Review of 'Adachi and Shimamura, Vol. 5 (manga)' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
Oh gosh. Sakura's vent was... hurtful.
It hurts because technically that vent should've been directed at her mother. Well, Hougatsu too, yes, since her apathy is obviously making things worse for Sakura's feelings. But mostly her mother, cause you can tell how much love she was neglected of as a child. Choosing a friend like Hougatsu was like one of the worst options, since she doesn't get the love she needs from Hougatsu, and I'm not talking about romance or anything, just simply love as in caring for each other.
Of course, Sakura does want more than just platonic love (and she finally realized and admitted that to herself!), but they need a base first. Hougatsu has her moments where she smiles a little bit, and thus giving Sakura false hopes, making her fall for Hougatsu even more, and ending up misreading their tiny progress as something more.
And thus, …
It hurts because technically that vent should've been directed at her mother. Well, Hougatsu too, yes, since her apathy is obviously making things worse for Sakura's feelings. But mostly her mother, cause you can tell how much love she was neglected of as a child. Choosing a friend like Hougatsu was like one of the worst options, since she doesn't get the love she needs from Hougatsu, and I'm not talking about romance or anything, just simply love as in caring for each other.
Of course, Sakura does want more than just platonic love (and she finally realized and admitted that to herself!), but they need a base first. Hougatsu has her moments where she smiles a little bit, and thus giving Sakura false hopes, making her fall for Hougatsu even more, and ending up misreading their tiny progress as something more.
And thus, my prediction of a breakdown happened. And even far worse than I imagined it.
It was clear that she had extreme social anxiety, but this could be BPD (Borderline Disorder). And a codependency.
In the manga forum from MAL, someone made a very interesting analysis of both Sakura and Hougatsu, but particularly the theory for Hougatsu's past caught my eye.
So far I've only been on Sakura's side, since I could relate to her more, interpreting Hougatsu's apathy as disinterest and somewhat attention-seeking (knowing she draws people closer by her "mysterious" vibe). Though they mentioned that this could be due to her having been <spoiler> abused </spoiler> around elementary school, hence also the reason Taru tries to mend their lost friendship, since Taru might know something and feels guilty.
Thinking about it, it could definitely be true, and I actually feel bad for putting Hougatsu into such a bad light, should something like that turn out to be what the author had in mind.
I do sincerely hope the author gets deeper into this arc, not only because psychological romance is interesting, or because I'm a fan of melancholy, but it would also be a good rep. There's thousands of cutesy Yuri out there, there's no need for just another one, and since the storyline did open already, might as well finish what was started.
Since the last few chapters have been kind of drifting away from that. I'm afraid the author might be afraid to continue what they started, thinking it might be too much and because they wanted to write a fluffy story or something like that. I understand, but leaving things in the open also just would be too odd, just like Hougatsu's reaction after that vent.
So, please...
-23.07.24