Man that was some crazy ride. Rei just can't catch a break. I applaud the level of writing such a character where it really feels like he's cornered by the circumstances that he doesn't have full control over. Not for anything stupid or unbelievable, but when almost everyone around him has some screw loose, and has some kind of authority over him, he can't do anything but be a victim of circumstance.

I love love love Chako though. I mean, she's super cute, and I love how plump she is(a plump female lover should be more utilized imo =0v!). Their friendship feels like the most stable thing in the series so far, although even that's been shaken up quite a bit since the beginning. She's the one who seems best for Rei, but still putting some weight on his shoulders. The thing I like most about her is that it feels like she wants to protect Rei and vice-versa. She slapped him because she knows Rei was with Ms. Shiba, but there's a contradicting nature about it that makes me more appreciative of it; like she isn't just going to accept anything he does just because she loves him. Side note: glad her first time wasn't with Mr. Esemori. Also glad her first time wasn't the forced moment in the manga cafe either, but I do want it to be with Rei, if it happens.

Ms. Shiba, I feel sorry for. She was cornered herself, and tried to ignore it as much as possible, but getting involved with Rei, I can see her finding some value in herself by trying to support and help him. Unfortunately, that support turned into dependence, and now she so insecure about losing the one relationship she's built up with him(particularly after losing her virginity, if I'm not mistaken) she's stalking him. She's probably the craziest one so far, but i get it.

Rei's mother... man what can you say? She's also shackled to her mother and dropout son. Its possible that the emotional abuse she got from Rei's father could play a part as to why she's so afraid of Rei's older brother. Then she ended up being the sex slave of Gen's dad for years, because she was trying to protect Rei. It'd be too much for Rei to just dip and leave his mother behind after learning the truth. She's also become so dependent on Rei emotionally that I think she would probably kill herself for real if Rei committed suicide. Small note: I'm not to fond of adult-child incest, and I was certain how Rei's mother was giving him those looks when she was laying in bed with him in that one chapter that it was going to happen... I'm assuming it didn't, based on the after-chap view of that scene. Perhaps the whole thing about her having sex with Gen's dad as "payment" for kicking Rei's abusive father out of town isn't the only reason. Maybe I read to many h-manga, but a common theme in theme in the cheating genre is "forgetting everything and losing one's self to the pleasure" at least in that moment. Maybe Rei's mother is actually using Gen's dad, and not the way the reader would usually think?

Gen is certainly an asshole, but I guess he loves Rei in his own way? I assume there'll be something more to his story, cause they haven't focused on him concretely yet, but it certainly is some twisted kind of love for sure. Not sure if he's just possessive, or wants something more romantic, but I'm intrigued either way. Doubt it'll redeem him in my eyes though.

Nagi... I don't have much to say about actually. She put the idea of suicide in his mind and, in a way, started this whole mess. Despite her wanting to kill herself, she seems the most stable of the bunch(unless you count Mr. Esemori); very mature. But her reasoning to suicide as explained to Rei didn't feel like the whole picture. So its kind of hard to completely judge her, but based on what we've seen so far, she feels more like a big sister, supporting Rei when its needed, but not relying on him specifically. Its like she allows herself to be an outlet for Rei's feelings, but knows when to step back and let him breathe. In this regard, maybe she's the best for Rei right now, but sorry, I'm way past sailing on the Chako ship right now. FULL STEAM AHEAD!

The meeting with Esemori, aka Nozoe(going with this; easier on the tongue). Well it was an interesting conversation. Probably the most tame part of these batch of chapters. We find out that the man that abused Rei wasn't his actual father. Wow. Thats some revelation. Combine that with the fact that Nagi said that Rei looked(reminded?) her of Nozoe, and its clear where that declaration is heading. Either Nozoe WAS the man in the flashback, OR, it was implying Nozoe was the father(least to me). I believe it to be the latter. I knew Nozoe and Yuko had more of a relationship, the way Yuko warned Rei that Nozoe was "dangerous" and in a later chapter laughed about Nozoe committing suicide. Never knew their connection was that deep though. But it would make Nozoe's interest in Rei make all the more sense.

