Ki ni Natteru Hito ga Otoko ja Nakatta - Ch. 167 - Love Me Anymore?

[crazedm]

"For me, now that 'music' is gone"
Mitsuki, sweetheart, that's called depression. No amount of sex and avoidance is going to fix it.

 

[erellisae]

While I understand where people are coming from in regards to it resonating with them wrt depression and being messy teenagers, imo they're not exactly messy teenagers anymore. Sure they're young adults, but they're drinking alcohol - they're 20 at least. That means they've had literal years living together as a couple to figure out how to talk to each other or at least share in each other's day to day lives a bit, and there's no indication that they've done any of that, and the fact the manga's gone right back to the same patterns means they've just not really grown at all. At this point this really feels toxic, like they're fundamentally incompatible and trying to force it out of sheer built-up expectations.

 

[arcosapphire]

How does one not talk to the person they literally live and share a bed with?🫥

I see you are new to humanity.

This happens in a lot of relationships.

The good news is, this is a story and things will work out in some way. Unlike reality where people just slowly waste their lives in a relationship that becomes increasingly burdensome and unfulfilling because they're more afraid of the unknown than the hopeless.

 

[thewomanliest]

oh dear god

 

[mlbfantasy002]

I now understand why so many love stories end when they get together, or after their schooling ends.

Some writers just aren’t competent enough to continue.

 

[maeribaeri]

I feel like I'm going to get in trouble for saying this. I've been thinking and read the story again from the start because I didn't want to talk shit. But isn't Mitsuki and her problems/insecurities always the reason why they always end up "fighting"? The Onii-chan thing was about Mitsuki not wanting people to find out her true self but still getting close to Aya without coming clean. The story with Aya's friends was Mitsuki acting without talking to Aya because she didn't want to be the reason Aya fought with her friends (Aya was fighting with them because their different taste made Aya find a new person to talk music to and the friend got jealous). I won't talk about the school dance because they were both idiots on this one. And now this. It's a pattern I didn't want to see but clearly a recurring thing.

Mitsuki doesn't want to open up. Aya makes efforts to help/understand until the breaking point. Mitsuki get angry/scared in her head because of past trauma. Our yuri knight shares words of wisdom or Aya bulldozes all over Mitsuki's insecurities and demands communication, not taking no for an answer. Mitsuki communicates and everything get fixed... Until Mitsuki got another problem who ends up causing issues in their relationship.

Now we're on the "Mitsuki get angry/scared" part. So I supposed either a 3rd party ends up blasting Mitsuki's ear with the truth or Aya get sick enough of the situation to kick open Mitsuki's door to demand answers.

Just wanted to say, I think you hit the nail on the head exactly. Mitsuki is incredibly conflict-avoidant (an interesting clash with her strict refusal of the mainstream and the inherent (perceived) conflict that puts her in with her surroundings), so as frustrating as it is to watch this, it is not surprising in the least, especially since all her life, she has been surrounded by people willing to fight her battles for her, and/or loved her just the way she was, so she was able to get by well enough without ever growing past this.

And with Aya being a very straightforward person, who does not shy away from conflict, but also on some level at least being aware of this aspect of Mitsuki's, it makes sense that she would feel like this discrepancy could be a wedge between them if she tried to initiate what she knows will be an actual argument on her own, that Mitsuki might just distance herself further from her to avoid it if she brought it up. Which isn't exactly wrong, but also, of course the distancing is happening one way or another, only that it's now more passively than actively.

Enter the stalemate we're at right now, where both of them are aware of there being a problem, but having avoided bringing it up for so long, neither of them has a solid grasp of where it starts and ends anymore, or what it even is they really want, and thus, what will be left of their relationship once they untangle all of it.
I do like it writing-wise, actually. It does just make sense.

 

[Takuma_Aki]

This is so real it pains to read. I… I want escapism, not catharsis…

 

[omnomtom]

That poster is... surprisingly suggestive for this series. At least the way Mitsuki's fingers are caressing it.

 

[UdenEmpati]

That poster is... surprisingly suggestive for this series. At least the way Mitsuki's fingers are caressing it.

You mean the way it's tearing under her hand?

 

[UdenEmpati]

I now understand why so many love stories end when they get together, or after their schooling ends.

Some writers just aren’t competent enough to continue.

Your personal tastes for storytelling are not synonymous with an author's capacity to write one.

 

[Minulaka]

One of them was literally above your comment, which makes me feel like you're choosing to just be mad that it's not the "fluff" you wanted and that the author's doing something complex that addresses some of the long-running core character flaw issues that have pervaded the series.

