#aono ryuhei

[seasaltmemories]

The Question of Dark Aono's Role

I don't want to make any definitive statements towards Dark Aono's role in the story on either a literal or metaphorical level. It feels like there is still a lot Shiina is holding back about him; however, I feel like for all the terrible horrors he could represent, at this it is pretty clear Dark Aono is not just a simple abuse allegory

Like I get why it might appear that way early in the story, we don't actually know Aono that well, and neither does Yuri, and stories of men turning "into completely different ppl" once locked into a relationship do exist, what Aono does with his limited agency speaks in direct opposition to that. When he feels he crossed a line, he isolates himself from Yuri and tries to stay away from her. In the cannibalism dream sequence he begs Yuri to run away from him even when she is determined to feed herself. Much of his greatest conflict is about being stuck in this monstrous role and trying to self-sabotage himself.

And like perhaps this could be a seen as a messy representation of the honeymoon phase of abuse, where apologies are made and the abuser is extra affectionate to make up for it, but I lean away from that bc we have much better representations of that in the familial stages. Midori and Hitomi both tend to follow up the worst of their wrong-doings with explicit apologies and excess affection, sometimes immediately after the incident. The Aono to Dark Aono cycling doesn't hit nearly the same beats, even when taking into account the supernatural elements.

While I don't want to lock myself into one interpretation before the story is finished, I always come back to the stairwell incident. Where Dark Aono is shocked in Aono when Yuri informs him he sounds like Midori for saying exactly what his Mother used to tell him. I think of how when he regains control, it is usually followed by shame and self-loathing, sometimes simply saying that his behavior was "weird' or outright calling himself a conman.

It is such a tricky situation bc to me Dark Aono has distinctive quirks and differences from our Aono in attitude/speech/everything, even when both characters try and manipulate others, they do it in very different ways. Yet for as drastic as the switch can be, he is never so clearly an alternate personality or entity taking over. Aono has stated outright that the further in the story he goes, the more aware he grows during this shifts, and many take place specifically due to Aono's emotional state rather than any outside taboo breaking. Dark Aono is both something alien, something intrusive, yet also a painfully familiar thing that clearly originates in himself

In the end I am reminded much more of how the aftereffects of abuse haunt even relationships formed years after escaping the situation. Aono was taught love is choosing one ultimate idol and doesn't realize how fucked up that is until he finds himself parroting the same words back to Yuri. Aono reverts to a child-like state and tries to prove both to others and to himself he is worthy of love when he realized he fucked up in some way. He excuses all his self-destructive self isolating coping mechanisms as necessary even while calling out those same traits in others

But as man-painy and gross the premise of "guy keeps hurting his gf even though he doesn;t want to bc mommy issues and that makes him sad" could be, what makes Shiina's writing compelling is she makes it clear that the one suffering the most here in the present is Yuri. Having sympathy for Aono doesn't make her situation any less worse, and from where volume 10 ends off, there are things Aono needs to answer for that can't be explained away by spooky occult shenanigans. I feel like Aono's ultimate role as either ally or antagonist will be determined by his choices in the end, no matter how many or few he has. There haven't been any easy answers in the story and so I don't except to suddenly discover them this late in the game. But regardless of how it plays out I can't help but already praise her for putting such an interesting and unpredictable spin on "dark alter egos" in a genre that can be overstuffed with them.

[iitspiink]

Lyrics from The Hardest of Hearts by Florence + The Machine

Shoutout to @seasaltmemories for altering my brain chemistry with their amazing aono kun MMV. I will be thinking about it for the rest of my life. Full version as one image & link to the MMV itself under cut :3

[zoellumine]

i wish there was a aono ryuhei cai bot bro i need to HUG him so bad you cantunderstdnejfj

[dead-wives-tourney]

Round 1 Side C

Who is more dead wife?

propaganda:

Hiiragi Mahiru:

She's tragic! She's fucked up! She's killed thousands and feels no remorse! She's just a normal girl in love! She dies horribly before the story even begins, and then comes back to haunt the narrative figuratively and narratively! She's hurt every person who's ever loved her and every person she's ever loved. She's complicated and I love her so very dearly <3

[mod naoto commentary: ANON DO YOU KNOW HOW HAPPY I AM THAT SHE'S SUBMITTED aughhh mahiruuuu]

Ryuhei Aono:

His death is the inciting incident of the series. Since he spends most of it as a ghost haunting his girlfriend of two weeks, there is this delicious tension of uncovering just how little everyone knew about him, and trying to hold onto his presence and memory is what is actively killing the main character

[mod naoto commentary: this match-up is so personal to me]

[d1sc01nf3rn0]

So I have a big theory and I don't know where to put it, so here it goes:

The thing that's gonna incarnate in Yuri's stomach isn't Aono. Is the patron god of the village, Kubinashi sama. The dark Aono is the real Aono.

