Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai suru

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Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru. "A Cruel God Reigns," in English.

Some call this a "Boys' Love" series. But that's a lie. Because there is no love. This is not a fluffy bunny shounen-ai or yaoi. This is a chilling, horrifyingly realistic story of long-term sexual abuse. It is the life inside a nightmare.

Never has my blood boiled so much in anger while reading a manga. Greg, the man who came from abroad to marry Jeremy's widowed mother isn't just interested in her. He's also interested in Jeremy. A two-for-the-price-of-one marriage. He says he loves ... Sandra wholeheartedly. And he tells Jeremy that he loves just as much: he tells him as he rapes him.

Jeremy's sense of intimacy is shattered, and sex is now a dirty thing. He is shocked and dismayed when his girlfriend tells him that his way of kissing has become strange. When she wants to have sex, he is frightened, and afraid of the touch of skin.

And he has no one to turn to for help. His girlfriend would feel betrayed if she knew he'd been intimate with another person, and an older man at that. Sandra, his mother, has several screws loose. She is very mentally fragile, and had attempted suicide several times in the past. She has no skill in reading people's moods, and is utterly selfish. There is no way he can tell her that her adored husband is having nightly trysts in her son's room. Greg also holds her over Jeremy's head, threatening to tell her about their "relationship" if he tries to protest or run away.

Greg takes Jeremy and Sandra from their home in New England to his mansion in Britain, where live his two younger sons, he being a widower. As Sandra continues to smile and enjoy the happy illusion that all is well, Jeremy begins to have suspicions that Greg's former wife was murdered. People are hiding something. Could Sandra also be in danger?

As I said, this series made me very mad. Not mad at the author. Mad at Greg. At Sandra. At Greg's son Ian who doesn't put two and two together. At the woman who knows what is going on but does not stop it. Angry about this terrible situation that this boy is being forced into. I want to smack Greg, and kill him slowly, excruciatingly. He is a monster. He is insane. And the story feels all too horribly realistic. The tone feels very real. Sexual abuse by parents and step-parents happens all too often. I felt like I was watching real events being enacted. I felt sick.

The abuse is not depicted graphically, thankfully. But you can see enough to make a good guess what's going on. The shock, fear and helplessness comes through vividly. What I wouldn't give to see Greg with his cruel hands locked in a prison forever, and Jeremy taken somewhere where he can be safe, and never threatened again.

This is an older story, which began publication in 1993, by Hagio Moto, considered one of the "Founding Mothers" of the Boys' Love genre, and author of the 1974 work "Heart of Thomas." The art style is a little bit old-school, but not very. I'm very picky about my art, and detest a lot of the older shoujo styles, but hers I like. It is very expressive, and the characters have variety and…well, character. Also, because of her roots in early shounen-ai, may explain why she is careful to craft a good story, unlike most modern yaois, which have unrealistic settings, stereotypical characters, and are all about idealized sex.

The characters are all exceptionally-made. Jeremy is just a normal boy. He has a girlfriend, is attached to and protective of his mother as his only family member, and does things normal boys do. After his crushing experiences, he reacts as a person can be expected to. Sandra is a high-strung woman (who doesn't deserve her son) and has the immaturity of a young girl who dreams of a romantic prince coming to sweep her off her feet. And she constantly makes inferences about people, accusing them, something high-strung people really do. And her demands cause people around her to try to keep her happy, and keep her mind at peace. Greg is a filthy old pedophile, who can finagle anyone into doing anything, lying to himself, saying that what he does is "true love." He is one of those awful people who would do the world a favor by dying, yet they still life prosperous lives, leaving a wake of tragedy behind them.

I had heard of this manga a lot before I tried reading it. I generally don't read yaois, and I after reading the synopsis I thought it would be graphic and gratuitous and all about giving sadistic yaoi fans a "high." But I am glad to say I had sadly underestimated it.

This is a good story. A very good story. But it is very cruel. It won't make you very happy--if it does, something is wrong with you. But it is good. Good in the way anything is when it presents an excellently-crafted story, believable characters, and a high tone of realism. I think anyone who is a fan of good manga will appreciate this.

The artwork is really eye-catching at times, great detail, very beautiful and distinct. A dramatic story that really grabs you from the very first pages. I come across this manga by accident, and was so glad I did.

It's a detailed story although the page count isn't high, a lot of info is discussed for a manga and things go on. It is a continuing series, so I will look forward to reading more from this writer.

I've been itching to write this for a long time by now.

Story 10/10
Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru is a catching story about a high school boy trying to cope with his stepfather regularly abusing him. He's suffering, running away, crying and losing it, then he faces it and solves his problem only to find another one. He is constantly giving up and trying to vanish, then being forced to live and try again.
It's not 'BL' as such, but certainly a piece full of love, desire, overlooking, suffering and regret.

Art 8/10
This manga started in 1993. That is a year before I was even ... born, so of course the art is not as fancy as in some newer ones. If you give this up because of it, I pity you. It's not bad at all once you get used to it.

Characters 10/10
The characters are beautifully pictured with real personalities, combining both good and bad traits. Sometimes the characters are lost and looking for help, sometimes they fight and face the reality. Everyone is unique and I have the feeling that even those of peripheral importance are strong individuals.

Enjoyment 10/10
I laughed, I cried, I was completely drawn in the story. I wasn't feeling bored even once. This manga is just brilliant.

