Yotsuya Kaidan!

[MangaDex]

 

[Kiriha]

See that tragedy tag? It's real. The romcom is a lie.

 

[justforthelulz]

That went 0-100 real fucking quick.

 

[AegisXI]

The first couple of pages... fooled me good

 

[0181sam]

>tragedy tag
I guess wimp MC’s are still wimp enough to not confess even if the one they love are literally gonna die

 

[sirflimflam]

This series is a mess.

Spoiler

One might assume the almost schizophrenic swaps between romcom and serious business is a legitimate play on its seemingly lighthearted nature, but I rather think the author just didn't know what he wanted to write. And the ending has to be the most nonsensical pile of "what the hell is wrong with all these characters" I've seen in a story, not even remotely in a good way.

 

[justforthelulz]

@sirflimflam

Spoil me;

Spoiler

just how bad is the ending?

 

[sirflimflam]

@justforthelulz It's bad.

This spoiler just contains a few extra thoughts about the story to expand on what I said earlier, read it first if you intend on clicking the bottom spoiler.

Spoiler

Mind you, I really just cover the last few chapters in my spoilers below. A lot of character motivations and stuff aren't readily apparent here so it will probably seems a bit more disjointed than it really is. The series frequently skips from lighthearted to serious business. The problem with this is once it happens one time, you already know something is off. But they keep switching back into romcom mode and everyone is silly and stupid until the author deemed the next "big reveal" which will go down, and then everyone will settle back into romcom mode. It's really kind of frustrating to read because you feel like the protagonist and main heroine should be a bit more on edge but they always let their guard down and it ends up costing them quite a lot.

Be warned anyone who clicks this spoiler, the ending is spoiled here.

Spoiler

Yotsuya, our titular heroine actually dies, replaced completely by Kukuri our resident crossdresser ghost as a result of Sensei actually following through on murdering her ghost while she was swapped for Kukuri, basically the thing he's been wanting to do since the very beginning of the series, and showed signs of interest in till the very end, but everyone is always like "lol it's fine to have this clear psychopath around he's not going to do anything. I know he almost completely buried Keita in a hole one night he thought our boy was a little too close to Kukuri but we'll play it off as silly". Long story short, Kukuri decides (s)he's going to kill sensei after this happens, but Keita stops them with a "don't let them run away by dying" speech. Keita almost kills Kukuri in Yotsuya's body but can't bring himself to do it. Sensei subsequently gets turned in regarding a murder Kukuri actually convinced him to do as revenge for them killing her in the past (cause surprise surprise Kukuri actually had a dark side too, and that's actually what makes sensei so messed up). A small time skip later, Keita is falling apart. Keita's other female friend (whose name I can't remember) tries to cheer him up, using a "aren't I good enough move?" which fails, but he makes her think he's feeling okay now. Cut to our protagonist standing on the roof of the building that has been the focal point for this entire series, and attempts to kill themselves by jumping so he can reunite with Yotsuya, but is stopped by Kukuri. He has a huge melt down, clings to her, calling out to Yotsuya as though it's really her, and screams out how it just can't be true that she died. Kukuri replies they'll be together forever.

Time skips four years. Kukuri is casually meeting with sensei who is out and about already. Sensei asks if Kukuri and Keita actually got together and Kukuri agrees. They've kinda had this messed up relationship where Keita knows Yotsuya's gone but is kinda just going with the flow. Kukuri gets a notification and then says she's going to head for a date with Keita and we jump to sullen Keita still obviously carrying a lot of baggage, until he sees a little girl running by and tripping. He seems to recognize her on some level (as Yotsuya), suggesting it might just be his imagination, but he then asks her if she's happy, she says yes cause of course she says yes she's a 4 year old girl, and then he starts crying. She puts a bunny bandage on him as some kind of cute "pain go away" thing (it should be noted that bunnies and Yotsuya are kinda connected). Keita has now convinced himself this random girl is Yotsuya's reincarnation (she probably is) but it's clear a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

He meets up with Kukuri, and mentions a wedding dress he gave her to wear back in chapter ~31 during a "confession" he received (for reasons) and rejected from Kukuri, and suggests they actually go through with it and get married. Kukuri is stunned and asks if they're really okay with them, specifically using [boku] when asking instead of the [watashi] they transitioned to when they took over Yotsuya's life, and Keita agrees. He says that even now, he can't forgive Kukuri for what happened, but her second chance (at life) is going rather well (referring to Yotsuya)

It ends with a phrase that's been used a few times always slightly different throughout the story. "I have a girl I like, up until now, and from now on as well, forever." with a picture high-school age him and Yotsuya smiling together.

 

[justforthelulz]

@sirflimflam

I can't decide which part I hate the most;

Spoiler

probably MC marrying his crush's murderer/accomplice, though.

 

[LavSingh]

this series is actual garbage, no, it's even worse than garbage. do not even think about starting it.

 

[Nep]

@sirflimflam

Spoiler

So basically everything was good until it went all "School Days" on us.

Fkin School Days. Yotsuya was so cute too. How the fk is this a comedy? Dropping this before I get traumatized again. Thanks for the spoilers.

 

[icekatze]

Is this really supposed to be a comedy?

 

[Nep]

@icekatze apparently not and quoting kiriha

See that tragedy tag? It's real. The romcom is a lie.

Basically, if School Days is not your thing, abandon ship immediately.

 

[icekatze]

@Nep
I see... There were a handful of moments where I thought the author might have been going for laughs or maybe for cringe, but I wasn't sure. (Is cringedy a genre?)

I think I'll take your advice and bail (No offense to anyone who is into that sort of thing.)

 

[Vringi]

@sirflimflam

Sound interesting.

 

[Sollertia_]

Comedy? Romcom? TRAGEDY??

@Nep I was about to bail but you tempted me with "School Days" and now I'm not so sure hahhah

 

[Nep]

@Sollertia

Spoiler

You must either like yanderes or you must like characters who err.... "break character", villains that 'get away with it' and "happy endings".

If you just happen to like yandere, DON'T read this. This isn't about yanderes. Its about the second half of the above sentence. It is about "happy endings"

 

[Hobnobs]

@sirflimflam

Spoiler

we jump to sullen Keita still obviously carrying a lot of baggage, until he sees a little girl running by and tripping. He seems to recognize her on some level (as Yotsuya), suggesting it might just be his imagination, but he then asks her if she's happy, she says yes cause of course she says yes she's a 4 year old girl, and then he starts crying. She puts a bunny bandage on him as some kind of cute "pain go away" thing (it should be noted that bunnies and Yotsuya are kinda connected). Keita has now convinced himself this random girl is Yotsuya's reincarnation (she probably is) but it's clear a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

What bullshit, even elfen lied did that better. Yotsuya was done dirty and the author just let them get away with it.

 

[justforthelulz]

I decided to pop back in and see what the rating was after the midway point (20+/40), and good lord, that Mean Rating of 3.89 (only 28 reviews, but still).

 

[impendio]

@sirflimflam
Thanks for saving me from this mess, really, what the fuck was that??
Wtf author...