Sofie’s Reviews > No. 6: The Manga, Volume 04 > Status Update

THEYRE THE SUN AND THE NORTH WIND SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UPPPP and rat's singing voice was compared to a breeze before holy shit the nature symbolism is everywhere
also this is exactly the type of teasing i wanted from dogkeeper thank you very much

oh my god even the chapter titles being "the curtain rises" and "the stage grows dark" emphasizing the idea that rat's cruelty, while it clearly comes from a very real place of pain, is still a performance that he feels he has to put on in order to survive and especially now that he's not just surviving for himself. having shion around has made him simultaneously more caring AND more cruel, AND SHION UNDERSTANDS THIS

once again, a lesser manga would have this difference in mindset between rat and shion be a massive breaking point in their relationship but every time it comes up, it's ALWAYS a conversation. it's always a catalyst for self-reflection for both of them. these questions of morality are treated with the depth they deserve by the narrative and the characters themselves and that is SO REFRESHING

HANDS HANDS HANDS
i LOVE the detail of rat being a little clumsy with it too. his fingers don't automatically slot in perfectly with shion's cause he's not used to casual, GENUINE intimacy like this. they've really turned a corner and it wasn't because of the kiss really. it was because of the promises they made to each other!!!! god they're so fantastic

the smiles rat puts on when he's manipulating/charming people are SO different from ANY of the expressions we've seen him make when he's alone with shion and it's SO STRIKING. he really is unguarded with him whether he likes it or not

maybe i'm just so in it that i can't properly predict things but this manga keeps flipping the script on me, especially regarding shion and rat's relationship. but now that we're here, OF COURSE shion couldn't sneak past rat and OF COURSE rat is pissed about it (and also at himself for caring about shion) but mostly about their first kiss being a goodbye kiss. fucking brilliant no notes

oh you're kidding me????? i thought the whole "rat not liking over-seasoned soup" thing was just to show how shion is learning little things about him but NO now it comes back in The Most Depressing way possible!!! of course!!!! he doesn't like salty soup cause it reminds him of the taste of tears and he's convinced himself that he needs to be strong and unemotional and detached cool cool cool

KISS WE HAVE A KISS THIS IS NOT A DRILL WHAT THE FUCK I REALLY DIDNT THINK WE WOULD EVER GET ONE BUT HERE WE ARE NOT EVEN HALFWAY THROUGH???!?!?!?!?!?!? if i could lay on the floor rn i would i really feel like i need to collapse but also like i was just electrocuted so that's fun i'm fine everything's great this is gonna end well right

i need to climb a mountain i need to pace up and down the stacks rn what do you MEAN "no matter how many times i went back, i'd do the same thing. i'd open that window and wait for you." LIKE HUH?????!!!!!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!!???!?!?!?!?!
i am going to have a heart attack at my place of work this is not good

"you're no superman, and you're no monster. you're just a man. and you know there's a limit to what one man can do alone." oh i adore dogkeeper and her love/hate relationship with rat. i feel like she probably thinks shion could do much better, but i could see her reluctantly championing shion/rat, ESPECIALLY around shion. around rat, she'll keep siccing her dogs on him as a "lesson" to get his head out of his ass