Overall 10/10
To sum it up, I love this manga. I found it when I was looking for something psychological - and it may actually be the best manga I've ever read. It's a masterpiece.
However, I would recommend it only to those who are able to understand the meaning of being wounded and can accept that sometimes, wounded people do stupid nonsense when trying to forget the pain.

This is one of the earliest BL mangas out there, I believe, and you can definitely see the striking differences between the shounen-ai emerging 30 years ago compared to today. The visuals especially are different. Boys look like boys (kind of. Still have bambi eyes, still hairless. And Ian, who appears a bit later, is a definite bishonen.) There is a nice amount background and not a lot of skimping on the characters' details.

What struck me most about this manga was how disturbingly realistic it is. The abused protagonist is not a helpless creature. He's just a normal boy with normal friends and a normal ... life, and barely realizes it when his world is turned upside down. You can really see him progress down the path of insanity too, as the manipulative stepfather continually gives Jeremy the illusion that he is free, when really he's practically digging his own grave. The story is a bit slow in progression, but I think that's for the best, because it emphasizes that pedophilia doesn't just magically appear and you can spot it like that. It's skillfully hidden, starts from the smallest thing and spirals into a living hell.

The sex scenes show very little, but the theme is definitely disturbing enough in itself. The author doesn't try to make it hot, but she definitely conveys the emotion behind it very well.

Warning, there's still a lot that needs to be scanlated and its age does not make it the most popular manga. While it's a good read, it might be said that anything you might wish to happen in to the characters will be a long time coming.

[SPOILER WARNING]

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru, otherwise known as A Cruel God Reins in its English translation, is much more than just your ordinary story. What's astonishing about this is that the plot is not extraordinary at all. It has no fantasy elements, no sci-fi, no action, and it's definitly not even close to being what many would consider a romance. No, what is most appealing about this manga is not any form of grandeur but the realism of it's plot and characters.

This manga takes a serious plot line and actually portrays it and its subject matter in a true-to-life fashion. Rape, torture, emotional ... and mental abuse, prostitution, drugs, blackmail, suicide, and murder are all things portrayed in this manga as they really are. There is no sugarcoating, no explanations or excuses, just truth. This is what makes this manga stand out more than many of the titles sharing it's genre.

As for its actual genres, Drama, Josei, Mature, Psychological, Slice Of Life, and Tragedy are mentioned and all run true. Most understandable is the Psychological aspects and the tragedy. In fact,this manga actually begins with the expressive line, "Let me tell you about a tragedy." and even if you can't remember any other lines from the story, I can guarantee you'll always remember that first sentence.

This story is also, however, labeled as a yaoi or shounen ai. As much as one may like or appreciate the genre, there is no denying that many of the story lines in this group can be predictable and unrealistic. I can honestly tell you now that despite being labeled as a yaoi, this is in no way about gays or a gay story. Those that do not like yaoi or shounen ai have just as much a chance of liking this story as those that do.

The scenes of sex are not much scenes at all. You see nothing of the actual sex and only the before and after effects of the act. This manga definitely has no intention of turning anyone on or encouraging sexual behavior. In fact, If this manga or any of its scenes in any way excite you, you probably do have some deeply rooted psychological problems you should get checked out. This might actually scare some away from sex, or at least beat into people's head how serious it actually is and should be taken. Nowadays sex is over-rated and overemphasized in today's media, and often that media doesn't give people the right idea about many topics, not just sex. I thank this manga and it's writer, Hagio Moto, seriously and relish the day I found this story and it's tragic and amazing portrayal of its character's sad lives.

Having said all that, this story is definitely not for everyone. As stated before it's not graphic, but the actual subject manner itself is so serious that many people may not be able to read through it to its end. Even I, who pride myself on being able to read almost anything, no matter how painful, often found myself in tears over some of the stories circumstances. Other times, I would get so angry that my hands would ball into fists, my teeth would clench, and I'd actually feel like punching something. There really is no describing the emotional turmoil I went through when reading this but, long story short, those that are looking for a happy, romantic, or sexy story should stay the heck away from this.

Story: 9/10

The story is basically about a young normal teenage boy named Jeremy who's sensitive mother Sandra gets remarried after a while of being alone. He is happy for her, but eventually this new man starts to show his true colors as a sadist and a pedophile and targets him. He is repeatedly blackmailed and forced into obeying this man and after months of horrific abuse, his mind becomes unstable and his thoughts vicious. Unable to take the pain of this torture any longer, Jeremy decides to kill his stepfather. His plans and the effect they have bring Jeremy crashing down completely when in the attempt he kills not only his stepfather but his mother as well.

While being tormented by the guilt and pain of this tragic miscalculation, Ian, Jeremy's older stepbrother, observes his much weirder behavior and starts to suspect that Jeremy, in fact, did kill them. However, after discovering that Jeremy was in fact regularly abused by his father beforehand, Ian finds himself unable to come to terms with and decide what he should do with this information.

Eventually finding that he himself lusts after Jeremy, Ian becomes disturbed and scared of his own mind and thoughts, wondering if he may be much like his father. Their relationship and, in fact, everyone's relationship in this manga become frayed and difficult to really put a name to. No character is this story is perfect. They all have their obvious flaws and they all have their own good sides too.

Characters: 10/10

Without giving away too much on the actual plot that's really as much as I can give you in a review but since the characters are pretty much the true jewels in the story I'd be truly remiss to forget mentioning at least the most important of them.