Based on the whole thing with Sota and the school inventory, we know the ghost always come back, because you're not supposed to offer them anything, and as soon as you do they're turned into evil spirits. We also know from the Sota situation, that every time someone comes back, a part of the patron god, with them. In Sota's case, his "friend". The part where Aono says that it isn't Yotsukubi sama, nor a ghost, but at the same it is, shows that the existence of Kubinashi is not something that's fixed. Furthermore, my theory is that Kubinashi sama is feigning being Aono (the "good" one) due to Yuri's agreement.

Think about it. Yuri and Aono were only dating for two weeks, yet Aono seems to be the perfect boyfriend, despite Fujimoto knowing that he only dated Yuri because he felt bad for her, and that he didn't really knew her. My theory is that this Aono is the part of the agreement of Kubinashi with Yuri: it gave her her perfect vision of Aono, so that she would be satisfied with it and never taking back her agreement. This is why this Aono doesn't have complete memories of how he died, or his childhood. Is an incomplete version of Aono. This Aono also evolves with the time. Every time Yuri changes, Aono also changes to satisfy her desires. This is why the normal Aono didn't know about what happened in the aquarium, but as soon as Yuri learned about it, he suddenly was able to.

Dark Aono is the real Aono, which is why he only comes when certain steps are taken. As the boyfriend of Yuri he doesn't want to hurt her and he is technically part of the deal with Kubinashi. Similar to Sota, who is part of the deal, and is seemingly the perfect brother, that is also part of the deal; Kubinashi only brings back the parts of the deceased the one making the contract remembers. The "dark versions" that appear are the real ones that have grudges and can't pass on. This also explains why he wanted her to eat food of the other world, that way if she gets stuck there, her agreement with Kubinashi will be void.

Dark Sota holds a grudge to his mother for "forgetting him", and to his brother for "causing his death". Dark Aono does not hold a grudge to Yuri, but as a dark spirit, both of them have the desire to grow stronger by getting offerings and sacrifices. The reasoning of this is that those things are different; offerings are usually made directly to the deceased, normally on their tombstones or the family altars, sacrifices are made to deities, and can be done anywhere. So far all the offerings have been made directly to Aono (the food, the eyes) which is why only the dark Aono, the real Aono takes them. The normal Aono can't take them, cause he's not real one, thus they aren't his to take. This explains why the normal Aono couldn't enter the storage room, but dark Aono could. This also gives a possibility: normal Aono can't afford to let Yuri know that he's not the real Aono, cause otherwise that would void the agreement. In agreements, the spirit cannot lie, but they can hide things. This is also shown on the agreement to bring back Sota, Hiroto wasn't told that he was gonna come back as an evil spirit. In the same, Yuri wasn't told that Aono was gonna come back as Dark Aono, and to make her less suspicious, Kubinashi decided to disguise itself as the perfect Aono. If Kubinashi has control over all the spirits in the village, then he could keep dark Aono at bay, except when Aono is called directly, cause that's part of the rules. That's also why normal Aono remembers everything Dark Aono does, cause technically, spirits are part of Kubinashi's domain; not enough to control what they do, but enough to know what they do.

So, Yuri sacrificed herself, offered her life in exchange of Aono. Now based on the Kubinashi ritual, we know that every ghost agreement isn't made with the ghosts, but with Kubinashi sama; the ghosts are only part of the exchange. And Kubinashi sama makes use of the sacrifices however they seem fit or convenient. In the kids case it involved a game, but in Yuri's case it involved being reincarnated. We also know ghosts can't really come back, except as well.. ghosts. So that further solidifies that argument.

Part of this theory is that Nozomi's family is a family of ommyoujis. But that due to the times changing, and the lack of sacrifices, they probably left that tradition behind, and thus Nozomi was never really talked about her heritage. This part comes from the fact that Nozomi's grandma seems to know a lot about the village story with Kubinashi, and despite being a ghost she has powers that ghosts otherwise don't have, like taking over Nozomi without her permission, entering her dream, or taking control of the snake in Nozomi's dream. This also comes from her clothing, which are clothes people wear to funerals (the visitors are the ones that wear it, the deceased usually wears white clothes), but black clothes are also associated with the highest rank of Shinto priests.

Furthermore, Nozomi's grandma is effectively Nozomi's shikigami as of now, one out of devotion and not sacrifice. This is why she helping her during her dream was accepted, she is technically an extension of Nozomi.

