Saihyou to Tokeru - Vol. 1 Ch. 6 - END

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The art is beautiful but I feel like this story had entirely too much sex for the content matter... should have talked their feelings out rather than just Kazushi coming onto Rui nonstop and Rui being saved through osmosis? I guess.

Also fuck that teacher. Wish the story addressed how fucked Rui's feelings are towards him, considering he was a predator and a groomer.
 
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This was a rollercoaster of emotions and probably not in the best way. I didn't appreciate that they glossed over the pedophelia or that they so blatantly tried to romanticise mental instability, suicide and death.

Waiting for someone to save you and entrusting your life to them isn't exactly a healthy relationship. The whole thing was just self destructive.

I get that this was probably a one-volume deal and that lots of sex was probably a requisite but it just felt off.

That said, I obviously finished the story. The art is beautiful. I guess I'm just not satisfied with such a short story. Therr was potential to really explore all these very serious topics, but unfortunately they had to squeeze it all into one volume.

Doesn't do the Mangaka justice.
 
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@yannickq:

Hmm.. It didn't seem to me so much like they glossed over the pedophilia as much as they didn't need to say more than they did (by the end we've covered: That the kid was in love, the old guy was being a creepy old dude and knew it, and that the fallout of that relationship was horrible for everyone. What more is there to say?) Well, that said, I can fully appreciate why one might want a more explicit condemnation in the larger context of how much yaoi tends to romanticize these things, but on its own merits, I thought this was fine.

I didn't think they romanticized mental instability either—certainly not blatantly, anyway. It didn't seem to be going the "he's unstable, how sexy" route, as much as that both of those were happening at the same time? Though I can see interpreting the juxtaposition that way, I guess. But the folks around him are mostly upset and desperate, caring a great deal that he's unstable, despairing that they can't get through to him, and an appropriate sort of angry-happy (of the sort to communicate love and care instead of, say, disappointment) when they're done rescuing him from that particular suicide attempt... I don't know, it seemed pretty genuine on that front to me (for all of the amount that this manga is about fucking).

On the other hand, on that note, it is definitely true that this manga doesn't quite address that the protagonist is... not quite the ideal saviour, but rather some horny kid, in the latter throes of puberty and at the mercy of his hormones and tangled emotions, with a few consent and self-restraint issues thereby. I had taken that in a sort of "sometimes love is just a matter of who you find yourself with, even if they're imperfect" spirit, but pointing out that the protagonist is, uh, very bad at showing the platonic side of his affections a lot of the time—and that that's never at all addressed—seems like a quite-valid criticism. -_-;
 
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@Pokari ngl I barely remember what this was about so I can't say much on your other points. But what I did remember was the romanticisation of mental illness because that hits close to home.

I meant that in terms of the sufferer himself, not so much those around him. Up until the very end and even after he was "saved" from his suicide attempt it was never shown that he grew from that experience. From what I recall, the way he was drawn still felt like he was out of touch with reality and perhaps even longing.

Often, suicidal attempts are not a one-off experience. We never see him at any point of recovery really and his supposed saviour, as you've mentioned, I just a horny kid.

By the end of it all of his trauma, stress and depression is rewarded with a seemingly "happy" ending in spite of (or maybe despite) him not doing much at all. And i feel like that's both unrealistic and irresponsible especially if anyone reading this happens to know someone or is someone affected by depression, PTSD etc

And frankly their relationship was unhealthy. You don't "save" people, they save themselves. MC wasnt exactly helping him out of the goodness of his heart. The guy was borderline obsessive about this beautiful, mysterious guy he couldn't have bc he already loved someone else.

/Endrant soz. I really liked your other comments though! You're right about the paedophelia there's honestly not much else they could've shoved in there while still keeping it 1 vol.
 

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