miseryxcompany's manga / #Official Translation(4)

Short manga with pretty art, poetic titles and flowery dialogue are like the self help books of BL. Though I did find this one especially beautiful. The complaints I have lay mainly with Kasumi. He isn't so consumed by his blindness that it becomes the entierty of his character, which I appriciate, but he's not afforded as much panel time and ultimately feels like an accessory to Chinatsu. It's like he only exists in relation to him- we see nothing of his mother even though we're told she hides him away out of shame and I don't think he talks to his brother directly the entire time. I just think it's a missed opportunity that we don't get to see him confront driving forces in his life before running off with Chinatsu, as Chinatsu was allowed to do. The art was beautiful though.

After sitting on it for a couple days I've come to the conclusion that Stigma is just okay. It doesn't approach it's subject matter in a particularly unique way, and it doesn't need to, but ultimately I could not get myself fully immersed in the world of Stigma. To start off on a positive note I really enjoyed how it explores different responses to abuse through Boris. His sister is lax around men she doesn't know and still offers kindness to strangers despite what she's been through, and Sehyun tries to have sex with him after being raped by Michael. Boris cannot understand how Elena can be so trusting or why Sehyun isn't completely repulsed by sex and his concern is often aggressive to the point of hurting those he cares about. It's heart wrenching and simultaneously cathartic in its graphic depictions of sexual violence, abuse, etc. but it's insistence on containing the story within a handful of characters' lives only dampened my enjoyment. One of the few times I think a story has been held back by refusing to involve characters and storylines not directly related to the main pairing. In the epilogue Sehyun says Boris told him Tracy wanted to be a dancer, alluding to a deeper connection between the two than we are initially led to believe, or Boris learning about Tracy after her suicide. This isn't explored, though I think giving her that panel time and making her feel like a person rather than a plot device would've made for a bigger impact on the trajectory of Boris' life. As is, she's sidelined in her own tragedy and her rape is treated as something that happens *to Boris*. From the beginning Linda has been dropping hints to Maureen about wanting a child-- and the exact nature of the relationship is totally muddled; Are they dating? Is it a situationship?-- and she seems to live vicariously through Boris' love for his neice Anya. She even tries to coerce Boris into having sex with her with a sob story about her abusive father because Maureen won't give her a child. This will never be mentioned again. We'll never see anything detailing the nuances of her relationship with Maureen-- who I'm pretty sure isn't even named until chapter 26, by the way-- and this b-plot will never get a proper conclusion. My biggest gripe might be with Michaels mom. Michael is a child of rape and was neglected by his mother, regardless he still bends to her every beck and call in attempt to get her to acknowledge him. He tries to give back because he "doesn't want to create more trash in this world" but ultimately subcumbs to the gnawing realization that he'll never be loved. Sehyun becomes an outlet for his anger and sexual frustration, having someone that could take his place as the trash he is made him feel better about himself. This is all fine on its own I guess. But with Anya also being a child of rape, yet still loved by her mother, and his mother being an elitist bitch who expects others to grovel at her feet at the slightest bit of pity, it kinda reads like his mother is what made him a rapist. A "Fine, I'll be the monster you treat me like I am," kind of thing. And just why does she want Sehyun to kill him in the hospital? Is it because she doesn't want him to ruin her already damaged reputation? Does she just hate him that much? Is he not useful to her anymore? These are things you could write about!

Who do they have translating this man, there’s no way this is the official release. If you can look past the poor translation quality, Nineteen Over is… surprisingly cute, with smooth pacing and seamless transitions into its flashback sequences. I would’ve preferred more time spent on Henry’s sadistic treatment of Noah when he was young but that’s a personal nitpick. Despite his attempts to come off as mean and domineering, I enjoyed that Henry was likened to a child throwing a tantrum. He has this deep rooted obsession with Noah that manifests as a need to control him, and seeing Noah endure pain in his stead solidified the idea that Noah belonged to him in his mind. He forces himself on Noah, which itself is an act that exercises extreme control and objectification over another, but can’t even properly veil his childish motives— “Why did you leave me?” “I told you not to leave me”— ultimately he’s upset that the illusion of Noah being his property was broken, and Noah could see right through him. You can really sense that they’re equally obsessed with each other and it’s so cute how Henry reverts to his more vulnerable, childish self and allows himself to be scolded by Noah.

God he’s such a dumbass. Also I like this kind of dry, not-really-trying mundane type of comedy. * Tagged Dubcon cause Mr. Yoo’s favorite words are ‘stop’ and ‘no’ and frankly he seems like too much of a retard to ever consent to sex