I'm going to have to try to compose myself after reading this series. Let's put it lightly. This manga made me angry. Not uuuugh angry, like wanting to walk down the street and punch random pedestrians in the stomach angry.
And I know a lot of people will read this and go "THIS JUST ISN'T YOUR GENRE" or "IT'S TRAGEDY STUPID"
But I've read tons of shojo, and tragedy is usually my favorite kind of book/manga/movie/generally anything.
So I assure you I'm not complaining about genres and things I don't like. I'm saying this was just generally all around a pretty awful manga. It's not the art or anything either. It's just wow these characters, this plot, these themes and unfortunate implications, are just too much to handle. I can't see how anyone can find this romantic.
So Mika is a TYPICAL HIGH SCHOOL GIRL, doing typical high school stuff, yada yada yada, She gets in fights with her obviously going to be a villain "friend" in the cliche POISONOUS FRIEND vein. Yeah yeah, typical shojo, normal enough. So she sees HOT STUD and he scares her and attacks some guy but then she talks on a phone and she's like "OH HE'S NOT AS SCARY I'LL GIVE HIM MY PHONE NUMBER". And they go on a date. You know. Also known as his penis. Okay. Where it's revealed he was lying about leaving his girlfriend and essentially just had an affair with her.
Okay. Warning. Red Alert. By this point you should already hit the "Douchebag" alert and get out of there. BUT NOT MIKA. AT THE WEE RELATIONSHIP PERIOD OF LIKE WHAT 1-3 days. She has decided she is madly in love with him, and since he broke up with his ex finally. That's all hunky dory. Hiro is obviously the best guy ever. (sarcasm hand raised) I can already tell he's totally trustworthy and will sweep me off my feet!
What is it with shojo heroines having so little self worth in these stories? Okay, reword that. Mika is the most pathetic, codependent, idiotic, and obviously masochistic shojo heroine I think I've ever seen.(And she has such competition like Hatsumi from Hot Gimmick!) Actually, there's only about one character I actually liked in this series. Everyone generally seemed to have the idiot ball so far up their rear ends they wouldn't know what actually care and empathy was if you cured their parents of life-threatening illnesses and then dedicated your entire lottery earnings to ending world hunger. Hiro comes off as a controlling, emotionally abusive sociopath for the most part, and cancer aside, this is even -BEFORE- the cancer things.
Observe the various romantic things Hiro does!
- Refuses to call the police on the rapists, in favor of punching one. Leaving his CRAZED EX TO GO COMPLETELY UNPUNISHED. Responsible? I think so!
-Emotionally abuses Mika for the HORRIBLE CRIME OF HAVING A FRIENDLY NON-ROMANTIC MOMENT with a perfectly nice and friendly guy. (After all she is property.) Then insists it's her fault until she believes it.
-Tries to break up with Mika and blames her for SOMEONE KISSING HER IN HER SLEEP.
Sound romantic? Sound like a dream guy you'd fall in love with? I feel like my knees are getting weak. And this is before he has I AM DYING as an excuse (As if it was one).
So then his ex (WHO BY ALL RIGHTS SHOULD BE IN PRISON, If Hiro was a reasonable, caring individual. ) shows up and causes Mika to miscarry their love baby. Which makes them sad ): Because the melodrama has to happen in every chapter in this story. And thinks are okay and then Hiro turns into a MASSIVE DOUCHEBAG. With such things like HUFFING PAINT. and MAKING OUT WITH OTHER CHICKS. And when Mika gets mad he's just like "WHAT DID I DO". Yeah.
Romantic.
So then he essentially makes use of her codependant to get head and to make her hurt herself and essentially rape her, and then changes his mind. And Mika is sad and of course self blames because she is totally at fault, and at this point she's just sort of bringing it upon herself by being a complete idiot who sounds horribly too much like a domestic abuse victim.
So she goes around being a complete psycho obsessed with him, with her obviously unhealthy (Like her every other relationship) friendship with an obviously also psycho and crazy girl who is supposedly her best friend, who always turns on her at every opportunity. Because isn't that just what all our friends are like?
If Mika was a compelling heroine, with a spine, a brain, and the self worth of a piece of dust, and not a whiny, passive codependant hollow shell of an actual character maybe this would be the part where she would go "You know all my friends are horrible to me. Hiro was horrible to me. Maybe I should rethink my social circle." But sadly, this is not one of those stories. What really gets me is that
So logically she MOVES ON AND FORGETS HIM RIGHT. No she just whines forever and does self destructive things and MOURNS HIRO FOREVER. Because obviously Hiro was such a catch, where will she find a guy who blames her for everything, dominates her, and refuses to actually protect her from his insane and dangerous ex?
She'll never feel that much romance again! What really got me is when she was upset Hiro's sister had the nerve to tell her to "Think about his feelings!" For motivations that were never explained. Aren't you just being so selfish Mika! Wanting answers for that person who manipulated you, emotionally abused you, and told you he'd take you back for sexual favors, before going LOLJK GET OUT OF MY BED.
You're so very, very selfish. You horrible girl.
So she gets the "Genuine nice guy" involved eventually. And come on, if you've read shojo you know this character. The smart, funny, nice, sweet, caring character, that the main girl will pull around on a string and manipulate until ZOMG TRUE LOVE comes back and he's kicked on his rear to be in the friendzone and since this is a shojo probably angst about how he'll never love again/kill himself.
Guess what happens here?
I don't even really need to go on so I'll sum it up. Mika never forgets about the douchenozzle. Runs off with Hiro the Sociopathic Cancer Patient because he "DID IT SO SHE'D NOT CARE WHEN HE DIIIED". Which totally justifies taking advantage of her codependancy, breaking her when she might be suicidal, and using her for sexual favors. (I saw someone on a forum saying this was a "Mature Decision".) And I'm sorry. Having cancer isn't an excuse for being an absolute douchebag, you know. The one he already was pre-cancer anyways.
I read this for the trainwreck it was. And It surprised me with just how much of a trainwreck it turned out to be.
It was unrealistic, melodramatic trash. With wonderful messages like. "Talking to other men is being an unfaithful terrible girlfriend, even if it's not romantically. And you deserve to feel bad about it and he deserves to leave/get kicked out of school." "Being kissed in your sleep is your fault." "Your boyfriend practically owns you" "Don't call the police on rapists, they were just being paid to do it!" and "You can be as horrible as you want in life, just hope you get a life threatening disease and anything you did before is totally justified and reasonable."
oh one more. "Your friends can turn on you for unwanted contact/being kissed in your sleep and any other minor infraction, and you should always take them back for it."
and "Sex in a school library is the most romantic thing ever"
And that's it for the TL;DR of this inspired by going through this again when my friend was.
Toodles.
Well I guess I should say something positive um.
I liked Yuu.
He was okay. And I guess despite it being a little weird I didn't mind the art at all. We cool?
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