stressedpenguin's manga / #violence(15)

Last read ch 28. Bounty hunter Callahan just needs to catch 1 more criminal to collect a fat 10 mil pesos (?). His target is Jonny the Scammer, bona fide twink. Tbh there were bits that were pretty confusing. The story avoids going that play by play thing or giving exposition dumps, and generally does a good job presenting the information through visual storytelling and subtler dialogue... That said, there's A LOT happening in this story that divides what little space the story allots for exposition. As a result, it's easy to miss key backstory details (skill issue on my part) and could sometimes be a little unsatisfying? It's unclear for a BIG portion of the story if out Jonny is actually the scammer. He doesn't act like one even for the 1.5 ish chapters he's alone. I was never sold 100% that he's a criminal deserving of arrest. He just seems like some unfortunate guy. I think this actually could have benefited from being longer, having time to explore the characters (and world?) more. But it was still a cohesive, comprehensible story with what it gave us. Also shoutout to the person in the comments for explaining, re:ch 12 that Jonny lied about the timeline to give himself an alibi. I totally did not clock that at all 8/10

I really loved how gentle this was. I loved the softness of Chinatsu describing the aquarium to Kasumi, and all the soft face caresses, and the way Kasumi constantly reaches for Chinatsu to feel that he's there and that gentle photograph of Kasumi at the ocean. Aaaaahhh my heart 8/10

There was more punching in this than I expected... Uhhh 5/10? 4/10?

A cute mobster story. Not a lot happens tbh so it's very slice of life. The two bits of conflict kinda just... happen for a single chapter and then disappear. Like Ritsu just accepts his rejection and instantly becomes my fave character. The other crazy dude kinda just disappears from the story???? Feels like the author hugley forgot about him and tossed in the truck-kun moment to quickly resolve that Absolutely adored everyone in this story. They're just silly and supportive. 7/10

....I feel like this is SUPPOSED to make sense but the last three chapters have just been repeats of themselves. They're not EXCAT copies, but the "plot" beats, the cinematography, character expressions--they're all being repeated in almost the same order. MC has been broken since ch 3, and we're not in his head to see if he's fighting it or lost in some dreamscape or what. I just feel so disconnected from everyone. The psycho shota vampire is just there to do all the twisted vampire stuff instead of Azure because I guess the author is scared we the audience won't like Azure if HE does all the fucked up things? The story doesnt have the room for a second antagonist???? Psychic Shota is taking up time in an already very limited manga??? What is the point The ending just feels like...bland. 3/10 for being disappointing