Seeing kid Kai gaslight everyone up to an adult teacher was hilarious, I must say I'm looking forward to any future backstory chapters.
While I understand the complaints about their backstory being too over the top to be effective from a narrative perspective, that's just the manga in a nutshell imo. People "die" by the dozens in increasingly complicated ways with visual effects on the level of a Slasher movie while the protagonist's sole remaining braincell rarely helps because it's busy recalling forensic knowledge most of the time, not exactly the formula for something meant to be taken 100% seriously.

So I think the zanny backstory fits this manga perfectly.

Finally gave this a try and I gotta say this is a very fun manga to follow, but at the same time, it's very frustrating. The sudden appearance of the villainous duo didn't help with that and completely shifted the premise of the whole deal, and I won't lie, I don't much like it.

I thought it would be about becoming a better person or some corny stuff like that with the "seeing death" part being both the pull-in as well as the "igniter" for all that to happen.
I don't mind the over-the-top reasoning for the prez duo to be the way they are, as someone mentioned a few times, this manga is pretty bonkers in its own way, so it's fitting. I also understand why such character(s) exists in a story like this. To show a "what if" scenario, a mirrored version of what you could do with such stuff. I'm not sure how seeing dead bodies help you kill people and get away with it but... I mean, sure.

The issue I have with it is that it stuck for too long and it seems like it's becoming some kind of an ongoing thing. Like the manga shifts towards some odd death-note territory. And if that's the goal here to change into that kind of thing, no amount of cute moments between Satsuki and Akira will save it.

I wish there was more Satsuki and less other (unexciting) characters. :[

Ah yes, how to pass a rag to your antagonists to try to justify their actions: create someone shallow who is crueler to them for no apparent reason, that will maybe make them look less bad

i don't think the point is to make them less bad but to address how they deal with those circumstances. arguably, satsuki is in a pretty shitty position too where she and her friends get the short end of the social stick pretty often, but she goes out of her way to save people no matter what. antagonist-kun here sees cruelty and thinks that the way to react to it is with even more cruelty (however deserved in those admittedly shallow examples it may have been).

The way Komachi was drawn on the Vol. 5 cover made me think it was the VP (the eyes specially). Had to do a double-check to notice the hair accessory.

(Maybe her rather uncharacteristic expression on the cover is foreshadowing to her being the true villain. Maybe I am reading too much into it.)

Geez, the Vol 5 extras sure make Komachi look sketchy. It's good to see her original facade slowly disappear but this is quite a difference, to the point that this looks like spoilers for just how far Komachi could go. Well it's already well-established that she's wired without concern for life, and Ryouko-sensei has proven she can make that complex and compelling. The question now isn't if Komachi is dangerous but what kind of dangerous Komachi is.

last edited at Sep 22, 2022 12:23AM

Geez, the Vol 5 extras sure make Komachi look sketchy. It's good to see her original facade slowly disappear but this is quite a difference, to the point that this looks like spoilers for just how far Komachi could go. Well it's already well-established that she's wired without concern for life, and Ryouko-sensei has proven she can make that complex and compelling. The question now isn't if Komachi is dangerous but what kind of dangerous Komachi is.

You are absolutely right!
And this page pretty much sums up the dynamic.

Komachi: [acting sus]
Satsuki: [useless lesbian can’t spot a psycho]
Akira: bruh wtf

Akira also being us.

Ah yes, the vol 5 cover indicates that Komachi being the true heroine.
I like it.

yeah I really love how the maid extra makes komachi looks just extra suspicious. But also like Satsuki.... she didn't realise it was poison???? Come on girl and you believe her??? haha.

last edited at Sep 22, 2022 7:21AM

The biggest mystery of all is whether that huge pile of corpses in chapter 1 was caused by Komachi

I miss happy Satsuki like you wouldn't believe.
The composition of this cover's amazing, though I'm surprised Ryouko's so openly playing around with evil Komachi. The phrasing on the back of the book, "You want to die? I think that's nice/死にたいの？いいと思うよ," is the same as back in chapter 22, when Komachi was giving the OK to everything.

Volume 5 has less changes overall than volume 4, but one significant change in chapter 48: the student council's suggestion box has gone online and the messages are more detailed. They mention Seo extorting others into bullying, along with a few more explicit descriptions like "playing darts" by throwing pens at a girl's head. Might be relevant later.

Damn, the new cover is great. Well, and that scene with the poison was really funny.

