Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsu no Ma ni ka Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken - Vol. 5 Ch. 21.3

[Eternalsleep]

Spoiler

Well as of volume 7 of the light novel, the mom has not shown up since her appearance here and the dad did show up and talk to amane where he expressed remorse over how he treated mahiru but seeing mahiru has basically been accepted into amane's family and that she no longer wants to have anything to do with him or her mom, he agreed to stay out of her life

Good! Stay TF away from her foh

 

[yeskey]

The look of despair is significantly sharp

It's so unlike anything else in the manga. The art is so good at conveying her resignation, knowing her parents don't love her but still craving their love.

That was because she had no one to turn to... she had nowhere to belong.

I wonder if that was one of the reasons she starts taking care of Amane in the first place. She was indebted to him ofc, but she could've been seeking that sort of connection with someone. Might be overthinking but it puts an interesting motivation as to why she opens up to him on a re-read

 

[wallsg]

Our boy just did his daily quest of proposing to his waifu.
Do your best in comforting her!

For the rest of my life.

 

[wallsg]

This is an example of cucking that is just straight cheating and not NTR. Cucking just means that another man is plowing your wife (or girlfriend). Mahiru's mother was just cheating and her father just didn't give a shit because they never loved each other anyway. Mahiru doesn't say it here but her father was either boning prostitutes or had his own mistress.

 

[wallsg]

Man some people should never be parents. They should've got sterilized if they don't want child. Fuck em.

Perhaps they didn't want children with each other (as it was a loveless marriage). If Mahiru hadn't been born perhaps they would have been free to divorce and each marry someone else, although with the way they're depicted I can't envision either of them actually being capable of love.

 

[wallsg]

Spoiler

Well as of volume 7 of the light novel, the mom has not shown up since her appearance here and the dad did show up and talk to amane where he expressed remorse over how he treated mahiru but seeing mahiru has basically been accepted into amane's family and that she no longer wants to have anything to do with him or her mom, he agreed to stay out of her life

Well, good on him for at least having a smidgen of a conscious.

 

[wallsg]

where my FUCCING GUN WHEN I NEED IT!?!!!

This would not be overkill...

 

[wallsg]

But what's there to even cover up? When it comes to covering things up regarding kids, the parents do so in order not to lose custody of them. She herself said neither of hers want custody, in fact they're just waiting for that not to be an issue to divorce. I'd imagine that if either side of her family was willing to take her in, her parents would have arranged for it long ago, since they're so keen to be rid of her.

Any issues with her welfare would be just like a divorce, drawing family attention to the mother's affairs and causing troubles for her father's work. Bad loss of face for the family.

 

[finalm]

Any issues with her welfare would be just like a divorce, drawing family attention to the mother's affairs and causing troubles for her father's work. Bad loss of face for the family.

There's no indication that either parent cares about attention from his side of the family, nor any supposed "loss of face" (they're not CCP officials, you know). From all that was said it seems that only a divorce would be problematic.

She said that they can't divorce because of her and are waiting for her to finish her education. In other words, they do plan to divorce, just not until she's independent. The reason is supposedly that if there was a court case for custody over her, the fact that the mother has a child (and was married) would somehow get out and reach the ears of the families of the men she's been dating. I've no idea how that could happen, but the fact that she's worried about that makes it sound like she engages in some sort of marriage scam with said men as her victims... As for the father, no clue why it would interfere with his work unless he's some public figure for whom image is most important.

In any case, I still don't see what's there to cover up regarding her welfare, unless they are worried that she'd sue them for alimony and it would also somehow get out, like the custody case. It's just conjecture though.

 

[SveNo]

where my FUCCING GUN WHEN I NEED IT!?!!!

Gun, heck give me a dagger. This is up close and personal!

EDIT: Or a tetsubo. Makes more of an impression.

 

[SveNo]

This would not be overkill...

Too much risk of collateral damage, and to innocent bystanders.
I would want to make sure everybody knows that it was this particular individual that was the target.
I think the proper term is "terminating with extreme prejudice". Hence tetsubo.

 

[frostmonolith]

I wonder if that was one of the reasons she starts taking care of Amane in the first place. She was indebted to him ofc, but she could've been seeking that sort of connection with someone.

I like that thought.
After noting a few things on the light novel up to vol 2, I believe it’s simply because of how Amane reacts with proper distance to her, respecting her cautiousness and honesty, while at the same time still looks into the small things, showing care. All the small points he gave was the one thing that pushed her to “might as well find out about this guy through food”.

That’s clear as day to what she says to him in that white christmas night. She knows clearly that what good small things Amane did to her was more than enough to satisfy her, even if he thought he’s still never able to do something as big as cooking for two.

 

[frostmonolith]

This scene was so sharply ingrained in my soul every single time I read it, I bet she could've fallen into chronic physical measures if he didn't force her into his apartment at that exact moment.

 

[apstorm]

This scene was so sharply ingrained in my soul every single time I read it, I bet she could've fallen into chronic physical measures if he didn't force her into his apartment at that exact moment.

Damn, making me think of my ex with this particular thing- way back before we dated, she was known to cut her wrists. One of the things I wanted to make sure about was to never have her sink that low again, that just my presence would be enough to keep her calm and content, at the very least. Didn't stay that way, ultimately, but still. I feel like I maybe helped her feel okay with herself for a year or so, at least.