Chako got totally destroyed by Ms. Shiba. Not only losing her chance at a recommendation to go to university; losing her phone, and being forbidden to see Rei. Just complete devastation. I felt her reactions had a strong sense of realism. The way she cried, both at the school office and at home; it felt really relatable. It was def heartbreaking, for sure, but artistically, I was super impressed how the situation was presented. Not over-the-top or "anime-like" at all. You can see that moment, where the fear strikes you so hard, you curl up and start sobbing and apologizing. And that moment at home, when her father handed down the death sentence; last time we saw him, he was all smiles and happily bragging about his daughter. Now we see his other side. Demands absolute obedience from his daughter and wife. Hits wife. That's as real as you can get. Hit me harder than I realized. At least at the end of the chapters I read, she's set to run away with Rei. As touching as that was, I'm worried that Rei's declaration to want to die with Nagi makes me think even after they do get away, its going to go downhill, at least for Chako (;_; ). I mean I hope not, but man, I'm not left with much hope.

Miss Shiba though... wow, I'm actually kinda torn about her. When she completely f**ked Chako over, my jaw hit the floor. That was some S-grade f**kery she did. It was an amazing reverse-Uno after the date > car ride incident, but then a couple of chapter later, you see her playing pong and being mentally anguished knowing she'll be hated. The smile while crying kinda hit me in a way I didn't expect, and that quickly reminded me that in some way, she is also a victim. It looks like she is going ALL out to push everything away in Rei's life, even bribing Yuko to give up her son. Damn those were some scary looks they were giving each other in that car. Still, its hard to believe that she's doing all of this with the ending intention of just leaving after he's graduated and went to college. I think in the deepest heart of her mind, she thinks that Rei will return to her or something after 'all she's done for him'. Or maybe she believes he'll rely on her once all of the other 'obstacles' in his life are gone. She's so far past the line, she doesn't know how to stop. And unfortunately, it seems like Yuko is going to get Gen to teach her one terrifying lesson. I dunno if the cut-in to that bulldozer in chapter 46 or so was a hint at what happened to "Rei's dad" or something, but it was sure ominous as f**k. Not sure if I want to see Ms. Shiba die some kind of horrible death.

But speaking of Yuko... OOOOOH BOI, that was some CRAZY freakin' twist right there (O.O )! I mean, the signs where here-and-there, but nothing concrete, because most of the time, she was in front of Rei. But when she called Gen to that room, that whole chapter blew my gotdamn mind! To think that she was manipulating not only Gen, but his dad, and maybe even Rei to some extent. Seeing Gen's eyes cower in fear shows just how scary Yuko can be. Can't believe the author could make even Gen look like just another victim. Even more scary that she AND Gen was EXTRA pissed at the notion of Ms. Shiba trying to buy Rei from her. She was easily able to pick up that Ms. Shiba gave the key to her apartment to Rei after that teacher's meeting they had, and even did and put away Rei's laundry to cover up her snooping and retrieving it(figured that out after reading it the 3rd time round). Its clear she loves Rei to some insane extent; I dont' even have the vocabulary to put it into words how much. I mean, you could gather that maybe from her dedicating herself to be Gen's dad's sex slave, but she's gone to think so far ahead as to make sure Rei was raised so wouldn't even think of suicide, and will stay shackled to her and the town. Maybe to do the lover's suicide like when she was young? Nah, maybe that was just some manipulation tactic to ensure he wouldn't leave her.

Either way, it looks like Nagi really was the catalyst to everything that's happened. If Nozoe brought her just so he could interfere in Yuko's plans to shackle Rei, that would be some next-level 4D chess right there. Its a lot of writing on the wall, and with it, a lot of clues, but I cannot yet draw any end conclusions from it. Next chapter looks like it'll delve into Nozoe's and Yuko's past. Curious to know what events brought those two together, and also broke them apart.

Like the foremost thing is Reiji's mentality. Yuko was right when she said she "raised a good boy that would never think of suicide." Even though he was suffering so much, and you could see it in moments here and there throughout the beginning chapters, its like he didn't have a single defiant bone in his body. He took everything with a smile, not because of fear or retaliation, but just because he wanted to satisfy and support the people around him, at his own expense. Yuko is such an manipulative woman; she says "I wish I had it easier..." not to Reiji directly, but knowing her personality from the later chapters, I think she says this to cement his mind into going into the workforce right after high school. This is even though he has no desire to be around Gen, nor to do that type of work.

It was nice to see Nozoe's and Yuko's past. We see that they both had familial issues with their parents, and I can see that creating a strong bond between them. The only thing that I couldn't quite pick up on was Yuko's desire not leave the city, and to have a child in the city. And why Nozoe thought it was "wrong". I assume there will be more to the story, since Nozoe didn't meet Reiji until 32 years after that moment, and I assume Reiji is ~ 17 y/o so it'll be interesting to see what happened between him being a novelist and going to Tokyo and how the marriage with Yuko came to be(or how it was avoided/missed).

