Whoa. Saw some dinner on the feed, and boy, was it spicy. From the title, I was half-expecting a story about lesbians in the Air Force or SpecOps, but this somehow seems like it'll be even darker. Love it.
There's a lot to unpack here, folks. I loved the scattered, shady, montage-style sex scenes- they serve to drive in how clinical and furtive the relationship is, despite being the best thing in Chinami's life (not that there's much competition). The affair doesn't seem sensationalized or voyeuristic or exploitative towards the guy (not that we'd care)- it's a bitterly realistic portrait of two people asphyxiated by life, desperately trying to get a breath of fresh air, even if they could only ever meet in stuffy, dark rooms with the shades drawn. There's an atmosphere of heteronormativity and repression here that's brilliantly realistic, not in a grimdark way, but in one that's hauntingly natural. This ain't a celebrity scandal- it's a standard indiscretion in an apathetic society among incredibly mediocre people, and they all know it.
The husband's a real piece of work, but despite the wandering eye and the body-shaming, his speech about how Big Corporate embalms you alive struck a chord. The whole thing seems like a standard relationship structure- young woman marries a fairly ordinary guy, they don't magically fall in love, but tolerate each other and keep up pretences, and then they hit their 30s and the economy dropkicks everyone in the balls. I love how the guy's buddy told him that he might be getting his steak neto-rare instead of well-done, because it's not just lampshading- these genuinely seem like people who beat off to shitty porn on late evenings because they don't want the blood flowing from their dicks into their brains and reminding them of how pointless their lives are.
There's also some interesting points made about society and childbirth- I particularly loved how the first few pages were completely silent and still brilliantly communicated Chinami's mixed fear and apprehension towards the ring. She seems to want to be a traditional wife, but the neurons ain't firing that way, even if the husband's emptying his revolver all the time. Regardless of whether Mediocre McCoy's infertile or successfully conceives a kid, things are gonna get ugly. Best case scenario, we get Netsuzou Trap. Worst case scenario, we get Gunjo (god, I hope we get a worst-case scenario). Overall, the whole thing reminds me of My Broken Mariko, though at least no one's dead yet (apart from their marriage, bwahahaha).
This could be extremely entertaining or extremely melodramatic, but whether it's a trainwreck or a rollercoaster, I'mma buy a ticket. This is shaping up to be a fun little ride across a shady and little-explored district of YuriTown, and I've got a feeling we're gonna be seeing some real interesting scenery.
