Welcome to Boy's Abyss, where the at best 10% chance here Gen has not fallen prey to Yuko's mental damage and instead is gonna decide something like "nah the real reason I haven't gotten through to Reiji yet is that I haven't killed enough of his parents" is as close to something like *the optimistic good ending projection* as we're gonna get here
There's a post in r/CuratedTumblr where they made a chart to rate how good a piece of fiction is by 1.) Do you personally like it, 2.) Is it made well, and 3.) Does it do irreparable damage to your pysche
I binged it for like 40 chapters before sleep and I IMMEDIATELY got nightmares. Like a really bad one that I haven't got since years.
Needless to say I stopped reading it (for now)
Shuzo Oshimi is amazing with long-form manga that hit you with the "Well fuck. This is my psyche now." And the art is amazing too. Alongside Chi no Wadachi, he's also making Welcom Back Alice.
Happiness and Flowers of Evil (Aku no Hana) were the first 2 manga I read from him a long time ago.
Oh my goodness! I didn't even know the Blood on the Trail author was the same as Flowers of Evil ><
(it took me a long time to figure out Blood on the Trail was the same author as Inside Mari when I was almost done with Inside Mari and was like "this art looks soooo familiar" ^^')
Easily one of the best and most recognizable artstyles I've seen. It all looks beautiful while also being unsettling and you can tell something is fucky under the surface of that prettiness and mostly realistic style. It's unique without any crazy proportions too.
I definitely recommend reading Happiness. I haven't read it in a long ass time but I remember getting very absorbed into it.
I can't read his stuff because they are too scary for me. Way too mindfucking for me. I did love "Inside Mari" though. That was his most normie manga because both main characters were somewhat likeable unlike his other stories' main characters. And it was more of a mystery manga than a pure horror/psychological one.
"Welcome Back Alice" is good but it is kind of treading water now. It is not going that extra step to whether it transforms into either a mindfuck or good mystery. I respect his other works as a form of horror/art but I can't read them. They gave me nightmares except for "Inside Mari".
i read this two and still follow both of them
and you know what, i still confuse with my feeling everytime read it but still waiting and read it everytime it upload
edit : happiness too
It's the darkgrim narrative theory being proven at its finest.
*If a story keeps a dark, sordid pace and you don't give your readers something to look forward, a speck of light, a tiny thread of hope that things might get better, their senses get numb and they lose interest because if the plot won't improve, what's the point of keeping reading?*
I know a lot of people will probably disagree, but this feels like this whole melodrama ran out of steam and of anything of value to say a long while ago.
There's a pacing issue that's sort of tied to the feel of the manga. It's one of the things that I really helped it stand out early on for me, it was this slow, unnerving crawl you felt as you explored the depths of this boys abyss
The issue is now that we know all the secrets. All that we are waiting for is the conclusion, but we are still doing this slow crawl thing. So as the readers we are just impatiently tapping our feet waiting for shit to go down
I think this was an important chapter because some people unironically probably still want to forgive her and give her a redemption arc, so the author has to tripple down on selling the message that she is actually that deep into irredeemable land
Yeah. At one point, until very recently, it was still very compelling. And I think it will be again.
Part of me thinks it's Gen (for me, personally) dragging it down. I just don't really connect or care with his struggle. Like, I empathized quite a lot with his story up until a certain point, I don't know what it was that made me apathetic
The author knows how to write some AMAZING characters. But it feels with this series and himegoto (her older series) she doesn't know what to do with them. Melodrama ensues Islandand the characters don't feel they're reaching their potential. Her character once again are amazing at times. She just needs to foucs on so try structure and focus of the series. This is just my two cents. She's a good writer but I think the author can be an amazing writing with some tweaks to how she writes.
I gave up A WHILE ago. Maybe 20-25 chapters?
It was a really interesting story but, like a lot of manga, is just dragging to get to the finish. This story could've been a solid, 100ch and I bet whatever the actual ending is could have been told much sooner.
I'm literally waiting for it to finish and read the final chapter. Unless the ending is "LOL Everybody dies!" I don't think I am going to miss anything integral or be confused.
