matmat's manga / #creepy(1)

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihaisuru portrays the tale of two step-brothers - Jeremy and Ian, as they strive to discover their separate paths towards redemption. Jeremy, a sensitive but outgoing 17 year old, is delighted to hear the news of his neurotic and excitable mother's remarriage to a wealthy British man. However, much to his horror, his sweet-talking new step-father Greg, soon begins to exhibit a disturbing trait...he is a sadistic pedophile and loses no time in making Jeremy his target. Months of horrific, systematic abuse drives Jeremy to desperation; and he sabotages his step-father's car with the hope of eliminating him. The resulting accident, however, kills his mother along with Greg. Jeremy's shocked and guilt-stricken behaviour arouses the suspicions of Greg's free-spirited son, Ian. He unearths enough evidence to tie his step-brother to the crime; but in doing so, also discovers the details of Greg's sexual abuse of Jeremy. Caught in a moral dilemma -- between punishing the criminal and atoning for his father's sins, Ian soon finds himself haunted by lust for Jeremy. Is it lust...or love? He wonders whether he shares his father's proclivities, but finds himself helpless to resist being drawn into a passionate and painful relationship with his step-brother. It’s very disturbing, but a very well-written story. Even though the summary displays this morbid information, going in sort of blind would be a better experience. The pacing is slow but we get to see many character arcs and the changes Jermey has to go through. I have seen yaoi and BL with r*pe, but they usually romantize it and overall never get to display the full trama of this abusive relationship. There are many sex scenes but it’s not really explicit. Instead, sex is sort of drawn in this artistic visual and it sort of visualizes the trama and the moments of each characters emotions. If that truly makes sense. Each character in the story isn’t one dimensional and it is sort of beautiful in that sense. We get to see the whole story with Jeremy meeting that stupid idiot to him experiencing the trama and grief he is put through by his actions. It’s painful and beautiful. Still, it’s exahasting to read because of the length but it fully gets across a story of pain and disgust. It doesn’t romantasize rape, and instead shows the whole picture of how it feels and changes someone. The 1st half is painful but it gets better once Greg is dead. Well sorta. There is a cycle of pain and understanding with the situation. Trama never truly goes away and I liked how this manga portrayed it.