First we have our main character Jeremy. Jeremy goes through a lot of changes throughout the story. We start off with a normal and seemingly happy teenager that lives and is close with his mother and has many friends, even an amazing girlfriend named Vivi. However, with the introduction of his new stepfather, into his life, we see him start to become more quiet and introverted. We watch his slow yet steady fall into insanity. We watch as the torture and turmoils eventually begin to effect him so badly that he begins to contemplate and actually carry out murder. Jeremy is my favorite character mainly because I understand his motivations the best. I find that many of his reactions match what I myself would have probably done in the situation, and as scary as that is, giving his actual situation, his authentic character makes him a great lead.

Next I'll give a brief summary of Jeremy's older stepbrother, Ian. At first we can interpret Ian as your average good looking playboy. He's apparently good at getting girls and through most of the story he has one. Of course him being in this particular story means he'll end up being much more than that. In many instances, it's Ian that's looking after Jeremy or trying to help him, even if the way he goes about things is often not all that helpful. Part of the problem with Ian stems from his ignorance. With everything that is going on and with all the clues he is offered, many from Jeremy himself, he still does not put two and two together. In fact even when told alright what is happening between Jeremy and his own father, he refuses to believe it until given concrete proof and, he unintentionally hurts Jeremy more than once. Even with the proof he seems to just have a hard time coming to terms with stuff, and it's apparent that he does not understand Jeremy at all although he's constantly trying to.

Next we have both Sandra, Jeremy's mother, and Greg, the stepfather.

You see right off the bat that Sandra is a very sensitive woman. She doesn't take things well, or more accurately, at all really. She's attempted suicide quite a few times, and even the smallest things seem to send her over the brink. Sandra is a very messed up character, and this causes me to have very mixed feelings about her. On one hand, I understand her and her depression since my mother suffers the same way and, in fact, has a lot in common with this woman. I'm also furious with her, because if she had been a better and stronger mother and really looked into what was going on and tried to stop it, then none of the tragic incidents in this manga would have had to occur. I know it's usually not fair to point fingers or put the blame on any particular person, especially since quite a numerous set of people share the blame for what happened, and continued to happen, between Jeremy and Greg, but I see her guilt as the greatest. Jeremy really cared for his mother and, in most of the incidents, suffered through what he did just so she wouldn't have too. While she was living a happy and seemingly cheerful life, as we saw from the outside, her son was suffering and she never did anything to help.

Greg, however, is the true horror of this story. Without him there is no plot and no real horror. You are never given any true reason for why he is the way he is or how he came to be that way, so it's easiest to just think of him as a psychopath. It's definitely the title that best fits him. He brutally tortures not just Jeremy but Natasha and other prostitutes from the past as well, and feels no apparent remorse. He gets off on other's pain and even treats his youngest son Matt as if he is not his while just seemingly ignoring Ian. The thing with Greg is that he's a good actor. In the eyes of people that haven't been abused by him, he gives off the image of a perfect English gentleman. This makes it all the more terrible for those that are stuck in his trap of abuse and torment. He tells Jeremy that he does what he does to him because he loves him, which probably completely turns Jeremy off from the feeling and the word in the future.


As many more characters as there are, those are the main four and mostly the glue and the whole of which the whole rest of the story centers around.

This manga is not for the faint of heart and not something that some people would want to read. However if it matches the type of story you believe yourself to be interested in, you will definitely not regret having checked this one out.


The Art: 8/10

The last thing I want to talk about for this manga is the art. The manga started releasing in 1992 so some of the drawings and character designs will have a style about them that some won't like. Personally I love the art and think it was done in the best way for the subject manner. Lots of beautiful and symbolic imagery is used throughout the story and people that don't like the art even have to admit that it has some great images. The art can and will eventually grow on anyone if you give it time, so don't let that be the reason you don't give this manga a longer look.

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai or A Cruel God Reins is a tragedy manga about serious subjects actually taken seriously. I believe this manga to be a masterpiece in it's own right and a true must read for people that want something a little more real life.

Enjoyment: 10/10

Overall: 9/10


I hope you liked my first ever review.

Words cannot describe how much I love this manga. First of, I don't read shojo manga and I'm surprised by how hooked I was with a series that doesn't particularly cater to my tastes . Without getting into massive spoilers, A Cruel God Reigns is about Jeremy, a young man who is blackmailed by his stepfather Greg, after he marries his suicidal mother Sandra. If Jeremy doesn't comply, Greg will divorce Sandra which may be the last straw to push her off the edge and end her life. This manga is heavy, and I am only briefly going over what it's about.

I believe this manga ... has some of the best depictions of mental illness and of those who fall victim to sexual assault. The leads in this story are complex broken people. While it is easy to blame Jeremy for not telling the truth to authorities, the work shows the viewer that the state of mind of these victims are very much clouded by terror and anxiety. For one, Jeremy's biggest fear is seeing his mother fall apart. He doesn't want to disrupt the stability Greg has built for her even if that stable happy lifestyle is toxic in itself and built on a pile of lies.

Jeremy is horrendously tortured by his stepfather when they sleep together. It's to the point where the poor boy barely clings to his sanity. With his hands tied, he has nobody to run to and sadly accepts his fate. He represses his feelings for the well-being of his other family members. Ashamed of what they would think of him if they knew the true colors of him and his stepfather. The audience see the symptoms of this suffering as Jeremy goes down the rabbit hole of repressed feelings. He tries to escape his life at home by taking drugs at school, sleeping with other students and has intense dark twisted fantasies of murdering Greg. We also see him try to hide his scars, physically and mentally. Even when he is alone in a safe area, the brutal domination of his stepfather still lingers in his mind and his conscious is never calm as he feels himself still being punished when no one is around.