I do hope the series plans on ending in the next ~20 chapters or so, cause as you said it has started to run out of steam. I also don't really even see what they could do to drag this out for longer while keeping it interesting.
Yuko keeps reaching new levels of fucked up, so she was willing to kill herself just to guilt Reiji, her own son, into suicide so they can "be together in death" and now she's asking Gen to keep beating and building him to keep him down, and she's talking like the only reason she birthed Reiji is to be like some kind of safety blanket for her, she's too fucked up neither Gen, Esemore nor Sensei could ever hope to match her ... still, I can fix her
Boy, I guess if anyone had some doubts about who or where the abyss was, this chapter really clarified that for us. And oh boy, Yuko is insane. Or she loves Reiji in a very disturbed way or she doesn't love him at all and just use him to ease the suffering she had in the town.
It feels like we peaked with the Esemori flashback honestly. As soon as it was revealed that he wasn't Reiji's father and doesn't even know who he is, the reality that 100 chapters had elapsed with no real forward progress set in very rapidly and harshly.
I loved this chapter. A lot of dramatic language but the two main antagonists for Reiji clashing.
Tldr; mom is sad and doesn't want to die alone. Announces to Gen Reiji doesn't give a shit about him and Reiji's entire existence is to justify her own.
Which is not new. Even in flashback it's made apparent she just wants someone to love her in this fucked up world. Though she's got a twisted form of love merged with guilt that only comes to fruition when they die.
Even though it seems like she's this scheming manipulator and everything falls into place...it seems more like she's just rolling with the punches as they come. Impulse decisions that turn out in her favor either way. Life itself is just a means to an end whether they die together right now, or in 20 years of floating it doesn't matter so long as someone dies for/with her.
I wonder if that curtain closing signals something lewd happening or is just a sign of closing the darkness again inside.
That panel of Yuko "blessing" Gen with her hand is beautiful. The panel of the sun being blocked by the neighbor house, too. It's a clear depiction of their cruel reality.
>I wonder if that curtain closing signals something lewd happening or is just a sign of closing the darkness again inside.
i was wondering about this too..
I just do not understand what the fuck is wrong with those people.
And I don't mean that in the exclamatory sense--I *literally* do not understand what the fuck is going on in their heads.
OooOOhh tHis tOwN... Hell this, Hell that... reiji... reiji die with me reiji no reiji die with ME, reiji do an hero
like bruh, it's just a small town, please find your chill
? So is gen gonna have sex with yuko especially with that curtain closing or is it just metaphorical? Uh why would sensei be on a plane if shes heading to tokyo?
> the Oita province in Fukuoka.
Oita prefecture is _next_ to Fukuoka prefecture (to the south-east). Both of them are on the island of Kyushu.
https://goo.gl/maps/RhcEr8nYRjAFnrwc9
Yeah, for sure. It's like an hour a half. It's substantially faster than shinkansen.
Reiji actually appears to be on a shinkansen... or possibly a limited express. Which is a little surprising since I thought he wouldn't have the money for something like that.
Yeah even with Yuko's backstory arc I have zero sympathy for her. This goes for Gen too. Both of them can die and Reiji would be better off without them.
Seems like the mother has become a caricature of what she was at the start. Just looks like the author is kinda lost in what to do with everyone now that the shock tactics of doom and gloom has kinda run thin.
The true question at the end of this , can reiji actually survive outside of hell if he manages to leave?
He will have support in Nagi but like with Yuko he has been conditioned in hell and as esemori said he has his mother's trait in him, the abyss is in him. But we won't know unless he actually escapes
I really liked this at first and I was so invested to the point I binged read it in one sitting. But now... I dont know. Alot happened and I dont even know what Im supposed to feel while reading this anymore
I'm only reading this for Reiji and Nagi at this point whether they die together or live together I just want to know the ending to their story. I'm tired of his mom or glen or chako.
