Gorgeous art but I feel like it's nowhere near as psychologically complex as I hoped - it's just scenes of abuse and the simplistic indication that the protagonist is only playing at being good and respectable.
Well, this was decent. I think Kurumi is an interesting character. On the surface, she is the perfect student council president trying to be happy-go-lucky and help everyone, but underneath she hates a lot of people. She thinks they are scum and they should all just fuck off. She is so stressed out by her abusive, controlling mom that she actually starts shoplifting just to feel something. It is all going fine until this delinquent girl named Naoi catches her on video and hears her talking shit. Then the torment begins.
This is a lot of bullying, but it is twisted. Naoi isn't just messing with her for fun; she is using that blackmail to basically dismantle Kurumi’s entire fake life. She pushes Kurumi to the brink to make her show her real, ugly self, forcing her into rebellious shit she would never do otherwise. But even with all that, this is a slow burn somehow. There is a lot of internal thinking, a lot of not wanting to be yourself, and some masturbating thrown in to show how repressed and messy Kurumi actually is.
The dynamic with her friend Kokoro adds another layer of pressure, since she just wants Kurumi to stay a perfect little doll. It is a dark, toxic spiral where being destroyed by Naoi starts to feel like the only way Kurumi can actually be free. Overall, it is entertaining and the psychological stuff is solid, but I don't think it does much new. Least not yet.
strong opening, didn’t really care too much about the side characters though.
it’s a weird exploration of how much they both can take until they crack, imo. interesting use of their diametric differences to be able to show where they meet the middle ground (which, imo, is sadomasochism) that eventually solidifies both their desires to escape or reenact the same cycle of abuse/assault that’s been imposed onto them
by the end of it there’s a bit more intimate introspection into their situationship such as yoshizawa’s abandonment issues and naoi’s hate rooted out of a need to be seen after experiencing years of severe abuse and neglect. cool nuance that yoshizawa’s issues stem from a fear of hurting others through the self harm her mother purposely shows her as a way to guilt trip
ok. listen. i love my toxic yuri and all but this is just one sided abuse. looks like a lot of shocking scenes smashed together to make it seem deep. and it makes me frustrated because i had a lot of potential