Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai suru

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Psychologically twisted stories of desire, cruelty, and violence born from a forbidden love. Angst, plot twists, and true-to-life characters await you in these painful stories. A Cruel God Reigns tells the disturbing story of Jeremy, slowly becoming more neurotic as he suffers under the sexual abuse from his step-father. Let Dai follows Jaehee in an unusual and tragic love story with the cruel delinquent Dai. 

This is essentially like a male version of Bitter Virgin, it is about a normal boy who is raped by his pedophile step-father. It is not graphic sexually and this is a really good story, but be warned about the realness of this before you read it. It is not yaoi, or BL - it is not about love, but about someone dealing with being raped and abused by someone who has power over them, and his feelings of insanity because of what is happening to him. It is psychologically deep going into how abuse breaks a person's psyche and spirit. This is rather darker than Bitter Virgin, but it handles a very difficult and similar subject well.  read more 

- have male characters who have been sexually assaulted by other men - familial abuse - dark tone and subject matter - psychologically damaged characters - the art becomes 'trippy' when the characters have breaks in their psyches -love triangle - b.l : yaoi/ shounen ai - both mangas have more bisexual characters than gay characters. 

Involves sadomasochistic relationships from a realistic internal view of the sub-partner. 

Both manga feature how young boys' mind is being emotionally manipulated, how they break apart, and how their humanity is being stripped apart from them. It is an emotionally taxing trip witnessing how characters are being abused. Both mangas involve murder. *Zankoku Kami contains sexual abuse  

Unsettling manga about a young man slowly losing his sanity while being subjected to abuse.  

Surprised nobody has made these recs yet. Their being BL is purely coincidental, bc in both manga, the focus is on two young boys who've been abused in their formative years, and how the resultant abuse damages their psyche (and their trust in people) permanently.  

- Both have protagonists that deal with emotional abuse by their step-parent. - Both have supporting character that have complicated relationship with the protagonist and try to help them through their problem in unusual ways. - Both stories explore the psychological state of the protagonist through metaphor and imagery.  

Stories centering on MCs who went through physical and mental abuse and have to overcome it. Both of them are BL too. 

Apart from sharing a similar old-shoujo like art style, what makes both these manga similar is how well both explore the thought processes and mental breakdowns of young boys who suffer from guilt, trauma from death and abuse, and loving people of the same sex. Both also have exceptionally well written characters for their genre, and if you enjoyed one, you're sure to enjoy the other. 

Both manga have young boys who are raped, but instead of playing victim, they come out stronger and take an oath to take revenge against their rapists.  

At first glance, you may wonder what a romance shojo manga like "Mars" has to do with "A Cruel God Reigns." "Mars" will surprise you with how well it delves into issues like sexual abuse and death, considering that it is a shojo manga. The characters are similar in the sense that they have twisted, murderous, dark sides to their psyches as a result of the messed up ish that's happened to them. The dead haunt the living, the living grasps at straws trying to discover what kind of people the dead really were. Hating oneself, blaming oneself for murder. Becoming a murderer. Suicidal, dependent mothers. Though "A Cruel God Reigns" is much darker and more graphic than "Mars" by far.  read more 

Hagio Moto's A Cruel God Reigns (aka. Zankoku Na Kami Ga Shihai Suru) was most likely influenced by what was called yaoi's "most major work" --Bronze: Zetsuai. Both of them are from late 80s/early 90s, and they contain semi-insane characters, a controversial plot, explicit sexual abuse, and are angsty, violent, bloody, and horrifying. The dark and grim stories are -extremely- difficult to read and enjoy. There are some clear differences however: Zetsuai has some "nice"r moments, along with lots of melodrama, whereas A Cruel God Reigns has none, and is a lot more refined as a whole. 

Long series from award-winning shoujo manga masters which are merciless on both the reader and characters. Watch characters either break or endure (or more likely oscillate in between during the course of the series) shocking emotional and physical trauma. You will be left emotionally drained after completing both. Hurts so good. 

If you like one, you should like the other. both have : - a dramatic story. - child abuses by his father (step father for zankoku) - despairs and sadness from the protagonist - we see the little abused child grown and become a beautiful tortured teenager. - Some scenes make you think "Well after all he worth that happiness" before it will be destroyed and make you feel so empathic with the protagonist. Obviously these two story are so alike and so awesome.  

Both works are truly tragic, lots of domestic violence and difficult family situations. Big role of "brotherly love" and the romance develops slowly and with lots of inside problems. 

Both have protagonists that experience many tragedies, and are unfortunately sexually abused by rich, older men who know how to brainwash women to marry and love them despite their horrible personalities. The constant tragedies that befall upon the main characters made me continue reading, hoping that something good will happen to them, that someone will save them....  

Psychological, angsty BL titles that contain rape, incest, bullying and violence. Emotional, wonderful reads. Shiiku Gakari Rika (and its prequel Tetsu x Rika - which was published later) is heavier on the violence, whereas Zankoku~ is in a way more developed plot- and character-wise due to its length and it actually reaching a conclusion, unlike Shiiku Gakari Rika which was unfortunately left unfinished by the mangaka.  

In some ways, these epic boy's love tragedies feel like two notable shoujo mangaka's very different takes on the same subject. They deal realistically with childhood abuse and how it can affect a relationship, and follow the struggles of one of the leads to do just that. 

They both deal with violent MxM rape and the mental consequences for the victims. Install is a (hard to find) one-shot by Chi-Ran while Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru (A cruel god reigns) is over 84 chapters long (so far) and written by Hagio, Moto. The artwork in Zankoku is definitely older when compared to that of Install, but as the series progresses it starts to improve. It never really becomes "modern", but things look less rough and over time the story distracts you from the dated drawing style. 

Tragic and disturbing stories about a boy who is sexually abused by someone he should have been able to trust. He wants to run away, but his abuser threatens to harm a family member if he does. Rather than try to be BL fluff, these stories are about the pain, shame, and fear engendered by this kind of situation. Zankoku feels more realistic, and is also less explicit. It also shows how a victim's sense of intimacy can be shattered by abuse. 

Guts and Jeremy are both anti-hero protagonists who suffered through severe physical and psychological trauma since childhood. Their trauma fester into a blood-thirsty desire for revenge, and they struggle throughout their respective series as they attempt to survive in a world that has broken their trust. Despite their inky-black darkness and severe anti-social behaviors, they attract people to them like a candle to moths. Berserk is set in a land inspired by Europe in the Middle Ages and Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai suru is literally set in Europe.