pluckaduck's manga / #horror(42)

honestly it was so interesting but the ending was like... huh? i understand it but it falls flat. like ryo's motivation to pretend to be his twin and be with the mc is necessary to add more depth to the story. like it was obvious from the abuse and cheating that he didn't love her enough, and running away when she killed his twin would've been a realistic move, so why stay? ig he realized his fuck up and love too late, but that would be too contrived of a reason.

the pseud-rape of the highschool girl and eating his own semen was uncomfortable to read.

i pity the mother to some extent bc she simply didn't have the mental fortitude to deal with raising two kids, but it does not justify her abuse at all. she victimizes herself, is timid and immature, cannot own up to her mistakes, and vents her frustration and anger on innocent kids. she's a pretty nuanced chara; instead of simply being an abusive cruel parent, she just emotionally premature and too weak-minded with a victim complex to juggle the responsibility of raising two children and being the breadwinner.

it was an entertaining story, there was some parts that felt meandering or were introduced awkwardly (such as the part about the memory loss) and i think there is some pages missing at the chapter where sayeh kills her mom, but overall decent well-written story with relatively fleshed out charas. i find it hard to believe that mc and his sister love Robert in the end, bc the only reasonable explanation for this feeling, after everything he put them thru, is stockholm syndrome. bc how the fuck can they even like him. also, i feel that the truth surrounding how they turned maestros into humans is a plot hole. bc it required taking out a marble (that represented their essense/soul) from their body, and i do not think the maestros would be willing to go thru torture/experimentations for mongliso to discover this truth, even if they were in a dream.

story was interesting at first. the plot was messy, but the mc's characterization was solid. the other side cast's characterization was decent (such as Ivan, midwinter, may, miranda, macalo) and def could be explored, and there was other side charas introduced that could've been relevant later (but never was). the overarching plot was slowly but steadily unfolding, introducing new plotlines. but at some point, somewhere in the middle, it all went down the drain. like, it's obvious the author did not care about the story anymore. miranda's characterization and redemption was speedrunned; in fact, the flashback in which it showed how she was shot and captured is inconsistent with the first chapter. like when she was reintroduced into the story, it was with a sudden flashback trying to explain she isn't an entirely horrible person, she just didn't know how to love her kid, etc. it should've been a slow and gradual pace with flashbacks of her time as a mother, which would've made her growth cathartic and eventual death actually bittersweet. midwinter, the mysterious antagonist who was promised to be interesting was dealt with so anticlimatically, and the overarching conflict was trashed along with midwinter's character. so many questions and potential plotlines unresolved, such as the mystery surrounding the death of bacchus, what happened to may, what happened to the children macalo befriended and the rest of the experimented children and her weird doctor, what happened to the hitman organization, who the fuck is midwinter, etc etc. and this is just the first arc. you can tell in the exact scene that the author just gave up on their manga, which was when midwinter just plainly states his ambition in his thought bubble; it was honestly jarring since before he and his intentions were covered in mystique and the story was steadily unwrapping them, but now it's just revealed so suddenly? i really should've dropped it there. but like i said, i like mc's characterization, but with the rapid pace of developments, the decline of quality writing is inevitable. his chara growth was absolutely shit. given his background and fucked up mind, it doesnt make any sense why he was so in love with katy. she is said to be important to him (he claims she is his everything), but it never fleshed out her chara and their relationship, hence her death lacked the gravitas it tried to convey. and what happened to his murderous predisposition, after his mother died? that is never addressed again. anyway, with how the story ended, with a bunch of loose ends and new journey for mc, it's possible the author may come back to the story again.

sooo good. the horror elements are actually so creepy and terrifying. do not read at night. the romance is super slow-burn, but that confession scene genuinely made me emotional. need more romance. mc need to realize her feelings sooner, bc how are u so attracted to and obsessed with one girl, but not realize it's love?? anyway, i heard this was written by a man so i read this, but the story and plot is great and engaging and the characters are not sexualized and written with layers of nuance.