March Comes in Like a Lion - Vol. 15 Ch. 164 - Path (4)

[isansmushroom]

Oh my god, to me it's almost and insta crying when Rei's family appears! They always looked so happy, my heart hurts everytime.

 

[JakkRo]

I'm affraid if the author is tempted to begin an arc of self-destruction based on "i can't play shoji anymore".

Many other authors do this kind of plot twist, and i really dislike it. One great thing about Sangatsu is that the author was able to enchanting the audience without to appeal to tragedy plot twists or complete change of route like that.

No, everything in Sangatsu was slowly build based on the scenario (and tragedies) that happened before the begining of the story.
- Rei's parents death, difficults with foster family and self-isolation.
- Kawamoto's hardships and chalenges.
- The health issues of Nikaido and so on.

That is why i hope Umino don't be tempted to destroy her amazing work by adding a asspulled plot-twist.

I think this "dark fog" will be an incidental situation that must be solved but without to reach the point of "i cant play shogi anymore" or an even worse "i must forget about Hina".

 

[Konrad2]

Thanks for the translation.

 

[apstorm]

Wtf he won through plot armor. That was unfair.

Plot armor? He's descending into darkness. That's not plot armor, to me. He may have won, but he's psychologically losing himself again.

@Purplelibraryguy Good points, it seemed he & Tanaka tried new and different strategies to their game play. Kirayama really is becoming a shogi monster.

Thinking over the chapters since he realized he likes Hina and more so this match we are finally seeing him understand love of family and what he lost. Because for so many years shogi was his strength, his identity and having formed a new family and researching Tanaka... He is at a crisis of identity with how he views his hardships compared to others, now that he knows others have dealt with and conquered similar trials. He now has to finally start dealing with emotions and thoughts about life beyond shogi, it will be interesting to see where that goes.

When he realized he likes Hina? That's going back pretty far, you know. I mean, even with the Family chapters with the shit father, he made it clear he was thinking about being with her for awhile- most likely since some point during the Bullying arc, in fact. That entire Bullying arc was pretty much Rei and Hina growing much closer through hardship, starting with that promise to stay by her side near the start, all the way through to that 'oath of loyalty' he quietly made in his heart once she was relieved it was over and glowing, embodying the light that he perceived her as since that initial promise.

Reminder that their love for each other is not a recent thing... it's just the awareness of that shared love that is recent.

@riflow I don't think he was treated that badly by his foster family. He wasn't abused by them, he was well-fed and from his flashback, there was a point that he got along well with them. I don't think the mother, Kyoko and her brother really had any fault. All the problems started with the father whose priority is Shogi. Kyoko and her brother were just young children and I understand them on a personal level. It is devastating to hear your parents comparing you to another child and are disappointed in you so they acted out. It is understandable that the mother can't really think much about Rei when her children are in a state like that. Kyoko lost her way while her brother becomes a shut-in. They didn't abuse him but they were too busy with their own problems that both Rei and them stopped trying to communicate with each other. The main reason he left that family is because he felt like he was a stranger and he caused problems for them.
He did meet and talk to his foster parents in past chapters but that I don't think he can solve anything just by talking as long as Kyoko and her brother are unable to move on with their life and find the things they want to do beside Shogi.

@miyako19 I understand your viewpoint however my view of his family life is he always felt like he was walking on eggshells even though they were supposed to be supporting him as well.

I don't recall the exact instance but I remember the early chapters of him reliving kyouko acting out in his childhood and saying spiteful unkind things to him, on top of sealing his pain so he could withstand the bullying at school, the lost of his birth family and at least what always felt to me to be a firm rejection by his adopted family (sans dad who at least seemingly only wanted him for shogi) .

His home life from what we've seen wasn't abusive, but he was badly treated by his siblings and didn't feel like he ever belonged there and his big sister(at least if I'm remembering right) said to him no one would miss him if he ever died. And she continued to hit him with terrible remarks as he grew up at the beginning of the series. We didn't see either of his adopted parents really engage with him emotionally, and he seemed to believe that his living situation could snap and fall apart at any moment. He was openly blamed for things that were his father's fault and his adopted mother knew they were blaming him. I can't be angry at the kids for that but his adopted father's selfishness and devotion towards shogi meant he was neglectful in some real ways towards his family including Rei.

And then we started the series with Rei in a deep swamp of a depression caused by him having to sink or swim at shogi with his new dad knowing that it would bring him the bare faced hatred and cruelty of his new siblings and false niceties of his new mother. And if he couldn't live there, his aunt, his closest living family, would send him to an orphanage where who knows what could've happened.

No one helped him process his grief, no one even knew he was ignored and bullied at school, he was a veritable complete and utter social outcast in school and seemed to barely connect with anyone until the beginning of the series. And then he ran away from that house because the guilt and pressure crushed him and he couldn't take it. And then what do we have? A young man crushed by depression, guilt and grief.

I can't in good conscious call that treating a child well. I hope one day he has a conversation with them but whether that leads to anything I don't know. But one can live in hope.

I wish to point out that emotional abuse is still fucking abuse. Also Kyoko outright hit him at least once in a flashback frame, which could have been indicative of more physical violence perpetrated against him. Kyoko also kept jerking him around all sorts of ways- she'd rely on him for comfort by holding him while they slept together, but tell him to not touch her back, probably because at the time she had already met Goto and was trying to be his girl, but at the time he had pushed her away so she relied on the only other non-family male she was technically close to.

His relationship with Kyoko has been just so messed up, like an abusive and flighty lover that's also somehow not-quite-a-sibling. It's one of the most messed up situations in this comic, to be honest.