Revised thoughts were turned into a review. Below is just what I wrote right after finishing the manga.
Fucking hell. The ending was even more tragic than I had expected. I don’t like the fact that the story is based on kids. I mean, kids can’t think as complex as that. I’m not saying they can’t, period. But, this is on a whole nother level of logical thinking.
The arc of the story is like a circle. It starts off. A bunch of stuff happen. But in the end. It ends at the same place where it started.
Candy bullets can’t pierce anything huh.
This manga is the exact opposite of one that says too much. This says too little. Like, did Mokuzu really kill the rabbits? The manga doesn’t give any evidence. Or maybe it was her. I mean, she doesn’t understand what it is to love nor hate. Did she consider killing them was an act of friendship? Oh, wait. Her father killed what he cared about. There’s the possibility that she inherited the same pattern of thinking. Nagisa cared about the rabbits. I mean, she literally told Mozuku that, the day before the rabbits were exterminated. So she killed them because Nagisa cared about them. Not to get any attention or from a feeling of jealousy. I mean she did have a decapitated head in her bag. But…idk everything’s so jumbled up.
Okay, so what about Shouta and Mokuzu’s royal rumble. That’s one of the even weirder parts of the story. Most of all. Why did Nagisa think of it as a way to adulthood? Okay, so let’s talk Stockholm syndrome. Mokuzu probably has that towards her father. And she’s only been beaten up by her father. And for the first time. She got beaten up by another guy. This made her very very angry.
So if it was anger that motivated her to start the wrestling match. Why was she so keen on making Shouta dirty. She could have hit him without taking his clothes off. But she didn’t. Why? Is it to make him suffer. Uh oh. Is it because that’s how his father is like to her. Wait wait. Shouta said that Mokuzu was dirty in mockery. Did Mokuzu get angry because of the attitude? Does she take pride in her dirtiness or whatever you call it?
And to make Shouta understand. She made him dirty as well. A sort of shared suffering. The fuck was Nagisa going on about an ecstatic feeling then. That’s even weirder. Ahh, the more I go into it the more questions that come up.
But why did Mokuzu first defend being dirty then deny it? That brings down the whole pride argument. Then there’s the goddamn key. What is it even about? Hell if I know.
Okay, so after spending a good amount of time thinking about it. Just like the story itself. I’m coming right back to the same conclusion I was at. I’ve got no fucking clue what this story is trying to say. Yeah, it has some emotional moments. But if the ending doesn’t tie all the loose threads together. How can I say the ending is good? Plus the last 4 chapters seemed hella rushed. Compared to how easy-going the first ones were. All of my issues and contradictions about the manga originate near the end. I wonder what happened. Until then every action was given an explanation. But near the end. No justification or reason is given as to why they happen the way they do. It’s like the characters are getting a life of their own.