Volumes: 7/7 (Complete), Digital ebooks only
Shounen
Genre: Horror, Friendship, Romance, Crime Mystery
Summary: There once was a group of friends that would do anything to protect each other: three boys, Shin, Akira and Ryu, and two girls, Tsubaki and Haruka. Five years ago, the group decided to murder Shin’s abusive father before he killed Shin. They buried his body in a cave deep in the mountains and swore to never tell anyone or betray the others. But somehow they get a call from someone who knows exactly what they did, and wants a few favors not to tell the police... and before they know it, they’re in too deep. What’s going on, and can they get out of it alive?
Review: In a lot of ways this story is kind of a bit of a deliberate corruption/subversion of a normal Shounen Romance story. It’s like a Shounen Romance at heart, then mixed in with deliberate crime, violence, blackmail, rape etc elements that subverts the normal tropes. For the most part, I thought the elements of the story worked well together, but other times would feel deliberately edgy or shocking. Personally I didn't really mind it, it felt new and refreshingly different to me, but I can imagine others feeling differently about it.
It reads like a page turning thriller and really keeps you guessing until the very last volume. I read the whole thing in one sitting, I kept wanting to know what would happen next.
As a mystery reader, I felt a bit unhappy with it. It’s set up a lot like a crime mystery story, with the teens getting together to discuss clues regularly. But the central reveal of the story is impossible to guess because it withholds some key information until the truth is revealed. It isn’t a big deal breaker, but it is something I would have preferred as someone who likes to solve the mystery before the reveal.
But the ending I know will have some upset.
Very Mild Spoilers below: (highlight to read)
I don’t think it’s a big spoiler to say there’s a betrayal, because it’s hinted at from the very beginning. That being said, the big thing that did bother me is that I didn’t feel like the Betrayer’s motivation was adequately explained. They did kind of drop some hints in the story that you could argue are the reason for the betrayal, but I would have preferred a direct confession. After all, it’s the explanation for everything that happened in the entire series.
All in all it was a solid story that could have used just a couple of added sentences to really tie up the ending. But even without it, it’s still a pretty good story.
Recommended: If you want to read a crime thriller like story with a mix of romance and friendship. Sort of an odd mix, but it does mostly work.
Not Recommended: This story is very messed up in a lot of ways, manipulative, blackmail, of course there’s violence, lies, and in particular I didn’t expect this series to have so much rape in it. Most of the rape is important to the plot and mostly alluded to than on camera, but there is one really long attempted rape scene which I thought was in really poor taste and added nothing to the story.
Age Rating: Older Teen: some graphic gore, attempted rape, blackmail, etc.
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