When a young mind is neglected and abandoned, then left to it's own devices, the result is never healthy. The poor kid was utterly abandoned and grew up without any adult guidance, save his mother's sporadic, cryptic advice and the advice of teachers who only cared about his grades - since that is how they achieve their own career goals. Literally everyone around him ignored his needs, including his own brother who was the only person he felt he could rely on. Of course he became selfish and self serving! No one else was going to give him anything. So, he took what he wanted and needed for himself. It is the same with feral children. By nature, humans are greedy, petty, jealous and selfish. These are necessary for our survival in situations where we are alone and not part of a society or civilization. We are born with these insticts to aid in survival, and only after being properly guided by adults to repress these insticts that are destructive when in social/civilized situations, are we able to function properly in those social/civilized situations. Without that guidance, we simply fall into a feral state that focuses solely on ourselves and our own survival and desires. Yuki was older and had the benefit of adult guidance for a few years, but that was denied to Hayato. A child just a year or two older can not raise another child. Have none of you ever read or watched "Lord of the Flies"? It is the same premise. Hayato was as much a victim as Yuki was. Hayato's abuse of Yuki stemmed from the neglect of his mother. He didn't know how to interact with others when it came to situations that are not covered by a school lesson. The only true villain in this story is the mother. Hayato had the emotional capacity of a toddler all because he was neglected and abandoned by his mother to be raised by another child who was barely older than himself. You can't fault a two year old for acting like a two year old and although Hayato was chronologically in his teens, he was stunted, emotionally, from the moment his mother abandoned him. They weren't abandoned for a few months either, this was their life for several years that were key in Hayato's emotional development.
All that said, I was sorely disappointed in the translators need to add their asinine comments regarding the scenes. As a reader, I don't want someone else to determine how I feel about a story. Especially when their comments are biased, narrow-minded and uneducated. They were her files and she has every right to add anything she chooses to what is hers. However, I will avoid, like the plague, anything translated by this person in the future. There was a point to the story that the translator was obviously to immature to grasp. As a mature, educated, adult reader, I don't need help from a child to sort through a story with situations too mature for them to grasp. The comments simply drove home the point that the person reading and translating this story was as emotionally immature as Hayato and as intellectually immature as, well, a pubescent girl. Go figure. This manga's translation, and the notes by the translator, highlight why young readers either need an older mentor to properly grasp the material they are reading and/or the need to restrict this type of material, even on free sites, to those over 18. The story was tainted, as were the opinions of some readers, simply because a child translated it. That is such an injustice to the mangaka that worked their ass off on this story. It was like having the class clown interrupt a serious discussion with fart noises. Frankly, it pissed me off.
When a young mind is neglected and abandoned, then left to it's own devices, the result is never healthy. The poor kid was utterly abandoned and grew up without any adult guidance, save his mother's sporadic, cryptic advice and the advice of teachers who only cared about his grades - since that is how they achieve their own career goals. Literally everyone around him ignored his needs, including his own brother who was the only person he felt he could rely on. Of course he became selfish and self serving! No one else was going to give him anything. So, he took what he wanted and needed for himself. It is the same with feral children. By nature, humans are greedy, petty, jealous and selfish. These are necessary for our survival in situations where we are alone and not part of a society or civilization. We are born with these insticts to aid in survival, and only after being properly guided by adults to repress these insticts that are destructive when in social/civilized situations, are we able to function properly in those social/civilized situations. Without that guidance, we simply fall into a feral state that focuses solely on ourselves and our own survival and desires. Yuki was older and had the benefit of adult guidance for a few years, but that was denied to Hayato. A child just a year or two older can not raise another child. Have none of you ever read or watched "Lord of the Flies"? It is the same premise. Hayato was as much a victim as Yuki was. Hayato's abuse of Yuki stemmed from the neglect of his mother. He didn't know how to interact with others when it came to situations that are not covered by a school lesson. The only true villain in this story is the mother. Hayato had the emotional capacity of a toddler all because he was neglected and abandoned by his mother to be raised by another child who was barely older than himself. You can't fault a two year old for acting like a two year old and although Hayato was chronologically in his teens, he was stunted, emotionally, from the moment his mother abandoned him. They weren't abandoned for a few months either, this was their life for several years that were key in Hayato's emotional development.
All that said, I was sorely disappointed in the translators need to add their asinine comments regarding the scenes. As a reader, I don't want someone else to determine how I feel about a story. Especially when their comments are biased, narrow-minded and uneducated. They were her files and she has every right to add anything she chooses to what is hers. However, I will avoid, like the plague, anything translated by this person in the future. There was a point to the story that the translator was obviously to immature to grasp. As a mature, educated, adult reader, I don't need help from a child to sort through a story with situations too mature for them to grasp. The comments simply drove home the point that the person reading and translating this story was as emotionally immature as Hayato and as intellectually immature as, well, a pubescent girl. Go figure. This manga's translation, and the notes by the translator, highlight why young readers either need an older mentor to properly grasp the material they are reading and/or the need to restrict this type of material, even on free sites, to those over 18. The story was tainted, as were the opinions of some readers, simply because a child translated it. That is such an injustice to the mangaka that worked their ass off on this story. It was like having the class clown interrupt a serious discussion with fart noises. Frankly, it pissed me off.