Outside the flashback, I feel kinda bad for Chako. Reiji reached out and grabbed her hand, only to abandon her again. Honestly, I thought that was really irresponsible of him to treat his best friend like that, but thinking about it now, he had already chosen his mother well before their supposed trip. I think I get it though; Yuko's influence had made him feel the same way she supposedly felt about her father(i.e. a sense of pity) and Yuko wanted to shackle him to her so that she could be loved unconditionally, up to them both committing suicide. Its actually amazing the amount of mechanizations she used just for her own feelings of being wanted. Gen's father was a bit obvious, and Gen too revealed some chapters back, but even her stepson and mother(?), which was pretty surprising. In a way, it is evil, but I also have a bit of sympathy for her as well. All her plans derailed just because Reiji met Nagi. It was for the best I suppose. Come to find out that Reiji actually hated Yuko, although I imagine that he harbors feelings on both extremes of the love/hate spectrum.

Glad Chako is kinda moving on now. Was hoping Reiji x Chako would be a thing, but after Reiji abandoned her for his mother, it feels like she's cutting all ties with those around her; both Reiji and her now-former favorite author, which was kind of the bulk of her world. It kinda feels like she's running away, but at least it 'appears' to be in a positive direction... at least I hope it is. Curious to see where her journey will end.

About Gen, I'm surprised he was this involved and this manipulated by Yuko, even as a young child. Guess he really does love Reiji in his own way, and perhaps his whole schtick with bullying him was mostly due to Yuko's influence. Not sure about that one though.

Ms Shiba's career is probably at an end. Not sure what else they can do with her character at this point. She should have lost her teaching job, and no longer receives any notice from Reiji, which was her world in these last dozen or so chapters. Honestly, she kind of got the short end of the stick, because even though she had some psychological issues, it was Reiji that caused her to end up that way. He didn't really take any responsibility for that either.

Dang, makes me wonder if Reiji is actually as pure and innocent as I thought. I mean yeah, he was manipulated by Yuko to be the way he is, but at the same time, he also put things into motion, then quit or abandoned it halfway, leaving the other party left to the wayside. He's pretty irresponsible in certain events and doesn't [always] consider the feelings of the other party he's dealing with. Maybe, in this way, he's actually like Yuko. Well he's pretty much gave up everything sitting in the hospital bed, but since Chako called Nagi to tend to Nozoe, her return might spark some life back into him, particularly since she was the sole element in his life that made him "wake up" so to speak.

So this proverbial arc had Nagi return, but for me was more of a peer into Gen's past and the events that lead up to him murdering Reiji's (step?)father. Just as I expected Yuko was the driving force that got Gen to do the deed. Yuko man.... she's so evil, I'm starting to lose what bit of sympathy I had for her =0v. I think she knew that Gen loved Reiji; like LOVED-loved, and she used that by showing Reiji's father severely beating Reiji, to provoke him into killing the man. I knew Gen loved Reiji in that way; man was WAY too emotional about him being taken away for it not to have been love. Though, I can't say that killing a man for Reiji's sake gets him a free pass to treat him like crap, even though it was a retaliatory backlash to Reiji suddenly ignoring him, while still harboring the death of a man on his conscious. I do see him as another victim of Yuko's schemes though.

I thought Gen was scared of Yuko in the previous chapter where they met after Yuko talked to Ms. Shiba, and that's why they showed him cowering in fear. However, it was actually the memory of him killing a man and the mental anguish he had to endure after it happened, that made him cower, as Yuko tried to get him to do the same to Ms. Shiba.

Nothing much to say about Chako; she's moved on with what she wants and realizes that running away to Tokyo doesn't really do much for her situation. Basically she's grown up mentally. Ms. Shiba... not so much I don't think.

Nozoe though.... whew, if his sole intention was bringing back Nagi for payback towards Yuko for not dying with him that day, that would be some dirty a** dancin' right there =0v. "You denied dying with me, for a child you haven't even had yet, so now I'll make it so that child rejects dying with you." I was surprised he was this petty, but I supposed you could see this behavior when he was talking with Yuko at the restaurant. The whole "I WIN! =0D!" from him just kinda had my jaw drop.

