Usually, when a horror manga handles the topic of bullying, it rarely ever ends well. The bullying typically proves to be too over the top, needlessly edgy, or the victim’s response just isn’t the right amount.
My opinion is you’re going to do a series like this, you gotta go all in on it. But there still has to be a balance. Tip it just a bit wrong, and it’s just an edgy and gory piece of trash. Yet if you’re careful… you can end up with a satisfying tale of tragedy and revenge. Which in my opinion is... not where this manga lands.
Let's be as forthright as possible. This is trash. This is edgy trash. Eventually, there is a point where this series tries to be all moral and throw out the message that bullying and revenge is bad but...
You can't simultaneously try to be moral and act like you're addressing the real life issue of bullying and then have a character be on the loose with a chainsaw. I'm sorry, but you've made edgy horror trash, and that's what I enjoyed this series as.
The attempt made only literally at the very end of the manga has fallen completely on deaf ears.
Now, let's get this party staaaaaaaaaaarted.
CONTENT WARNING!!!
This entire manga is just one intertwined ball of bullying and revenge. If you don't like bullying manga (trust me I understand), I'd recommend searching elsewhere. This manga has a bunch of gore, rape, blackmail, suicide, and probably more stuff that would be upsetting if you'd see it in a serious manga.
#Revenge Revenge Revenge Revenge Revenge#
While I've already revealed that this isn't going to be a completely negative review as I did technically enjoy this series... I will admit I'm getting a bit tired.
Tired of these fucking horror series that just take place primarily in a high school.
Even when I find one that I enjoy or don't find completely awful, I'm still just always tired by the end of it. No matter how over the top they are or just obviously trashy it is, it's still essentially just nothing but depictions of absolutely awful human behavior.
"Look at all these teenage characters! They're all rapists and violent psychopaths and they're not even out of high school! Can you even fucking imagine what sort of adults they're going to be???"
Anyhow... Fukushuu Kyoushitsu is a horror manga by Karasu Yamazaki (story) and Ryu Kaname (art.) And as I've already made redundantly obvious, it's centered around bullying. Or specifically, a victim of some extreme bullying working to get revenge on her entire class. Not just specifically her tormentors, but even the students who just tried to stay out of it. The entire classroom.
~~Although, not her teacher? I don't ever recall her targeting her teacher which is bizarre because holy shit if your class of students is like the one in this manga you are a fucking failure of a teacher.~~
Right out of the gate, I have a lot of issues with this. The fact that ~~our heroine~~ Ayana Fujisawa wants horrible revenge on even the bystanders is conflicting, if I'm going to be honest. I enjoyed her character and how she was nothing but hatred and malice for pretty much the entire manga, but there was never going to be any situation where I rooted for her.
And if in a bullying manga it becomes impossible to sympathize with the victim...
...It really just becomes a matter of wanting to see terrible over the top horror schlock. Bring out the rape, bring out the awful human behavior, bring out the chainsaws, bring out the human torture, bring out the family of the protagonist being dismissive and abusive towards her...
Like there are no redeemable characters in this manga whatsoever. The closest you possibly can even consider to being redeemable kind of ended up pushing a person off of a bridge after said person endured being severely tortured both physically and psychologically. And for what it’s worth, he did actually make the effort to atone for his crime, which is genuinely commendable.
But beyond that guy, it’s just scumbags, assholes, and rapists. Not that it even matters. As I've said, even if you kept your head down and tried to stay out of it, Ayana’s pissed at you too. So she’ll expose your relationship with one of the girls who was dating one of the delinquent guys so the delinquent guy would be the one to kick your shit in. ~~In that instance, the guy didn't keep his head down and stay out of it, he took advantage of her weakness and then kind of raped her.~~
Or stealing your wallet and leaving it where some rough customers will find it so said rough customers would find out that you’re rich and start… mooching off of you…? Eh…?
...Okay, to be honest, as far as the revenge is concerned, this series’ is a quantity over quality case. Like I'll give this manga that much credit. It has a lot of revenge getting. So much so that while the protagonist is going around getting revenge, a secondary conflicting revenge plot is running in the background. To be honest, I really wish it had just remained focused on Ayana's revenge.
Because when that secondary conflicting revenge started growing and started risking eclipsing Ayana's revenge, it kind of started to suck. Like Ayana even started to doubt herself. Like she was so manipulative, awful, and full of hate in the early part of the manga. She was great! Then, she just had to go ahead and drop the ball. And then plot happens and everything ends up leading to this lame showdown situation you're supposed to care about I guess and you just don't you try to but you just can't muster the
IS THAT A CHAINSAW?
THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS THAT REVENGE IS GREAT AND IT'S PERFECTLY HEALTHY TO BE CONSUMED BY IT
...I could go into all the ways the plot is trash. I could, I really could. It's just not really worth it. The plot's finally crept in and took over control from Ayana's revenge schemes, but then a loose end kicks the door in and goes "REMEMBER ME?" and revs a chainsaw and just goes to work.
They had to have known what they were doing and the whole ending thing
"oh wait uh REMEMBER, BULLYING IS VERY BAD AND IT JUST LEADS TO PEOPLE WANTING REVENGE OR SOMETHING"
which I honestly believe was just tacked on to try and have some sort of message for this over the top and awful gory bullying revenge manga.
And you know even if it was earnest, it's fucking stupid and terrible.
Spoiler, click to view
um actually Ayana has a brother and it's me and I was actually orchestrating the whole thing while using my mother's last name hahaDON'T YOU LOVE IT WHEN IN A HORROR MANGA A CHARACTER YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW ACTUALLY WAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT? AND IT'S NOT REVEALED UNTIL RIGHT AT THE FUCKING END? NO, YEAH THAT'S FINE. THAT'S TOTALLY DESERVED. NO THAT'S PERFECTLY FINE GOOD WRITING GOOD GREAT
Like just fuck off with that. Never mind that the character who confronts them basically says verbatim this line:
"Well now. I wonder what I should do. Assault, rape, battery. I'm quite the criminal."
...You know for a guy who refused to let anybody else touch Ayana because she was his or some shit she sure did GET RAPED A LOT.
~~actually wait hold the fucking PHONE~~
~~AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~~
Why are you acting like you're the protagonist now? Why didn't you get revenged? CLEARLY GETTING STABBED WASN'T ENOUGH.
...
I give this manga a 6 out of 10.
Really? All of that, and you're giving this that high of a score?
...I like revenge. I like gore. I liked Ayana when she was in REVENGE mode even though pretty much everything she did was absolutely awful. And the manga ends with a showdown happening in a school building at night with a person wandering around swinging a chainsaw. With all that being said, the plot is shit.
My recommendation is if you read this, don't read it for the plot.
