pluckaduck's manga / #Bullying(7)

fucked up, but interesting. like you want to see how fucked up this can go. the storytelling is pretty great tho; like we can see how perverted, disgusting, and disturbed the mind of mc is as he pathetically tries to resist/rationalize his lust, and makes me wonder if this is really how it goes for people like the mc? pedophilia and prostitution are not romanticized in any capacity.

Interest as fuck, I am excited to see how this will unfold.

quite introspective of human nature and their "justice". i like how it doesn't delve into the origins of the revelator and the magical girls, but it's still interesting.

ch 18. haha i always thought Brocoli-head would look good with cheerful blondie. even tho he looks weird, he's a good guy who deserves the girl waayyy more than mc, who's a creepy edgy dude. man it was really interesting how realistic the story was, also i found it kinda funny how some scenes were dramatized even tho the context was very silly... very chuuni lol. honestly seemed like ur typical school life harem with a creep mc, but it is far from it, it can even be said to be a subversion of this trope. it is so well-written with realistically flawed charas. the narrative is very self-aware. his personal growth was really really great, and while i still think his friend brocoli-head and cheerful blondie forgave him too quickly, i am so happy for him that they did. but the love interest felt very random, she was kitahara's bully but was suddenly re-introduced as his love interest? it's kinda rushed, considering he jacked off to her and came on her clothes... like i dont mind, but i wish she was as fleshed out as kitahara. and what if kitahara doesn't forgive her bully? what will mc do, since he essentially said that he'll support her?

ch 26. extra half star cuz of the art. man the art. they're good with sexual tension. the premise's execution is ok, i like how it explores the mc's loneliness due to the erasure of his existence in the world. mc's past is pitiful, and his characterization makes sense. their past relationship unexpectedly has more depth than i anticipated, but their current one is just the typical obsessive teasing guy x tough rebellious but softhearted guy (ie think the second couple in 19 days). on the other hand, the ml's mom felt rather comically abusive so i didn't really care for him. dynamic-wise, i like it, but the author's other work was better. both mcs are fierce, hard exterior/soft interior types of guys, but i liked the other dude better. bc despite being such a good fighter with an unbreakable will against bullying, he does not have an equal power dynamic with the ml. it's like he's running around on the palm of his hands. it may look like he has autonomy, since he talks back to him and resist him as much as he can, but everything is progressing in the ml's favor. their relationship was more interesting when they were young. and I'm still hoping for a scene in which the mc will kick the ml, not even a normal kick, but one that'll make him faint... like he did to mc like did we forget about that?? frankly i want the romance to take the backseat cuz i wanna learn more about the original body's owner

if the story showed the gravity of the ramifications of the bullying and ostracization mc suffered (instead of just social anxiety), it would've been better. if the mc was more resistant and his struggles to trust ml were shown more, instead of being swept along easily by the ml, the romance would actually be cathartic. this is just a shallow attempt at a "misunderstanding" plot type of story. should've dropped it by the first chapter.

first chapter was good, but quality went downhill. it falls short of three important aspects: haruki's character. his character in the first chapter was good and relatable, but then after that he gradually just becomes a victimized tool for the revenge porn. the pacing is awful; the revenge was speedrunned and it wasn't cathartic at all cuz the ml dealt with them very easily. given how horrible they were to their victims like haruki, it would be better to explore in depth their characters and the psychological aspects (such as reona). that last was the shock value. it's simply not gory, or disturbing much. this goes hand in hand with pacing. the individual plot points were good, but i felt the author didn't have enough time to develop them, so we got a shallow piece of work like this.