So Meguru is DEFINITELY going to walk in on her sister and Azuki while they’re doing something especially sus and it’s going to spiral out of control

Oh boi, the twistedness is set to only escalate

The looks she got from the girl's mother and from Meguru oof. Azuki is not okay

I'm tired of the bullying trope, in japanese media it's always the same I mean, at least they could try and execute it differently

Meguru chan dropping straight nuclear bombs on Azuki holy shit, and then the little doll without a face is the confirmation of what she said. First thing I've liked about this manga, really clever

Oh nooooo. Everything feels so ominous and nightmarish this chapter. The thing the little girl literally feels like a shame nightmare or something, and it just spirals from there. Not surprised Azuki didn't take this well, hard to process reality properly when it feels so unreal. This chapter goes past drama into being a psychological thriller like Perfect Blue or Black Swan. Fully expecting that if she ever does carve a head for her Clay Megurus they'll start talking to her. Maybe even moving around her apartment.

I have had the "We need to get the kid away from this person" reaction before while with another person. It didn't bother me that much, but in retrospect I think it bothered the other person a lot, who also believed the child only talked to us because I was there. It definitely would be upsetting to someone like Azuki.

We really need Yakou to the rescue here. I don't know what she'll do, but pretty much anything is going to be better than this chapter.

Meguru's reaction to the blood was also interesting. It seems like she has some hangups around body fluids and the like- or, with this manga being like it is, maybe the opposite and what she's uncomfortable with is herself liking it. Normally you would give someone the tissue, not wipe their face and then stare at the blood on you."What you felt is lust and not love" could be what Meguru has been telling herself. Her expression is similar to Yakou's after when the lady was talking about how whoever had the doll is creepy.

Either way, Azuki's ptsd is triggered and she responds by integrating blood because she associates her blood being gross with Meguru now. Everyone here is having a bad time.

This is one of those series that makes me feel better about myself because the characters are about 20% weirder than me. Just don't remind I'm not fictional.

The scene with the little girl and the puppet was superbly executed because even I got social anxiety there because I couldn't parse the situation. Then p. 26/27 just made me burst out in laughter. Either some psychological defence mechanism, or simply the madness leaking into real life.

Nobody is going to mention Niji? Is she trying to gaslight Remu?

Yeah. This doesnt look like love.

The scene with the little girl and the puppet was superbly executed because even I got social anxiety there because I couldn't parse the situation. Then p. 26/27 just made me burst out in laughter. Either some psychological defence mechanism, or simply the madness leaking into real life.

Nobody is going to mention Niji? Is she trying to gaslight Remu?

The kind of stuff Niji is doing weirdly reminds me of passive aggressive parental abuse, which is fucking weird as hell for a high school peer to remind me of.
God everyone seems like they're in for such a bad time in this manga rn

Nobody is going to mention Niji? Is she trying to gaslight Remu?

Either she genuinely believes that she's in tune with some sort of script for how everyone's supposed to be or she's deliberately gaslighting Remu and I'm honestly not sure which possibility scares me more.

OOOOH yessss I loooove trainwrecks slurp

Niji's actions are just subtly weird at this point. Hard to say much about her, but we got the black bleeding panels or whatever that was supposed to be. That's like the manga equivalent of creepy music playing whenever a character shows up, even though they haven't done anything that bad (yet).

Given the themes of the manga, I would say she seems possessive and seems to like criticizing Youku, which could be her own way of expressing affection. But obviously that's harmful if it's down without limits or agreement. It seems like she isn't big on Youku making connections with other people, though it could be romantic ones specifically and she is jealous.

last edited at Dec 3, 2024 7:35PM

Really good chapter. Drawing attention to the phone right before showing Niji try to gaslight Remu in particular was really great. I think that's the first time we haven't seen her fiddling with the phone? She definitely has this idealized image of Remu that she feels the need to preserve, but I wonder if her thing is scripting out Remu's life in her phone like she's a fictional character, and that's why she gets so upset whenever Remu does or says anything Niji doesn't anticipate. Also wonder if her obsession extends to rewriting events that don't go her way, to the point where the Remu in her phone is more real to her than Remu the person. Is she intentionally manipulating her to conform to this idealized Remu, or is she just plain delusional? I hope we get a Niji-centric chapter soon.

