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.

imma be honest here: I didn't get this chapter at all, it felt too... meh (and somehow shorter than usual)

last edited at Oct 5, 2022 5:55PM

I'm not too sure what the point of the backstory is, since it sure doesn't make them sympathetic. I wouldn't reject a plot where traumatized kids with superpowers have decided to take revenge through violence and we're expected to empathize with them, but after showing that they actually find killing people fun in chapter 51, I don't think that was the purpose.

Maybe it's just to show that even though they like killing, this didn't come out of nowhere and they had reasons to turn out like this? That addition would make sense, I guess.

I just hope I'm not wrong. If this all turn out into a "they were victims first, let's support them and just forget about how happy they were about killing before", I'd find this pretty annoying.

I don’t think Kai actually enjoys it, he just gets a rush from being in the “right”, and the vice-prez acts as a source of positive reinforcement. The vice-prez does seem to genuinely like to see people she doesn’t like be hurt or worse, at the start of the flashback it’s even shown she would like to murder and dismember her bullies (which is NOT to say thoughts of revenge or fantasies of turning the situation around on your abuser are unhealthy, cause they’re not, it’s a coping mechanism. However it seems as though the Vice President finds genuine pleasure in that fantasy rather than a release.)

I'm not too sure what the point of the backstory is, since it sure doesn't make them sympathetic. I wouldn't reject a plot where traumatized kids with superpowers have decided to take revenge through violence and we're expected to empathize with them, but after showing that they actually find killing people fun in chapter 51, I don't think that was the purpose.

Maybe it's just to show that even though they like killing, this didn't come out of nowhere and they had reasons to turn out like this? That addition would make sense, I guess.

I just hope I'm not wrong. If this all turn out into a "they were victims first, let's support them and just forget about how happy they were about killing before", I'd find this pretty annoying.

I don’t think Kai actually enjoys it, he just gets a rush from being in the “right”, and the vice-prez acts as a source of positive reinforcement. The vice-prez does seem to genuinely like to see people she doesn’t like be hurt or worse, at the start of the flashback it’s even shown she would like to murder and dismember her bullies (which is NOT to say thoughts of revenge or fantasies of turning the situation around on your abuser are unhealthy, cause they’re not, it’s a coping mechanism. However it seems as though the Vice President finds genuine pleasure in that fantasy rather than a release.)

Akira: "Yodayo."

Akira gracing us from all the trauma and suffering with just one ':)'

Nice chapter.
Finally the KaiSayo flashback ends.
And it ends with the bestie.
Nice.

This really fell off in a handful of chapters :(

Akira seems like the ideal choice (definitely not my bias talking)

I can't believe the scanlator is secretly the author.

Oh there was a scar, I thought the acid coverd her eye a bit. Glad it is over, couldn't care less about those two.

I was hoping for a bit more focus on Satsuki's mental state on her own, might still get some of that but I was hoping for at least a chapter of Satuki's inner turmoil before bringing her friend group in, even if I do love Akira's character.

Finally... That was waaaaayyy too long. Their backstories should've been 1 or 2 chapters at most. It completely ruined the pacing for me.

Now that the backstory of the villains has ended i now expect a backstory for Satsuki, we already know how the Prez and Vice Prez are like that we now need to know why Satsuki is like that, is her mothers death her whole reason? Or it was just a part of it

At th is point I'm kind of over this story

This entire section to me was blah blah nothing will make me feel bad for these two... ooo Akira is finally back!

Akira's back and surely all will be right in the world.

It's interesting seeing Kai so reluctant to kill. It probably takes a heavy degree of dehumanizing to convince himself his targets deserve nothing but death, and Sayoko gives the validation he needs to keep running from addressing his guilt. Once again there's a strong parallel between him and Satsuki: if it wasn't for her trauma with her mother, it's possible Satsuki could have ended up using her vision the same way. She came close to wishing Miho died a couple times.

With the flashback arc over, I am glad to have a better grasp on the StuCo. Some of it felt rushed, but it's a tough balance trying to fit such a complicated issue into only 3 chapters. I think it made its point, of how it can be easy to rationalize taking justice into your own hands—and setting up a hefty amount of foreshadowing—while serving the larger narrative purpose of isolating us from Satsuki and resetting the tension. I'm excited to see how this pans out between both sides. Neither's going to be willing to compromise.

And of course there's further parallels between Kai+Sayoko and Satsuki+Akira, with the latters being right there to comfort the formers when they're feeling vulnerable. Akira likely doesn't know what happened yet, but what better way to cheer Satsuki up than her partner literally beaming at the door? In a manga full of cliffhangers, this is the rare positive one. This arc was never going to be a fan-favorite, but Ryouko does know what the audience wants and what to tease. Which can be a double-edged sword.

Still expecting the reaction that they killed an innocent girl as Michinaga was probably tricked into the attempted murder by that other girl

Yikes that guy for sure posts on r/iamveryedgy frequently

Akira still best girl. For Satsuki, at least. :-)

Anyhoo, the way I understand the whole StuCo situation, the Prez is the kind of highly intelligent person who lives so deep inside his own head that he basically has no grasp of social reality around him. Unfortunately, the person he has latched on to as his moral compass (the VP) is so heavily traumatized, she happily rewards and reinforces his murder spree. So on the one hand, we have a moral guide who is so alienated from humanity, she views murdering fellow kids as an appropriate disciplinary tactic; on the other, we have a guy with spooky powers who gets his advice from her and views himself as an impartial superhero protecting the good from the bad (has he actually ever been bullied himself?). In short, a train wreck.

last edited at Oct 6, 2022 5:16AM

Does this mean we can go back to Satsuki and ditch the two?

I get all those points about this flashback, but it boils down to the girl being bullied and the guy finding himself as some defender of justice or the meek or whatever he tells himself to make himself sleep better at night. Did we need 3 chapters of this is my question? Because it's pretty dull. The backstory was, like everything in this manga, over the top, which didn't help and we already knew the outcome of how it would turn out. Teenage punisher duo. Tbh. I "liked" them more before learning about the circumstances. At least then they were menacingly mysterious and all that. Now I know that this is just a power fantasy. Great.

Also, nice job bullying Satsuki who for all we know didn't do anything terrible. I guess the longer you stare into the abyss yadda yadda. Like I said before, I don't care what the purpose of this was. Make me understand them or make them sympathetic, it's just that it was sort of pointless to make it this long and regardless of length boring. The appearance of the two in the story already made this take a turn towards the "meh" but filling out 3 chapters with them was definitely a big oof

But flashback aside, what's the end goal of this arc? Will they realize the fault of their way? Or will they have to die? Because that's also one thing that made me dislike those two, the fact that either the author will suddenly dig out a masterpiece solution, or that'll just end up like a wet fart.