Psychological BL

Read this after reading its main story and was blown away with the writing. There's consideration that's placed when exploring darker subject matter seriously—the author did insanely well in exploring a certain character here that confronts him of his exploitation while also handling topics such as victimhood and abuse in a very nuanced and moving way. It's heavy, unpalatable, and uncomfortable, but this is the kind of depiction that resonates with those who have experienced similar things.

Rereading this work is always such a treat. It has such a unique plot and tackles death and lingering thoughts of those about to die in such an intriguing way—the visuals are also just so beautiful. The art in this is deeply grotesque but also erotic at certain points with one of the characters, I'm very captured by it alongside all the mysteries per chapter. Such a good read! Takahashi Hidebu's niche of crime BL has always been great, but this work had always stood out to me the most.

The sequel work to the original seinen manga, and an overall well done extension of it too! There's a very unconventional conflict that ties itself to the plot that's really interesting here. The characterizations in the original work were pretty strong, though how the author builds these characters even more and consequently their blooming romantic relationship here was terribly solid. The feelings of affection and complicated muddled feelings here really got to me.

An interesting story about codependency. I really liked how it depicts this kind of superiority and saviour complex within one of the characters over the other—it's a mutually codependent bond where both feel good about taking things from each other in a pretty twisted way (to feel above, to be cared about). It's definitely warped, but for romantic love to have sprung out from this is such a direction. Arai Niboshiko does really well with this genre! No wonder she also does seinen.

The theme of faith was definitely present throughout, and I did enjoy the push-and-pull between the main characters when it came to their feelings though I did find it hard to articulate how I felt about everything. I still found it to be a pretty good read though, there are emotions involved that felt human especially when it came to the tomantic aspect, there's also its focus on what it means to properly love someone within the perspective of an artist that I really enjoyed here.

Just extremely twisted—everything about this work from its mysterious atmosphere and bleak truth is captivating. There's discussion about emotional incest, one-sided enmeshment, and grief here as well that was visualized and written about in a really unfiltered manner. I think this would be a work that would haunt me at random, it's just that warped.

Moreso on the 1st story (the 2nd one isn't really psychological), how it manages to fit such a moving story under so little chapters is beyond me. It tackles queer guilt and how it might surface in a pretty realistic way, both characters feel like actual people to me. The art is also incredibly beautiful. I think that for a heavy read like this, the 2nd story straight after is also a nice breather.

A quick read that centers around the cycle of abuse and longing—really capturing too, in spite of it being a oneshot work. It's a pretty simple and straightforward narrative about predatory relationships.