It's unbelievable how trusting Satsuki is for Komachi xD

It's unbelievable how trusting Satsuki is for Komachi xD

Or everyone, really... Remember how quick she was to trust Seo? She's too kind for her own good

Volume 5 has less changes overall than volume 4, but one significant change in chapter 48: the student council's suggestion box has gone online and the messages are more detailed. They mention Seo extorting others into bullying, along with a few more explicit descriptions like "playing darts" by throwing pens at a girl's head. Might be relevant later.

You mean we can read the full messages? Do you have a link? I'm curious now.
Seo might be the "villain" for this next arc. Apparently StuCo arc will stop for a bit after Michi(?)'s death, so I wonder if the antagonist will shift. Seo might be a good option. Out of everyone who was saved by Satsuki, she seems to be the truly explicitly rotten one (if the suggestion box messages are true).

I've said it before, but it's all hinting at Komachi playing a bigger role in the story (true antagonist maybe), but for now she'll probably stay in the background (or just barely show her true colors), even if the Vol.5 cover confirms homegirl is dangerous.

last edited at Sep 22, 2022 7:02PM

Wow the Author really isn't holding back with sus Komachi. now I'm just waiting for when the President keeps thinking that he is so smart just for the big reveal that Komachi was the master mind behind everything all along

in my humble opinion i think we need a maid satsuki spin off

Can someone please tell me what's the color of Satsuki's eyes? on some art it's red and on other art it's green

Volume 5 has less changes overall than volume 4, but one significant change in chapter 48: the student council's suggestion box has gone online and the messages are more detailed. They mention Seo extorting others into bullying, along with a few more explicit descriptions like "playing darts" by throwing pens at a girl's head. Might be relevant later.

You mean we can read the full messages? Do you have a link? I'm curious now.
Seo might be the "villain" for this next arc. Apparently StuCo arc will stop for a bit after Michi(?)'s death, so I wonder if the antagonist will shift. Seo might be a good option. Out of everyone who was saved by Satsuki, she seems to be the truly explicitly rotten one (if the suggestion box messages are true).

I've said it before, but it's all hinting at Komachi playing a bigger role in the story (true antagonist maybe), but for now she'll probably stay in the background (or just barely show her true colors), even if the Vol.5 cover confirms homegirl is dangerous.

I might do some rewording when I finish the volume version, but here's the final page of ch48 reworked.

While Ryouko said there would be a pause between Satsuki vs the StuCo, this flashback arc could just be that. This is pretty much the first real safe zone in 50 chapters. But things also can't slow down for too long. I'd like if Satsuki had time to make a peaceful recovery but the world's not that kind.

As for Seo, I get the feeling she'll be an ongoing moral dilemma. She's acting a little too genuine for me to think she's completely faking amnesia, and she reacted oddly back when Satsuki accused her of being suicidal. There's a lot of directions she could go, but my impression's leaning towards "Miho but worse but also with a conscience." Maybe she regrets what she did and is happy to find a way out, though she's still not a great person deep down. She's in the best position to expose the student council, but it would also mean exposing her own attempted murder among other things. The question is how well Satsuki can tolerate that.

Seo running a bullying ring is also an interesting parallel to Kai and Sayoko's past; she's primed to be both their perfect target and their undoing. And in that sense I think it's more likely she'll be redeemed than go full psycho. Most of the abusive characters we've seen so far have been victimized to some extent themselves and were just finding an outlet. They aren't completely unsalvageable.

But Komachi's totally the last boss.

Can someone please tell me what's the color of Satsuki's eyes? on some art it's red and on other art it's green

The canon color is probably a dull red similar to the volume 1 and 3 covers, but I've seen anything from bright blue to lime green. I think Ryouko learned from the Jojo school of color consistency.

The composition of this cover's amazing, though I'm surprised Ryouko's so openly playing around with evil Komachi. The phrasing on the back of the book, "You want to die? I think that's nice/死にたいの？いいと思うよ," is the same as back in chapter 22, when Komachi was giving the OK to everything.

This is such an awesome detail. Ryouko confirming our suspicions in a playful way is so exciting to me. Missing insane girl Komachi and this vol feels like Komachi’s time to shine so wahoooo

So I've binged the whole series in two days, and I don't like what it does to my emotional state. :-/ I normally don't let fictional stories get to me like that, but Liar Satsuki seems to be on an entirely different level. I cannot stop reading and just hope that the payoff will be worth the suffering... .__.

I have many thoughts about this series, but Michinaga's death in particular won't let me go. I cannot stop comparing my reaction to it and to the recent plot turns in I Favor the Villainess (specifically, Rei's beatdown by Manaria). Both feel extremely unfair and hurtful and written specifically to anger the readers, but I let LSCSD get to me and actually make me angry, while mostly ignoring IFTV's attempts to push my buttons. I wonder why that is? My working hypothesis is that Michinaga's death has been slowly built-up to for 50 chapters, as Satsuki has been pushed more and more to her limits until she finally went past them and now has to deal with her failure (and hopefully grow as a result), while IFTV moment came out of the left field because the manga cannot decide what it wants to be and oscillates unpredictably between schoolgirl romcom and serious social critique.

