Katayoku no Labyrinth - Ch. 47

[iskaeil]

@Ladyalexia His family issues are definitely a serious issue, but trying to push it all onto thinking that only getting his first love will make it all better isn't the way. That is the absolute laziest way to solve your issues, is to dive into a relationship with someone and hope that it will erase all the trauma and make you feel better about yourself, not to mention it can be a lot of pressure on your partner. Don't go into a relationship dependent on your partner for emotional support, get a therapist (which I know is not viable for Hiroto at this time). It's a incredibly exaggerated idealistic view of a relationship, even for a fluffy "feel-good" shoujo series.

He needs to grow. Meet new people, have MORE love-at-first-sights. Not latch onto one girl who isn't even an adult herself and think that her love will supplement all the love he has been missing. Lashing out at his friends, acting like he's never had anything good in his life (when Miyako straight up has maybe 2 friends and got bullied/teased at school, while he can at least socialize normally with literally it seems like most of his class, his school life isn't a complete mess (no failing grades that have been discussed), and he does seem to be well groomed and fed from what I can tell), his life isn't at the actual deep end that warrants yelling at the people trying to help him like the way he did here, and going so far as to say "in my whole life, nothing good has ever happened." How he snapped at Miyako in the previous timeline(s) for her own persistent crush on him, when he can't let go of his love for her sister...it's hypocrisy. And quite honestly, I'm not convinced he's been THAT good of a friend to Miyako before all this shenanigans, and she was earnestly helping him and supporting him this whole time. Because that IS a spoiled mindset, that he can just...get his confession accepted just like that, just because...what? He's handsome? He deserves it because he doesn't get it from his parents? Because karma says that life should give him immediate gratification for how he's struggled in the past? Sorry that his life has been SO HARD that getting rejected by the girl he likes for the first time in his life is somehow the breaking point for him...this is speaking from my personal experience as someone who is fairly emotionally distant from my parents, but unlike Hiroto I am socially awkward and plagued with anxiety and self-harming behaviors. The author has really not built up Hiroto to deserve being this level of dramatic and gain my sympathy.

It's unclear if his parents were/are physically abusive, but clearly they are not the overly oppressive type (considering he can go out to karaoke and hang with friends after school etc. w/o interference, or clear mention of a curfew) and while it is sad, it is NOT to the extent where he can act like he is entitled to be handed someone else's love on a silver platter and not experience any difficulties.

As an edit, I'll add that maybe if they had started as friends first, or if Hiroto had a crush on Miyako's sis for a while, I would've been more understanding. But from my pov they don't even really know each other's interests, he's just confessed to her entirely based on her looks and the fact that she has a friendly personality, and then reacted this way. That's just wack imo.

 

[nobodygattaknow]

@Ladyalexia no, I don't really think so since I remember it saying her sister was in university but I might be wrong so I need to check sorry and thanks for the explanation I guess?

 

[Ladyalexia]

@iskaeil

Yet it sounds like he needs to buckle down. 🙄 He's still in high school. All I see is a guy that really good at pretending his life is perfect when it's not. Plus the female lead did all of this stuff before. Did you hate her for it then or you felt bad for her? Because I honestly felt like she being annoying as hell. I only felt bad because the characters said that she died. Then I looked at the spoilers because I didn't want to be clouded by everyone's theories.

His school life only lasts a few hours. Then he has to go home and deal with his family. I'm pretty sure he has spent the night at Tsukasa a lot too. Maybe that will make him feel like a burden. There probably times where he has no choice but to go home too. Plus maybe he is well-groomed because he had people helping him. Like I don't know, Tsukasa and his family. I'll say this Hiroto is really good at pretending to be okay when he really isn't. Also, there are a lot of people that have really shitty lives and still could do all the things Hiroto could do. They could even still have friends, good grades, and socialize. Just because everything looks good on the surface doesn't mean anything. If anything those kinds of people is more frightening than anything. Using a facade to hide that garage that's in them. They either kill someone, be killed, or fall of the grid. Probably with a family with the right support system.

Saying that their life can't be that bad is downplaying their feelings and experiences. Even if people have good lives, you still shouldn't downplay feelings because we could mentally mess up by anything.

