Sumiya Kei's stories shine best when they're suffused with humor and light-hearted teenage angst (take Hana Tokidoki Kuma, for instance). This was very far from that, and perhaps that's why it turned into the mess it is; the first few chapters make it seem like the manga will treat its core conceit of abuse/domestic violence with emotional gravitas, but ultimately this peters out into an unsatisfying romance between the main couple. If I'm being generous, I'd say she was attempting to inject realism while keeping the narrative grounded in a "traditional" happy ending, but as it is the characters change personality so fast it gives me whiplash: Mitsutomi ends up coming off as psychotic and Haru like a glutton for punishment. I love Sumiya Kei's art but even I can't overlook the plot when it's this unerringly bad.

... Last updated on August 23rd, 2022, 6:46pm

Between the lying, the breaches of consent, and the physical abuse, this story is a huge mess. Pushing a domestic abuse victim into the wall, then smashing your fist next to their head, because you choose to believe their abusive ex-lover and won't even hear out the person you allegedly love? Nope, nope, GTFO. There's realism, there's angst, and then there's...whatever the mangaka was trying to do with this.

I just...nothing redeems this story, not even the (passable) art. There's no one sympathetic in this—not even the abuse victim, because he ends up with a man who may be better than the others he's dated, but is still the type to punch a wall when he gets angry, then tearfully claim to want to "save" the victim (you know, just like all the other abusers did). Oh, and he also apparently needs to ask his university-aged friends if hitting your partner is a bad thing, because that's what we're working with here.

This is one of those stories in which the happy ending is actually dark as hell and not happy at all...except it ended up like this by accident.