Nagi is same ol' Nagi. The only char whose past has yet to be explored. She still intends to die with Reiji someday. She really is a drifter, like Nozoe said. Got kidnapped and beaten(glad they avoided rape in this scenario, unlike a certain other title), yet took it all in stride. Would have died with 0 resistance. She really is just like an empty shell, but its hard to understand where she's coming from without any context to fall on. Hope in the next arc(which looks like a bit of a months-skip) they give a little focus on how she ended up this way. That is, if she hasn't moved out of town like Reiji told her to.

Chako losing weight and becoming a shut-in was probably the biggest shocker in the latter chapters(and I loved her chubby design so much =0( ). I feel bad for her because its like she finally sunk to the depths of despair. I suppose the biggest thing is that she feels that she'll never be able to occupy the space of Reiji's heart that's full of Nagi. And while that might be true, she's discarding the part that Reiji holds most dear. I hope that when Reiji finally finds her, that they come to some kind of understanding. Comparing herself to Nagi, she'll always be inferior, and I can't see any closure for her character until she comes to terms with who she is to Reiji, why Reiji finds her special, and appreciates it.

It was easy to see Ms. Shiba didn't give up on Reiji from the get-go. She harbored Gen for all those months just for the shining moment she could use that to gain Reiji's trust, but like Gen indirectly (didn't) said, compared to Yuko, her plans are nowhere near as intricate, which is how it got unraveled so easily just by Chako being there. That was one crazy situation though, when all 4 of them were at the house; great drama =03. She had her blissful moment when Reiji gave her "the look", which is like hope and admiration combined in one. Too bad for her it was short-lived when Rei/Chako/Gen slipped to Tokyo. But man, running to Yuko probably not the best thing to do for her, but it easy to see why Yuko is so damn good[read: evil], when she consoled her.

Yuko is just such a mastermind. I was unsure if she actually had amnesia, since it would have been possible for her to still persist in all of her machinations, while forgetting the recent events. The smile she did in the chapter she got home from the hospital, and Reiji put her to bed and left, should have been a dead giveaway, but it wasn't until Ms. Shiba visited her that I knew that she never forgot; she was pretending this whole time. In the meantime, she was getting pampered by Reiji. Like Nozoe said, she "won" in the end(at least at that time). Even if Reiji hates her, he still loves her at the same time, and its kind of sad that Yuko is still reliant for the love of her son to this extent. Doesn't matter who else loves him, as long as he can remain in that town with her, that's all she cares about. Wonder how she plans to use Ms. Shiba?

Far as Gen is concerned, I'm surprised at the fact that, according to Reiji, at the core of his heart, he actually loves Yuko, and that's why he ended up killing Kazu's father. I saw traces of this in an earlier chapter, the one where Yuko is riding him home on her bike, but it wasn't until Reiji revealed about him sniffing her clothes and "tasting" her cigarettes and lipstick that his feelings fully revealed itself. Not sure where his life is gonna lead; he's wanted for attempted murder after all, so you know his ending won't be good. Curious to know what he'll do before he returns and/or turns himself in. Confess to Yuko maybe?

Nozoe dying also was pretty shocking. I knew he was sickly, but nothing like cancer. Still, he reflects to Reiji once more about his past, and we get to see the events after Yuko's proclamation to have a child in that town. Maybe it'll more vividly reveal why Nozoe actually left town, and why/how Yuko wanted a child so badly, because the origin of those feelings are still unclear to me. It seem like Shina'oka actually liked him too, and it makes me wonder if she'll sink into some kind of despair before its all over, since Nozoe doesn't like her romantically.

Anyway, at the end of the latest chapter, Yuko gets pulled away by what I assume is that Uryu guy's henchmen and Nozoe gets kicked. Common bullying seems like a pretty straightforward tactic from this story, so I'm sure there will be a few more twist and turns before this is all over. At the very least, it should tell how he went from "I want to die..."(I know he currently has Yuko in his heart, but I expect him to revisit this before long) to "I will leave this town for Tokyo and never look back.".

One thing I want to say about Reiji is how innocent, naive, and kind he actually is. Yuko really did some crazy work on how Reiji behaves, her magnum opus, if you will. It's like Chako said, he just pulls you in, with his truly innocent, unmanipulative behavior, and you end up sinking into the depths. He isn't unaware of this nature of himself either, but he still believes in all of the lies(or appears to believe anyway) he's told and doesn't doubt anyone. He really is hollow. But at the same time, its so interesting to see how he reacts to things and how people are effected by him. Maybe I got pulled in unexpectedly too :heh:.