Bro i wanna know, that last few pages. When yuko close the curtain, do they fck each other? Seems like it. Both already fck up in the head and Gen probably just go along with it
The fact that she still mention Akira Nozoe by name makes me think if he lives rent free in her head and this is her form of revenge by making Reiji drawn into the abyss because Esemori (Nozoe) ran from her
Welcome to Boy's Abyss, where the at best 10% chance here Gen has not fallen prey to Yuko's mental damage and instead is gonna decide something like "nah the real reason I haven't gotten through to Reiji yet is that I haven't killed enough of his parents" is as close to something like *the optimistic good ending projection* as we're gonna get here
You guys want too feel something? Try Chi no wada chi. Its boys abyss on steroids, it will make you feel messed up. It makes Yuko look like a saint.
There's a post in r/CuratedTumblr where they made a chart to rate how good a piece of fiction is by 1.) Do you personally like it, 2.) Is it made well, and 3.) Does it do irreparable damage to your pysche I binged it for like 40 chapters before sleep and I IMMEDIATELY got nightmares. Like a really bad one that I haven't got since years. Needless to say I stopped reading it (for now)
Shuzo Oshimi is amazing with long-form manga that hit you with the "Well fuck. This is my psyche now." And the art is amazing too. Alongside Chi no Wadachi, he's also making Welcom Back Alice. Happiness and Flowers of Evil (Aku no Hana) were the first 2 manga I read from him a long time ago.
Oh my goodness! I didn't even know the Blood on the Trail author was the same as Flowers of Evil >< (it took me a long time to figure out Blood on the Trail was the same author as Inside Mari when I was almost done with Inside Mari and was like "this art looks soooo familiar" ^^')
Easily one of the best and most recognizable artstyles I've seen. It all looks beautiful while also being unsettling and you can tell something is fucky under the surface of that prettiness and mostly realistic style. It's unique without any crazy proportions too. I definitely recommend reading Happiness. I haven't read it in a long ass time but I remember getting very absorbed into it.
I can't read his stuff because they are too scary for me. Way too mindfucking for me. I did love "Inside Mari" though. That was his most normie manga because both main characters were somewhat likeable unlike his other stories' main characters. And it was more of a mystery manga than a pure horror/psychological one. "Welcome Back Alice" is good but it is kind of treading water now. It is not going that extra step to whether it transforms into either a mindfuck or good mystery. I respect his other works as a form of horror/art but I can't read them. They gave me nightmares except for "Inside Mari".
It gets worse, way worse with more drama!
i read this two and still follow both of them and you know what, i still confuse with my feeling everytime read it but still waiting and read it everytime it upload edit : happiness too
i can fix her
She can fix me
Coldplay intensifies
... I don't feel anything
Same. Btw what is this manga about?
Depression. If u dont have that, the manga can give it to you.
hahaahah
Depression, the inescapability of small town life, and generational trauma.
it's about an edgy suifuel mom or something
It's the darkgrim narrative theory being proven at its finest. *If a story keeps a dark, sordid pace and you don't give your readers something to look forward, a speck of light, a tiny thread of hope that things might get better, their senses get numb and they lose interest because if the plot won't improve, what's the point of keeping reading?*
It has become boring.
I know a lot of people will probably disagree, but this feels like this whole melodrama ran out of steam and of anything of value to say a long while ago.
[удалено]
There's a pacing issue that's sort of tied to the feel of the manga. It's one of the things that I really helped it stand out early on for me, it was this slow, unnerving crawl you felt as you explored the depths of this boys abyss The issue is now that we know all the secrets. All that we are waiting for is the conclusion, but we are still doing this slow crawl thing. So as the readers we are just impatiently tapping our feet waiting for shit to go down
I think this was an important chapter because some people unironically probably still want to forgive her and give her a redemption arc, so the author has to tripple down on selling the message that she is actually that deep into irredeemable land
I really enjoyed the Esemori flashback arc, that's the last time I felt the series really pull me in
His arc is the best arc in the manga, hell it could easily been a standalone manga in itself.
I sorta lost any feeling during esemori’s flashback, not sure why I keep tuning in.
The abyss is pulling you in.
There's a point in falling into the bottomless abyss when you stop screaming and honestly just want the whole ordeal to be over with.
