I'm mildly annoyed how few people are talking about the reversal here.
I find it super interesting with how it subverts expectations. You at first think that the abusive one is Kuzawa due to how she treats Mamiya but then it's revealed that Kuzawa is miserable doing this stuff but she'll get physically abused and rejected if she doesn't do it.
It's kinda messed up but at the same time morbidly fascinating.
^this
Very clearly meant to be reversal that gradually gets worse and worse the more you read on. The revelation that Kuzawa loves her, but isn't allowed to act on those emotions in any way, even in a moment of supposed intimacy, is what really did me in. People on this site gotta realize that there are well written stories hidden in content that they may not like. Tmfly is a very talented writer, and she knows how to pack a complex narrative into a short format.
I can usually acknowledge when a story is complex and well written even if I dislike it. I felt for me that this wasn't very complex and the meanness of it was shallow and fetishizing cruelty. I also it's fine if we don't agree here and I'm glad that you got more out of it than I did.
Why?
Edit I'm not being a smart ass, I can't really can see why?
Edit 2: Honestly how does a relationship like this even happen?! I mean think about it. Kuzawa hates Mamiya, but desides to accept Mamiya's confession anyway. They date for awhile, all along Kuzawa abuses and humiliates Mamiya constantly. Somewhere along the way Kuzawa actually falls in love with Mamiya. She wants to stop all the abuse, and be a normal couple, but feels trapped because of masochistic Mamiya will reject her if she shows her true feelings. Do you know how silly that is. I use to Hate you, but after years of building our relationship on me abusing and torturing you, I've grown to love you. Now I suddenly want you to completely change who you are, and turn your back on everything that our relationship was built on, so I can be together with the woman I fell in love with properly. That doesn't make any sense. And furthermore it's not fair to Mamiya.
Neither character is in the right, but it's not an actually functional relationship in my eyes. It's unhealthy all around, and I don't think either character is being rational so "not fair to Mamiya" goes out the window for me. How I see it is also that in the end Mamiya is the dominant abuser, and likely to be one doing the eventual murdering here. Of course we might see it differently and that's okay.
Edit:
i don´t think it s supossed to be deep i think it´s supossed to be crude, tbh i love this new wave of works. It so refreshing to see works that don´t romanticize or justify shitty behaviour and portray the character as deeply flawed and wounded indivuduals but also makes them fully responsible for their actions (like kitanai)
It's interesting how people have different perspectives here, because for me it was romanticizing and even fetishizing the shitty behavior and abuse of both characters.
last edited at Jul 18, 2021 11:25PM