Hagure Idol Jigokuhen - Vol. 5 Ch. 30 - Keep My Secret, Please

[Raknasuu]

@Superoniichan

"Cautionary tale"

I haven't heard that word since I had to speedran through Emergence twice a year ago. If anything this manga and Metamorphosis have some stuff in common, so your apparently overthought interpretation might not be too far off the nail. We still have quite a lot of material to cover, so it wouldn't surprise me if it ends up that way. Kinda fucked up because as I did with Meta's MC, I like Misora quite a bit _{after all stakes in this manga are always so fucking high. Even when apparently no bad consequences occur thanks to Misora herself}

Having said all that and coming from the perspective of someone who found it hard to digest the first few chapters, I would say that the low score of 6 is not a matter of quality in the story nor the art but it's content. It's just because it depicts rape and there are a whole fucking lot of ugly bastards when people just want some material to jerk off. And even if you have the specific kinks to beat the meat to a specific chapter on here most people would still will find it hard to do so, or the next page the action would suddenly get turned into a fucked up mess, going out of their way to gross out the readers. So, the message or the situations characters go through get the spotlight over just plain erotica even when those "I wanna give my readers some hot-stuff" moments occur. The testimony to that is this comment section, always trying to make sense of this thing over the usual "Fuck, that was hot" we'll get on your average ecchi/smut manga.

So, hear me out: Tsugumomo and this series are actually pretty similar, they even share some of the tags making both series infamous and yet Tsugumomo manages to keep a score over 8.30. I'd like to state fourth crucial points for now: The first one is just that the amount of erotica in Tsugumomo is just much more... Which is only true in an stadistical level as it has been running for way much more time. The second one is that the author managed to stablish a power system that lightly relies on sexual intercourse but it's actually interesting without that. That makes readers forgive all the fucked up situations characters are made to go through. The third one is just that the main character in that series could be considered a self-insert to a certain extent. And the fourth one and maybe the most important of all of 'em... It's a battle shonen with high elements of fantasy set on the real world while this series is a realistic setting with exceptional individuals going through hard situations entirely possible IRL, _{stuff that could happen to you and me.}

Maybe the word I'm searching for is escapism. I don't get much of that from here and people generally consume media looking precisely for that escape. It's different if you get grossed out in a horror story or a fantasy setting. That can't happen. With this we get this constant sense of "Maybe this is actually happening"

 

[SuperOniichan]

@Raknasuu The problem is that Tsugumomo initially plays everything like a joke and enjoys its toxicity. Hagure also initially says "yeh, this is problematic shit", but its attempt into feminism and social commentary just makes it too serious. It's like Takagi-san is trying to talk to you about bullying, you just start feel uncomfortable with her lovably teasing. As I said, it would be a perfect smut as the current Yuri Baki, but thanks to the volumes before that, it sets you up for a completely different perception.

 

[Raknasuu]

@Superoniichan

Now I am curious about your stance in Nagatoro which has kinda heavy bullying on it's first chapters and the teasing is plain old psychological abuse. Tbh I'll never forget that first chapter, I couldn't understand the appeal of such a piece of garbage/human being. I hope the anime adapts that truthfully and doesn't try to lighten the tone.

Also, Hagure being too serious is not really a problem for me. This series wouldn't be the same without all that BS happening in the first volume. Future readers will look back and say: "Oh shit, that was only the prologue"

 

[Arma_Artema]

I'm glad the translator mentioned Alfredo Casero's version of Shima Uta.

 

[SuperOniichan]

Spoiler

@Raknasuu In the long run, yes, especially when the Yuri Baki arc takes up almost half of the manga. But if you read this story for the first time and from the very beginning, such dissonance and misspellings in writing are very distracting. That is why I think it should have been All-female MMA from the start, then Rui-sensei would have avoided all these broken feminist messages and toxic stuff.

Mod Note: Please use spoiler tags when talking about chapter-specific or future events.

 

[justjorge]

@superoniichan I still think this series is gonna take another swerve and do something entirely new after the tournament ends. At the very least we’ll get another meaty arc that takes us to at least volume 14

 

[SuperOniichan]

@justjorge Well, that already depends on Rui's talent and Hagure's potential as a series. If that's enough, why not?

 

[Raknasuu]

@Superoniichan

Would you be mad if I compared this to JoJo's instead of Baki (Which I'm reading at a slower pace)?

Like, how you described the first arc sounds like how everyone reacts to Phantom Blood. An awkward first part.

That means we are in "Battle Tendency" right now? Maybe? Like, this little arc is better received than the last one but the series hasn't reached it's prime in terms of presenting a reliable power system.

And the Yuri-baki tournament arc would be plain old Stardust Crusaders.

I'm overthinking stuff here, but it's just that JoJo is a good precedent for clearly defined arcs and parts.

 

[justjorge]

@raknasuu if that means we get our Diamond is Unbreakable, as in slice of life antics with some wacky fights mixed in, then I’d be pretty dank satisfied with that

 

[Raknasuu]

@justjorge

Anyone that appreciates the SoL aspect of DiU is a cool person in my book.

But if you think about it that's kinda what's happening right now, except that we lack the remarkably charismatic villain.

 

[SuperOniichan]

@Raknasuu The difference is that JoJo often made drastic changes in style, but his messages and philosophy have always remained exactly the same. But if, for example, the first volume was completely built on criticism of toxic masculinity, after which in the second the guys beat each other screaming about "violence is way for real men", then it would be something similar, lol. The problem is not that the championship arc is very different from the first 2-3. The problem is that Rui does not know how to properly build a coherent philosophy.

As far as SoL goes, yes, if it was a fun SoL with periodic Shonen Jump ecchi shonen-style fight scenes, I wouldn't mind. The first volumes had a lot of similarities and when it wasn't toxic I really enjoyed it.

 

[CuJoJo]

@Raknasuu
Honestly while I love DiU and its SoL aspect, I did feel like it got oversaturated with side characters who amounted to almost nothing (similar to how the Sonic series started adding Big, Cream and Cheese, Rouge,etc.) While Stardust Crusaders felt more focused and in many ways was a large scale tournament arc (with a new stand battle after another) But I think the tournament arc for this series could fall in the middle ground where it has been definitely getting oversaturated with side characters but hopefully it keeps the same focus as SC. Though obviously JoJo has handled these aspects way better

 

[Half_Marco]

LUL shes actually practicing kata in her room after stretching, name's Unsu look it up on youtube

 

[SuperOniichan]

@Half_Marco She is a professional karateka, why do you think this is strange?

 

[Half_Marco]

not strange, just cool that takatou rui actually researched about it and drew it right, not just a bunch of random moves

 

[Iwizesol]

The pages are out of order for some reason?