[frubam]

Got up to 60. This was my reread, just to reintroduce myself to the series. Wasn't as jaw-dropping as the last batch of chapters, but still pretty darn good as things came to a sort of off-shoot conclusion to the crazy events preceding this.

Spoiler for to 48 ~ 60:

It was nice to see Nozoe's and Yuko's past. We see that they both had familial issues with their parents, and I can see that creating a strong bond between them. The only thing that I couldn't quite pick up on was Yuko's desire not leave the city, and to have a child in the city. And why Nozoe thought it was "wrong". I assume there will be more to the story, since Nozoe didn't meet Reiji until 32 years after that moment, and I assume Reiji is ~ 17 y/o so it'll be interesting to see what happened between him being a novelist and going to Tokyo and how the marriage with Yuko came to be(or how it was avoided/missed).

Outside the flashback, I feel kinda bad for Chako. Reiji reached out and grabbed her hand, only to abandon her again. Honestly, I thought that was really irresponsible of him to treat his best friend like that, but thinking about it now, he had already chosen his mother well before their supposed trip. I think I get it though; Yuko's influence had made him feel the same way she supposedly felt about her father(i.e. a sense of pity) and Yuko wanted to shackle him to her so that she could be loved unconditionally, up to them both committing suicide. Its actually amazing the amount of mechanizations she used just for her own feelings of being wanted. Gen's father was a bit obvious, and Gen too revealed some chapters back, but even her stepson and mother(?), which was pretty surprising. In a way, it is evil, but I also have a bit of sympathy for her as well. All her plans derailed just because Reiji met Nagi. It was for the best I suppose. Come to find out that Reiji actually hated Yuko, although I imagine that he harbors feelings on both extremes of the love/hate spectrum.

Glad Chako is kinda moving on now. Was hoping Reiji x Chako would be a thing, but after Reiji abandoned her for his mother, it feels like she's cutting all ties with those around her; both Reiji and her now-former favorite author, which was kind of the bulk of her world. It kinda feels like she's running away, but at least it 'appears' to be in a positive direction... at least I hope it is. Curious to see where her journey will end.

About Gen, I'm surprised he was this involved and this manipulated by Yuko, even as a young child. Guess he really does love Reiji in his own way, and perhaps his whole schtick with bullying him was mostly due to Yuko's influence. Not sure about that one though.

Ms Shiba's career is probably at an end. Not sure what else they can do with her character at this point. She should have lost her teaching job, and no longer receives any notice from Reiji, which was her world in these last dozen or so chapters. Honestly, she kind of got the short end of the stick, because even though she had some psychological issues, it was Reiji that caused her to end up that way. He didn't really take any responsibility for that either.

Dang, makes me wonder if Reiji is actually as pure and innocent as I thought. I mean yeah, he was manipulated by Yuko to be the way he is, but at the same time, he also put things into motion, then quit or abandoned it halfway, leaving the other party left to the wayside. He's pretty irresponsible in certain events and doesn't [always] consider the feelings of the other party he's dealing with. Maybe, in this way, he's actually like Yuko. Well he's pretty much gave up everything sitting in the hospital bed, but since Chako called Nagi to tend to Nozoe, her return might spark some life back into him, particularly since she was the sole element in his life that made him "wake up" so to speak.

Spoiler for 61~69:

So this proverbial arc had Nagi return, but for me was more of a peer into Gen's past and the events that lead up to him murdering Reiji's (step?)father. Just as I expected Yuko was the driving force that got Gen to do the deed. Yuko man.... she's so evil, I'm starting to lose what bit of sympathy I had for her =0v. I think she knew that Gen loved Reiji; like LOVED-loved, and she used that by showing Reiji's father severely beating Reiji, to provoke him into killing the man. I knew Gen loved Reiji in that way; man was WAY too emotional about him being taken away for it not to have been love. Though, I can't say that killing a man for Reiji's sake gets him a free pass to treat him like crap, even though it was a retaliatory backlash to Reiji suddenly ignoring him, while still harboring the death of a man on his conscious. I do see him as another victim of Yuko's schemes though.

I thought Gen was scared of Yuko in the previous chapter where they met after Yuko talked to Ms. Shiba, and that's why they showed him cowering in fear. However, it was actually the memory of him killing a man and the mental anguish he had to endure after it happened, that made him cower, as Yuko tried to get him to do the same to Ms. Shiba.

Nothing much to say about Chako; she's moved on with what she wants and realizes that running away to Tokyo doesn't really do much for her situation. Basically she's grown up mentally. Ms. Shiba... not so much I don't think.

Nozoe though.... whew, if his sole intention was bringing back Nagi for payback towards Yuko for not dying with him that day, that would be some dirty a** dancin' right there =0v. "You denied dying with me, for a child you haven't even had yet, so now I'll make it so that child rejects dying with you." I was surprised he was this petty, but I supposed you could see this behavior when he was talking with Yuko at the restaurant. The whole "I WIN! =0D!" from him just kinda had my jaw drop.

Nagi is same ol' Nagi. The only char whose past has yet to be explored. She still intends to die with Reiji someday. She really is a drifter, like Nozoe said. Got kidnapped and beaten(glad they avoided rape in this scenario, unlike a certain other title), yet took it all in stride. Would have died with 0 resistance. She really is just like an empty shell, but its hard to understand where she's coming from without any context to fall on. Hope in the next arc(which looks like a bit of a months-skip) they give a little focus on how she ended up this way. That is, if she hasn't moved out of town like Reiji told her to.