ma the girls are doin interpretive skits again. they're pretending to be dolls brought to life by elaborate magics. ma the girls are constructing metaphors
This is a review for a one-shot by Mikanuji, and heavy spoilers are involved. A fan translation exists, but the official translation can be found on Amazon.
"Bullies deserve whatever punishment they get."
This line at the start is given its own panel. Many bullies do not grow to regret their actions, at least not consciously. Even when they grow older and change enough that they'd never repeat such behavior, humans have a knack for protecting ourselves from uncomfortable truths. Your brain will just supply an endless number of excuses to justify your past actions, at least to yourself. It's almost the bully's choice whether or not to be forgiven, as they have to regret their actions to qualify.
Sugiya's tempest of regret raises the stakes of the story significantly. If she didn't care, or was able to justify her past actions, her and Kamisaki would have nothing to say to each other. Instead, Kamisaki exploits her regret for the sake of her revenge.
They learn together that revenge can't undo the damage.
"It's only fun if you hate it."
Their relationship becomes sexual the same day they reconnect, and consent's not part of the equation - not that Sugiya seems to particularly mind.
This one surprised me, because my first introduction to Mikanuji was a too-short serialization with the premise "what if two gamers fell in love…", an idea she'd carry through to the long-running Fuzoroi no Renri. Fuzoroi no Renri isn't without the juice, of course, but this is a knockout blow. I wasn't exactly expecting sexual violence from this author, lol.
"That's my toy for you. You really do whatever I say."
Sugiya does eventually call things off; something that I could stand to see more of in blackmail stories. Even though she doesn't hate the things Kamisaki does to her (her words): she calls things off because it's getting her hopes up.
The extreme emotions that connect them refuse to fade. Sugiya can't stand not being involved with her, and Kamisaki presses her on this. Sugiya reveals her feelings along with her guilt for having them (still believing Kamisaki is a victim who has nothing but loathing for her). Kamisaki confirms that they're mutual in an unconventional way - she takes the other girl's hand, and places it on her rapidly beating heart.
"I think you know what it really is you want to do and what you want us to be."
On the final page, both girls are blushing, eyes locked.
We are blessed with a note from the author in the compilation: "I'm pretty sure this was the first long-form story I ever drew. You can really tell how my love for eroticism and my desire to tell an emotional story were in conflict."
We certainly can. I've found that one-shots are capable of punching far above their weight, and this one certainly threw me for a loop. It also raised an author I was already fond of several degrees in my esteem.
I know that tumblr will eulogize in the way it does, so there will be a flood of Lion King and Star Wars posts. But I implore you to look into James Earl Jones' other works because he was a monolith in the film industry and he was well-known for more than just being a voice actor.
Here's a list of some of his films (that I've seen):
She’s a teenager who wants to experience love but has a cookie cutter idea of what it should be, so when she gets confessed to she is confused as to why her heart isn’t fluttering with joy.
If anything she’s an example of how media can affect our perception of feelings and emotions like love and create unrealistic expectations of how it’s supposed to be, leading us to be disappointed and confused when we don’t get our heart pounding dramatic romance or power of friendship high school experience.
So she’s not aroace - she clearly wants and experiences romantic attraction and definitely has zero problem on the sex side of things lol - but instead a teen who’s experiencing confusing feelings for the first time that she didn’t expect according to what shoujo manga and other media portrays.
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