I also congratulate the author Hagio Moto, the godmother of shojo manga, for somehow making my sympathize with the cruel monster that is Greg Lowland. Greg is tormented monster who can't escape his past trauma. After his previous wife killed herself, his ideal of love changed and turned into something sickly. He himself is struggling to understand his mind. Instead of moving on and accepting what happened in the past, he has regressed all feelings and memories of his deceased wife and harms others to repress his guilt. Yes, it is not a valid reason for it, but it does help shed light on the predators of assault as they are also mentally unstable. Things could of been different, if Greg seaked help instead of it turning into a fuel for his urges.

Sadly, my biggest issue with the manga, is the second half of the series. It's, to put it simply, terrible. At the halfway point, when the main plot of the series ends, instead of a conclusion, we get a rambly epilogue of 20 chapters that goes one for way too long. It completely shatters the latter half of the experience. It feels as if the mangaka was forced by her editors to continue the work even if it was at its end. The last few chapters completely rewrite characters such as Jeremy and his stepbrother Ian. It brings in new characters and creates needless sub-plots that don't go anywhere and are filler. It ruins the story for me. However, I cannot deny that the first half of this manga is nothing short of fantastic. Its why it made it on this list.

Vulnerabilities are like glass threads. Communicating, the desire to understand one another- there's always a risk of breaking. The world is filled with people in the process of breaking. If you want to go through life without getting hurt, the only option is isolation. If its one or the other, in order not to break and not be broken, is choosing isolation equal to death? If so, is death something to be so afraid of in the first place?

Maybe there's someone out there who doesn't fear death, in that vein, isolation. We don't really hear from them, so they seemingly don't exist. Surely they exist. ... Collectively they exist like forgotten people, dreams, and thoughts. But so what? We're not here for an abstract concept like lost art.

I expected a messed up story, a melodramatic cliche to topple over itself. For a brief time, it felt that way. I had smug self satisfaction thinking that. But the story continued, and continued. And I was sated for all of my true desires. I was very satisfied by this story. It was very sensible. There was no unwanted preaching. There were no cheap, one dimensional characters. There wasn't even a background character that didn't have their own life constantly on their mind.

No one acted in a ridiculous manner without reason. There were no mind boggling misunderstandings. There was only slow, satisfying revelation. Feeling frustration, as a reader toward a certain aspect, is acceptable if it is the intention of the writer.

Jeremy's feelings muddled everything he saw. When Ian began to share his same memories and dreams, it was not confusing to follow what was happening. Following the story along, understanding what the characters were going through...

It's so incredible that a writer can have a skill such as emotional manipulation. It's required to reach the hearts of readers. Readers want to be taken in another world, right? They want to be emotionally moved. In other words, we're willing to be vulnerable with the author's intentions. It's give and take. In that way, I feel that this author thoroughly respects her audience.

This is a very refined, very developed story with gorgeous artwork that very strongly desires to communicate with its reader. It will take the time to lay bare all of its fibers so that it can to be understood.

I’ve never read a story narrated like this one. It appears there is no structure, not even a well organized and hidden structure, no scenes to show you this, no dialogues to show you that, it is simply life. You see a part of a boy’s life and then you leave. There is no dramatic ending, only characters moving from one stage to the next. This is not to say it’s random and badly written, but it’s played so natural to the point where it feels as if you are living through him. It is flawless. You can hear its music. You can see the ... flowers growing and limbs falling. You know these characters, their faces and body language, the soul in their eyes. But the layers of art is what makes this narration special, language may limit our explanation of the human experience, but for our every sense to be used in an art explaining said situation, how much closer can you get?

I felt compelled to write this review in order to point out the hidden gem that this manga is. Written by Hagio Moto, A Cruel God Reigns is a tragic story that focuses on the life of Jeremy, a high school boy who is regularly sexually abused by his step-father, until in his fragile mental state, he decides to murder him. His plan is carried out successfully, however by accident he becomes responsible for his mother’s death as well.

Hagio Moto herself said that while in the works, she was pondering how it’s possible for mothers to know of the sexual abuse their kid has ... been subjected to and despite that, do nothing and ignore this in favor of keeping their family intact. This mindset gave birth to this epic story. While not for the faint-hearted, this story expands into something much more than what you would originally expect; it is an introspective and poignant story of recovery, atonement and redemption, which denotes the characters’ dilemmas, traumas and feelings in an incredibly human and emotional way.

The characters are are no doubt one of the most excellent aspects of the manga. First off, we have Jeremy, the highschooler who becomes the victim of sexual abuse. Jeremy’s despair is displayed in excruciating detail; he is willing to go through any kind of horrible torture to avoid his mother finding out about this abuse. His fear of rejection and indifference from his own mother is what seals his lips from speaking out, thus perpetuating his ordeal. Jeremy’s fragile mental health gradually deteriorates, getting to the point of contemplating murder simply to escape from the bottomless despair, shame and helplessness he feels. The cruel irony of enduring his sexual abuse for the sake of his mother, and the fact that he gained his freedom with her accidental murder is a heartbreaking and intriguing theme that is explored frequently throughout the manga.

Secondly, we have Greg. Greg is the stepfather who abuses Jeremy. He is a manipulative, twisted man with pedophilic and sadistic tendencies. He not only violates Jeremy, but he also tampers with his mind, buying his silence in the process. Greg puts on the facade of the model husband and parent, not raising any suspicion whatsoever to those around him. It’s terrifying because it’s realistic.