Another part of why the agreement with Yuri is different, is because they're kids. Yuri is a virgin who's in age of conceiving (the chapter showing her having her period wasn't a coincidence). Ghosts cannot come back, but deities can, given they have a vessel. In this case, Yuri's stomach. The fact that Yuri's family has a history with Kubinashi isn't out of the question, neither. It's is possible that like Nozomi's family, Yuri's family must have a tie to the Kubinashi ritual in some way. If the Kariya family has a tie to sacrifices, it could even possibly explain what happened to Yuri's older brother. Let's not forget that in some traditions you're supposed to sacrifice your first born. This could also explain the situation behind her older brother.

Now I know this is wild but, my theory is that Yuri's parents had to sacrifice his older child, and had Midori hoping she could be sacrifices instead. As per the rules, only the first child was accepted, and they grow to hate Midori because of this. They had Yuri either as an unplanned pregnancy, or in hopes of having a second boy to replace the first one, but it failed. This is also why the first child is never really talked about.

So, not only the Kariya family has something to do with sacrifices, and abnormal virgin pregnancies related to deities; Yuri would inherently be sacrificing her first born by making her birth a god.

So, the theory is this: the village where Yuri lives is controlled by Kubinashi, and her family has a tie to it by doing sacrifices, and Nozomi's family by being priests. Yuri didn't make an agreement with Aono, she made an agreement with Kubinashi to bring back Aono, and now she has to birth Kubinashi, while Aono returned as just a dark spirit.

[acryliquesblog]

“Waaahhhh" "stop calling me a liar" "stop contradicting me" "Teenage rebel-"

SHUT UP

Chapter 69: The Birthday ②

[stackslip]

ryuhei aono is not a dead wife that is not what a dead wife is. he is in fact quite the opposite

[alazyparallelworld]

rgrk

[thatyanderecritic]

I want to hold Aono-kun so badly I could die

Title: I want to hold Aono-kun so badly I could die

Media: Manga, written by Umi Shiina

Yandere(s): Ryuhei Aono

Yandere Scale: 0/5

Criticism written by: Kai

Editor: Julie

The Review:

Hey there everyone! Kai here and I’m back with another review. This time I’ll be reviewing a manga that appeared on my dash as a yandere recommendation from a yandere blog that I follow. Needless to say, I was a bit… confused by the recommendation post. I never got the sense that Aono was a yandere or a possible yandere when I read the first chapter. I decided to give the story a go and… well… my impression wasn’t wrong.

I want to hold Aono-kun so badly I could die is a manga about how Yuri’s boyfriend, Aono, died and became a ghost. At Aono’s death, Yuri was so distressed, she was planning to kill herself to join Aono in the afterlife but Aono’s ghost appeared before her to stop her from killing herself. Things were supposed to be all good and well since they were together but after Yuri gave Aono permission to possess her body, things started going downhill and the horror elements start to appear.

Now, with that summary and the misleading dialogue, I can see why people could mistaken Aono as a yandere. But if you read through the entire manga in one sitting, you can see a clear image that Aono is more or less a normal guy and that his dark side is just Aono being corrupted into an evil spirit (basically a monster. Not a yandere). I’ll take a quick moment to highlight the more glaring points that would trip up a person.

1. Aono possessing Yuri’s body. In the manga, the biggest conflict going on is how Dark Aono want to possess Yuri’s body. And no, we’re not saying that in a yandere context of “I want to own your body and soul. You only love me.” but more in a “The Last Exorcism” sense of “I’m the devil and I’m going to send this little girl’s soul to hell.” Aono might have creepy lines like “Let me in” that sound yandere but it’s not. We can compare Aono’s lines to the devil saying “Ay yo pretty lady. Let me into your body and twist your head around while violent puking.” Bottom line, “Dark Aono” is just an evil spirit and not a yandere.

2. Aono hurt the guy who hurt Yuri. I… don’t actually have an explanation for this one and so does all the characters in the manga either. Truth be told, it doesn’t feel like Dark Aono did it for Yuri. I have a theory that Dark Aono hurt the guy because he was “damaging the goods”, aka the body Aono wants to possess.

3. Aono wants to take Yuri away from her bad home life. This is an action that is actually pretty normal when you think about it. Let’s say, hypothetically, you find out your best friend is living in an abusive household? Wouldn’t you want to take them away too? Aono’s train of thought here is pretty normal for someone in his position. And his thoughts about it weren’t particularly twisted either. He was just thinking, “Maybe I should take Yuri to safety with me?” Nothing weird here.

