- Joined
- Jun 28, 2024
- Messages
- 8
Every chapter I always feel nervous, afraid that the abuser who caused Kyouko's trauma will come back.
Every chapter I always feel nervous, afraid that the abuser who caused Kyouko's trauma will come back.
Don't talk about your mom like that.needs NTR
they should bring back the guy who "raped" her and reveal it wasn't actually rape
It's a very heartwarming manga, and the emotional beats do hit hard, but I need to discuss something about this manga that has been bothering me a lot since I read it. Giant spoiler wall incoming.
I'm really not a fan of how Kyouko acted in this story, and I don't think the mangaka really handled a character dealing with the trauma of rape and sexual assault well.
So early on in the manga, we see a hint of an intimate scene with Touma and Kyouka, a page of just their arms, fingers interlocked on a bed. I thought it was weird at the time because the timing of it was so off, and Kyouko is really still not okay in this part of the story, so I thought "Oh, this must be a little vision of what's to come, very nice." since the characters acted completely straight like absolutely nothing happened between them at all.
But then it happened again. And again.
So you realize that they've been fucking this entire time, and basically one chapter later, they drop the reveal that Kyouko was the survivor of a brutal sexual assault case. This event obviously completely destroyed her, and you see the aftermath of it everywhere. But that's not the issue for me, the issue is that she hasn't found any way to cope with her trauma in any meaningful or healthy way, can barely hold herself together in public, her self-image is completely destroyed, is unkempt, lives in a stye because she has no motivation to even wake up in the morning, let alone clean, but somehow has the confidence to pretty much immediately put herself back out there and have sex with a childhood friend? Like, are you kidding me?
Looking back at some of the panels in this manga earlier on into the story, it really actually does seems like Zyugoya is trying to glorify and fetishize sexual assault and the horrific, lifelong scars it leaves on one's psyche, with shots of her boobs, or her in revealing pajamas, little things like that.
I am NOT trying to accuse Zyugoya of this or that, since he (she?) has written other manga that deals with similar themes where this particular aspect of Broken Friend is completely absent (Crybaby Neighbor). I wholly believe this is just a case of them liking big tiddy sad girls (me too) and just failed to fully analyze potential implications of the story when they drew Kyouko's body front-and-center. Regardless, it still really rubbed me the wrong way.
I don't know who will see this and want to read it, (certainly not Zyugoya), but whatever, here you go.
Just read this entire manga in one sitting and yes...
I get what you're saying, but here's the thing. Not all victim's of sexual assault recover or process in the same way. I'm not an expert in the psychological aspects of a person dealing with that kind of trauma, but I have been to a lot of incidents involving the aftermath of that trauma having just occurred, and I've seen instances of people years down the road that have suffered that trauma. Some victim's can't stand the thought of sex or any type of physical romance....Some victims develop a hypersexual sex drive, seeking multiple sexual partners, cheating in relationships, excessive masturbation and so on. The fact that she wanted to have sex doesn't surprise me.
As far as her looks, she said it herself, she dyed her hair pink and got ear piercings because she wanted to appear tough. Again victim's react in many different ways, some start dressing down while others react the same way Kyouko does. You also notice she does wear baggy cloths to hide her body at times.
I also imagine she was in an extremely dark place, but she saw the one thing that remained safe and reliable in her life, her best friend Touma. This is the person she grew up with throughout childhood up until Uni, her best friend. I think its reasonable that Kyouko would open up to him.
I write this wall of text that probably wont be read to say this: I don't think sexual assault was glorified in any way, and I don't think Kyouko acted out of character for a victim. She shut down in her life, she self harmed, she was probably hypersexual, whether it was with partners or not, she felt comfortable with Touma. Zyugoya didn't have to dig into the actions of the perpetrators, didn't have to go into details of what happened for us to SEE that Kyouko was fucked up from the incident. We know what happened, and we moved on and focused on Kyouko's growth instead of the trauma.
I think Kyouko was very well written. Just me .02 cents.
dont stop there, tell us everything else that happens at the end...i loved that they end up together especially when she end up bringing her hair back to normal