miseryxcompany's manga / #Yakuza(4)

What is this manga trying to say in having Amemiya consider the words of his late rapist? Initially he rejects the insinuation that he and Tazaki are the same, though he seems to have a change of heart on account of his attraction to Yagi. Tazaki’s letter suggests that if Amemiya keeps suppressing his desires he’ll end up an abuser just like him, and to this stories credit, Amemiya says that simply acknowledging his feelings for Yagi did not free him; it took effort on his own part. But that it is his rapists words he is considering so deeply, after his expressed desire to kill him, is just so odd. This idea of the “limiter” may well have broken the story by equating violence in pursuit of justice to the violence committed by abusers themselves, Amemiya going as far as to shield his kidnapper from Yagi’s gun, after noting how the situation resembles his run-in with Tazaki. The “limiter” itself lacks nuance. Why are we even taking the words of a psychopathic serial rapist/murderer seriously? Why would Yagi have ‘removed his limiter’ had he shot Junya, a kidnapper, murderer, and attempted assaulter? I assume the message Limiter aims to convey is that improperly managing the anger and animosity resulting from your abuse can hinder your ability to recover. But this manga does not acknowledge any nuances to the topic. There’s nothing wrong with wanting those who’ve hurt you to hurt in the same way, but Amemiya allowed his hatred to consume him, for Tazaki to retroactively take control over his life. And it was powerful when he described sex with Yagi as breaking his chains. For the first time since his assault he’d been touched and felt pleasure from it and Tazaki had nothing to do with it. He didn’t need that hatred for him that had driven him up until that point. Was it not enough for that to be the point in which his thirst for revenge ceased? For him to realize that Tazaki doesn’t own him, that he can still take his life back from him and live normally? The closing line, “Another removes his limiter,” only tells me Amemiya continues to live within the grasp and with the memory of his rapist, even in his death. It would have been significantly better had the letter subplot been abandoned and Amemiya’s relationship with sexuality and Yagi been further explored.

It’s just so wish-washy and bulldozes through its plot. I really like that Hagiwara discovers his masochism through Takagi’s obsession with him and it was an interesting twist that he wasn’t actually in love with Takagi and just liked the rough sex. But I’m not so easily convinced of Takagi’s transformation from a hardened gangster who doesn’t know how to be tender into this love-sick simp of a Yakuza. I don’t understand why the Goto subplot with the rival gang was necessary, especially since his death didn’t spark tension between their gangs like you might expect, considering they occupied the same territories. In fact, the gang-warring in general is secondary to Hagiwara and Takagi’s relationship. And maybe the whole point was to get Hagiwara to realize it wasn’t just the sex he liked about Takagi, but this is not a turning point since Hagiwara’s attitude towards Takagi still doesn’t change until the end of the last chapter, as the resolution to a completely unrelated plot point. I really liked Hagiwara’s brief relationship with Yasushi— he recognized his former, scared self within the 5th Boss and sought to corrupt him in a way similar to himself. Yasushi eventually grows into his position, opting to find a comfortable place within this new world if he cannot escape it, and is even willing to kill Takagi for Hagiwara due to his grown attachment to him This all makes me so irrationally angry with its direction, because it’s finally acknowledged that Hagiwara enjoys the thrill of being wanted yet unattainable— which is why he still wants Takagi in spite of not loving him— and yet in the final stretch he succumbs to his apparently dormant feelings for Takagi. And I just think it would’ve been so much more interesting for Takagi’s feelings to remain unreturned, while Hagiwara continues using Takagi and Yasushi’s feelings for him to his advantage.

Very boring, manufactured drama between Haruhiko and Kenichi, the entire premise is abandoned after the first chapter and why is their Senpai acting like he doesn't know why the kid is being stalked by gang members if he was there when Haruhiko and Kenichi saved him the first time? Turning 17 was supposed to give them some arcane power by virtue of being on the cusps of adulthood yet still technically being kids but all they do is run around getting into fights which isn't any different from whatever they were doing before.