In which we read God Awful Shoujo (GAS) and weep madly/try to figure out what went wrong.

I read the entire thing.
Now you understand a fraction of my pain.

Hi, from page 1!

The first story is very similar to the horror movie genre, just saying.

I'm mainly surprised that they had a random throne in the middle of the audience hall.

School, you should know when your student council is embezzling money from club funds or something.

You read the whole thing?

Now I know I need to share your pain, just because.

Also, Rot, it gets worse. Much worse.

I'm just sad this is the first time I see a realistic depiction of how bigs wings on a goddamn human would have to be if someone wants them to be of any use.

Okay, here are some guidelines to LRing here in order to keep everything somewhat organized. I think we should have the link of the next LR posted in the first post of the previous one, like I've done with Love Celeb. So people can skip through the links to the ones they want to read. So Umazes, would you be able to link to Rot's first post of Love Celeb?

Rot , you know your limit. That's a good thing : ) I think I went over it by 2 chapters....I can't remember anything because my brain blocked all the trauma out.

"Oh, so this is Love Monster...it could have been worse!"

I suppose this is the moment where I leave for a quest to find my standards?

Done~ I like that this is a kind of tag-team thing XD

That wasn't so bad... No I'm not gonna go and see how wrong I am. Okay, maybe in the future.

What... So how much worse does it actually get?

Edit: Wonderful. I am cursing my own curiosity right about now. *headdesk*
Edit2: Oh hell no. Heeeell no. He did not just. That is not ok. WHAT THE FUCK.

I think by some point there should be a LR of an actually good shoujo manga... just to restore faith in shoujo manga.

Why did I make myself read this? orz

I have just read all of Akuma na Eros, and I'm not sure why I did. -.-

To be fair, I did look at both of them, then decided that, if Love Celeb was much worse, I wasn't going to put myself through 7 volumes of bad shoujo, when I could just read 4 instead~ Ahhahahahhaha :D Ha ha ha, haaa... D:
I just... Why? D':
Though I totally managed to figure out one of the plot "twists" (if it could even be called that) right near the beginning. Was pretty obvious, actually. :T

Oh god help me now I'm darkly fascinated by Love Monster. How bad can it be, right?

Let’s Read Love Monster! A Blind Adventure with Rot.
Chapter 2 Part 1


And you thought I was done, didn’t you?
BWAHAHAHAHAH
/sob

Chapter 2 Part 2

I'm afraid rot, from your long "FUCK YOU" in there, that is entirely what he has in mind. All night long. :|

I'm not going to post my LR in spoiler tags because not having italics makes me sangry, but I will spoiler the full page images from now on. I'm sorry I am so thoughtless about your browsers :(

So chapter 19 starts after Gin and Kirara had sex. Gin takes her to his company and everyone remarks on how much happier he looks these days. Kirara blushes her way through every single panel that features her face.

Gin is a little Smug McSmugPants about the entire situation last night when they see Hanamaki, and then...

Kirara apologizes and starts crying and then OMGWTFBBQ HANAMAKI KISSES HER TOTALLY DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING

Bitch, please. I realized this was going to happen in the first chapter.

Pun intended.

Hanamaki is super mean to her after that and gives her all kinds of sexualized jobs and photoshoots, but then tells her that none of them are good because her body isn't attractive any more. I'm sorry, since when does having sex change your entire body?????

He tells her that she has a spot on a TV show and she better not have sex anymore because then she'll risk getting even uglier(???), and Gin is not happy:

NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOUUUUUUUUUU

Gin basically says that he's going to get his week's worth tonight and starts touching Kirara. Hanamaki overhears this and GETS SO SANGRY HE CRACKS THE WALL WITH HIS FIST



Or maybe he's just angry. I don't know, and I'd rather not understand how these characters think.

When Kirara goes to film the show, she has to take a plane with Hanamaki. Somehow they end up alone together in the middle of nowhere (and no, they didn't get lost). Kirara is understandably nervous about this.