Actually read the comment thread and you'll find genuine analysis of what's happening and why, and where it might be leading.

Or keep being upset like others that "oh no she's just not talking" and thinking that it's somehow not realistic or in character, even going back to the high school period.

I think you're missunderstanding/missreading what alien hands is saying. They were poking fun at the type of person you think that alienhands is. They are not one of the people claiming that "the relationship isn't rocky rn", they made fun of a person who kept insisting that. This isnt a sign of them wanting the author to only do fluff and nothing complex, the person they were referencing, who said "the relationship isn't rocky rn" DOES sound like someone in denial who wants the series to be fluff only.

 

[UdenEmpati]

I think you're missunderstanding/missreading what alien hands is saying. They were poking fun at the type of person you think that alienhands is. They are not one of the people claiming that "the relationship isn't rocky rn", they made fun of a person who kept insisting that. This isnt a sign of them wanting the author to only do fluff and nothing complex, the person they were referencing, who said "the relationship isn't rocky rn" DOES sound like someone in denial who wants the series to be fluff only.

I will have to go back and read through, then, because I see se people saying "this is fine, they're not going to break up over this". Not that their relationship isn't actively not going well.

A bunch of people the last 20 chapters have all been complaining about the current arc direction, with more than a few bemoaning that this looks like a breakup arc. The ones who aren't saying that (myself included) are saying "no, this is expected due to the precedent set by Mitsuki & Aya even during the HS era, when it comes to communication during disputes and problems".

It's "fine" in the sense that this isn't spelling doom for their relationship, at this point. If the author wants to go that direction for real, more is needed than this.

 

[Ruruskadoo]

I miss seeing them bond over music and fairly quickly overcome obstacles together, this whole post-timeskip arc has felt like nothing ever happens and they've just been floundering, it's frustrating.

Mitsuki's right, the music is gone in a very literal sense, it's all just avoiding problems and jumping to conclusions instead of communicating, it's been ages since we've seen any of the adorable bonding over their shared love of western rock that made this manga so endearing to me in the first place.

I'm not saying there isn't emotional depth or complexity here or anything like that, and I'm not saying the way they're acting is unrealistic, but this whole arc feels so devoid of the prior cuteness and optimism this series had, and it's completely sapped all of the joy I used to feel reading this from it. I do actually enjoy angsty series, but I'm really not enjoying seeing this one get so gloomy and pessimistic, and I'm tired of watching them go in circles.

I feel like maybe I should put it down for a few months so I can binge it later, and hopefully by that point some of this will have been resolved and I can start enjoying it again. I think I've fully run out of patience and emotional bandwidth to watch this extended angst arc play out a couple pages at a time any longer.

 

[mlbfantasy002]

Your personal tastes for storytelling are not synonymous with an author's capacity to write one.

Keep pretending it’s a matter of personal taste if that’s what makes you cope better.

 

[UdenEmpati]

Keep pretending it’s a matter of personal taste if that’s what makes you cope better.

You continue to provide nothing that doesn't prove my point.

If "cope" is the extent to which you're capable of retorting, then I'm comfortable with my estimation of you.

 

[Turtle50UP]

Oh yessss, OH YESSSSSSS IT'S LESBIANS LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOO

Esp with alcohol making shit all MESSY, like

Oh, y'all, oh... I mean they didn't go to a dyke bar, but the dyke bar drama is MMMNH YESSSSSSS

Cover the feelings with alcohol and drunk sex, keep burying them bury them more more MOREEEEE AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(Note: even tho the commenter is a sober tgirlie, she unfortunately is truly as messy as these girlies, around girlies as messy as them)

YESSSSSSSSSSSS sighhhhh, this mangaka, oh, yeah, capturing the torturous fall, the combo of wider world of folx beyond HS and also the wider world of substance use... like, COME ON, that is 10000000% capturing the essence of the songs and the songwriters and the musicians they all love listening to as their 24/7 VIBE

Arai Sumiko GETS it, just how messy the rock/punk/whatever the fuck it is zone they're in, and like, of course, OF COURSE, Mitsuki is like, BEYOND obsessed with being dyed by that realm of being (including the whole "shit, I'm a sellout, I can't, I can't go on anymore swoon" while everyone else looks on and goes "girl... srs... just... play tje damn guitar again cmon")

Look, at least it'll just lead to an angsty bad breakup after a lot of horrible choices while drunk sorta sex X3

Glad they're not showing any other substances of choice that some artists use (and drag their partners into) for this kinda downfall. Yes I know it is Japan... but also consider: it's a whole ass country, aka a whole ass shady underground, anyways XD

Ahhhhhhh... and the best part?

