KAMI NO KODOMO
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.
Gintama dj - Kabe
Is there a duplicate on here? I thought I read and rated this one already. Huh. Anyway, this isn't even the worst thing she's done to him, lol. I love Harada, but that woman loves to torture her fave characters. I understand, though. I'm the same way. Regardless, it would have been nice to see Gin return in time to see what he let happen. I'm fine with the hardcore stuff, but I'm really in it for the hurt/comfort, which we don't get here. Boo. I've never seen the anime and only read the doujinshi because Harada is one of my fave mangaka, but I wonder how accurately she depicts these characters, haha.
Layers of Fear
Ooh, that was a pretty good one. Weird, for sure, but interesting and disturbing. That mother was horrible. I wish the older daughter could just live a happy life on her own. Definitely messed up, either way.
Color Recipe
Whaaaaaaaaaat, I somehow didn't see that coming. XD I should have, all things considered, and Harada's work is always so deliciously fucked up, but I've never seen her play with perspectives like this before. Of course, it wouldn't really be Harada if it weren't terribly twisted, right? Haha, I love her. I can't believe it took me this long to read this one. Twisted as can be, with an ominous, ambiguous ending. So calculating, right to the very end. Harada doesn't pull any punches. She knows her characters are sick and wrong, and the narrative doesn't make any apologies for it. If only more yaoi stuff didn't act like psychotic, abusive behavior could be fixed or forgiven. This was a great read with an ending that satisfied me. I don't know how else it could have possibly concluded without it being a bit irritating. (Though a more violent end to a certain someone would have been nice, but that'd sort of ruin what the story was going for, haha.)
Kousha no Ura niwa Tenshi ga Umerarete Iru
Oh man. Part of me wishes I had just read without seeing spoilers, but it was good to know going in that this is NOT yuri, and I don't know why it thinks it is. Even in the beginning, it was never indicated as anything more than friendship, and that girl isn't even the main character anymore. The focus is on a girl with a crush on her male childhood friend. At any rate, this is super messed up, and I'm kind of bummed that it's been abandoned. No update in at least seven years, so I guess it's dead. I wanted to know what happens.
Soine Lovers
This is a strange set of stories in that one of them is super cutesy and one of them is about child rape. But okay, whatever works for you, author. The first story is really sweet, so I rated this a four based on that story alone. The others were probably more like a three, partly because they didn't always have a natural flow from one major moment to the next. I hate stories about clones because the concept of replacing someone with a duplicate is depressing to me. Like, does the person you loved originally not even matter anymore? There's an episode of Black Mirror that touches on this very well. It's soul-crushing but it's very reflective of the issues behind the concept of creating a copy of someone. Overall, not the worst thing I've ever read. There are some weird things in the stories that don't fit, for me, but I did like elements of all of the stories included, so hey.
Paraphrase
Golly, mister! You didn't have to have a bunch of guys gang rape me to show you liked me! Next time, just ask me out! Tee hee!
Renzoku Ambivalenz
What the... Okay, I know I've read the first story elsewhere, but I don't remember it having that ending. I also don't entirely get what it was talking about. Is the other guy a doppelganger? Is he a triplet? Is he a manifestation of the other half of one of the brothers? Either way, so weird and random. It had potential, but it was just too brief and all over the place. I have no problem with dark, gory, or disturbing, but that was just weird. The second story was weird and kind of gross. There was some serious dissonance between the two, like they weren't done by the same person. Is that the case? I need to look. Anyway, this is a fucked up collection, and I'm afraid of what to expect if more stories beyond the two get uploaded. What even...
Hideout (zin)
Yuck. Gross art, gross dudes, gross actions. And he gets away with it. It's a fetish thing, so this is made for a very specific audience. I hope they find it, because I certainly was not the core demographic for this one.
Classmate (ASADA Nemui)