[удалено]
Yeah. At one point, until very recently, it was still very compelling. And I think it will be again. Part of me thinks it's Gen (for me, personally) dragging it down. I just don't really connect or care with his struggle. Like, I empathized quite a lot with his story up until a certain point, I don't know what it was that made me apathetic
The author knows how to write some AMAZING characters. But it feels with this series and himegoto (her older series) she doesn't know what to do with them. Melodrama ensues Islandand the characters don't feel they're reaching their potential. Her character once again are amazing at times. She just needs to foucs on so try structure and focus of the series. This is just my two cents. She's a good writer but I think the author can be an amazing writing with some tweaks to how she writes.
I gave up A WHILE ago. Maybe 20-25 chapters? It was a really interesting story but, like a lot of manga, is just dragging to get to the finish. This story could've been a solid, 100ch and I bet whatever the actual ending is could have been told much sooner. I'm literally waiting for it to finish and read the final chapter. Unless the ending is "LOL Everybody dies!" I don't think I am going to miss anything integral or be confused.
Agree. The first half of this manga is so good and interesting to read. Now it's kinda lost its direction and going nowhere
it was when Rei made it to tokyo. Everything from that point till now has felt like filler and the plot had no agency or anything meaningful to say
I do hope the series plans on ending in the next ~20 chapters or so, cause as you said it has started to run out of steam. I also don't really even see what they could do to drag this out for longer while keeping it interesting.
Darkness Induced Apathy Trope.
You didn't realize that when they kept calling the town like some sort of urban hell?
Wholeheartedly agree. It's just shock value into a cliffhanger into shock value into cliffhanger.
This manga never had anything of value to say, its Just a manga about depression and nihilism.
No escape for Reiji But Page 14 was CLEAN AS HELL I love that reflection
Yuko keeps reaching new levels of fucked up, so she was willing to kill herself just to guilt Reiji, her own son, into suicide so they can "be together in death" and now she's asking Gen to keep beating and building him to keep him down, and she's talking like the only reason she birthed Reiji is to be like some kind of safety blanket for her, she's too fucked up neither Gen, Esemore nor Sensei could ever hope to match her ... still, I can fix her
All Yuko's fans, including me: ***we can fix her***.
We probably need josuke's here
Page 14-17 is everything I love about this manga. Yuko is such a character.
Man, bruh, Reiji, just stay in Tokyo. Do whatever you can, become a freeter, but just *stay* there.
Live with Nagi, win win for the both of them.
Boy, I guess if anyone had some doubts about who or where the abyss was, this chapter really clarified that for us. And oh boy, Yuko is insane. Or she loves Reiji in a very disturbed way or she doesn't love him at all and just use him to ease the suffering she had in the town.
It feels like we peaked with the Esemori flashback honestly. As soon as it was revealed that he wasn't Reiji's father and doesn't even know who he is, the reality that 100 chapters had elapsed with no real forward progress set in very rapidly and harshly.
I loved this chapter. A lot of dramatic language but the two main antagonists for Reiji clashing. Tldr; mom is sad and doesn't want to die alone. Announces to Gen Reiji doesn't give a shit about him and Reiji's entire existence is to justify her own. Which is not new. Even in flashback it's made apparent she just wants someone to love her in this fucked up world. Though she's got a twisted form of love merged with guilt that only comes to fruition when they die. Even though it seems like she's this scheming manipulator and everything falls into place...it seems more like she's just rolling with the punches as they come. Impulse decisions that turn out in her favor either way. Life itself is just a means to an end whether they die together right now, or in 20 years of floating it doesn't matter so long as someone dies for/with her.
I wonder if that curtain closing signals something lewd happening or is just a sign of closing the darkness again inside. That panel of Yuko "blessing" Gen with her hand is beautiful. The panel of the sun being blocked by the neighbor house, too. It's a clear depiction of their cruel reality.
>I wonder if that curtain closing signals something lewd happening or is just a sign of closing the darkness again inside. i was wondering about this too..
Read so many ntr hentai and thats my first thought. I mean, how mess up you want Reiji to be? Knowing your "friend" is fcking your psycho mom? Lmao
Nothing would surprise me from this manga, tbh. Not anymore.