Sandra is Jeremy’s mom, recently married to Greg. A woman of fragile physical and mental condition, Sandra is extremely happy about her marriage; due to the depression she felt after her late husband’s (Jeremy’s father’s) death, she latches onto Greg and idealizes him and the family she wishes to build. Lost inside her own fantasies, she misses what has been going on under her nose.

Lastly, we have Ian, the second main character. He is the son of Greg, and Jeremy’s step brother. Ian has some clues that Jeremy killed his own father, which makes him discover his father’s disposition and Jeremy’s cruel abuse at his hands. Ian seems like the typical good looking playboy, but in fact he is a boy with a soft heart, who is sensible and tries to help Jeremy at every turn, before and after the murder. He feels guilty for his ignorance over what happened to Jeremy, and perplexed after realizing that the ideal father he believed in was a lie. Torn between the moral dilemma of punishing a criminal and his sympathy for Jeremy, he ends up falling in love with him. The love he feels for Jeremy is passionate, motivating Ian to help and support Jeremy, but also making him wonder if he shares his father’s proclivities. Due to all these tumultuous emotions, he makes extremely tragic and glaring mistakes. However you can’t hate him because he always tries to improve himself, questioning his own selfish behavior, owning up to his mistakes and challenging his beliefs.

Undoubtedly, the best part of the story is the astonishing psychology the author has employed in every page of the manga. Each character’s emotions, doubts, dilemmas and feelings are intensely palpable to the reader and highlighted by the hauntingly poignant art and dialogue. The characters’ inner world is carefully constructed in layers upon layers. A recurring theme is the vicious cycle of how parents’ traumas influence their parenting, thus traumatizing their children, whose traumas in turn influence their personal choices and those around them. For sure, no one is perfect; just as in reality, the characters make mistakes, they repeatedly wound themselves, hurt others, make progress and then regress. It is frustrating, but that’s how life is. In trying to forget our pain, we make mistakes and sometimes hurt ourselves or others along the way.

If you decide to give this a try, then get ready to shed a few tears along the way. The author manages to expertly convey her intentions and put you through an emotional turmoil. The story will make you angry, hopeful, sad, frustrated and optimistic at various different moments. If you want to read a realistic, moving and suspenseful story with fleshed out characters, then this is definitely a series will stay with you for a long time after reading.

I let my instinct guide when choosing new manga to read, and never read tags nor summaries. When I came across this manga, I didn’t even read the title or anything, the front cover told me “Read me” and I did. I don’t regret my choice but, really, I would have loved to have been prepared for what I was about to read.

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru, or A Cruel God Reigns, is not for the faint of heart. This wasn't a pleasant ride through a spring park, it was a free fall into the darkest realms of the mind.

I won’t ... hide the fact that I was, most likely, searching around in the shounen-ai section when I found this manga. A manga that basically screamed “Read me!” and in the shounen-ai section? I had to absolutely read it. I will be honest, there was none of that shounen-ai feeling that I was searching for, but I loved this anyway. This is an emotionally draining, disgustingly realistic manga about sexual identity and sexual abuse.

The plot is depicted with dark realism. Someone out there might be living Jeremy’s life at this very moment. It’s disgusting and sick to think that something like this might be really happening but, yes, it happens. And not everyone comes out of it alive. Jeremy was torn between the sexual abuse of Greg, the man who married his mother, and the mental abuse of Sandra, his own mother. He couldn't, and most likely, will never be able to escape the trauma caused by the selfish people around him.

Sandra kept Jeremy chained to her with her selfish desire to be “happy”, often times invading his privacy or going hysterics, thus forcing Jeremy to subject to her will. From what I got of this manga, more than a son, Sandra saw Jeremy as her toy. She used him more than once to achieve her happiness, and didn’t care to hear what he had to say. It was easy to see the deep sense of (unhealthy) co-dependence that held them together until the very end of the manga.

Greg, who was no better than a monster incarnated, needs no excuse nor explaining. Even if the author tries to build a traumatic story behind his behavior, I still can’t find it in myself to understand. “Ah, so he did that because…” There was no such moment. From start to finish, I loathed that man. He toyed with the feelings and adolescence of a boy, who was only trying to be a good son to his deranged mother. He spoke of “true love”, but his actions closely resembled a butcher skinning an animal alive.

Truly, a strong enough plot to pull you forcibly inside. I, myself, came close to thinking that everything was a simple nightmare, that Jeremy’s brain constructed this elaborated tragedy. My own brain was trying to convince me this wasn’t real, save myself the trauma. And that’s such a human reaction. It’s something that happened to Jeremy as well; when the torture was over, he recalled those events with cold detachment, as if that wasn’t him. Perhaps, to read this manga, detachment is necessary. I was left numb for days, because I let the emotions of the characters overtake me.

For a manga published back in 1992, the art is superb. All characters are different, both in appearance and personality, it’s easy to know who is who. There were panels that were absolutely breathtaking and, unfortunately, most of them were of Greg abusing Jeremy. Depicted like grand art masterpieces, those pages I can still see if I close my eyes, leave a profound impression. There’s no need for words of descriptions, the page speaks for itself.

