#also wait wait a bit above ranking of ghost hunt lies discommunication - I just wish I could have read those later chapters LOLLL

[hak]

I think I’m still stuck on the doors aono kun opens simply because it still is one of a kind in the dimension it explores shoujo-typical tropes and horror in an equally weighted way. I always bring back ghost hunt since I can’t really equate much else to this genre-wise but there’s a bit of the sacrifice of the “young girl lead” driven storyline for something much more inclined to seinen or shounen readers like I feel happened with ghost hunt even if it wasn’t too intentional.. (mai liking kazuya in the anime was such an ordeal for me because the reciprocal emotional exchange is vital imo in what pushes a “shoujo” drama storyline forward, and that wasn’t present much in the way I wanted / aka the ghost stories were cool, the interpersonal relationships even outside romance were bland + if there’s one thing that drives shoujo to me it’s that)

I’m just hung up because not once was yuri’s feelings made to look juvenile or a side plot to the horror at hand but a vehicle to carry the plot. It’s intrinsic to it. I suppose hikaru ga shinda natsu is also something I relate to aono kun a lot though I do think it’s hinging more or less on the horror of the situation bc otherwise even this comparison can differ slightly (ie “this horrible thing has happened TO yoshiki and hikaru” versus “this horrible thing has happened with/within yuri and aono”).

All I’m trying to say at the end of this is that it isn’t necessarily that the blend of these genres come out at different points - not one scene is necessarily “shoujo” or “horror” - but something about being able to go through the journey with them and still FEEL like you’re reading kimi ni todoke or kare kano because of the same familiar reoccurring themes found in these classics in what is essentially just a horror retelling of them… that’s what makes it so so special