where you can feel her hand of judgement strike down mercilessly on Raskolnikov. Yes she was also a prostitute, but Dostoyevsky handled it very tastefully, while still retaining the depth of her shame in carefully measured doses. Meanwhile Echika just roughs Miroku up a little, then tells him to go confess otherwise she'll won't feel comfortable trusting him. Their dynamic lacks that critical juxtaposition of a CRIMINAL and a PUNISHER--that was the impact that the couple in the original book had. Was it really necessary to show her getting raped over and over again...? I am definitely not a faint of heart, it's not as if I'm too vanilla and squeamish. But it was overdone to a point where it began to lose meaning. Sonya is the character through which Dostoyevsky's true feelings are channeled through the most. I felt like it was very weak to strip her of all her pride and lower her into a position of being merely Miroku's love interest.

Yoshino is cute. I can't believe the mangaka took the gun-firing scene away from her. She gets no character development just like every other character in the second half.

As you can tell, I started to feel a little bored towards the end of the manga. I'm one of the few people who actually loves the ending of C&P where Raskolnikov is happily eating cockroach soup, so it's not because I'm disappointed in the positive resolution. Since Yoshino (Dunya) and uh... Razumikhin's counterpart (I can't even remember his name because he's so forgettable) are not fleshed out characters at all, the story really just loses a lot of its value. I don't know why it had to end up that way. The beginning had such good characters, it was enthralling. But towards the end... It just becomes a cheesy story of a guy who finds love and sacrifices everything for his girlfriend.

The art is very nice. I noticed the subtle references to the OG work in the names that were chosen. Risa - Lisaveta, Baba Hikaru - old woman, Sonoyama - Sonya. I liked that. Overall I enjoyed it and think it's a decent adaptation. Even with a 10-foot pole it doesn't come close to being a replacement to Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment though. So if you liked this, go pick up the original book please! It's really cool! Sonya maji tenshi! 😇
 
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May 19, 2020
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Brilliant. If you read and enjoyed the original, this adaptation has plenty to offer!
 
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Apr 20, 2020
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I'm about halfway through this but I am impressed by the story telling so far. This feels like a gem in the rough, it takes a while to really hook you in but once it does it sucks you in. I'm so glad I managed to find this even though I was searching for a good yandere romance manga.
 
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@gomi
Well said. I agree with most with what you said. I personal like the ending because it ends on a very humane ending.
 
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Jul 19, 2020
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Found this manga while searching with my favoruite tags, didn't dissapoint.

I never read the original novel but I did read a similiar manga but shorter, "The Bone of an Invisible Person", so I kinda expect where it was going.

I like where it goes at start but I can't stop but hoping of different ending sometimes, not that I don't like this one but I want to know what happen had he take different choice.
 
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everything could be avoided if only he and his sister just be honest with each other.. committing incest to avoid murder!
 

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