Back to windsofgold's Profile windsofgold's Profile

Imagine for a moment the iconic British bathroom sink. You turn the left tap and it scalds your hands. You turn the right but it numbs and chills to the bone. What's left after is in the bowl; lukewarm and always feeling a bit unclean - That is my experience with Kimi ni Aisarete Itakatta. Translated as You Loved Me So Much It Hurt. More like a love that crushes like a mace.

This manga is by Shiruka Bakaudon; surely a very healthy and happy lady. Well, she gets right to the point with it in chapter one with setting the tone for how this ... story will go in no unclear language: Things will get ugly.
But it is not about the beginning, nor the ending, but the path we take to get there - and especially each pitfall, mud puddle, the cuts, the bruises, and the eyes staring at us from the sides along the way.

Through the lens of main girl Kanae and her clique of vapid, cute, cruel, and ugly frenemies we are invited into a world where each step is fraught with danger and second guessing; all compliments are suspect, a simple cute ribbon can symbolize deep inferiority complexes, alliances have all the depth of a photograph; loyalty is something mythological, fake smiles, vengeance is never proportionate, that bitch who publicly humiliated you? You're having lunch with her today; smile for selfies! The ground beneath your feet can always give way, sometimes you hate and spit on the one you love the very most, often just a page flip later; everything is always extreme; too hot or too cold and there is just this sense of paranoia and disquiet that never leaves the reader alone.

As a man, it's an alien world I cannot understand and so I find it all very fascinating but in the sense of being unable to look away from a train wreck of billowing flames. Shiruka Bakaudon is a master of revealing the dark side of the feminine lunar surface, always juxtaposed to that shining and always perfect side that charms us.
From the same region that gives you cute girls doing cute things, now you too will understand why and how the very girls from that same land may end up in the news for jumping off a building.

And to our great benefit S.B. is on point with her art as well - The girls are incredibly expressive. In one panel, an almost stereotypical heroine of a shoujo manga with flowers and sweet tarts. A few panels away that same face will be twisted in pain, anger and grimace, full 180 degrees. This manga has possibly some of my favorite reaction faces and it's just all very memorable. At the same time, she also mixes it up and will draw the characters looking very disarming and even comedic with no concern for any whiplash you may receive from sudden hard braking; not her problem.

Character wise, they all feel really human and real; her weakest being her male characters but overall guys are still better portrayed than in most other works, especially shoujo. These girls, sometimes I feel so bad watching them struggle I want to just pat their head and console them. Other times, I wish that same girl would fall face first down a flight of stairs. There are no heroes here, but everyone seems to get a villain arc. It takes great maturity to take it all in and say "You are a horrible person who does horrible things, but you too, were a victim. I'm sorry it happened."

The title is pretty apt - It's all about to hurt and be hurt and there is nobody that will not know the inevitability of pain. But, even if we know it might hurt we do it anyways, because that's still feeling something at least. And that's likely why you are here, and why I hope you read this one of a kind story. Trigger warning - Get hurt and learn.

This is basically a doujin promotional work made for and by a very particular sort of fans from a now distant era.
Giving it a 1-10 rating at all seems like the wrong way to approach but it was a requirement.

Do you have a notable interest in old Japanese net culture, net characters, as well as indie (doujin) works? If yes then this would be great supplemental material with guaranteed fun surprises in it.

If you just want to watch an anime and enjoy it for the story or immersion then unfortunately this anime will fail to deliver.
As another reviewer mentioned, the contextual background matters.

This is more beginner friendly than stepping into other Mahjong anime such as Akagi or Saki, but that's only because often the girls won't even bother playing it anyways, Instead of the Mahjong Club they could just as well be the big boobers club (Except for Emi the Scene Goth looking girl)
Basically, knowledge of game rules isn't that big of a deal and you won't benefit that much more from it here.
If you are an experienced person of culture, then the fan subs by [Mahjong Soulless] make it a much more enjoyable watch than what it would be by default.
BGM is minimal; the OP theme ... is memorable but not in a fond way of recollection. The quality of everything else is good enough.

What the anime does do well is that the character designs are pretty good and unique; all the girls have themed names even.
I particularly like that when they do actually bother to play Mahjong the girls keep it real with the casual cheating they all do which is something you would never see in Saki, and even in Akagi it is a bit uncommon.

Should you watch this? Generally no there's better stuff out there. If you're really into Mahjong and are stuck frustrated in some tier of Elo Hell in MajSoul playing into obvious rons, maybe tuning out for a while to see this will improve your mood.