hanasan's manga / #drama(84)

Really great psychological romance. It took me a second read to fully understand it, but I feel that's really the proper way to experience it. First run through without knowing it was hypnosis from the start, and then the second. During the first, you can really feel how others see Kakine as a monster for using his hypnosis on Keidai-- and then in the second, you can start to understand it properly from both Keidai and Kakine's perspectives. I think after my second read through, Keidai had a fascination with Kakine from the start, so Kakine wasn't implanting false feelings into him; he had no reason to in the first place, since even he had no idea it was love, especially for himself. Kakine started hypnotizing Keidai to help him, ended up becoming interested in him in an almost therapist-like perspective, then fully became interested in him romantically (despite not being aware since he's so emotionally disconnected to the world) after Keidai himself in a state of pure honesty says he likes Kakine. While yes, Kakine then proceeds to "train" Keidai without his knowledge, that's the pure fiction part of the story. The rest of it, I think they're a lovely couple.

Lots of people rating it low, and I can definitely understand why, but if you're open to a major age gap fiction story that is actually rather wholesome, this is a good book to give a try. As the author's editor says in the author's note at the end, "I can't imagine anything racy happening between these two," that's how wholesome their relationship turns out to be. If you're alright with giving it a try for the "wholesome family" fluff, I do recommend giving this a read. Seijiro Mihara, a 40 year old office worker who just quit his job and landed a new job as a housekeeper for Taishi Arisawa... who is apparently a 12(!) year old head of the Arisawa household. Yes, that's right, at the beginning of the story, Taishi is 12. That's why there are a lot of concerned comments. Don't worry, they don't get together romantically until the last two chapters where he's 18-- That being said, there is a lot of Taishi forcing kisses onto Seijiro without him reciprocating, obviously being bothered by it even. Seijiro ends up being forced to stay as Taishi's housekeeper due to the latter's lowkey threats, but ends up actually being concerned for the kid who acts way to mature for his age. Taishi has been raised as the head of his family since he was literally born, and has never known how to act like a proper child, and when his entire family passes away, he's been left with his entire family name and legacy to run. He's actually pressured by the idea that he needs to be a proper "adult" to run his family's businesses and household, but as a kid, he kinda just wants a family and someone to stay by his side that DOESN'T treat him like he's just the head of the family. At the end of the day, the story is actually very sweet and the two form a very tight familial bond (despite Taishi's insistence for that bond to be more akin to him being the husband and Seijiro being the wife lol), Seijiro even telling Taishi that his ["love"] for Taishi isn't the same as Taishi's romantic love, until Taishi properly grows older. The two of them only kiss and acknowledge each other romantically once Taishi's 18, and they only do more intimate things once Taishi's gone to college (which makes me hope he's 20??? but I'm not too sure, not specified. They just say that Taishi got into his college of choice).

I occasionally find myself in awe of characters like Tsukihito. Hailed as a God, perfect in every way a human isn't. I find that kind of character setting relatively rare, especially when they're executed in a good way. He lords his power over people as you may expect, but not in the overbearing "rich demanding CEO" type of way. He's what you'd expect a "God" with no human emotions to be like-- rational, cold, detached, apathetic. Slowly, through his meeting and relationship with Mioto, he learns not only emotions, but what it's like to be human, that it's okay to be human. The people around him even noting that he started behaving less like their God and more like just a typical human, but... is that really such a bad thing? The manga poses the question: if we aren't perfect, if Tsukihito isn't as otherworldly as a God, if he's just another human being, does our value really drop down to nothing? Mioto on the other hand is fascinating in his own way. Rather simple, he's kind, nice, and sometimes far too much of a good samaritan. But he's not a pushover, and I like that about him. He may be too weak to stop some unfortunate things from happening to him, but he doesn't let people walk over him like he's a rug. He gets mad, annoyed, and he tells it to people's faces if they make him mad-- but that doesn't come with brutality, instead he still treats them with respect and the hope that they may change for the better in the future. I think that he really is a good model of strength despite being in a poor situation. I went into this story expecting a typical overbearing jealous tachi being pushy towards the poor, damsel neko. And to an extent, you can still describe it that way. But what I actually got was a rather interesting read about a boy who never learned to be human because he was raised as a God, to the point that he was apathetic even by the deaths of the people that should have been important to him, falling in love with a boy who was dealt difficult cards in life but never once lost his footing. I particularly liked the execution of Tsukihito learning emotions, the very gradual development of him first learning to truly smile, to becoming physically and metaphorically warmer, then gaining a heartbeat, and finally to crying in both sadness and happiness. I also really liked that Mioto questions if he's /forcing/ these emotions onto Tsukihito, only to realise that the world has been suffocating the latter for years. Tsukihito lives with the constant expectation to smile benevolently and detachedly like a God, be perfect, without a choice. Mioto specifically asks Tsukihito if he wants Mioto to teach him what feelings are like, finally actually allowing Tsukihito agency in his own life. It may have been borne out of obsession, but at least these feelings are truly his. The metaphor of Mioto having claustrophobia is very good too. I have a small gripe about the ending, really. It felt like it was pre-written. Like the author had the idea of that line, and just had it be the end... To me, it felt like it was backtracking a little, since I personally didn't want Tsukihito to be called God ever again, but... whatever, I suppose. That's really the only reason it's not a 5/5 for me.

One of my ABSOLUTE favourites. Finished the raws and will 100% say I want more of this, I really wished there were extras or I wouldn't even mind if they did an entirely new season too. I love the leads so much, they're both silly... fucked up little goofballs. I love 'em. They're both traumatized as hell, and they show that in very contrasting ways that end up making them perfect for each other. Seyeong and Heejae are the perfect example of Avoidant vs Anxious attachment styles. It definitely starts unhealthy with Heejae only pushing Seyeong to date him for revenge, but Heejae ends up falling for Seyeong for real. Seyeong takes a long time to properly fall for Heejae, mainly due to not thinking that he's even worth Heejae's time, but thankfully once they properly get together, they'll definitely be the type of couple that will never let the other leave. And I just hope they're happy.