Responses
Me toO! I came across Akuma To Love Song in a convention. It was my first convention and added to shaping my experience of anime and manga, right when it started to take shape. I was in grade 7. I had a very similar experience and I read it to the end (which, of course, isn't the end). Recently in the gap of these five years I caught myself thinking about it because I have an inclination for the behaviour of Maria. I'm rereading it now :>
The first time I read this manga, I was really young. I was in grade school and stopped reading it because I couldn't understand anything. While watching an anime regarding "akumas," I remembered this manga and I decided to check it again. I'm very happy that I did, and that I decided to read this manga in an age where I can understand it more (I'm in university now).
First thought is Maria's personality. As a child, I was so confused why she was acting so rudely. As a grown up, I actually see myself in her. Once you symphatize with a character, you forgive all their misgivings because you can put yourself in their shoes. The other characters' personality are also great (love love for Ayu and Tomo!) because they made me hate them at first but forgive them in the end. This is similar to John. We are told in the duration of the story that John raped Maria's mother, and we were taught to hate him for that. Seeing him as a pastor and repenting for his sins made me forgive him so easily by my standard that it was shocking.
Second thought are Maria's love interests. I believe Yuusuke and Shintaro started liking Maria for her looks, but Meguro. Ahh, Meguro. I shall not expound too much on this because this will end being too long. Yuusuke felt too superficial and Shintaro was irritating. I love that Meguro had faults like his cowardice towards his feelings to Maria because it just made him more real compared to the aforementioned two who seemed to always know what to do. Doing mistakes is how you grow, and Meguro did exactly that.
Third, WHERE ARE THE REST OF THE CHAPTERS!!!!!!!! This ends on chapter 91, so there are six more to go but I can’t help but feel so impatient!!!!! I’ve learned so much and felt too much while reading this, and I think everyone needs to give this story a chance. Be warned though that some themes are to be approached with care because this is the type of story an adult reads that makes them look back and examine their lives (sure as hell made me do that).