At the end of the chapter, there is a little panel of Gin talking in his sleep about sex. At this point I've given up on understanding why anything happens in this manga.

Let's Read Love Monster! A Blind Adventure with Rot.

Chapter 2 Part 2

Chapter 2 Part 3

Oh man, with both Rot and I LPing at the same time this thread will become 2awful4u



THIS IS NOT A NORMAL THING MANAGERS DO, EVER, IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE

So basically... all the love interests in these things are complete selfish assholes (and oftentimes sex offenders), and the main character is an ineffectual doormat?

It turns out that Gin has been anxiously tracking Kirara's travel for this trip, and realizes she is not where she should be????? WTF Hanamaki did you kidnap her?!

SO THEN HE ASKS THE MILITARY IF HE CAN BORROW ONE OF THEIR SATELLITES TO FIND HER.

Hanamaki gets VERY, VERY creepy and help I need an adult

I won't post it here, because I love all of you

Just kidding about not posting it.

Let's Read Love Monster! A Blind Adventure with Rot.

Chapter 2 Part 3

In which life for Ponytails gets even more terrible. Some of the material here could be triggering, so proceed with caution.

Given that this can only get worse and Love Celeb was depressing enough, I will not be continuing this. I will aim more towards manga that are hilariously bad instead of "MY EYES THEY BURN WHY" bad in the future.
Don't read this manga. Just don't.

AND THEN HANAMAKI BLACKMAILS HER INTO HAVING SEX WITH HIM AFTER SHE PROTESTS WHEN HE STARTS RAPING HER AND I AM SO FUCKING DONE WITH THIS MANGA I COULD SCREAM

Question! Is a godawful yaoi manga acceptable provided I skip over the NSFW bits?
...
Which is, granted, around 80% of the manga?

Umazes

This is my face.
Right now.

Apparently no one knows their limit here.

It turns out he was wearing pants but I am not any more okay with this because SHE WAS SCREAMING NO.

Kirara says she wants to quit the entertainment industry because fuck this but then Hanamaki says that if she quits he'll be forced to embrace (my brain is translating this to rape) her because he won't have to worry about the manager-idol thing any more.

I am screaming so much I can't believe my lungs haven't given way.

Then suddenly Kirara changes her mind about quitting and they hug and both decide to forget everything that just happened.

BUT I'M NOT GOING TO FORGET, GODDAMN YOU. MAYU HAS RUINED MY LIFE AND I WILL HOLD THIS GRUDGE FOR ETERNITY.

Meanwhile Gin has gone to Morocco and back when Kirara meets him at the airport and was like "sorry jk I was in Japan the entire time!!!" and even though I think Gin is an asshole who deserves to die alone, I feel a bit sorry for him.

Gin pulls more bullshit and then asks Kirara to marry him. She agrees and then they have sex, but it turns out that she misunderstood the entire conversation they just had about Gin wanting her to be his private idol. She didn't realize he actually wants her to quit the entertainment industry.

At this point I feel like my brain is leaking out of my ears.

That's what I'm doing, there are many, many NSFW bits I'm skipping over.

Why is such a cute looking manga so terrible?

Okay.
/Not Okay.

I'm not leaving shonen manga ever again.

Kirara says she doesn't want to quit, and just like that Gin does a 180 and asks if she wants to be his enemy. But you wanted to get married to her and you're in love with her and goddamn I just give up, you're all insane.

I'm starting to think that maybe this is a Hot Gimmick thing, and we're supposed to realize that EVERY SINGLE guy she meets is a horrifying sexual predator and/or mentally unstable?

Because that's all I am getting.

Gin goes apeshit and makes sure all of Kirara's jobs are cancelled, essentially blacklisting her.

She finally manages to scrape a job and hugs Hanamaki in excitement before awkwardly apologizing once she realizes what she just did, but TOO LATE! Gin appeared out of nowhere and saw it. And then it gets REALLY NOT OKAY again:

And then this happens:

At which point I decide that this mangaka is a fucking idiot and I can never be friends with anyone who thinks her works are good. IF YOU EVER BUY THIS MANGA I WILL JUDGE YOU SO HARD THAT THE SUPREME COURT THROWS YOU IN PRISON.

