This was heavy. Everything about it is just dark. The setting (which is almost ever night) to all the relationships Reiji is in. Hell the only semi kind of healthy relationship he has is with his bff Chako but even that is being tarnished by everyone around them. It doesn't help that the town they are all in is just shitty.
In this sixth volume of Boy’s Abyss, we learn the backstory of the cult author Esemori (his younger self is on the cover) and his doomed romance with Rei’s mother, Yuko, when they were in high school. Back in the present, Rei’s former friend and sometime bully Gen finds out about his relationship with their teacher Shibasawa while Rei’s morbid death fascination finally leads him to a place he thought he wanted to go - or does he?
The series quality dropped off in the last couple books with not enough happening for my taste and now the opposite has happened and there’s too much drama in this one! It’s a wee bit over-the-top and I feel like the story would be better if it was focused on fewer characters, but Boy’s Abyss, Volume 6 is still a decent entry.
The first half is definitely the best. I wasn’t expecting an extended flashback on two, up to this point, minor characters but it was actually really good learning about them. Esemori moves from Tokyo to this small town and gets bullied immediately - his father left their family, his mother’s depressed, and his grandma’s distant so he’s very sad and lonely.
The one bright spot in his life is his unexpected friendship with Yuko Kurose, Rei’s future mother, who also has a miserable home life: her dad’s an abusive drunk and her mother’s an absent hostess. Together, they find friendship and solace in their shared pain.
Up to this point, that relationship had only been hinted at, and it didn’t need to be explicitly told, but it was well-done and I enjoyed it.
In the present, the characters’ motivations are bizarre and unbelievable in some cases. Like why is Gen, a student, acting the way he is with Shibasawa, a teacher - what on earth does Rei mean to him? And then Rei’s mother, Yuko - after such an empathetic flashback to her youth, how does that person become the deeply messed up person in the present?!
Even Chako’s doing weird stuff with Esemori for seemingly no reason as does Rei (that finale) - is everyone in this town mental?! Looking back at the series from this point, I feel like it would be a stronger story if it was just focused on Esemori and Yuko, Rei and Chako - everybody else’s subplots feel irrelevant and increasingly silly.
Boy’s Abyss is far from a perfect, or even great, series but it’s more often decent than not and surprisingly consistent for a manga. If you thought the last couple books were kinda flat, be prepared for a sudden burst of loud craziness in this sixth volume! The first half makes this book worth reading in itself and, even if the second half is bordering on the absurd, it feels like the series is changing and I’m interested to see what it’ll become.
"Nunca antes había vivido fuera de la gran ciudad, pero mi experiencia no fue la mejor. Sin embargo, mi espantosa vivencia se hizo más llevadera gracias a cierta persona. Era como mi otra mitad en aquel desolado lugar, aunque nuestra separación fue tanto una tortura como una salvación."
Parece ser que esta obra ha decidido volverse cada vez más oscura. Aunque en este tomo, solo al principio por desgracia, parecía haber algún atisbo de esperanza, por muy poquita que hubiese sido. Casi toda la trama gira en torno al pasado de uno de los personajes, mostrando cómo poco a poco su mente se ha ido degradando por culpa de su vida en ese pueblo y la dura vida de un adulto.
Aunque no deja nunca de lado la línea temporal presente, donde lejos de pintar un mundo color de rosa, están todos empecinados en hacerse la vida imposible unos a otros. Yo ya me creo que haya alguna especie de energía rara que los haga medio majaretas o algo. Sin embargo, ya se están empezando a ver ciertos destellos de la historia oculta, una historia llena de enredos, envidias, superioridad y, sobre todo de poder sobre el prójimo.
Porque si en algo destaca esta obra, aparte del ambiente lúgubre, desagradable e incómodo que sabe muy bien recrear, es en el poder de un personaje para controlar a otro, de tal manera que este quede privado de su pensamiento y voluntad, a merced del controlador. Todos y cada uno de ellos, por muy inofensivos que parezcan, ejercen cierto tipo de presión y manipulación sobre otro, simplemente para que el otro acate su voluntad y sus deseos.
Y de esto es un claro ejemplo el final de este tomo, donde todo se ha desmadrado de una forma abismal. Veremos a ver que pasa en el siguiente, porque este ha dejado el listón bastante alto.
EN This volume dives headfirst into a narrative style reminiscent of "Blood on the Tracks".
Here, we travel back into Kosaku Esemori’s past, witnessing how he arrived in the village and how he first met Reiji’s mother.
Back in the present, the tensions surrounding Reiji are reaching a boiling point, with the web of intrigue between the various characters taking center stage. The masks come off — if there was still any doubt — and it becomes clear just how much manipulation Reiji is subjected to from multiple fronts.
At the same time, new and intriguing elements are introduced, though they remain unexplained for now.
This is one of those series you race through, page after page, always with the feeling that something even more disturbing is just around the corner.
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PT Este volume mergulha de cabeça numa linha narrativa ao estilo de "Blood on the Tracks".
Aqui viajamos até ao passado de Kosaku Esemori, acompanhando a sua chegada à vila e o início da sua relação com a mãe de Reiji.
No presente, as tensões em torno de Reiji intensificam-se, com a intriga entre as várias personagens a dominar por completo a narrativa. As máscaras caem — se é que ainda restavam dúvidas — e torna-se evidente o grau de manipulação a que Reiji está sujeito por parte de várias frentes.
Ao mesmo tempo, surgem novos elementos interessantes que, embora instiguem a curiosidade, permanecem por esclarecer.
É daquelas séries que se devora página após página, sempre com a sensação de que algo mais perturbador está prestes a acontecer.
God, this story is so god damn dark. It's insanely heavy too. But now I feel like there is an element of mystery. Now I want to figure out what the hell the mother's deal is. There is clearly more to her than what appears. I liked seeing some of her backstory and seeing Esemori's backstory. It changes the light you see both of them in. Esemori was painted to be this powerful evil person, but this volume changes the perspective. The same goes for the mother. She's shown as the poor, fatigued suffering saint of a mother, but this volume has changed the color of her spotlight. I'm actually interested in whats going on in her mind space.
Love the fish, hate the MC. The singer is a lot like him, a sponge in the worst way. But at least her career and husband and style is interesting. The whole reason I got into book 1 was the singer but she’s hardly in the series. I do suddenly like how dramatic things are progressing, seeing the mom’s blurry selfishness. I wonder how the family will wind up and if Chako will come to her senses and rat out the teacher once her tears dry.
I don’t know if I’m supposed to think of the fam friend as a mafia type or a lone, lusty vigilante. Funny that the author hates the town he obsessed over enough to come back to and write about in a way people romanticize it. Last Ch could have used more of a cliffhanger.
This soap opera is getting even more complicated as we the readers are given Esemori’s (partial) backstory and how he met Yuko (Reiji’s mom) but it cuts short before telling us how it all fell apart.
Meanwhile, Reiji and Chako ditch school which sets in motion some of the most convoluted plot points I’ve read in a while. And then it leaves us on a cliffhanger ending!
encore un tome incroyablement bien mené, les personnages sont encore plus fragiles et complexes ; on découvre toujours un nouvel aspect. J'ai trop hâte de la sortie du 7 en decembreee
Al fin nos enteramos la historia de Yuko y Nozomi. Que intenso todo!!!!!! Ni hablar la pobre de Chako que está usando sus últimas cartas para poder estar con Rei. Y QUE ES ESE FINAL????? CASI MUERO