otakulys's manga / #death(131)

Wow, I've been meaning to read this forever, and I can't believe it took me this long. This was not at all what I was expecting. I hate that I have to wait now. I hope it updates more soon. But seriously, I went in expecting way more cliches and shallow character motivations. This is an intense thriller, not just plotless smut. I'm always looking for stuff like that, but rarely does it bay off in this way. Plus, gorgeous art. I'm scared it's gonna have a sad ending, or a bittersweet one, and I'm pretty sure at least one of the characters I like will die, so that sucks, but I'm hoping it's all worth it in the end.

Holy crap, I started reading it because I thought it was funny that the art was all cutesy but it was listed as horror. I absolutely did not expect to be ugly-crying by the end. So sad! And touching. Twisted, for sure, but heart-wrenching. I'm glad I read it. Not what I thought it would be at all.

Very short, but a creepy little tale about love and obsession, and the unhealthy, disturbing behaviors that might lie beneath the surface of people we love. I liked it.

Really sad. I read this ages ago, and it broke my heart. Pretty and tragic. I guess it's one of those things where, if you're going to be separated eventually anyway, you may as well have a moment of happiness. Can't read this again, though. I'll just cry.

I was torn between four stars and five until the ending. It was so sweet, so I had to go with five. Beautiful art as always, and the mangaka sure has her little kinks that seem to pop up a lot. She loves two moles on the uke, a seme with memory loss, and lack of communication of feelings causing issues, lol. But her work is great, and she never uses nasty tropes like rape to love, so her little quirks are fine by me. I actually guessed the twist right at the beginning (in a general sense) but I got so caught up in the story that I actually forgot and got surprised. XD That's the sign of a good manga. This isn't my absolute fave by her for a few reasons, but I did really enjoy it. She's quickly becoming one of my favorite mangaka.

Hmm.... Interesting, I suppose. I feel like there's something a bit clunky about each story. The fur one was really gross, but it was supposed to be. I hate animal suffering. I wish it had ended with some people paying for being so cruel. Despite that, the fur one, chapter four, was the only one that was really creepy. The end of the grandpa one was definitely eerie, too. They were clever concepts. The other two were okay, also. Not the worst I've read. I'll keep reading, at least. ETA: Lol, I don't now if the fifth story was supposed to be deep or what, but... It was pretty mean-spirited, but it was an interesting idea, like most of the others. I've thought about that before, the assumption that we're the main characters of our story. Kind of a miserable, nihilistic approach, but hey. At least the bikini ended up making sense.

Hm, interesting and odd little take on the afterlife. Surreal and sort of intriguing, but it dragged on a bit with no clear direction. I get that that was intentional, but it didn't really work for me in this instance. Still, it was an interesting concept.

Very, very odd and quite gross manga. It was interesting, and I liked some of the exploration behind the psychology. I do feel like something fell flat near the end, though. I kept waiting for him to kill one of his boys. He kills things that he loves, doesn't he? The whole thing was bizarre, as it should have been, but it never quite reached the point I was looking for. Also, there was no real punishment here, nor is his fate satisfying, because his children are monsters who may continue this stuff, so... But yeah, I would have liked it more if it had expanded beyond that little group of creeps. Also, despite all the murder, it's always animal death that gets to me, so I had to mark it down a bit for that, too.

Oh god, that fifth story made me dry heave. So disgusting. The other stories weren't like that, so it was kind of random how sick it was. Anyway, these were all interesting little concepts with some occasionally creepy as hell art. The biggest downside is that almost every story would stop in the middle of the situation for some long, bizarre moment of exposition, where a character would fill everyone in on what was going on. It disrupted the pace, but it was also just awkward, like, "Oh, by the way, here's a long retelling of the history of this horror show. Just thought you should know that I'm being held against my will and you're gonna die. Lol, kay, have a nice night, folks." I actually started reading because of the nightmarish face that finally appears in the fourth story. That was an interesting one, though it had the same issues. I liked the sixth story, about the earth bound, though I guessed immediately what the cause was both in general and with the boss. Still, I would have liked to seen more on that one. I like how the artist draws certain people. They have an interesting approach. Kinda wish they drew BL, too, cause some of these boys were pretty. Maybe the fact that I was thinking that while horrible things were happening to them says something not-so-great about me, but hey, lol.

Wow, that mirror sure likes to stir shit up. I've always hated how we cling to that "fairest of them all" crap with this story, though. Growing up, most of us think "fair" means "beautiful" because of how it's used. Of course, there are plenty of cultures that still think pale skin is the most beautiful. It'd be really cool if we could start weeding that BS out of society. Maybe start with kid stories? Not that this particular take on it is for children, lol.