All written without like... ok, y'all want the better?

Just sayin', if y'all want it to be a better arc? Then imagine such stories with better societies lol. Not gonna talk up AA, but I AM gonna talk up the sorta building of community and esp the sort with a harm reduction angle YEP INCLUDING WITH ALCOHOL to perhaps have helped them out of this kinda shit. Not the sort ftr to blame the substance, or the folx, just the general situation. Cuz like, literally, hole dug further cuz someone drank past their limit, hole dug further because then it brings on the "lighter" consent violations and inconsistencies, hole dug further because y'all... they basically just came outta HS XD like really, y'all want them to be idk, paragons of emotional intelligence or whatevs?

Bish, have y'all even talked to grown ass adults? Lemme tell just say, the ones I find actually more emotionally solid? Are the ones that own being a mess and being imperfect, and then have other folx to both help them recover when they slip, and check them if the slip causes shit.

Sighhhhhh, not even touch grass. Touch a mfing glass... no need to drink it, just, observe a sec. There's a reason why the drink is so iconic to rock XD

Ahhhhhhh, yesssss, go, go further into the rock and roll, disaster lesbians, go further, go further, wish the world was better but no, not just are you in the hands of Sumiko fucking Arai, but also in the hands of a broken ass world X3

If I had a drink on hand? Would absolutely drink to that X3

collapses in nonsense

 

[Turtle50UP]

this commenter regretfully clarifies her conduct. Beyond being an absolute drama mama, she also is in the trenches of writing toxic yuri. Do not be like this woman, ever, good day

 

[Funky_Cosmonaut]

I hate to say it this way but, doesn't every rock star have their self-destructive streak?

 

[Funky_Cosmonaut]

this commenter regretfully clarifies her conduct. Beyond being an absolute drama mama, she also is in the trenches of writing toxic yuri. Do not be like this woman, ever, good day

The thing is, you're not exactly wrong... or I mean, not COMPLETELY wrong.

A lot of creativity comes from emotional turmoil, simply because it becomes an outlet for those emotions when they have nowhere else to go. And it grabs ahold of how people feel, that's why it spreads the way it does. But a lot of listeners are trying on a lifestyle, not living it, and that's played into by corporations looking to appropriate the look/sound/feel of it. So people forget where that sound really comes from

For the longest time, music went from 60s hippie rock built on rebellion from a destructive system. A revolutionary act of love, when the systems at play wanted war. But that same revolutionary act was used by big labels to fuel that same system.

In the 70s, disco was born in the black, gay and Latino communities. It was a place to escape and be themselves free from persecution. The same thing happened to them, until the whitewashing and corporate overload cause a public rejection of disco (and vicariously, the demonization of the groups that started the movement... how convenient.)

New Wave actually began by piggybacking off of Punk. it was the safer alternative, when "Punk" equated to "low sales". This turned the 80s into one of the most corporate eras in music, and the sterility of the sound was noticable.

There's a reason why Grunge captured the apathy of a generation. The frustration of a youth who, amid a never-ending cold war, corporate control over every aspect of life, a shrinking middle class, and a demand for a shift towards conservative social norms, where face with the feelings of a seemingly hopeless future. Michael Jackson, the #1 artist of the previous decade, was suddenly knocked from the top of the charts overnight by a brand new band from Seattle called Nirvana. But of course, labels would try to capture that feeling with a cheap imitation, and when it didn't work, they responded by flooding radios with more marketable music from artists who would do as they were told.


This went in a very anti-corporate direction, but it's true. The real pain, sadness, isolation, disenchantment, alienation, depression, substance abuse, and misery that birthed entire generations of music had to be covered up and forgotten, all to be made more marketable.

 

[MelonManic]

no
No
NO
NOOOOOOOOOO

YOU SON OF A-

So she sees the lean and her mind jumps to she's leaving me, only supported by such head lean and their current relationship problems spawned on due to her damn refusal to communicate, a very consistent problem thou has but goddamnit that doesn't make it any less painful, the substitutions begin and she knows it
Dammit all you have left is physical intimacy because you refuse to communicate emotionally... So what happened when you lose emotional intimacy next? What happens when one of you decides or realizes the relationship is no longer worth it?
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE PANELS TURN BLUE GODDAMNIT!?

HAVE A NICE DAY
Brilliant way to start the ritual as always I suppose....