Idol at age of 8 Ā = I want to play guitar and become a singer
Family = We are your parents and we say you canāt. Hereās violin for you.
Idol = Gets the guitar anyway behind his parentsā backs and starts making music.
Idol at early teenager years = I want to create, sing and write. I have an electric guitar now.
School & Parents = You are bad at school, forget your stupid dream of singing, you will not make it.
Idol = Continues making music and playing guitar.
Idol at teenager years = I love punk! I want to do punk music. It has everything that I hold important to myself.
LondonĀ = Whole London hates punk bands, we will literally throw shit on you when you perform with your band, all punk bands will be banned from performing, punk is a bad choice.
Idol = Continues to love punk and get inspired by it, aspiring to be a punk artist.
Idol at university = Iām studying music so I can become a performing artist.
The University = Pretty much everyone at this uni hates you, you are a freak, you donāt fit in because you like wrong bands, wrong music styles and you dress in a wrong way. Your white hair is horrible.
Idol = Continues his music studies, keeps listening his fave bands and dressing as he likes. Keeps the white hair.
Idol with his own band = This is nice, but I want to make my kind of a music. I need more freedom. Iām going to solo career.
Everyone Ā = You arenāt and will never be a solo artist, you canāt write or compose, you canāt make your own songs, forget this stupid nonsense and stay in the band.
Idol = Goes after a solo career.
Idol, after becoming a solo artist known as Billy Idol = I want to go to America and become successful there!
USA & EuropeĀ = Everyone in the USA hates punk, you are no one, the Europeās most successful punk bands have failed miserably in USA, you are nothing.
Idol = Goes to USA.
Idol in USA= I will go to show my album to different music moguls, because here I am!Ā
USA Ā = No radio station will ever play your songs, no record label will ever take you in. Your music is utter punk shit, we hate punk. You have a wrong accent, you should sing in American accent. You look hideous, your style is ugly, your white messy hair is so horrible you better get rid of it. No one will come to such ugly shitās gigs, ever.
Idol = Learns to sing with American accent, but keeps his music style and looks as they are.
Idol in 2010ā²sĀ = Still being his own self, hasnāt changed his music style or physical appearance at all, still has the white hair which is his trademark now, was one of the 1980ā²s super stars and sex symbols, has released multiple albums, is cast to multiple movies like Terminator 2 (he had to drop out only due his motorcycle accident, otherwise he would have been the famous T-1000), is known all around the world, and continues doing what he loves and being who he is.
Many who entered this series had an expectation as to how it would end. Now, why is this? Wellāmost Yaoi follow the same formula. Admittedly Iāve ingested the same 10 storylines in the genre 100 times over. That doesnāt even get into the niche of dark BL, which indeed is a rarer find.
An exceptional aspect of MADK is the seamless world-building. Where other Yaoi stick to slice of life, or pre-established worlds (Such as Omegaverse) This series is different, exploring the world of hell with a fresh storyline. Not to mention its shear raw use of emotion, which is hard to match with manga even outside the Yaoi genre (Heh, rawer than J's guts?)
Another notable aspect of MADK is its writor priority of story over fetish. In places where you would expect indulgence, you instead see plot growth take the front seat.
Unique Doujinshi/Yaoi authors such as Harada, and Nishin MasumiāDespite being some of the only dark BL creators, still follow the same typical romance story beats. Whatever resolution they come to; the main love interests still end up together.
But MADK is not like that, it is closer in depiction of obsession and lust to NBCās Hannibal. An even closer comparison would be to Koogiās Killing StalkingāWhich is one of the most misunderstood stories the general media has discussed. Like MADK, Killing Stalking is mislabelled as a love story, when in reality it's cautionary horror.
With all that said, what is going on with MADKās ending?
Character Analysis: Jonathan
Who Is J, And What Are His Motives?
J is one of the most powerful demons in all of hell, being an archduke. He had lived for 6 centuries, and during all that time looked for a successor. Demons cannot die from the erasure of their physical form; they can only die from either their name being forgotten entirely, or by speaking the name of a demon whose stronger than them.
J has been left unsurpassed for such a time, that his name has long since been forgotten. He wants to die, but not through those meansāHowever, he did not want just anyone to surpass him, he was too prideful for that. No, he wanted someone worthy of such an act to speak his name. So instead of taking Makotoās soul once it reached the peak of its desire, J reincarnates him into a demon, seeing his potential.
Our author does not hide what the ending will be, off the bat itās revealed: Makoto will surpass J, we will not receive a happy ending. It's closer in greek tragedy than that of love, a destiny already written in the fabric of time, forever binding.
Throughout the entire story J is evaluating his petsā capabilities, hardly giving him any guidance or truth (As, wouldnāt that make Makoto unworthy of surpassing him?) He finds Makoto amusing, nothing more.
Enter a 5-year time skip, and Makoto has discovered Jās name.
After J more than gladly accepted a hallucinogenic perfume from Makoto, he's forced to face his past. It is revealed he was a child prostitute, who after years in the slums was taken in by his mentor Wald.
However, due to his traumatic childhood, he could not see authority figures in a normal way outside of sex. So despite Waldās attempt to be a Father figure, J only saw him as a potential romantic partner (Considering the hinted relationship between him and his older brother, I canāt imagen this helped his views on familial relations.)