I also like how everyone's fetishistic hangups seem to revolve around obsession and possession. I assumed the title just referred to having weird fetishes, but maybe it's referring to the toxic possessive "love" that these characters have for each other? It makes the choice to have fetishes centered around malleable clay figurines all the more thematically resonant.

Meguru’s disgust towards sexual desire and lust must have been related with her parent’s divorce. Maybe she had witnessed how lust brought her family down, had to live in a broken household, which explained her resentment about sexual desires in human being. Now she’s traumatized and only believes in plushies.

Feeling strong Second hand embarrassment from MC’s interaction with Meguru.

Damn she’s crazy. Irredeemably crazy.

Mentally preparing myself for a tragic ending

I also like how everyone's fetishistic hangups seem to revolve around obsession and possession. I assumed the title just referred to having weird fetishes, but maybe it's referring to the toxic possessive "love" that these characters have for each other? It makes the choice to have fetishes centered around malleable clay figurines all the more thematically resonant.

The clay figurine thing is a good point. These characters are so hung up on their "ideal" love that they're unable to see the real people in front of them, to the point of making selfish, shitty decisions. They're all attempting to mold other people into what they want them to be: Meguru into Azuki's lover, Azuki into Yakou's figurine maker, Yakou into Niji's fanfic girlfriend, and everyone into a safe, non-sexual plush for Meguru to cuddle.

god its just so

that feeling of spiraling deeper and deeper, and loving it

This is so fucked up. Please more.

Seriously. We need a more unhinged than the castle gates after the battering ram went medieval on themtag

Go to therapy

this is cheaper than therapy tho

These girls ain't right.

@kinseijoshi

The clay figurine thing is a good point. These characters are so hung up on their "ideal" love that they're unable to see the real people in front of them, to the point of making selfish, shitty decisions. They're all attempting to mold other people into what they want them to be: Meguru into Azuki's lover, Azuki into Yakou's figurine maker, Yakou into Niji's fanfic girlfriend, and everyone into a safe, non-sexual plush for Meguru to cuddle.

This is somewhat insightful into the nature of the story I think. Though the title is clearly a double meaning, where one of them is really about the way these people express affection not matching society’s norms, but a second is likely the way feelings of love itself can manifest in a harmful way (possessiveness, etc). Though so far Yakou is relatively well adjusted compared to the rest of them and likely having a positive impact on Azuki.

I am not at all sure these specific theories about Niji will be correct, but it seems likely that Niji will fit the pattern of possessive/harmful expressions of love that don’t recognize the reality of the other person. Meguru and Azuki clearly both fit this. Yakou is saved by the fact that the objects of her affection are actual objects she can’t harm. She’s however being rather cavalier about what the long term impact of her relationship with Azuki will have on Azuki, as her priority is getting the figurines. I'd expect her being the first person that valued Azuki’s figurine making to be a net positive, but we will have to see about that one.

@meena

this is cheaper than therapy tho

Plus, would a therapist know how to use plastic wrap on clay figurine legs to preserve them so that they can be sucked on for multiple uses? Whether in or out of universe, important information like this can only be found elsewhere.

last edited at Dec 4, 2024 4:51PM

what a twisted web

Just want to start by giving a sympathetic 'ooof' on behalf of Azuki.

"You probably don't remember my expression from back then."

"Ha ha ha, sure don't! It definitely hasn't been haunting me for years, and certainly isn't the reason why none of the many dolls I've made of you have a face, or even a head! Ha ha!"

So I did a quick reread to try and get a better grasp on Niji, and I couldn't help but note that she 'guessed' Azuki's age

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/our_love_is_disgusting_ch03#8
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/our_love_is_disgusting_ch01#4

exactly, makes me think she's full-on stalker, perhaps the kind to delusionally project themselves into events with their target. But in the present chapter Remu specifies that she's never ordered that precise thing before, so it can't have been Niji imagining herself in someone else's place.

So my theory is this: Niji also had a person she is fixated on and is trying to recreate. But instead of a doll she's trying to use social pressure to mold Remu into a duplicate of that person, growing frustrated at deviation from 'correct' behaviour. To some degree, that person and Remu are blurred together in her head, and her bit about the 10 scoops was not an attempt at gaslighting so much as her conflating Remu with the person she actually had that memory with in the past. Which is... uh... yikes.