Meguro-san wa Hajimete ja Nai - Vol. 11 Ch. 78 - Even that which we've forgotten about

[Takuma_Aki]

how was

Spoiler

the ex tutor the best choice???? like can't they just get any other god like tutor? I legit don't understand how the author could make it so he was the ONLY option???

also yea I haven't read this in a LONG time so after reading the spoilers I'm really glad I dodged all the BS

So, MC joined a cram school and the Ex also works there and was the top performer who becomes a mentor to MC before he finds out he was FMC's ex. It's along the line of he's the best they both know and his style of teaching proved to be compatible with FMC before. Even the fact they know each other well does help in that regard.

"Really squint" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there...
Dude was a groomer who completely and utterly stunted Meguro's sexual and social development just because he wanted some easy action and thought a young kid was easy to manipulate into it. He's not even shy about where his heart lied.
The fact the manga never addresses this as despicable is what soured the entire thing for me.
I find it hard to believe he was the objective best choice for the tutor role when he wasn't even shown to be a particularly stellar tutor. East Asia is famous for its tutor/cram school industry so surely there was someone else on his level out there.

Let's be real, the tutor was only introduced at the end because the author was hellbent on wrapping everything up with a nice little bow on top. She wanted all the characters in the story to feel good about their past, present, and future, regardless of circumstances, even if it meant legitimizing grooming or other heinous stuff that happened. That's why she shoehorned Meguro being totally cool and even thankful with what the tutor did to her. Any sane person would not react like that.

That or the author has a NTR fetish and really enjoyed having Koga sit on the cuck chair for the last arc.

Yeah, can't deny that, especially the tying up the loose end part.
He's best among their acquaintance, but doesn't mean to be the best there is in the world. And realistically speaking, author can introduce a new, unnamed good tutor to take this role and no drama will happen; hence why I said its unnecessary. Although, I think you can stretch the excuse a bit that at least they know she has compatibility with his teaching style, so there's no need to look around for other tutor who may or may not work for FMC. But... yeah... you really have to bend over backward to justify it; and the growth I quote as a reason can also be shown in many other ways.

But for the grooming part, well..., perhaps it was too long I forgot it was glossed over and even romanticized to an extent, but yeah, can't deny that was handled very badly.

 

[the_Bear_from_Bearcave]

So, MC joined a cram school and the Ex also works there and was the top performer who becomes a mentor to MC before he finds out he was FMC's ex. It's along the line of he's the best they both know and his style of teaching proved to be compatible with FMC before. Even the fact they know each other well does help in that regard.



Yeah, can't deny that, especially the tying up the loose end part.
He's best among their acquaintance, but doesn't mean to be the best there is in the world. And realistically speaking, author can introduce a new, unnamed good tutor to take this role and no drama will happen; hence why I said its unnecessary. Although, I think you can stretch the excuse a bit that at least they know she has compatibility with his teaching style, so there's no need to look around for other tutor who may or may not work for FMC. But... yeah... you really have to bend over backward to justify it; and the growth I quote as a reason can also be shown in many other ways.

But for the grooming part, well..., perhaps it was too long I forgot it was glossed over and even romanticized to an extent, but yeah, can't deny that was handled very badly.

Nosebleed has a good point, how the main problem is that author wanted to equate maturity and growth with acceptance of everything that happened, and also I noticed a lot of acceptance of various views on love and relationships, and of treating every relationship as experience that makes you more understanding of other people - which ranges from understanding that some people are asexual/aromantic, which is fine, to tutor's stuff like free love or something, where somehow fucking up young and impressionable, probably autistic Meguro with that relationship is just something that happened, instead of being an example why not every relationship is fine and dandy and just a learning opportunity, and some relationships are seen as red flags for a reason.

It's not the only manga that does that, maybe it's the Buddhist cultural influence, but I noticed in manga often being (deservedly) angry at someone for something they did to you, and refusing to forgive them, is seen as wrong or immature. Especially forgiving and making up with abusive parents (this may be Confucianism's influence with it's focus on respecting your parents) is way too common for me and often leaves me with bad taste.

 

[CurlyBruce]

It was established he cannot help her on the test; on the other hand, her ex was the best choice in all other aspect, except on the personal past they have.

No it wasn't. There is literally zero reason Koga can't tutor Meguro other than bullshit "Word of God" reasoning that forces the characters to be dumbasses. Koga said he couldn't tutor her because he "wouldn't be able to stop thinking about her" which is some grade A bullshit. Also the Ex was not the best choice in all other aspects but I'll get into that next...

So, MC joined a cram school and the Ex also works there and was the top performer who becomes a mentor to MC before he finds out he was FMC's ex.

The Ex was NOT a top performer, he was "the most popular" tutor there and it's heavily implied that the reason for that is due to him also pulling the same grooming/seduction tactics that he pulled on Meguro. Even the nurse/whoever the fuck she was at the college he was going to was heavily implied to be in a physical relationship with him. Dude is a sex pest and womanizer through and through.