Speaking of characters. They feel like people. There was a point in which I hated most of them and, while that shouldn’t have changed, the characters evolved and I came to “undislike” some of them. Just as people aren’t easily categorized into “bad” and “good”, the same can be said for the characters the author introduced. Even Jeremy made me mad at times. However, it wasn’t a violent mad, it was more of gentle mad that only came from caring about someone. Many of Jeremy’s choices are questionable, normally no one would agree with what he did but… The storytelling makes it possible to walk in his shoes, and understand where he’s coming from. It’s the same for any other character, their emotions come alive through the pages and it’s hard to not understand why they do what they do.

It’s manga that’s easy to dislike, especially for those who are not into psychological analysis and dark tones. I’m not a fan of either, but I will always finish a good manga, no matter how much it drains me. If it’s something good, it’s always worth the read.

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru is a challenge. I tried it out and was not disappointed.

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai suru ―or A Cruel God Reigns in english― isn’t the shoujo I expected nor the level of drama I ever read in manga. The author, Moto Hagio, is considered to be part in the Year 24 Group (24年組), group that revolutionized the shoujo manga, and I can say, that she did it with this.

Story 10/10
The story isn’t fanciful at all and that’s why this become one of my favorites manga. The drama is so real, is easy for the reader to empathize with the protagonist Jeremy who is suffering abuse from his stepfather to protect her suicidal mom and ... her marriage with this man. This kind of situation it’s so real and happen in various real places with almost real characters too, making it a horrid and distressing case of child abuse, where the depression from the protagonist is perfectly expressed as he tries to find safe places to hide from the violence.
Another thing that I’d noticed is that Jeremy develops various psychological consequences of sexual abuse like bipolarity, depression and anxiety, suicide attempts and risk behaviors, victimization, hostility, drug and prostitution/promiscuity. All those are real psychological consequences and are expressed in the story in a real and casual scenario, one can feel the despair of Jeremy's life and how he reaches the bottom.
This isn’t the BL story with sexual abuse with happy story, so be prepared to suffer a lot reading this, it’s really depressing and painful but deserving of a reading.

Art 8/10
This started in the ’93 and has a style properly of those years. I really appreciate reading this, everything is well drawn and sometimes the details just shock me, the feelings and metaphors were fantasist and abstract depending on how the artist wanted the reader to feel and that combined with the story, was stunning. The scenario was truly delightful and evocative and catches the beauty and elegance of England.
The art sometimes decays in little things but it’s nothing that will turn into an inconvenience and it happens in every manga, it is very clean and intense.

Characters 9/10
Another thing I enjoyed. Everyone was so real; each personality was unique, powerful, and characteristic. Nobody was completely an angel, the characters suffer and they had bad habits or mental disorders too. It was very balanced so there isn’t good or bad― ignoring the antagonist of course.
Apart from the main characters, the secondary characters were well presented and had a personal development and we get to know them better with stories of their past that didn’t get so deep but contributes to the plot.

Enjoyment 8/10
It made me feel a lot of things, there were bad things that made me feel miserable, there where good things that made me feel pleased, both were intense feelings that are presented within all the story.
Sometimes I feel as if the plot goes dense and get burdened by it, but it wasn’t a big deal as you surely will get to the end without postpone reading -as if those cliffhangers gonna let you quit...


Overall 9/10
I ended adding this manga to my favorite list. I started reading this for a challenge and first I choose this for its plot. Took me like 3 or 5 chapters to get really involved with it. I absolutely recommend it and I totally would read it again.

This manga was a nightmare.

I could've gone to hell and back and would've seen still more horrendous substance in this manga. In fact this manga feels like a falling-down to hell, but one-way, without a return ticket.

Jeremy, a Bostonian, immigrates to England with his mother after she remarries Greg, who renders Jeremy into his "weekend lover". When his mother and Greg eventually die, how is Jeremy left to deal with the dregs of trauma from Greg's abuse and guilt over their suspicious deaths?

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru is legitimately 86 chapters and 17 volumes long- and when I say it's long, ... it's really, really, long. Finishing a chapter was like running a marathon- you couldn't help but heave a deep sigh, content but apprehensive of the following chapter to come. The chapters are tantalizingly long and redundant, filler-material; I wager two-thirds of what was related in the manga hardly contributed to the story. The dialogue is rough and lengthy, and to top it off the art is downright appalling. The latter two-thirds of the manga is apparently about how Jeremy deals with his parents' deaths, mysteries and all, but it keeps dragging and nothing happens and the MCs go around in circles doing practically nothing.

In terms of character development, it's undeniably satisfactory. The cast of characters is an entirely different story though. You would think that at least the story already took up enough time to "flesh out" it's characters properly, but in reality what it's really doing is just piling up more and more characters and tragedies to follow suit. What you will see are insufferable, ridiculous characters with pretentious peculiar and pathetic personalities that NEVER give it a rest, they will always either explode in emotion or try to kill themselves (or is this what Hagio-san thought foreigners to be?)

The sheer absurdity of it all- plain ridiculous storylines (the exact same sequence of two girls trying to kill themselves after being put in the same situation only in the span of probably 8 chapters, suddenly everyone goes antagonistic and evil and every guy is gay and into Jeremy after he suffers from sexual abuse, etc.), dragged-out, snail-paced storytelling, horrid artwork ("unique" can eat shit, made me want to claw my eyes out), bad character writing (you'll see for yourselves), lengthy dialogue- it was truly horrid and unenjoyable.

I think what won the hearts of many people is it's poeticism and premise, as both are impressionable. The dialogue is dramatic at times (and occasionally pretentiously so) and we see MCs do bat-shit self-sabotage that's supposed to be darkly romantic and enticing. Especially if you're new to this sort of psychological tragedy stuff, the surprise factor plays a large role (heard of misattribution?). You see, this manga is actually appealing to our r/imnotlikeothergirls side, do you realize?