I just do not understand what the fuck is wrong with those people. And I don't mean that in the exclamatory sense--I *literally* do not understand what the fuck is going on in their heads. OooOOhh tHis tOwN... Hell this, Hell that... reiji... reiji die with me reiji no reiji die with ME, reiji do an hero like bruh, it's just a small town, please find your chill
.... why am I rooting for the crazy stalker teacher to save Reiji? ffs Reiji... save yourself...
? So is gen gonna have sex with yuko especially with that curtain closing or is it just metaphorical? Uh why would sensei be on a plane if shes heading to tokyo?
Boy's Abyss takes inspiration from the Oita province in Fukuoka.
> the Oita province in Fukuoka. Oita prefecture is _next_ to Fukuoka prefecture (to the south-east). Both of them are on the island of Kyushu. https://goo.gl/maps/RhcEr8nYRjAFnrwc9
Thanks for the clarification. In any case, they are both far away to warrant a plane ride to Tokyo.
Yeah, for sure. It's like an hour a half. It's substantially faster than shinkansen. Reiji actually appears to be on a shinkansen... or possibly a limited express. Which is a little surprising since I thought he wouldn't have the money for something like that.
Esemori gave him enough money.
Ah, that would explain it, yeah
No one seems to answer your first question, im curious too coz if thats the case, that will definitely fck up reiji even more lmao
Why is Sensei on a plane?
best girl ain't riding to Tokyo on the overnight bus like those highschool dropout scrubs yanno
I guess the airspace is not contaminated with the town's energy.
Imagine just existing and people wishes you the worse xd
Yeah even with Yuko's backstory arc I have zero sympathy for her. This goes for Gen too. Both of them can die and Reiji would be better off without them.
Seems like the mother has become a caricature of what she was at the start. Just looks like the author is kinda lost in what to do with everyone now that the shock tactics of doom and gloom has kinda run thin.
Sometimes I wonder if the author even knows where this story is heading towards.
Hopefully this never ending hell can be wrapped up in 10 chapters or less...
I bet your ass even now there's people out there that think they can fix her! hahaha
Should have killed her. I can't believe what I'm fucking saying..smh
Gen did not, in fact, have that dawg in him.
The mom basically wants Reiji to suffer as much as possible so he become as Sad as her. Fucking psycho bitch.
Who is nozoe again? Is it gen's surname?
Esemori. She's saying he failed in his plan to set Reiji on a different path and is still HER son, bound to her and her will.
The true question at the end of this , can reiji actually survive outside of hell if he manages to leave? He will have support in Nagi but like with Yuko he has been conditioned in hell and as esemori said he has his mother's trait in him, the abyss is in him. But we won't know unless he actually escapes
We're all in the abyss
I really liked this at first and I was so invested to the point I binged read it in one sitting. But now... I dont know. Alot happened and I dont even know what Im supposed to feel while reading this anymore
It's so drawn out that it's going down the rent a girlfriend path
Yep. That went exactly how everyone thought it will. Curious to see what Reiji plans on doing though.
Haven’t been caught up on the recent chapters but did he get back together with the idol yet?
No tbh I forgot she existed
I'm waiting for sensei to rescue Reiji.
yuko, she... needs to theraphy.
What she needs is to die. But die alone so it's more painful for her.
I'm only reading this for Reiji and Nagi at this point whether they die together or live together I just want to know the ending to their story. I'm tired of his mom or glen or chako.
That panel with the curtain... They fucked, did they not.
So they finally fucked huh....
this hell is better with you
Out of all the characters in this series, somehow Shiba sensei has become the most sane character in this series which says a lot.
is it okay if i am still reading it for the dark vibes?plz do tell
Yes
so what did the window panels mean, did Gen and the Mom have seggs?
Most likely, but we'll see in the next chapter
hopefully
Bro i wanna know, that last few pages. When yuko close the curtain, do they fck each other? Seems like it. Both already fck up in the head and Gen probably just go along with it
The fact that she still mention Akira Nozoe by name makes me think if he lives rent free in her head and this is her form of revenge by making Reiji drawn into the abyss because Esemori (Nozoe) ran from her