the pacing is weird but i am kinda intrigued by sanari’s whole deal like. he clearly likes her but is scared of his own wants. like… okay… the kiss at the festival happened bc sanari was jealous and he wanted to… run away from that feeling. i thought that standoff between the two mls was interesting bc sanari exposed his truest self to arata: someone who thinks of himself as a bad guy, someone who acts differently based on the situation, someone who lies to the girl he likes to smooth over the awkwardness. arata’s taller than him, isn’t cynical, and can treat ichika right — like… to an emotionally constipated guy, it makes sense that sanari lashed out. but what i dislike is the author’s wishy-washyness on character development like. ichika isn’t learning anything new, she just kinda confidently stepped into a situationship — at first, i thought it was actually gonna go somewhere but it’s dragging. i think it would have been more effective if the kiss scene at the festival was framed to be scary and horrifying from the jump, instead of tense and romantic. ichika obv didn’t like it lol. i def like the beginning character explorations in this manga but the story needs to be confident enough to take a stand for it to stick the landing: either commit to sanari’s growth, or develop ichika and arata to the point where ichika finds her original sense of self-worth again lolll
35 chapters to set up the dramatic irony of four people romantically and platonically entangled with each other… so funny and so brave. clearly the author’s got shenanigans in mind and im so excited for the ensuing chaos LMAOOOOO but jokes aside, what a sweet sweet friendship!!! i love youta and koyun’s scene in this chapter <333 genuinely so touching to see a strong friendship between a girl and a boy in a high school manga :,)
ACKKKK shima has this deep-seated inferiority complex but his admiration and desire for mitsumi go so deep he’s inspired to become a better person just to be able to look her in the eye… the way he was disappointed when she gave him her reasons for liking him, thinking she had a shallow view of him, when honestly they both just see the best parts of each other. they make me so crazy. skip to loafer is so fucking good
i actually love that this r18 manga has a sex scene without penetration even after theyve had sex multiple times…. like thats real af. they want each other so bad and im obsessed with them!!!!!!
It’s so yummy idk why…
right before hikaru died in the mountains, he wished for his best friend yoshiki to not be alone. a mysterious being granted this wish by inhabiting hikaru’s dead body, thus becoming ‘hikaru’. yoshiki slowly comes to terms that his best friend is dead, while also slowly coming to accept and befriend the mysterious ‘hikaru’.
yoshiki starts coming into contact with the supernatural through extended exposure to ‘hikaru’. in response to this, they start learning about the village’s mysterious past and how the mountain villages are shaped like a person. most importantly, they learn that hikaru’s family have long been involved in rituals like sacrificing people’s heads to a being called “The Great Brainsnatcher,” a being that also became known as the “God of Curses.”
if we go all the way back to the beginning of history, the land was fated to be cursed because it contained holes that were passages to a supernatural dimension. ‘impurities’ seep through them, and it seems that the unnaturalness of these gateways cause a lot of human misfortune.
at first, they think that ‘hikaru’ is the The Great Brainsnatcher. but this is refuted by that white-haired guy who looks like a diet gojo. ‘hikaru’ can be considered an ‘impurity’ that came from the hole. before the real hikaru made a wish, ‘hikaru’ was keeping the impurities at bay with his presence. but now that he is weakened because of his growing human identity, the impurities cannot be kept at bay, thus the overflow of impure energies suddenly materializing in the sky. and also that scary ghost’s feet in ch 28. basically, yoshiki befriending ‘hikaru’ has put the entire mountain (maybe even the world??) in supernatural danger.
in order to prevent all hell from breaking lose, diet gojo has asked ‘hikaru’ to do something about the holes, since he originates from them. and that is where we find ourselves in ch 28: yoshiki, hikaru, that random old lady driving them, and the road trip to hell.
if i’m being so real though, the real plot is yoshiki coming to terms with his feelings towards his dead best friend and his new monstrous best friend. yoshiki repressing his romantic love for hikaru, hikaru loving yoshiki enough to wish for him to not be alone, and ‘hikaru’ loving yoshiki with everything he’s got. imagine ur forbidden crush liking u back but theres someone else inside his skin lollll rip yoshiki fr. and then yoshiki learned to love the monster anyways… what a sweet guy. i love him.
if missed anything important or got something wrong pls feel free to correct and comment. typing this all out made me realize that there’s actually a lot of convoluted plot lmao
Thank you for this. I did get the story but get lost in it for a bit this really helped.
"Diet gojo"
my poor little yoshiki who is selfishly continuing to love the monster who puppets the corpse of his dearest friend, who feels like an aberration himself because of his sexuality. i have a feeling this manga is tipping into its final arc, and i’m excited for the bittersweet ending. truthfully i’m so into the theme of internal homophobia as this unknowable, gory horror so i’m extra curious about how the mangaka sticks the landing! i wonder if yoshiki will ever find out that hikaru is the one who wished for ‘hikaru’ to stay by yoshiki’s side, so that he wouldn’t be alone. personally if i were yoshiki it’d break me lolzzzz
the paneling in chapter 44!!!! wtf!!! so expressive, so intense! the movement of iruka’s dance was conveyed so gorgeously like i could see her gliding on the ice in my mind’s eye. amazing
THEY MAKE ME SO CRAZY!!!!!! accepting the monster is so crazy its so romantic its soooooo toxic my god. what are they going to do!!!!! what are they going to do.
i like the financial/political slant and i like the bantering between the leads. And also i like female lead’s eyebrows; she’s drawn so pretty. refreshing to read another oi focused more on bureaucracy instead of magic. for some reason i am a freak who enjoys reading about fictional economic trade systems
As someone who has upturned eyes and resting bitch face, I love characters drawn like this. we may look abrasive, but we're actually sweet
yeah this chapter has had me switching loyalties extremely fast HFJDJSJS arata im rooting for u!!!! i think this is where the real story begins y’all… really deeply curious how sanari going to act? praying this is gonna be a daytime shooting star/hirunaka no ryuusei situation where they keep it kinda ambiguous but also somewhat obvious that the 2nd ml is gonna come out on top