Dark romanticism or tradegy is surprisingly not uncommon in Japanese media; unconventional "love" to the point of being "beautiful". There will never quite be an absolute paragon for this severe theme; because how much is too much? What is unrealistic and what is insane? And who am I, really, to be chastising the absurdity of the mentally ill characters in this manga when I've only ever lived vicariously and have yet to see first-handedly the extent of human insanity?

"This manga is not for everyone"- how many times have you chanced upon this warning as long as you've been on this site? It's almost always an ulterior tempt. Though I think in this case, you should really heed it.

Forget whatever you read here. Try it for yourselves and don't give up until you've found "the one".

Would you rather have a shitty life where your abused everyday while the one you love most is happy, or would you rather you live without that life without abuse while the one you love the most, is in a deep state of depression yearning for the love they once had. That was how "A cruel God reigns" opened with Jeremy choosing his mother's happiness over his, either choice, someone is going to end up dead physically or mentally.
Jeremy the main character chooses to protect his mother from spiralling into depression by assuring that her fiancee Greg doesn't break up her. Jeremy has to ... satisfy his new step fathers homosexual desires which takes a toll on him mentally more from the guilt of betray his mother behind her back then the actual homosexual relationship. The further this affair between Greg and Jeremy goes on, the more psychologically damage he comes which ultimately affects his relationships and how he interacts with others.

Jeremy as a character, was not a disappointment, he was trapped but never become a victim of Stockholm syndrome as many other shoujo magizines incorporate when writing about an abusive sadistic relationship. However, Jeremy's mother is probably the worst character in this entire serialisation. She is a wining selfish bitch, and I didn't even think I could hate her even more until *plot twist*. Despite Jeremy's mother and a few other easy to hate characters, the characters are well written.

The art is was a bit above standard for its time period until less effort went into it as the series went on. Probably because the author got lazy.

Overall its a great story that drags on too long, seriously, just read to chapter 55 as intended as it just drags on and becomes an actual yaoi.

As someone who's experienced something similar, this was hard to read yet enjoyable.
The characters are complex, and I can say I admire that the most.
Anyone who reads this might have a drastically different view of the characters than another person, mostly because the characters seem to have a whole different level of complexity than I have seen before.

The realistic aspects of it, including how some of Jeremy's situations were handled poorly, add to the realistic aspects of the story(Realistic as in a lot of abuse cases are handled poorly). Jeremy even reminded me of myself. The struggles, every single struggle, and how is self-worth ... is low, those are all too real to me.
It also made me realize how hard it can be for someone like Ian(someone who hasn't experienced the type of abuse first-hand) to help someone like Jeremy.He struggles to understand him.

The realistic aspect of the story is sometimes scary. At times I thought the story was a bit of a mess, the emotional aspect of the characters seemed a bit all over the place. But then again, that's also another realistic aspect of dealing with abuse, it's a roller coaster ride.

THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY OUTRAGEOUSLY GOOD YAOI. That is if you enjoy something with good plots. I would recommend this to many people, they just need to push through a few chapters and I feel that they'd be hooked in only a few minutes. I read a LOT of yaoi and I can say this is one of the good ones.

However, it might not be a very good one to read while in the middle of something that takes up a lot of time. the yaoi is long and requires a lot of attention to fully enjoy it.

The art might be the ... biggest concern that you might encounter (besides the fact that there isn't as much sex). In the begining, you may think "oh my lawd this art it hurts my eyes". Then, you suddenly get used to it, and all you want to see is more, more, and more.

The plot, yasss the plot, don't even let me get too deep into this, its AMAZING. As a person who loves to see the suffering of the character, I was thoroughly satisfied in many many ways. The plot turns out to be really complex, and often times hard to keep up with, but once you put your mind to it, it's beautiful, and it always keeps coming back tou your favorite (well my favorite) events.

The character is thoroughly thought through. His whole character, his regrets, his small joys, his backstory. ALL OF IT, it beautiful, he's awesome, and he's like one of my most ideal characters EVER. (In other words, it shows the clear reason for his actions, and you can really feel the place of the character.)

Enjoyment!? HA, IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!! I READ IT THROUGH AND THROUGH IN THREE DAYS, I BASICALLY DIDN'T SLEEP over and over came a NEW CLIFFHANGER. Even though I had things to do, things to work on, family to socialize with....YEET THAT NOT GONNA!!! I HAD TO KNOW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT. every chapter was a rollercoaster, a joyride, FANTASTIC, I could BARELY hold in my enthusiasm for each chapter. (I think some people thought I was insane...but hey, it's probably true).

OVERALL, the art is a bit sad but eventually, everything else just brainwashes you. Eventually, you get absorbed into the character, nothing can stop you, you must know what happens next. The character, oh yes, he's your new precious cinnamon roll, he's weak but strong, an innocent, never maturing child that you will forever hold in your arms. I enjoyed it, and if you don't mind the suffering of the character, and in fact enjoy it, I would remind you of this manga every day.

How does it feel to have your feelings to be put on a leash? To have your freedom and chance to be happy taken away? Jeremy finds the answers to these questions through the hard way when he is forced with his stepfather’s sexual abuse.

This was a hard manga for me to read through. Seeing Jeremy fall victim to the horrible abuse that his new stepfather does to him is guranteed to bring up the feeling of disgust and hatred in all of us. Though it may sound negative, this is a praise to the series. The story is able to depict such ... sensitive topics in a way that feels real and sincere, in comparison to other stories that might romanticize abuse.