While Ryouko said there would be a pause between Satsuki vs the StuCo, this flashback arc could just be that. This is pretty much the first real safe zone in 50 chapters. But things also can't slow down for too long. I'd like if Satsuki had time to make a peaceful recovery but the world's not that kind.

Do you think she will at least be treated for PTSD? Or is that not a real sickness in Japan?

Was that thing with Komachi just now a massive foreshadowing or what????

So I've binged the whole series in two days, and I don't like what it does to my emotional state. :-/ I normally don't let fictional stories get to me like that, but Liar Satsuki seems to be on an entirely different level. I cannot stop reading and just hope that the payoff will be worth the suffering... .__.

I have many thoughts about this series, but Michinaga's death in particular won't let me go. I cannot stop comparing my reaction to it and to the recent plot turns in I Favor the Villainess (specifically, Rei's beatdown by Manaria). Both feel extremely unfair and hurtful and written specifically to anger the readers, but I let LSCSD get to me and actually make me angry, while mostly ignoring IFTV's attempts to push my buttons. I wonder why that is? My working hypothesis is that Michinaga's death has been slowly built-up to for 50 chapters, as Satsuki has been pushed more and more to her limits until she finally went past them and now has to deal with her failure (and hopefully grow as a result), while IFTV moment came out of the left field because the manga cannot decide what it wants to be and oscillates unpredictably between schoolgirl romcom and serious social critique.

While Ryouko said there would be a pause between Satsuki vs the StuCo, this flashback arc could just be that. This is pretty much the first real safe zone in 50 chapters. But things also can't slow down for too long. I'd like if Satsuki had time to make a peaceful recovery but the world's not that kind.

Do you think she will at least be treated for PTSD? Or is that not a real sickness in Japan?

Japan has struggled with addressing mental health issues, though they're getting better. I still wouldn't expect Satsuki to find help from anyone outside her circle. Akira seems like the ideal choice (definitely not my bias talking) since she's come closest to recognizing the heart of Satsuki's issues. Everyone else seems to think she's acting purely out of kindness or aren't really great at helping to begin with. Looking at you Miho.

Anyway, the manga's done an outstanding job balancing tension like a roller-coaster. We're told right from the start people will die, but it feels increasingly unlikely as Satsuki racks up her successes. Despite the steady intensity of the stakes the overall tone remains hopeful. Comedy starts sneaking into serious moments and hardly feels out of place, with the yuri level subtly rising too. The biggest threats drift in and out of frame as more immediate issues take priority. The focus is always squarely on challenging Satsuki's strength and views, each new arc adding something to the relationships or mechanics of death, and she's rewarded with people who trust and care deeply about her. Everything seems to be steadily getting better.

But it really isn't. Satsuki's broken inside and destroying herself fighting the inevitable. We've always been one step away from this, and any healing she's managed might have just gotten undone. The pain of Michiru's death is knowing how badly this is going to hurt Satsuki. The shock of it is 50 chapters of tension cashing in as the false sense of security crashes down.

Personally, I wasn't expecting deaths until right near the end because of how much it would cripple Satsuki. But I also thought this would be a much shorter manga. Maybe there'll be a lengthy period of Satsuki hurting and recovering. The tension needs to be reset; it can't just jump back to 100 after this intermission. And Satsuki needs to rationalize this. But in the short term it could look a lot uglier with her doubling down on her worst habits. Since Michiru's death was a freak accident (with some manipulation), we can test Prez's theory that accidental deaths are only common because no one's being allowed to die. That doesn't mean there won't be other kinds of deaths though.

Not like I hate Prez any less now that I know how he got there but still, that teacher had it coming, I get it. If that was all he ever did, i'd applaud him.

Also, YES! BEST GIRL AKIRA TO THE RESCUE! :sob:

Anticlimatic. That bitch teacher deserved to suffer way more than that.

Honestly, I'm fine with this flashback. People need to realize that Prez and Vice Prez are still very much villains. This isn't supposed to justify them. It's supposed to explain how they came by this warped mentality. The Prez having the same ability and instead using it to create "accidents" that kill people is an excellent ideological foil to Satsuki and if he didn't have a grounding for WHY he did this his character would be pointless. This is basic villain stuff, guys. I know you want the story to just be happy gays all the time but this isn't that kind of manga.

Speaking of happy gays, though, I'm glad Akira is back.