Iyagatteru Kimi ga Suki may be considered by some as a unique and rare gem. However, its potential for portraying its novel themes effectively is quickly disparaged by its story structure and unresolved character development.
Iyagetteru Kimi ga Suki starts off as a love confession by the male protagonist, Makoto Ootsuki to the female protagonist, Mikoto Shirakawa. However, this confession is quickly juxtaposed later in the chapter when it is revealed that Makoto shows his morbid interests and his abusive behavior in the next chapter. Although labeled a romance, Iyagetteru Kimi ga Suki more accurately aligns as a psychological thriller with a toxic relationship being
...
the main conflict. The first few chapters and middle conflicting chapters lock in the reader until the end of the story, even if the overall story proves to be lackluster in comparison to its introduction.
The artwork and art style of the manga is quite unique and progressively improves in its anatomy and composition over time while retaining the distinctive aspects of the characters, which include Makoto's thick eyebrows and Mikoto's lashes and small irises. The designs of the characters are simple, yet distinct enough to be recognizable and somewhat serve to juxtapose their characters (e.g. Makoto's cute, round eyes versus his disturbing behavior).
In general, Iyagatteru Kimi ga Suki illustrates the relationship between Makoto and Mikoto and their unusual behavior towards each other. Makoto is quickly established as a demented boy who finds sexual arousal at Mikoto's look of disgust when committing indecent or harmful acts to his girlfriend. On the other hand, Mikoto finds elation at keeping up with social trends with her friends—such as Saki—which determines much of her decision-making throughout the manga. This motivation of keeping up with social trends such as having a boyfriend and doing "romantic" things with a significant other is what prevents her from breaking up with Makoto and serves as the basis of her "stupidity" as a character. Although a weak basis, this manga constantly uses her desire to follow trends to assure the reader that she sincerely does not intend to break up with her boyfriend anytime soon.
Throughout the manga, the reader is given snippets of Makoto's past to rationalize his twisted perception of "love" and abusive actions towards Mikoto. His past includes the physical abuse by his "brother" who also seems to share Makoto's twisted nature or at least has influenced Makoto's vulgar tendencies. Even then, these snippets are quite vague and leave some loose ends on why Makoto acts the way he does to Mikoto and instead create more questions that are left unanswered. These snippets do not seem to intend to be ambiguous, which creates a major flaw in Makoto's character and stunts the significance of developing into a more independent individual from his "brother." The journey leading to his independence is not completely defined and seems to be something Makoto achieved at a whim instead of a well-paced progression. Makoto's development could have at least portrayed the cycle of abuse and could have had him undergo a positive or negative change arc, but the aspect of his abusive past is not utilized effectively to complement the themes of the story and vaguely creates a significant source of conflict with his relationship with Mikoto.
Makoto's unusual and morbid behavior towards Mikoto ultimately molds her into a twisted individual herself who accepts Makoto's despicable actions, while Mikoto's acceptance of his behavior and development of her twisted fetish causes Makoto to lose interest and become ironically disgusted as she loses her pure repulsed reactions to his obscenity. Their influence on each other ultimately leads to cracks in their "partnership" near the middle of the manga and would have served as an interesting source of conflict—if it was executed well. This conflict is then ignored for multiple episodic chapters that vaguely contribute to the overall conflict of the story before the reader is reminded of it again near the end about this conflict and is given a resolution with little to no build-up leading towards it.
Although the main couple receives their "resolution," other characters that the story previously explored via small snippets of their thought processes are completely ignored. The main couple influences the perceptions and psyche of other characters such as Shuichi, and Mutsumi and Sayuri's relationship. Shuichi is instead used as a plot device for the climax of the series without the author deciding to resolve his inner conflicts. This lack of resolution extends to Mutsumi and Sayuri's relationship as the reader never sees how the tension between them is resolved due to Makoto no longer being dependent on Mutsumi.
The pessimistic ending in Iyagetteru Kimi ga Suki fits the overall dark psychological theme while suiting the nature of the main couple's twisted relationship. However, the development and story utilized (or lack of) to reach it proves to be unsatisfying and unfulfilling as it leaves many unresolved loose ends of the characters and their current status. Iyagetteru Kimi ga Suki is an interesting and thrilling read at first, but these interesting aspects are slowly foiled through the lack of efficient execution of its themes, and faulty story structure, characters, and development followed by an unwarranted conclusion. Although it introduces an interesting relationship dynamic and a unique concept amongst pools of various generic manga, Iyagetteru Kimi ga Suki fails to take advantage of its shocking novelty and poorly executes its psychological storytelling and unorthodox, dark themes pertaining to unhealthy relationships through its characters.
May 19, 2024
Iyagatteru Kimi ga Suki
(Manga)
add
Iyagatteru Kimi ga Suki may be considered by some as a unique and rare gem. However, its potential for portraying its novel themes effectively is quickly disparaged by its story structure and unresolved character development.
Iyagetteru Kimi ga Suki starts off as a love confession by the male protagonist, Makoto Ootsuki to the female protagonist, Mikoto Shirakawa. However, this confession is quickly juxtaposed later in the chapter when it is revealed that Makoto shows his morbid interests and his abusive behavior in the next chapter. Although labeled a romance, Iyagetteru Kimi ga Suki more accurately aligns as a psychological thriller with a toxic relationship being ... |