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奈落の花園
12
2
Finished
Nov 17, 2022 to Oct 18, 2024
9.0/10
Average Review Score
33%
Recommend It
3
Reviews Worldwide
To start, I have mixed feelings recommending this...it is an amazing manga (I did give it a 10) but the subject matter is NOT something everyone should put into their heads....it's as disturbing as a story can get. DO NOT READ if you think the dog part of Full Metal Alchemist is the most disturbing thing you've ever seen....this isn't for your innocent mind. With that said.... In the Gardens of Gehenna hits you in the forehead with a sledgehammer made of true, disturbing horror. Yes, disturbing, not spooky movie scary, not slasher in the woods...this is child slaves in Africa kind of disturbing.This makes you feel filthy in your heart and mind....yet, it has a permeating silver lining, a small chunk of happiness. There really isn't much out there like this manga. So, who do I recommend this story to? Did you read Kitanai Kimi ga Ichiban Kawaii (I Love Your Cruddy) and want more trauma like it (do know, Gardens makes I Love Your Cruddy look like a Saturday morning kids cartoon)? Are you truly able to stomach the worst things humanity has to offer with a shrug? OR do you just like abusing your mind? THAT is who should read this. There is no innocence to be found here. There is no immediate happiness beyond shallow situational peace....just the horror of knowing what's going on and the ever shrinking hope that things will end better. So, if you're screwed up like me, read this, it's superb...if you had to stop even once and ask yourself, "Am I too normie for this manga?" yes, you are and find something else to read.
One of the great things about Yuri is the concept of a love triangle. This physically impossible structure in most manga creates so much strife in Yuri manga. That said, this is one of the best manga I've read recently. The themes are extremely heavy as the topic being discussed are parental sexual abuse and parental neglect. But overall, all of the characters are written extremely well, and the relationships between the characters are extremely sensible. There was a lot of text, but luckily it wasn't exposition. One particular event in the ending doesn't really make sense to me. It implies that two people coordinatedsomething which is expressed to us to be a whim of one participant which she did against the wishes of the other. Their very next decision also made no sense whatsoever, but I can ignore the plothole because it made for two very emotional scenes. Everything else about the series was perfect. Honestly, narrative perfection is bare minimum in a series. This goes above and beyond to present an enthralling narrative which gives full character arcs to everyone involved. Every character is expressive and fun. This not being the romance genre also makes the drama really fun, because ordinarily it's impossible for 3 people to be in a triangle such that not one person involved likes the person who likes them. In terms of the subject matter, it's extremely disturbing, perhaps because it's extremely realistic. It features 3 young girls trying to come to grips with brutal sexual abuse and the way that the story plays out, it's like taking gut punch after gut punch as the author slowly shows you the depravity of the world that they live in. As you read this, you might get the inclination that our protagonist and tritagonist are both awful people once you start to learn more about them, but the author shows you that they're *just kids* going through some of the worst experiences you could have in elementary school. Overall, it was an easy 10/10 fun read. It's always nice when a manga leaves me speechless.
One of the most perfect disturbing stories, ruined by one character, and an unearned ending. Reading this story without any kind of synopsis was fantastically messed up when I started it. Seemed like a very personal story of a little girl experiencing a troubling move to the countryside. A shift pushed on her, one which left her lonely, out of touch, ultimately without anybody to turn to, even her mother. Money is all she can connect with, and nobody takes her as anything more than just money to be used. She stumbles into the titular garden, where a little girl asks help burying something. Fantastic storyline,fantastic main character, with an easy goal to understand. The girl in the garden was an INCREDIBLE portrayal of abuse at home, and the learned helplessness which comes with it. The disturbing elements which come into play left me with the jaw on the floor. I read this without knowing where it was going at all. I was at work without much to do, and I had to pretend to be okay after the first act revelations. It messes you up in the most innocent perspectives possible. Who knows how to deal with this? Even adults have a hard time approaching the subject or problem, and lives of abuse keep happening for a reason. A little girl, looking at this from the outside can only stress, and I mean, the kind of stress that ruins your life. To know your existence is tied to morally helping, being there, understanding, complying. Is walking away an option? Is her mental health worth sacrifycing when she can't deal with this in any way, shape or form? The questions, and the ways she answers them is storytelling mastery. Deeply complicated, fantastically dealth with, until… the last chapters. Whatever the conclussion could've been, this was just a terrible way to do it. Not because it's edgy or too tragic, or too happy. I believe this deserves a hopeful ending, but not that way. The story ends with ass-pull after ass-pull. Somehow, everything turns out okay, without a proper, logical explanation as to how. It's just a terrible execution of an otherwise fantastic story. A story about morality and weighing your happiness against another person's sadness from the perspective of two girls, inside, and outside that suffering. The art has the makings of a perfect innocent-looking manga. I adored the bubbly character designs before understanding the brutality of what it was holding in reality. It isn't bad in this one, quite the contrary, it's from the perspective of a small cast of small kids. They see the world as this, they see bad people as monsters, they see horrors as something beyond understanding. I wish it was better than this, I really, really do. I wish the ending was more logical, and it wasn't about the explotative elements of a “reveal”. That it wasn't about behind the scenes manipulation, and it was more about a proper self-realization and taking of responsibility which florished into truth. 7/10. The first two acts are still, fantastic. A disturbing story worth visiting. The rest is just not it. Happy 200 review for myself.