I’m reading some more bad takes, you guys know this is a young man who became trusting of a predator that comforted him? To have that trust and break it.... its pretty devastating. This guy was probably the only one in his life Daichi met who understood and related to him, so that’s why Daichi is feeling attached. And now he’s given some hope by an acquaintance of that scammer that it turns out maybe not all that bonding and feelings were fake but reciprocated. I know this swindler is trash but I don’t see how Daichi is faulted when he and his sister are 100% the victims. You guys blame others for being naive and swindled, calling them dumb and sluts but you yourself can’t give an ounce of humanity to understand or empathize why people become victims of this. Like.... this could happen to anyone, it could even happen to you.
What an insightful analysis... I do think all the comments ripping on the MC are very unnuanced and inconsiderate. People are far more complicated than the people in this comment section seem to think they are (despite being complicated people themselves [and asshole of their own caliber]); blaming the MC for not caring all that much about his sister, what reason does he have to feel this emotionally affected by her distraught when she has never done such a thing in return? It's not like they have some legitimate family bond just because they have to live with each other. Everyone around this character has been selfish and COMPLETELY inattentive to the life of this character, what logical reason does he have for giving them jack-shit in return? And this isn't me saying that everything the MC is doing or thinking is inherently good or bad, but that everything he's doing and thinking is reasonable given his life circumstances.
The MC is not YOU (talking to other people in the comments), he does not have YOUR life; he has his own downfalls and selfish desires that any other human (very clearly) has. For being the kind of character that he's been portraying throughout his life up to this point, I'd say he has every fucking right to feel the way that he does right now.
I wasn't able to properly word why I feel so sympathetic towards the MC when reading these comments about him, I feel like my subconscious picked up on a lot more than I was able to understand, so thank you for bringing all those thoughts to my attention.
What do you think about the scammer guy? Obviously he's an asshole, but like all assholes (i.e. everyone [Not saying he's equal in his assholery though, obviously he's much worse than most]), we all have reasons for why we are the way we are, specifically why we're assholes, so I'm very curious about what else in his life has lead him to this point of being such a piece of shit... and I wonder if he had some sort of attachment towards the MC simply because they come from a similar place in terms of having inattentive mothers. Maybe he saw himself in this kid, or maybe it's something else... I really need to reread this to get a better feel of it since it's been a hot minute.
Thank you so much for agreeing with me. I really empathized with Daichi since, well, without revealing too much I’m familiar with many who have been victims of abuse. And so reading these comments who belittle him for “not being strong enough” or “not being vengeful enough” was distressing because the pointing of fingers or blame is often focused on the victim rather than the perpetrator. Its like people think you’re the one who should be responsible of the aftermath, that you should be the lively one responsible in taking care of the perpetrator yourself. No one considers how despairing or depressing the abuse was, they just want you to magically pick yourself up and deal with it whether or not you either move on or take vengeance. But vengeance requires a motivated will, which unfortunately not many victims are mentally strong enough to carry out their own justice and thus often fall into despair and depression. No amount of “well I’m just built different” opinionated takes will validate that, it just comes off as insensitive and inconsiderate like you said. Not to mention victims often can’t get over or move on from the experience of abuse, but remain attached on the experience for a while, whether or not they feel wronged or responsible.
Because of this I would like to point out that I think many other readers falsely link Daichi’s INITIAL seeking out the scammer to confess to with his CURRENT plan to find the scammer for the truth. Before, he wanted to confess since he didn’t know the guy swindled him and his sis for closure since the other guy made it clear that ties would be cut. But his current search isn’t primarily to convey his feelings, it’s to find out the circumstances of the scam, especially to see if the scammer chose them out of malice to swindle upon. I also believe this strongly ties with Daichi’s character as the metaphorical “sheep” in the story, that it is within his character to be honest. So what does an honest boy do? He lets his feelings be known. And now that the situation has become more complicated, he’s got a clue on confronting the scammer in his earnest way to finding out the truth. I truly don’t think so far any of his intentions were of complete ill-will especially since much of his wallowing was based on guilt.
As for the scammer, he’s definitely trash but there was a comment a while ago that caught my eye. The amount of money he took was strangely little compared to usual marriage scam theft. For him to put in so energy to keep up the façade for months but only to walk away with less than a million yen is... not really worth the swindling in my opinion. I have a theory that at some point he was feeling like he was starting to bond with Daichi and so upon realization decided to cut connections before he really starts getting attached and diverging from his original plans. But if that’s not the case then I have no idea but I’m curious enough to see what reason he may have. I’m not absolving this douchebag for what he did, I’m more than ready to throw the pitchforks I have ready but this wouldn’t be a story worth reading without knowing why the conflict had to appear in the plot, especially since how well fleshed the character background and environment setting is.