He also wasn't a "mentor" to Koga either, Koga just looked up to him because he knew he was a popular tutor who was praised by the other staff there. He didn't know the context or the back story surrounding why he was praised or considered popular, he just latched on to someone closer to his age who was in the same job like the true beta cuck he is.

/rant

There is a whole lot of revisionist history going on with people defending or justifying this garbage. People blatantly ignoring or conveniently forgetting the trashier aspects to paint a rose tinted history of where this manga went. Everything from the moment the ex came back into the picture was a giant steaming pile of garbage and the author essentially condoning if not outright encouraging the behavior with how they made the characters respond to him. Fucking Meguro's friends tell her what a piece of shit he was and then just hand wave it away 3 panels later. Koga starts to worship the ground he walks on for no reason. Meguro fucking THANKS him for using her like a convenient meat toilet and then dropping her once she graduated middle school. Meguro's sister doesn't say a single fucking thing despite her being established previously as being incredibly protective of her (she gives more flak to Koga when she first meets him than she does the ex once he starts tutoring her again).

The fact that this still has a 7+ rating is mind boggling. The last third takes a massive shit on the established characters all to become a fluff piece for the author's bizarre philosophy on defending a groomer.

 

[kiero13]

Exhibit A where an author is too afraid to add conflict and flaws for their gary/mary sue characters.

 

[Takuma_Aki]

Well, probably because I was behind multiple chapters when last chapter were published last time so I might have read through chapters upon chapters without given it much thought and I honestly don't remember much about it after except the rough outline of what happen and wasn't impressed enough to go back on a re-read either.

So... take my comment with a heavy pinch of salt, I guess.

 

[the_Bear_from_Bearcave]

The fact that this still has a 7+ rating is mind boggling. The last third takes a massive shit on the established characters all to become a fluff piece for the author's bizarre philosophy on defending a groomer.

Mangadex rating are always super high, way more than even MAL, because most people seem to give 10/10 rating to any series they read and enjoy. So, only cases manga gets really low rating is when author pulls something like literal NTR or some Rape Namek while the manga is still popular enough for people to get pissed and review bomb it.

Otherwise, even if manga goes bad, most people just slowly drop it without bothering to change their 10/10 ratings, so only the few people who get to the end give it really low ratings. MD ratings are just utterly useless, every manga has like 8.5 to 9.5 rating even if it's average and full of tropes.

 

[Takuma_Aki]

The fact that this still has a 7+ rating is mind boggling. The last third takes a massive shit on the established characters all to become a fluff piece for the author's bizarre philosophy on defending a groomer.

Mangadex rating are always super high, way more than even MAL, because most people seem to give 10/10 rating to any series they read and enjoy. So, only cases manga gets really low rating is when author pulls something like literal NTR or some Rape Namek while the manga is still popular enough for people to get pissed and review bomb it.

Otherwise, even if manga goes bad, most people just slowly drop it without bothering to change their 10/10 ratings, so only the few people who get to the end give it really low ratings. MD ratings are just utterly useless, every manga has like 8.5 to 9.5 rating even if it's average and full of tropes.

You really have to do something like this series to really get a low rating, lol. (I enjoyed it BTW both before & after the twist, just with a different lens on)

 

[mattserino]

Congrats bro, you're number 19

 

[Itsn]

You really have to do something like this series to really get a low rating, lol. (I enjoyed it BTW both before & after the twist, just with a different lens on)

What happened?


A lot of people will rate a series they like whatever number then stop following it before whatever controversial part, at any rate.

 

[Takuma_Aki]

What happened?


A lot of people will rate a series they like whatever number then stop following it before whatever controversial part, at any rate.

I won't go into much detail as not to spoil it too much (just that there is a twist in the story is big enough IMO, but probably needed at this point as to not let someone wander into this blind)

It starts off with sunshine and rainbow of a romcom then suddenly pull the rug from under the readers (and even the illustrator himself) out of the blue and switch gear to drama, revealing the previous chapters are 'Light' arc and now its the beginning of 'Dark' arc. The drama then drags on and on. Readers then divided into a camp that support the first half of story and cursed author to death, and the other that find the new direction intriguing (also some other in-betweens of those).
Strangely enough, not many really drops out and still came back to curse the author and clash with each other in the forum every chapters (in fact, the forum engagement skyrocket after the twist and still haven't gone back down ever since). And as it drags on, more and more people decide its time they lower the rating/review bombing it. And I guess the camp that support the twist still hold off on their rating too.

 

[Knighto]

I won't go into much detail as not to spoil it too much (just that there is a twist in the story is big enough IMO, but probably needed at this point as to not let someone wander into this blind)

It starts off with sunshine and rainbow of a romcom then suddenly pull the rug from under the readers (and even the illustrator himself) out of the blue and switch gear to drama, revealing the previous chapters are 'Light' arc and now its the beginning of 'Dark' arc. The drama then drags on and on. Readers then divided into a camp that support the first half of story and cursed author to death, and the other that find the new direction intriguing (also some other in-betweens of those).
Strangely enough, not many really drops out and still came back to curse the author and clash with each other in the forum every chapters (in fact, the forum engagement skyrocket after the twist and still haven't gone back down ever since). And as it drags on, more and more people decide its time they lower the rating/review bombing it. And I guess the camp that support the twist still hold off on their rating too.