There's a bit of my own upbringing in the 'neglect' angle of Mahiru's general backstory, too, which only more recently sunk in. To be fair, I also had three older sisters each born within a year or two of each other and myself in a chain, and we kinda took care of each other more than our parents did us. Let alone things worse than neglect that flared up for all of us. No wonder I kinda fell apart after losing my job and my ex within the same year, and only now figuring out just how broken I was and probably should have been taking care of my mental health already at the time.

I will note that's one thing manga never deals with: characters who need professional help getting it. The fantasy of having a loving companion that would help you to heal and that's all you need, when reality... often doesn't work like that.

It's a nice fantasy, though. A nice bit of escapism.

Oh, and to clarify on my ex... nothing particularly grim happened, we just separated amicably, but then I had a mental breakdown while we were merely awkward roommates, and thus I don't blame her for getting away from me in that state with us not being together anymore. I've been feeling like shit for not getting the help I needed before that happened, after I realized what actually went down. She even prodded me to get help, same as she was getting at the time, but I refused to listen.

Oh yeah, the neglect angle makes me think about HoriMiya, too. Specifically, Kyoko Hori's parents, who, though they probably did love their kids, couldn't spend nearly enough time at home to actually raise them because they were so busy, and the father in particular spent so much time away from home working that Kyoko started calling him by his given name instead of 'dad'. I know that story kinda hit home, a bit, too, as Kyoko's situation reminded me of my eldest sister, who had to basically become a replacement mom to myself and our other two sisters.

 

[Uyamikun]

The hell you mean one night mistake? You mean they have sex by mistake how so? 🤣

 

[Saury]

Damn, making me think of my ex with this particular thing- way back before we dated, she was known to cut her wrists. One of the things I wanted to make sure about was to never have her sink that low again, that just my presence would be enough to keep her calm and content, at the very least. Didn't stay that way, ultimately, but still. I feel like I maybe helped her feel okay with herself for a year or so, at least.

There's a bit of my own upbringing in the 'neglect' angle of Mahiru's general backstory, too, which only more recently sunk in. To be fair, I also had three older sisters each born within a year or two of each other and myself in a chain, and we kinda took care of each other more than our parents did us. Let alone things worse than neglect that flared up for all of us. No wonder I kinda fell apart after losing my job and my ex within the same year, and only now figuring out just how broken I was and probably should have been taking care of my mental health already at the time.

I will note that's one thing manga never deals with: characters who need professional help getting it. The fantasy of having a loving companion that would help you to heal and that's all you need, when reality... often doesn't work like that.

It's a nice fantasy, though. A nice bit of escapism.

Oh, and to clarify on my ex... nothing particularly grim happened, we just separated amicably, but then I had a mental breakdown while we were merely awkward roommates, and thus I don't blame her for getting away from me in that state with us not being together anymore. I've been feeling like shit for not getting the help I needed before that happened, after I realized what actually went down. She even prodded me to get help, same as she was getting at the time, but I refused to listen.

Oh yeah, the neglect angle makes me think about HoriMiya, too. Specifically, Kyoko Hori's parents, who, though they probably did love their kids, couldn't spend nearly enough time at home to actually raise them because they were so busy, and the father in particular spent so much time away from home working that Kyoko started calling him by his given name instead of 'dad'. I know that story kinda hit home, a bit, too, as Kyoko's situation reminded me of my eldest sister, who had to basically become a replacement mom to myself and our other two sisters.

Damn, you had a hard life, too 😢...

Sadly, the reason why the mangaka probably didn't make the story reach for professional help is because mental health problems are still heavily stigmatized in Japan, though some progress has been made.

Which is why even slower paced slice of life manga like this is still fairly popular. It's nice to read about how good parents (Amane's parents) behave, and how good friends behave. Perhaps it is escapism, as you pointed out, or perhaps it is trying to preserve what good is left in broken Japanese souls by having them root for good people to find happiness in this world.

 

[apstorm]

Damn, you had a hard life, too 😢...

Sadly, the reason why the mangaka probably didn't make the story reach for professional help is because mental health problems are still heavily stigmatized in Japan, though some progress has been made.

Which is why even slower paced slice of life manga like this is still fairly popular. It's nice to read about how good parents (Amane's parents) behave, and how good friends behave. Perhaps it is escapism, as you pointed out, or perhaps it is trying to preserve what good is left in broken Japanese souls by having them root for good people to find happiness in this world.

Yeah, I'm not dissing manga in general for not doing it- I fully understand many cultures still stigmatize professional help, and I feel like that was even a factor in me refusing to listen when my ex told me I should get help, too, back when we were still together -just noting the fact reality is often... unkind.

Fiction can give us a loving couple that can heal each other's mental and emotional wounds, and I actually often root for it. I cheered on the titular couple of HoriMiya as they were there for each other, to lean on each other as they dealt with their trauma. In particular, what comes to mind is the scene where Hori is sick and Miyamura comes over to care for her, and she keeps repeating, "Where are you going?" when he's preparing to leave her room to do things to take care of her, as she remembers how her mother has had to leave her alone all the time because of work ... and he seems to get it, and finally corrects her, saying what she really means to say is, "Please don't leave me." It makes me tear up just thinking about that scene.

Maybe sometimes that can happen in reality, but I fear it's something that isn't very likely, and why I'd rather get myself into a more stable state before I dare attempt to entangle my life with another person again.

But I still enjoy fiction for giving us these lovely couples in romance manga that are broken but can still heal and find happiness with each other. I was finding them all the time in some high-rated manhwa elsewhere. I started to learn to read the signs of romantic leads with trauma or other issues, and it helped to explain why they struggled with intimacy.