I completely agree! I think a lot of us who are more sensitive to these kinds of situations, specifically from being victims ourselves, definitely allows us a bit of perspective into this character's situation and mindset. I do think it's disheartening, though, reading these comments that put a lot of blame and pressure on a kid that just got his world ripped a part in front of him, a kid who truly knew no better, and still doesn't really... And, not necessarily for the story itself, but more so for what opinions like these show us about the legitimate reactions of real life situations regarding victims and abusers... It's just... Upsetting. Because this sort of shifting the blame on victims, is far too common with people who simply can't empathize, and give themselves too much credit for how they'd react in a situation they've never been in... In reality, NOTHING will prepare anyone for the guilt, disappointment, embarrassment, self-loathing, or even the possible breakthrough that comes with being a victim of a scam as well as many other things... Yet people still pretend like they can put themselves in that emotional position. Very annoying haha.
Also, that is a very interesting take on the swindler's possible arc, I feel like that's definitely going to be the author's endgame for this plot. And to be fair, although the swindler may not be deserving of a redemption arc (assuming that's kind of what we'll see), I do think this particular artist has a beautiful way of showcasing the human condition, in all it's glory and it's heinousness... So I'm just curious to see what things we'll come to know about such a piece of shit. lol
I read a pretty bad take that Daichi was being misogynist but he’s never really acted in repulsion towards women, just uncomfortable due to his childhood trauma. And he never attempted to cheat on his sister’s boyfriend, he’s just as much as a victim as she is to the guy’s ploy. I believe to understand this is to tie in the altered titular theme of this story, the idiom “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.
Remember he was adopted at a young age of three. He came from a neglectful household where his mother would leave him unattended to prioritize her sex life over her own son. And his distrust seems to have stemmed from his mother who would constantly up her appearances (as seen putting on makeup in his memory) in order to appear young and appealing to hide the terrible mother she actually is. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, appearing as the role of a mother which is contrary to who she really is.
It wasn’t until he reached age three when she finally abandoned him to his adoptive father. From comparing their upbringing, the sister had definitely lived in a more fortunate upbringing in being born to a loving family. Even if the adopted father had divorced, she was spoiled on the comforts of their home and love of her father. Which makes sense because if you were comfortable being supported and loved, you would want to be selfish in keeping that love and support. Parents are supposed to feed you but Daichi in contrast had to feed himself because his mother neglected him all the time. And so upon being introduced to a new adopted family made him feel like an outsider, its evident that he still does feel estranged now that the only person who wholeheartedly accepted him is dead and he constantly claims to move out of the household on his own after he graduates.
About his sister, while it does seem she earns an income, Daichi says she doesn’t do anything in the house. We see that he makes the breakfast for everyone and lunch for himself but when the sister wants her own lunch she doesn’t because she finds it too troublesome. Seems to me she seems like the ramen eating bum stereotype, and judging from the clothes she leaves behind on the ground and her lazy attitude, I think Daichi is the one who ends up making the meals, cleaning the house, and generally is the one doing the household chores. She even admits to Daichi calling her out as a bum and claims to resolve to be a better woman. So in a way she is also a wolf in sheep’s clothing in that her clean likable attitude hides her slobby home self. Its fine to be a slob in your own home while keeping an appearance outside but from what we can infer she also seems to inconvenience the others living in the same household since Daichi (and possibly the grandmother) is the one taking care of household needs such as cooking and cleaning. The wolf claim is that she deliberately appears to be more of the innocent, perfect woman than she is to the guys she flirts at bars and brings home. While his sister is not trash like his mother, she still falls ways of being a dependable member of family. Financial support is great but there’s more to a family than helping pay for shelter.
What about Daichi? He’s being told often how honest he is and so far I think he’s definitely one of the characters so far who is a “sheep”, true to his character on the inside and out. Many other characters have commented how easily seen his moods are when he’s in love or gloomy, or even when he’s eating good food. Even when he briefly thought he was better partner than his sister, he felt bad. But being this naive and honest has its downsides, since he was swindled easily by the guy.
ALSO I want to point out that when he thought he was cheating, he didn’t consent to the alleged date rape so I find him to be a victim not an accomplice to the cheating. Not only that, even if it weren’t a scam, Daichi had never attempted to “steal” the guy from his sister before AND after the drunk incident. After being stressed and consoled by his job hunting coworker, he wanted to at least let the other party be known of his feelings. I don’t think he had any intention of getting together with him since the other guy made it clear he would break ties with his sister (when this was thought not to be a scam). If anything, the real wolf or monster in this case is the predatory scam this guy pulled to ruin two siblings’ feelings. I definitely think they were hit more on by emotional manipulation than the financial theft that took place since this was a guy they wholeheartedly loved and trusted.