We our only given bits and pieces of Waldās death, but never truly the event itself. But considering the theme of repeating the same hellish cycle over and over again, one has to assume Jonathanās death was a replica of Waldās.
After reliving these memories, J admits it aloud. He wishes for someone who loves him to destroy him. He had wanted to be nobody, because without personhood he was untouchable. That was Waldās curse, turning Jonathan into someone, making him touchable.
Character Analysis: Makoto
Where Does Makoto's Motives Stem From?
Our protagonistās tail is a tragic one from the start. Makoto, a high-schooler whose desire to eat the living torments himāDecides to summon and sell his soul to a demon in exchange for delighting in live flesh. He is not disgusted by his kink but is established as not being able to live with the expectations, nor rejections of othersāto the point he would rather guarantee his own death instead of facing reality.
After his death, Makoto would become Jās pet-project (Quite literally) At first, he was eager to be a demon, and saw J as his saviour from his old dissociative lifestyleāBut is quickly horrified at the realisation that he has traded the expectations of humanity, for those of the demon realm. Against his will, heās forced to live a new life and integrate into demonic society.
Itās then shown J has a diabolical habit of being vague with his information, making it near impossible to guess his expectations in the first place. (Which explains why out of all those āāStraysāā J took in, none could handle his insane standards.)
Makoto hadnāt grown up with accepting parents, nor brotherāJ was his first time experiencing such a thing. His fetish had been understood, only for that comfort to be ripped away, as J would rapidly retreat from his life. Its why gritty sex scenes became near non-existent until Volume 3. J was isolating Makoto on purpose. This would instil the idea within Makoto that J was the only one who could understand him, soon fuelling a dark obsession over the demon.
Ensue a 3-year time skip: Makoto has continued his work at the Brothel, not once seeing J during that period. He held of on his return, knowing he needed to learn more (To impress J) And because he longed for J to be the one to want him to come home.
When J does request his presence, itās for a task: He wants Makoto to collect souls, but in a twist the first contractor J chose was none other than Makotoās elderly Father. A fresh hatred would curdle inside Makoto, as he began to be unable to wrap his mind around Jās motives. Only that, any tenderness shown was a ploy to manipulate him.
Makoto becomes determined to overthrow J, to force him to respect and see him. Despite J being upfront that he wants Makoto to surpass him, Makoto can only feel distrust, seeing the transparency as some kind of way to mess with him.
His worst fear was unwittingly being controlled by J, but in the process ended up falling right into Jās hands in the end.
Why Does Makoto Repeat The Cycle?
Makoto throughout the entire story was driven with vengeance. He at the end, no longer had a reason to be. He fully believed the one person who could understand him was only Jonathan, and with him dead he has no reason to be alive. But he once again has reached a similar issue to JonathanāHe is now too powerful; he cannot be taken over so easily.
They say the definition of pure insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. And Iād have to say thatās exactly what is happening here. As this is hell, and hell is other people. They are stuck within a cycle of their own creation.
Personal Conclusions & Extra Thougths
Makoto and Jonathan were never in love. Makoto was completely emotionally reliant on Jonathan, who dragged him into a life he did not want, removing his autonomy in some of the worst imaginable ways. And Jonathan, he only saw Makoto as means to an end. These two characters never could have been equals, as throughout the entire story Jonathan was grooming Makoto into a role he knew would only lead to misery.
It disturbs me that the general audience feels betrayed by the ending. The author did not lie to us, but because of expectations build upon from other media, like Makoto, not many could see what was laid out right in front of them. And another little tid bit, Makoto didnāt get a new body because he never grew up. He never stopped being the boy Jonathan spirited away.
And onto the main point I am flabbergasted with: Those who are morally disappointed by volume 3. There has been some uproar about Jonathan being a child prostituteāAnd yes, I agree that did not need to be shown whatsoever. Easily it could have been shown through dialogue, and not through an entire page and large spread of Jonathan naked. (Or you know, not been written in the first place.) Also to establish my stance on cannibalism! if both are consenting adults (In FICTION!) I donāt care if theyāre eating each other.
But what everyone is forgetting is Makoto is a literal high-schooler. Who might I add, easily could have been written as a university student. So much Yaoi is this way, I literally rejoice and scream when I find Yaoi with actual adults with any body hair on them whatsoever.
Story wise, it makes sense. Makoto had an immature view of love, and was at an age where he was wedged between his morality and fetish. Him being a teenager explains his feelings of isolation, as he still lived with his parents so could not hide his deviancy, instead being lectured often. To boot, he had an immature view of love, and was wedged between his morality and fetish ideologies. Itās why he was so desperate for connection, and why Jonathan easily was able to form him into a desired result.
But my point is, if your going to be applaud at that aspect of the storyāHow about you remember the age of the protagonist first? The title literally translates into ''guts demon high-school boy'' Like???
If youāve gotten to the end of this (And arenāt to miffed at my look warm takes) WHY DONāT YOU JOIN MY DISCOR- COUGH, hacks cough* Yeah Iāve got a Ryo Suzuri dedicated server, join if ud like but donāt if you want lol. Contact me at RancidBark#4430
and at the end of it all, it was one-sided... I was keeping this relationship alive while you thought that starting a twitch stream with your unflattering personality was the newest thing in town, man fuck you.
