Ijimeru Aitsu ga Waruinoka, Ijimerareta Boku ga Waruinoka?
Well, this was QUITE an emotional thriller… but it hits the spot!
Aizawa is a teacher now, but he is also a survivor of horrific highschool bullying. However, he came back from it with a vengeance, both figuratively and literally!
The best part? He’s smart but no genius, he doesn’t have superpowers, or a team supporting him. This is just a Machiavelli chef who decides to deliver revenge in the best way: cold, calm, calculated, and cathartic.
And I mean REALLY Cathartic!
We see how several stories blend into the main plot of Aizawa’s revenge.
• His main bully now lives a successful life, but his daughter is paying for that unresolved karma by ironically becoming a victim of bullying.
• There’s delicious irony as Aizawa is watching the abuse happen, but he does the right thing while ALSO doing _his_ thing.
• Plenty of drama involving affairs, student pressure, corporations, unresolved feelings, and the darker side of human nature, but it’s all surprisingly clean! There’s only 30 chapters before we have everything resolves neatly and satisfyingly for the reader.
• Some social commentary but delivered in such a deadpan manner that it never comes across as preachy.
Honestly, while the movie “The Final” got a lot of things right about the horrors of highschool bullying, the gore took it all too far for me to really be immersed. But this manga? It was grounded the entire way through, and so full of schadenfraude moments! I won’t spoil it, but I couldn’t help taking devilish delight in how things play out.
You just know that this could easily get an anime adaptation in the near future.
Also, for the record, bullying is wrong. I admire how the MC took care of the situation, and if I wasn’t so invested in my own Greater Good Principles, then who knows.
In the meantime, I am simply content with keeping my aggressors as involuntary guests underground, with all the perks afforded of solitary stay.
It’s good for them!
Solosopher & Solosophy 