4. Dark Aono expressing emotions, being creepy, and calling Yuri beautiful. I want to first start out by saying that just because a guy is acting creepy or saying creepy lines, it does not automatically make him a yandere. Also Dark Aono suddenly expressing emotions and calling Yuri beautiful is nothing amazing. It’s pretty logical. Again, comparing Dark Aono to the devil. If the devil is trying to coax his victim into giving their soul, wouldn’t you think the devil would do ANYTHING to for it? The same goes for Dark Aono. Originally, Dark Aono didn’t need to do anything in particular to have Yuri act a certain way. But once Yuri started to distrust Dark Aono and listen to her friends, Dark Aono had a sudden act change to basically “seduce” Yuri under his thumb once again. Basically, this is just Dark Aono changing tactics in baiting Yuri.

As we see, there’s a logical explanation to every action and scene in this manga that doesn’t point to Aono being a yandere. If we really have to search for a yandere in the manga, Yuri is the closest thing to being a yandere and that’s already a stretch. If anything, we can maybe even say that the reason why Dark Aono acts like that is due to Yuri’s actions and it’s feeding off the negative energy. Regardless, this is a scenario of “A monster is not a yandere but a yandere could be a monster.” Now that the question of, “Is Aono a yandere?” being debunked, let’s talk about the story.

I actually quite like it. It was very entertaining and a decent horror read. While it’s not really “Scary scary”, the story did give me the shivers at certain points. It was mostly the scenes that have Aono doing something sketchy and Yuri just shakes it off or ignore it, now that got me because stupidity is the scariest thing of all. Let’s talk about Yuri for a hot second. I read some weird heroines before but, Yuri is by far the weirdest in the “thought process department”. I mean yeah, the excuse for the reason why Yuri is… like “that” is because she comes from an abusive home but that’s just a cheap cop out. What more, she still acts pretty weird even for a kid who comes from an abusive home. I guess that’s just a Japanese heroine thing. The weirdest heroines with the oddest thought process all come from Japanese stories in my opinion  ┐(‘～`；)┌ While I’m not Japanese (I’m Filipino), I can normally understand where the heroine is coming from in other Asian stories (because we have some basis in Asian households… I’m sure Julie would agree with me on that) but it’s only the Japanese heroines that really get me scratching my head.

Anyways, I’ll stop rambling. The TL;DR of this story is this: Aono isn’t a yandere. Yuki is weird as fuck. The group should see a priest already to send Aono’s spirit off and Yuri X Aono’s best friend would make a cuter couple than Aono X Yuri (just sayin’). It’s a good read but don’t try reading it if you’re looking for a yandere.

Edit: Julie here, I got interested in the story while reading Kai’s reviews and I agree; Aono’s not really a yandere but it seems like ghost Aono being possessed by a demon and using Aono personality to get to Yuri. Overall it’s a very good story and it kept me entertained :)

Overall Score: 5/10

[seasaltmemories]

Got my sad doomed hets formally commissioned and the artist did a banger job! Check her out!

[dead-wives-tourney]

Round 2 Side C

who is more dead wife?

propaganda:

Polites:

Polites very much embodies the dead wife in those movies after whose death the main character becomes more jaded and loses faith in the idea of the world being kind

Ryuhei Aono:

His death is the inciting incident of the series. Since he spends most of it as a ghost haunting his girlfriend of two weeks, there is this delicious tension of uncovering just how little everyone knew about him, and trying to hold onto his presence and memory is what is actively killing the main character

[moc naoto commentary: my boy,,,,,]

[seasaltmemories]

Time for me to pull out my fave 3 x 3 meme

[seasaltmemories]

I Want To Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die is a critically acclaimed horror manga that asks the question: what if the teen lovers too horny to notice the danger they were in didn't get killed off and discarded but were the protagonists who kept trying to bang instead of solving their paranormal problems

[seasaltmemories]

EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP AND WATCH THE MMV MY FRIEND MADE FOR ME!!!!

[stackslip]

the fucking tragedy of teppei, abused and abandoned by his family and loathing his older brother for years, even after ryuhei came back and had a quiet life pretending nothing bad had happened with their mom. then he up and dies, and teppei is alone again, and both relieved that ryuhei is gone and devastated at being abandoned again, only for him to meet his brother's vengeful ghost, who immediately start choking him. and the moment the choking stops and the "good version" of his big brother returns teppei can't even see him anymore..... he never once got to see these 'good' aspects of his brother, not even in death. again and again he's the one who catches the absolute worst of aono's behaviour and he can't even speak to others about it bc they're all persuaded he's an angel and that the 'dark' aspects can't possibly be linked to aono himself. meanwhile aono would be the first to agree that he was a terrible older brother to say the least. augh.