I think I'm coming from a POV that's different from most of you, but I'm absolutely not the type who thinks any creator has any responsibility to be "conscious" or "aware" of what they make - that there are any moral or ethical considerations that have to be taken when creating. A creator only has to create.

Making so mich of it, with this humanities-department (and I say this as an English major) deep-reading cultural critique of domestic abuse is misguided and foolhardy when it's clear that this series uses violence as a means to an end or to set the stage for plot points rather than being "about" the violence as a critique or conversation instead.

Creators don't have any innate responsibility to an audience via their work, you're right, but likewise an audience has every right to dissemble, analyze, and (yes) condemn a work on the basis of its messaging. No one here is obligated to take Fusoroi no Renri at face-value, or to pretend that Mikanuji's intention is the only thing coloring the manga that we end up reading.

react to the manga as you will, it's your right - but I don't believe that "calling the creator out" or judging the series based on your personal standards of right and wrong and responsible is worth it or defensible on a wider scale.

What do you suppose is the role of critique, which is an entirely subjective pursuit? I agree that there are many types of nonconstructive and/or haranguing criticism, but tbh if we allow that authors should fuck up routinely so too should the people consuming their work.

To be very clear, I only mean with regard to the piece itself. If people were to go harass Mikanuji because of this bad plotting and tone, that'd definitively be over the line.

There is a very thin line between critiquing and self indulgent whining. I see quite a bit of both on here.

self indulgent whining.

Nothing wrong with self-indulgence if the part of yourself you're indulging is "it really fucking sucks to see domestic violence handled so clumsily".

...anyway...

Looks like we're making progress on the side couple again.

Oh wow, the violent younger sister has more sense than the working adult. At least, a lot more eloquent. On a more serious note.

I have to echo some of ronasokily's points about the violence in this series. The vibes I get from Mikanuji is we are only supposed to treat the violence from Minami's parents and that one bit involving Shizuku 'kidnapping' Minami as actual abuse. Abuse that carries physical AND emotional scars. The physical smacking Iori does to Minami? Mikanuji's take on the decade old tropes of lovers' quarrel in anime. It's usually very one sided. There will be one crazy ass mofo who takes out her frustration on the more masculine partner. Emphasis on masculine, because people's perception that the more masculine types can handle abuse because... social expectations. Usually such lovers' spats and physical violence towards each other are greatly exaggerated and cartoony so you know "oh, it's not serious. They'll make up by the end of the episode/mini arc." If the emotional cues that prompt such acts of violence afterward are apologetic (rare), typical tsundere shit (common), the abused character venting to friends/others about relationship woes (common,) followed up with gags (also common, such as the KFC + sushi combo), and whatever other things I can't remember right now. It's considered "safe." It's "safe" because it's resolved. It's "safe" because the author didn't intend for this to be taken seriously. It's only serious when the mood after the fight is followed up with a tense BGM, or the abuser being sad/regretful. The author wanted to evoke that "teehee slightly violent couples's spat" trope, but due to probably cultural gap or just a terrible way of portraying the thing, a good chunk of readers here react with "OMG, DOMESTIC ABUSE!" ronasokily mentioned telenova kind of feel. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Japanese TV shows also adopted a very anime approach to their acting as well. Everything becomes greatly exaggerated. Iori overreacting to Minami's insecurity by trying to smack her out of it? *One of the oldest anime trope ever. See tvtropes for 'Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!' Yes, that mouthful is what it's called. (Too lazy to look up formatting guide for this. Google this yourself)

If you look at other examples of violence should not be taken that seriously in the Mikanuji's universe when it involves close friends/couples, check out the younger sister and Shizuku combo. "But Minami is hurt enough that she needs to wear bandaids on her face!" We are still meant to take it as "it's not that serious. Just a typical anime romcom moment."

"But-"

Anime. Romcom.

TL;DR version. Mikanujij didn't intend for us to see this as DV.

where exactly does it come from?

bad writing

I believe the chapters are too damn short... no chance for story arcs. This is all a comic strip series to me. The novelty of this manga is wearing thin.

Love this series!
Love the couples goofy antics and growing love. I wish they would figure out a way to resolve the you said something that hurt my feelings so you get slapped; it’s funny sometimes, but also concerning that this is the method of choice for resolving hurt feelings. I love that the little sister has begun to become such a reliable influence on Shizuku, there is so much damage there, I find myself worrying over her emotional state. That the series makes me laugh, and makes me concerned over the characters is what Makes it enjoyable.

last edited at May 3, 2020 1:05AM

Feels like this chapter is starting to explain how their fight got this much out of hand, but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough...

I believe this fight will never be mention again so don't expect anything.

We'll see. I just don't see why else we had to get a flashback like this right at this time. 32 already made it clear that Minami's attitude towards their relationship, still expecting it to be a temporary thing, was what started the fight. But I'm wondering whether there was anything more to it that made it escalate, this alone really doesn't seem enough to warrant that kind of a result after Iori's initial words in response.

It's already seen, as far as i've read raws, there is no sign of those domestic violence anywhere. Beside a little fight, which was most intented to not beviolent but more funny.

Ah finally, a delinquent x Imouto chapter. I need a separate series starring these two. They have a pretty interesting dynamic going on.

Ah finally, a delinquent x Imouto chapter. I need a separate series starring these two. They have a pretty interesting dynamic going on.

I love them as well, glad to see I'm not alone, plus her wisdom " you are possessive that's why people leave you"

it do be like that

Saori may not be winning prizes for self-awareness anytime soon but her read on Shizuku seems on point.

Babe, i want to get smashed
But you are already drunk
That's not what i mean ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Are the plates okay? I hope they didn't shatter

Are the plates okay? I hope they didn't shatter

I was thinking the exact same thing

I've had sex in a bathroom. It wasn't great. Although maybe having sex in a bathroom at work is the key

Oh my oh my ~ i think she indeed have developed a kink( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Wait so we're really gonna pretend that chapter never happened and act like this is fine--Author, what even

I also worry for the plates

Iori sure has an large sexual appetite. And alcohol seems to make it worse.

Now I'm just hyper aware of every fucked up thing Iori does and can't find comedy in any of it.

Can't resist. :D

Definitely coming to a point here where I don’t think Iori has any right to be in a relationship. Period. She’s an alcoholic who doesn’t listen to her partner and thinks the best way to respond to insecurity is violence. At this point, it’s not funny and just makes me feel worse and worse for Minami.

We need more characters like Iori, instead of all those saintly fake people you usually see in fiction.

Also - the way those dishes crash without any consequences should be a strong hint to how visuals in this manga aren't always meant to be taken literally. ^^

After Iori hitting Minami, every chapter after that one just feels weird to me. Even though yeah this one is sexy and all but it seems like Minami is starting to feel bothered by Iori.

I know all these lectures about how the author means for us to take the events of the story are kindly meant, but they're totally irrelevant to how readers respond to the story.

There are the kind of stories where all sorts of bad behavior are depicted in a light-hearted way, and where events that would be horrifying in real life are meant to be, and are taken to be, uproariously funny.

There are stories where those exact same things are taken seriously, and where the bad behavior is shown as having real-life consequences, or sometimes even worse outcomes than in reality.

Sometimes extremely talented narrative artists (authors, playwrights, mangaka) can even successfully include both of those effects in the same work (although the only such examples I can think of offhand are highfaluting people like Shakespeare, or James Joyce in Ulysses).

This mangaka, IMO, is not one of those.

I know all these lectures about how the author means for us to take the events of the story are kindly meant, but they're totally irrelevant to how readers respond to the story.

That's rich coming from the guy fighting a Room for Two crusade for the last year. :p