Yuuutsu-kun to Succubus-san - Vol. 1 Ch. 4

[MangaDex]

 

[maraxusofk]

Author super aware of Jap society

 

[DracoInduperator]

Jesus who makes a children'c picture book about something that depressing and horrifying!?!?

 

[justforthelulz]

@DracoInduperator

 

[DracoInduperator]

@justforthelulz okay that's fair...

 

[Walter_vi_Britannia]

@DracoInduperator In 1st grade I remember our curriculum having a story in literature class that was about a boy who owned a single cow. Selling the cow's milk was what provided those two money to go by, but it wasn't enough. He cared about her so much that he even went days starving to be able to feed the cow. When he realized he couldn't keep her like this any longer, he decided to give her away to a big farm as a milking cow so she can have proper meals every day. He didn't take money for her, he just asked for her to be treated nicely.
The boy then left, giving away his only source of income for her happiness, but she was fairly old and scrawny so the owner determined that he wouldn't get much from keeping her as a milking cow...so he sold her off to a butcher. The boy never found out that he had sent her to her death by giving her away to that farm.

IS THIS REALLY WHAT YOU TEACH 6 YEAR OLDS!?!?!?

 

[Death-wizard]

Yeah I truly don’t like kids books that have a dark ending.

 

[henman]

We had Oscar Wilde "The Happy Prince" and whole bunch of Andersen. The Little Mermaid and The Little Match Girl are the first I remember

 

[Dudley]

Guys, children shouldn't be kept away from sad things. It teaches empathy.

 

[BabyPyroshark]

Red cow you were a hero
Amen

 

[Lex]

"The human narwhal" translates to Ningen Ikkaku, it's a reference to "Ningen Shikakku" (No Longer Human), a popular book that is often associated with sadness and depression.

 

[Neo-Accelerator]

 

[Ulfhednar]

You guys haven't seen any truly fucked up children's books yet...
To give just one examples (from back when I was in kindergarten, about 20 years ago in germany):

A girl living near the sea is told stories about atlantis by her parents, then has dreams of a princess claiming to be her twin and inviting her to atlantis. In the end, she walks along the beach in the evening, conversing with her twin (who is walking in the shallows, refusing to step on dry sand). Finally, she agrees to visit atlantis, but says she doesn't want to get her clothes dirty as that'd upset her mother. Last picture is her clothes folded up neatly on the beach, and footprints leading to the waterline.

There are more stories like that that I had to listen to in kindergarten and primary school. Three I can remember completely, and a few more I remember fragments of. All describing pre-teens killing themselves (though from what I remember, dying is never explicitly mentioned) and having a better "life" afterwards.
And then they wonder why so many in my generation are suicidal...