Jeremy is a kind son at heart that only wishes the the best for his mother, who is a lot happier with her new remarriage. This means that he couldn’t just leave or open up about the abuse he is enduring even if he so desperately wishes it to end. He knows that there will be grave consequences and the people he loves will get hurt if he rebels against the abuse. There is a lot of layers that is present in this problem and it shows how complex the situation truly is. This made me become a lot more invested in the manga and wonder how Jeremy will survive this seemingly inescapable hell.

The misfortune Jeremy faced wasn’t just when the abuse was taking place, but a long time after the incident as well. He has been greatly effected by the abuse and is now not capable of feeling or doing things the same way he used to. When something so bad happens for a long period, there is no doubt that the person can be pushed to the edge. The story shows how extreme these negative feelings can become, which really stood out to me personally because I get to see and observe a side to a story that I think rarely gets presented well in stories.

I must say that even though I usually hate the shoujo art style, the art in this manga was very stunning. The art gives off the feeling of “confusion” which honestly fits the story well as Jeremy and the people around him are seen to be confused and stumped about the situation a lot of the times. It gives the characters more sense of humanity as the situation Jeremy and the others find themselves in is uncommon, resulting in a long time to fully process the things that are happening right in front of them. It also gives of the feeling of being pretty at times which really helps with the theme of people never truly knowing what others are going through despite outward appearances.

There was a part of the story that was very frustrating to read though, which was the second half of the story. I have somewhat of a love-hate relationship with this manga. The easiest way to describe my feelings towards the story is that it had felt like a masterpiece turned into disappointment.
A lot of the moments between Jeremy and his stepbrother, Ian, felt so forced and out of touch from reality later on. What once felt like a telling of the horrible effects abuse can do to a person now became an oddly weird romance drama. A lot of the things that happened later on felt like it was there just to add on to the length of the manga, rather to add substance. The characters did a lot of immature and confusing decisions that wasn’t present in the first half of the story. Most of the time it had turned the blame onto the victim instead of the perpetrator. It felt like the story had gone back against the very purpose of the first half, which was to show the mortifying reality without any romanticization. The main reason I loved this manga in the first place had vanished.

Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru is a story about the effect of sexual abuse on the mental health and the journey towards recovery. Everyone can heal from their wounds at some point in their life and enjoy the beauty of loving others and oneself. Even though I disliked the second half of the story, this manga will always have a special place in my heart for how well executed the first half was.

[CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS]

Heartbroken, after watching Banana Fish, I wandered online and I asked to the mighty google, “please, can you give me a manga like Banana Fish but with a happy ending? I beg of you, mighty google.”

And the mighty google said “After us a savage god”

This is a long one, a 17 volumes and complete manga, and I recommend reading all the warnings before even approaching it. The manga contains domestic abuse, grooming, assaults, suicide, murder, prostitution, drugs, violence, an adult taking advantage of a minor, unhealthy relationships, all the worst of the worst. There are no graphic scenes, but just the allusion to ... them is to be considered graphic in this case.

This is the story of Jeremy, who is a teenager living only with his mother Sandra, and one day meeting the man his mother is dating. Sandra’s boyfriend, a British man named Greg, uses Jeremy’s love for Sandra to abuse him. Sandra has been left heart broken and suicidal after the death of her first husband, and she cannot now imagine a life without Greg. Afraid that Sandra might fall into a depression again, Jeremy accepts to stay silent about the abuse.

The whole first part of the manga is about Jeremy, living under the power of Greg, now moved to the UK with him and Sandra, trying to escape by moving to a school, by threatening Greg, by contacting a psychologist, by clearly screaming for help to his friends, who seems to see that there is something going on, but cannot imagine it is as horrible as it is.

The manga starts with a flash forward: Jeremy has done something to Greg’s car and the man has died, in an accident. He is finally free, but unfortunately Sandra has also died, and this is enough to break the last of Jeremy’s strength. Ian, Greg’s own biological son, starts to suspect that Jeremy has killed Greg, and starts to investigate.

The story is drawn beautiful. I cannot even state how many pages were just heartbreaking metaphors of the kind of anxiety, despair and depression Jeremy feels through the manga, the way he feels so trapped that murdering Greg is the only way he can escape the situation. He falls and falls into the abuse, until his world is completely changed, and I admit I had to skip some chapters because it was just so heartbreaking.

Jeremy was absolutely heartbreaking. The author did an amazing job in rising the stakes, but especially in showing the hints Jeremy was basically screaming at his school mates, at Ian, the way the people around him should have understood what was happening. And I enjoyed the realistic way Ian starts to find out of what is going on.

Unfortunately, the second part of the story was the opposite of the kind of happy ending I needed. When I saw that the rest was not the recovery of Jeremy, with the help of Ian, his brother, and some professionals, I just left it, I couldn't continue reading about Jeremy falling from abuse into an unhealthy relationship.

It's way too long and dragged out. I cried numerous times in the beginning of the story and was just captivated by the tragic events that unfolded, however, that captivation dwindled into boredom. The characters kept backtracking their progress and the same sad elements were overplayed so much I stopped crying and started rolling my eyes. It basically felt like this:

Introduction
Rising action
climax
climax
Falling action? No climax
climax X10000

I dropped this because reading it just became exhausting. I liked the beginning and would love to know where the characters end up, but I've attempted to finish this twice and failed both times, it's not worth it.