Then Kirara finally comes to her senses and realizes that Gin is an abusive asshole but WHAT CAN SHE DO?!???!?!? SHE STILL IS IN LOVE WITH HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then Gin proceeds to be a creepy weirdo all over a poster of Kirara on the wall and I just
I just can't

Kirara loses that job because Gin left marks all over her skin, and Hanamaki picks a fight with Gin.



I'm actually sobbing because this has gone so far past the realm of 'okay' that

I think maybe Mayu has some serious issues

You just can't write this stuff

Fuck

Kirara finds Gin beating the shit out of Hanamaki and screams and begs for him to stop, and then

I am really, really, REALLY hoping that this is supposed to be 50 shades of Not Okay because otherwise my head will explode.

This manga is not Love Celeb. This is Abusive Boyfriend and Manager Abuse the Most Masochistic Celeb.

And then Gin finally shows his true colours. I should feel satisfied, content that my anger was justified all this time. But all I feel is a deep sense of regret and sadness.

Three pages later I realize that that entire hate-filled chapter was actually supposed to just be a Love Obstacle, because Kirara feels even more determined to succeed and make Gin like her. And Gin hears that she has taken on a really degrading and embarrassing job, and he just chuckles. Then we see that he's been kissing her during her breaks.

I want to throw myself out of a window.

Eight chapters to go.

D:

I hope they don't end up together. This is sickening.
Somehow I'm praying this ends in Kirara committing double homicide.
...
they're going to end up together, aren't they? *sobbing*

A timeskip(??) later, we find that Kirara has been working very hard and has become successful. It's finally time for her to perform at the Tokyo Dome, her dream stage since the beginning of this manga.

This horrible, hate-filled, disgusting manga.

Kirara announces at the beginning of her performance that after this, she will quit the entertainment industry and become a private idol for one person only. I want to stop reading, I really do, but I'm so close to the end.

And then Gin gets on stage and embraces(?) her and I really hope that this time it was only a little kissing with that hug, because if they actually had sex in front of 500 thousand people I want to kill myself even more.

At this point I would like you guys to know that the same masochistic translator group translated this and Love Monster, because all of the translator credits have Love Monster pictures on them. TWO HORRIBLE TASTES THAT TASTE HORRIBLE TOGETHER, ALL FOR THE PRICE OF LIFETIME SCARRING

A while later, Kirara (16 years old, holy fuck all of this shit happened to a 16-year-old, can I throw myself out of that window now) has quit the entertainment industry and is living with Gin. FINALLY, after ALL OF THIS, Gin feels a bit regretful that he made her do it and is like are you really okay with this?

To which I scream, YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE, DON'T PRETEND TO HAVE ANY FEELINGS OR COMPASSION FOR OTHERS.

Maybe Gin's an alien who was learning how to be human this entire time. That's the only explanation I can think of.

Kirara has been conditioned and brainwashed to feel like she has disappointed Gin every time he gets angry. I feel sad for her. It's like one of those awful social experiments. She has been put through so much abuse that she has psychological problems that cause her to feel responsible for literally everything, and she has been conditioned to respond by working harder.

I'm sorry, Kirara. I'm so sorry.



Fuck you, there's so much you did, this is the least of it. Apologize for the other stuff too, asshole.

Kirara is so brainwashed that when he says some other bullshit later, she just smiles. Maybe she has withdrawn deep inside of herself as a protection mechanism, and I wouldn't blame her. This entire manga just feels wrong.

What makes people think writing this shit is okay? Did the mangaka go through something similar and this is her way of justifying her choices? Do people find this romantic? Do the editors look at this and not feel even a tinge of horror?
That is so frightening and protagonist is so unhealthy. He raped you. He is a monster. Leave and never ever look back.
And both Gin and the manager are in desperate need of neutering.