It's a toe, so it's even worse.Did not care for page 17 but at least our girl Ichinose is thankfully still alive. I know everyone in this town is some type of insane but carrying around your dead bestie's severed finger* and treating it as your imaginary friend is another level even for this town. Mommy priest-kun (allegedly) turning their dad into an infant so they could raise him as their own child looks relatively sane by comparison.
*It must smell awful too.
I am also loving the gender stuff. I was a little worried earlier in the series that the cases of the week would fall into a predictable pattern, but each one is more interesting than the last!Holy heck the gender play in this series! I love the subtle changes Yoshida’s face goes through between being discovered and then the final reveal of their plan! And then their figure! The priest garb was already cinched about the waist, but then to turn that into a more feminine hourglass figure in the end? Sally B be cooking!
I thought it was a thumb, but rereading you are right. Gross.It's a toe, so it's even worse.
It’s like Scooby-Doominomicon! Because the spirits are both eldritch and unknowable, few if any have human-like personalities, there has to be a human element to interact with. It helps keep the horror and uncanny elements notched up to eleven by keeping them inhuman. Slenderman or Cthulhu would be a lot less creepy if they suddenly broke out into an evil monologue at the climax of the story.Kind of a ew chapter, but now I can see the rhythm here. The specters/spirits form an ambient, almost ecological backdrop, but the frontal focus is always human personalities & twisted motivations. Ironically this variety of cynicism is very similar to Scooby Doo. If it weren't for those meddling lesbians etc. etc.
Difference is that in Scooby Doo, that skeptical attitude is almost a form of empowerment - "in the face of the unknown, there's always a truth to be uncovered" - but here it forms the basis of an object lesson in second guessing basic human kindness.
Unrelated note but my god this author is great with duos. Should be neat to see this particular dynamic play out
Valid. I'm giving it at least one more since I cannot read author intent. Authors seeming to repeat the same hack trope in close succession makes me (morbidly?) curious. Sometimes it reads as going for editorial nuance (maybe a fumble but still an attempt) and sometimes it's like doubling down on hackneyed tropes in a way that scratches the fourth wall.Someone told me to try one more chapter... i'm happy Ichinose survived, but with her "wants to be a girl cause of parental abuse" thing plus this chapters twist, I'm kinda starting to suspect this author just has some weird opinions about trans people in general. So i'm still dropping it, sorry.
I understand the apprehension from both of you, for me the red flags aren't so loud...yet. If I knew more about the author maybe I would fall more on the "dropping this" side but I couldn't find any information on her online. Something about her approach here feels different from other mangaka in a way I can't really articulate beyond vibes.Valid. I'm giving it at least one more since I cannot read author intent. Authors seeming to repeat the same hack trope in close succession makes me (morbidly?) curious. Sometimes it reads as going for editorial nuance (maybe a fumble but still an attempt) and sometimes it's like doubling down on hackneyed tropes in a way that scratches the fourth wall.
If this 'boy' isn't a cis girl who was forced to be a successor priest, messy but at least not repetitive, it's not a great sign for sensei's creativity.
I'm with you about the vibes, but holding back on my hope. It would be nice if the unconscious survivor had more depth - there's a range of tone-appropriate options. It would be nice if the newest gender trouble is not like your examples but at least more interesting than crazy=identity issue. It would be nice if the mystery of the town goes beyond generational slasher flick. And it would be nice to see why adults stay and continue to perpetuate a system to make desperate children kill and die. The closest tone is like the violence and the answer arcs in Higurashi When They Cry.I understand the apprehension from both of you, for me the red flags aren't so loud...yet. If I knew more about the author maybe I would fall more on the "dropping this" side but I couldn't find any information on her online. Something about her approach here feels different from other mangaka in a way I can't really articulate beyond vibes.
This series also operates so heavily in the camp dimension that its difficult to read the author's intent like you said....like are we more in Hedwig, Rocky Horror, or Silence of the Lambs territory? Too early to tell for me. There isn't really a heavy-handed moralism at play like you'd find in a lot of Western horror, the "villain" is more the ecology of the town rather than the desires of the antagonists themselves. I'm curious how the author handles this arc and Ichinose going forward, since tropes have already been subverted by having her survive, and it was hinted she may be connected to the larger mystery of the town.