No, his mindset just seems spoiled, it's a hopeless mindset. I seen spoiled, my brother got teary when we got nothing for Christmas and he whined about. Note that year we had a rough time that year and we a lot of stuff for Christmas before. Also, he guilts trips a lot until he gets it. He made my mother and father feel like crap sometimes. They will do anything for us. Yet he takes advantage of that. He's better but he still has this entitled attitude like our parents could've done better. They could've done this, they could've done that. He's an adult. When they even tried their very best. Then when my parents, mainly my mother, say their sorry. He still talks about it. He even talks about how bad his life was. When in reality our home life was better than most.

I do agree, the author did a horrible job at this. Because we got one character blaming the other for someone's death. When in reality it was suicide. Yet he still indirectly was one of the causes. He went out with someone that he didn't love and try to go for the sister. (That's the part that made me hate him really. Even if Miyuki knew, he still should've said no to her. He just used her to make himself feel better. Then when saw the sister, wham bam. That was a shitty move.) Then the author really doesn't develop him so much or at less foreshadowed that his home life is shitty. The author shouldn't just his words but by his reaction and actions.

As I said, he needs mental help way more than love. The sister used it as an emotional bandaid. If she gets together with him maybe he's a rebound. It's too fast when they get together. 😒I don't know if there's a time skip but it still too fast for me.

Spoiler

I actually looked through the chapters. This is one of the many reasons why I'm uncomfortable with this ending.

I hate stories that use love at first sight as a relationship starter. It's the reason why I like manga and stories that subvert this trope. I love when characters grow feeling instead of saying it's love at the first go. The attraction is fine, I'm good with that.

 

[iskaeil]

@Ladyalexia I'm gonna be honest, I don't like this MC lol. I only like her when Tsukasa is there steering her away from all of her inner turmoil. But I'm also a person who does not believe in soulmates, and I personally don't believe that you need to have a romantic relationship to be happy in life.

I'm downplaying this particular moment because he had the nerve to say he never had ANYTHING good in his life when all that happened was a girl he knew for maybe a couple hours in total at most rejected his confession. And gently too, not like a "you're not my type" way. That's the equivalent of someone matching with someone that they really like from their looks on Bumble, conversing for less than a day, and then saying that God is dead and nothing ever good happens in life because they end up unmatching or they say "sorry, I actually met someone else." He's literally spoiled for choice for about any other girl in his class or even his school, but just the one girl he hyperfixated on that he knew for barely a day somehow breaks him?? I would've allowed this outburst IF he had known Miyako's sis for like...a month.

Let's be honest, all the things you've mentioned feel way out of touch with how this author actually framed him. Specifically this outburst, acting like her saying "no, sorry, I can't go out with you" somehow ranks in like, the top 5 worst things that have happened in his life and then turning on his very supportive, very nice friends is absolutely ridiculous. A lot of my feelings about how I feel that he is spoiled may be stemming from the previous timelines so apologies, maybe at this stage that is not accurate. I'm not intending to downplay people who have family trauma, or have experienced abuse at the hands of family. But seriously, fixating on this girl from glimpsing her once is just straight up unhealthy and almost unnatural? Like why is he so deadset on making her his girlfriend just from a glimpse and some friendly conversation? You see tinder conversations that last longer than their actual time spent interacting...and I'm including tinder convos that are just for a hook-up, not dating.

Spoiler

I'm going to drop this story based on Hiroto getting Miyako's sis in the end. Tbh, I was only reading to see if he would open up and get support from other areas rather than fixating on Miyako's sister to be the end-all cure he needs for his issues. I just think that's an unrealistic depiction of dealing with trauma/abuse, and frankly idolizes romance far too much. I like stories where friends are continuous support through hard times, not stories where getting the guy/girl of their dreams just magically solves everything.

 

[Ladyalexia]

@iskaeil

Honestly, I just feel like the fl was too hyper-focus on her feeling for Hiroto. Now I like her a little better but I hate her trying to fix something that doesn't need to be fixed.

Of course, it out of touch. That's the reality for some people. Some people may have supportive friends then something bad happens. For this manga, I feel like this could've been done better.

Hiroto is a change from the other character types. Not a good one through. I find him annoying and just there. The manga should've ended already. I mean this wasn't about him and his heartache. 🙄 The moment the fl went back into time and saw Tsukasa. There, that where it should've ended. Then epilogue where they get to together.

Spoiler

I doubt he'll ever get help. From what I saw from spoilers, I wanna kick something. Maybe I should wait for the translation if it mentions therapy. I doubt it.