Boy's Abyss

WHAT MAKES A STORY MATURE, EXACTLY?
_Darkness is often thought to be the factor that makes a story into something mature/ thought provoking. To some extent, this is true. "Conflict" is what drives a story after all, and the darker the story, the greater the conflict. This should ultimately result in a superior story.

Or does it it?

Art - 8/10
Its hella good. That's all there is to it

Plot - 7.5/10
This definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat, that's for sure. From shocking revelations and killer twists to the fucked up shit that keeps happening, this was most certainly an entertaining read. I literally read 59 chapters in 2 days and you're gonna do the the same, as long as you're not overly distressed by people doing depraved shit to each other.

The Characters- 7/10
The characters here are a mixed bag honestly. Let's start with the good parts. The main character here, Reiji Kurose is a pretty well written character and his struggles have been fleshed out and depicted in a (mostly) realistic way. His conflicting emotions about those closest to him was perhaps the best part in the entire series and I look forward to the conclusion of his character arc. Next up, we have Kosaku Esemori, Yuko Kurose and Gen Minegishi, who are all intriguing characters in their own right and bring a lot of tension into the story, one of them being hella depraved (wont say who)

Sadly, it goes downhill from here on. Chako and Yuri arent really that fleshed out and it often do shit just cause the plot requires them to. Nagi has great potential but so far, the writer hasnt really tapped into it that much, leaving her as a beautiful but hollow girl with an almost criminal lack of presence in the manga.

Themes and Execution - 6.5/10
The series is very ambitious when it comes to themes - which include suicide, depression and sexual exploitation. Developed well, this could have been something amazing. Sadly, it falls quite a distance short when it comes to execution, something that becomes very apparent once it starts portraying double suicide as romantic and desirable. Aside from that, a huge part of it is the premise itself exudes a constant aura of doom and gloom. This, ultimately, doesn't make sense a lot of the time. The town is nearly always portrayed in a negative light and it is implied that the psychological scars on most of the people here are an effect of the environment they grew up in...….. except the town doesnt actually seem that bad. Rural life can be boring and neighbors may be a bit too nosy, sure. But all of it really doesnt justify how fucked up the characters and their actions are. I'm sure it'd be incredible had the series adopted a more balanced approach as to its setting.

A few of the characters also seem off in this regard, as it often seems unreasonable for them to this horrible as people. Its perfectly believable to have an unapologetic lunatic in your series, but if every single one of the characters is a psycho, readers will start to question "why" and "how" they ended up that way, and for the most part, the series really fails to answer that satisfactorily. A story with only despair and no hope is just as unrealistic as a story where the opposite is the case. If I were to answer the question I posed at the beginning of the review, I'd say that a mature story is one where light and darkness are proportionate to one another. Going by that definition, "Boy's Abyss" is a a juvenile story with a lot of mature scenes and complex themes that it fails to execute properly