Ibitsu

After a few chapters in, I got the feeling that the story is kinda going in the same track as Nana to Kaoru, with the similar SM elements and also male lead inferior, female lead unravelled beauty plotline. What lured me deeper into the story was how the author tackles Kakiguchi's elevating erotic desire for Madoka as conflicts within himself. Personally I enjoy Kakiguchi's character as the weak man with a strong sense of morality. Pacing was good for the first 40 plus chapters, but have absolutely no clue why the ending was such. Never saw THAT ending coming in a million years, and will leaveyou wondering why you invested 62 chapters worth of time to read THAT.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS A VAGUE SPOILER AT THE END I think it displays a perfect, umm.. Sado-mazo or, I don't really know what kind of a relationship that is exactly, but whatever it is, it's a perfect example of it. What I mean to say with that is that.. When I see this kind of stuff wherever, I could only appreciate it if I were an individual who has grown up and developed with/into such a mindset. Here in this story, I've for the first time ever(even still somewhat) managed to enjoy the fetishism in it. The things that would normally be "get this out of my face",or even "*blurgh* that is disgusting", were okay to me, and in one(out of only a few instances), THE LATTER was an amazingly beautiful moment. Perhaps I'll whenever I encounter this stuff wherever from now on always remember this story, and the end of it. I hope that it will be so. I dislike that the character insight is low, in the sense that there is basically zero of the characters' pasts told about. It probably makes it very hard to accept this story, to take it with full seriousness/sincerity. A friend for who I'd concluded that this manga would suit their preference, dropped it almost immediately because of exactly this issue. She thought that Madoka is the devil and couldn't take the manga seriously, she wanted to read something realistic and not niche horror stories. The low rating is here because it's not my perfect cup of tea. The low rating is also an act of spite for never being revealed more about the characters' pasts. There are beautiful moments. Those moments take time to witness because to me it was hard to get a firm assesment of the characters(the thing crucial for me in order to love a story), and those moments have for me been based on growing to understand the characters more. Growing to understand how they express themself. With that said, those moments did't start ocurring within me until about early half-way through the story because the understanding had had to have developed first. The ending vastly rose this story for me. Up until the ending, I was going to give it a 4/10. But after the very end, it was kinda perfect. The way this ended hurt, and I love that. When a story makes me feel, well.. That's why I'm reading stories to begin with. The end of this story is amazing and excruciatingly affecting. It made for the story to be a piece that I've read, and that I'm very glad to have done so. Oh, now that I think of this particular something, I'm getting goosebumps. I love the "leaf-jumping". Those two love and enjoy doing that. It's so.. Beautiful.. Makes me recall a thing from the movie "American Beauty"(apart from that blonde actress's half-naked beauty), and I've seen the movie more than 10 years ago. A couple in that movie recorded a plastic bag being swirled around by the wind, and then later watched that recording. It is beautiful to them. Jumping on fallen autumn leaves. A thing I don't really understand and I don't think I can understand so I take it for granted and see it for what it's to me presented as, something that is to another beautiful. With the niche fetishes, perhaps, but when walking through the streets brim with autumn leaves, from now on I'll often recall the two of this story. Spoiler: I think that you shouldn't read the following if you plan on experiencing the story, and as genuinely as possible at that. The two of them never hugged. That is horrible to me. That is the worst, the saddest part of this story to me. They never hugged. I get the feeling of suffocation upon thoroughly remembering that fact. It is absolutely horrible to me. Furthermore, seeing how the story ended, the possibility for the two of them to hug each other no longer existing..... Bloody hell. (Naturally, this is all based singulary on how much of a significant thing a hug is for me. To hug the one you love and adore..)

I had mixed feelings starting this manga after reading some of the other reviews, but in the first half the main characters really grew on me. Yes, they are bizarre, weird, but there is an underlying charm to them nevertheless. I must say I really enjoyed the drawing of this manga. As other reviews were quite negative about the end, just past the halfway mark I decided to see the last chapter. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I was also incredibly saddened by the whole thing. Now, even though I knew the end, I went back to where I had left offand finished it properly. I'm glad I did, because there were several good bits of character development I would have missed out on, little bits of tenderness that make you actually like the characters even more, even though they are so totally perverted! Reading the end again, I just wish it could have had a happier ending..... but as someone else said, not all stories have a happy ending. Is it worth the read? If you enjoy fetishes and perverted acts, Yes; if you enjoy subtle char development, Yes; if you like this art style, definitely yes.... if you want a weird, perverted, fetish-filled story with a good ending, stay away.