otakulys's manga / #suicide(47)

Read this in Yami BL. Very sad and twisted, but kind of sweet in a messed up way. At least they finally got to touch, sort of.

This was so pretty! And I really enjoyed the story, even though I'm bummed that there wasn't even a kiss. They had these little intimate moments, but it was always shrouded in the strange relationship between them, like you couldn't call it romantic or anything. I know that they care about one another, and there's the implication that they're dating after the girl at the coffee shop asks, but it would have been nice to see a little affection. It's sort of an odd story, but it's interesting. I would have liked to have seen more, and I feel like a lot is left unexplained, but not in a plot hole kind of way. I'm gonna read all of this author's work, though, because it's so beautiful. Hopefully the stories are this quality or better.

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.

I knew what to expect, and I read it anyway. Now I'm ugly crying and trying not to sob. This is such a beautiful, tragic story. They just loved each other so much. The back and forth from when their lives were happy and their futures were ahead of them just made it all that much more painful. I just hope there's a heaven for things like this. In a fictional world, we can decide for ourselves that they're together again in death.

I read the comments and actually expected this to be way worse. It was too brief to really have an impact, though the ending was certainly cruel. It made me sad when his friend was so excited to hear from him and see him, when we know the true reason for all of it. Other than that, it was kind of rushed, and I skimmed the smut scene because I wasn't fond of the art, nor the type of sexual exchange. At any rate, it had potential to really offer a sucker punch at the end, but it's otherwise unremarkable.

Very sad. Beautiful art, complicated human emotions. Reading the comments made me think I should skip this, but it ended up being painful in a satisfying way, rather than in a way that destroyed me. I actually preferred the complicated, messy story to the first story. I'm not a fan of incest, for one, but it was also just more typical and cliche than the second story. Didn't hate it, though. I haven't read the precursor manga, so I was sort of filling in the blanks as I went, but I appreciated the nature of the character unfurling, these people lashing out, hurting others so that they can feel your own hurt, etc. Definitely sad, and it leaves a little empty feeling in your gut, but... I've seen much worse. At least they're still trying. (Just from this, though, I wish Sato would dump Akira and find someone better. He's the only one who doesn't seem redeemable, but maybe he's featured in the first story?)

Read this in the full collection. It's kind of confusing, trying to follow the time line with all of these oneshots. I didn't know where to start.

I don't typically enjoy het romance, and I'm usually not up for pointless misery on top of it, so I almost didn't read this. I'm really glad I did, though! I'm curious to see how it ends. Either way, I found the way it unfolded thus far to be intriguing. The first sixteen chapters are interesting, for sure. I wasn't fond of the main guy for most of the story, and while I knew he'd eventually fall for the chick, I was annoyed by the thought of it. They changed my mind, though. I'm not sure what sort of conclusion I'm rooting for now. It seems pointless if they live, but cruel if they die. Either way, I look forward to updates.

I'm not big on incest, but this was an interesting story. A little rushed, but I liked the way it came together at the end. It reminds me a little of Dogville, which is weird because I got that sense even before the twist. At any rate, that's what they get.

Honestly, I'm surprised this one is on here, though I suppose with that whole Godless Chamber thing, it isn't too shocking. That it's here, I mean. It's definitely a fucked up story. All of his work is like that, and I'm really fascinated by it for some reason. I'm not usually into guro or these themes, but... eh.