I remember reading it when it just started to get dark, but at least it was hinted that it could happen, author choose to go full dark though, and for all the discussions here and there, some people just looooove to hate the NTR, like you have the choice to just dropped, although I get that getting the investment in the characters really makes you hate when authors change their route.

PS:

Nosebleed has a good point, how the main problem is that author wanted to equate maturity and growth with acceptance of everything that happened, and also I noticed a lot of acceptance of various views on love and relationships, and of treating every relationship as experience that makes you more understanding of other people - which ranges from understanding that some people are asexual/aromantic, which is fine, to tutor's stuff like free love or something, where somehow fucking up young and impressionable, probably autistic Meguro with that relationship is just something that happened, instead of being an example why not every relationship is fine and dandy and just a learning opportunity, and some relationships are seen as red flags for a reason.

It's not the only manga that does that, maybe it's the Buddhist cultural influence, but I noticed in manga often being (deservedly) angry at someone for something they did to you, and refusing to forgive them, is seen as wrong or immature. Especially forgiving and making up with abusive parents (this may be Confucianism's influence with it's focus on respecting your parents) is way too common for me and often leaves me with bad taste.

I feel like the worst part was to make an asexual character and then friggin force her to date once again, like she tried for his childhood friend, but she later realized even with that she couldn't go further and decided to leave him for his well-being to then just pressure her to go back to her boyfriend. Author wanted to show different types of "eros" but didn't fully understand them, because they didn't need to end well every time.

 

[dokidoki]

I won't go into much detail as not to spoil it too much (just that there is a twist in the story is big enough IMO, but probably needed at this point as to not let someone wander into this blind)

It starts off with sunshine and rainbow of a romcom then suddenly pull the rug from under the readers (and even the illustrator himself) out of the blue and switch gear to drama, revealing the previous chapters are 'Light' arc and now its the beginning of 'Dark' arc. The drama then drags on and on. Readers then divided into a camp that support the first half of story and cursed author to death, and the other that find the new direction intriguing (also some other in-betweens of those).
Strangely enough, not many really drops out and still came back to curse the author and clash with each other in the forum every chapters (in fact, the forum engagement skyrocket after the twist and still haven't gone back down ever since). And as it drags on, more and more people decide its time they lower the rating/review bombing it. And I guess the camp that support the twist still hold off on their rating too.

Well they keep coming back because the whole drama has been going on for almost 1 year aka 8 months, people are going back to see when its over and to see if it imploded or not in the story also the authors art is great as always

ngl I'm so glad I wasn't following this series because I 100% wouldn't be able to have handle the drama for 8 months
also I'm on the side that

Spoiler

wants it to implode, MC aka main girl should get a better friend/boyfriend cause those 2 are NOT it lmao

 

[Aezeryel]

There was a 1 star amazon review I read on this manga that talked about another series with a similar premise to this called You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story, which even received an anime, and it's hilarious how it outdoes this one in every way just by having the 2 main characters trying to improve and talk things out.

It's really not much better than this. The "talking things out" part happens because the fmc is just a fucking idiot who repeatedly misjudges the situation and overreacts and the mc always runs after her to explain things despite not being at fault basically every time.

 

[ShiitakeCat]

Thanks for the super late TL, I guess?

 

[ItsThatBriGuy]

This should have been a porn so at least I can fap to the sex.

I'd feel awful busting one off to a series where the ML isn't capable of doing the same.

 

[Takuma_Aki]

I'd feel awful busting one off to a series where the ML isn't capable of doing the same.

That premise sounds oddly familiar...

So... if that really happens, will it be considered an NTR?

 

[squidcommand]

Thanks for finishing the series
Can we pls get a spinoff series of just meg and Koga fucking.

 

[Marcellx]

also yea I haven't read this in a LONG time so after reading the spoilers I'm really glad I dodged all the BS

This is the only series I basically hate watched. The premise was interesting, at least back then before I figured it was just following the trend created by Beaststars' Haru. But I just couldn't deal with the inconsistent characters, situations and bs that didn't make sense if you stopped to think about it for more than 3 seconds. I put it down long ago and came back to the ex tutor thing, now I randomly find out it ended and I'm glad I let go and didn't continue to waste my time.

 

[ItsThatBriGuy]

Thanks for finishing the series
Can we pls get a spinoff series of just meg and Koga fucking.

So, like, a thirty-year flash-forward?

 

[yamal19]

Author pulled some weird bs and didn't cook then the ending was sore.
And the grooming part is a bit weird honestly.
A 7 out of 10 at best imi