Twilight Out of Focus

nanaosaki66 Nov 10, 2020

4.8

TW: mentions of sexual assault and pedophilla. Proceed with caution. I saw someone review this manga and they gave it a high score, so I wanted to read it too and see what the hype was. I was very disappointed, to put it lightly. The worst thing about this manga is that it had so much potential, it really did. The dialogue flowed well, in my opinion, the opening pages were really good and made me interested in what was happening, and the art was really good to me. But then there's a random ass sexual assault scene....yayyyyy. And, you know what, I was going to let it just slide and pretend it never happened, but I can't. What was the fucking point of that scene? It's pushed under the rug because the love interest was sick. I'm guessing the author wants us to believe that being sick makes you so delirious that you sexually assault people. To top it all off, though, the romance moved way too quickly. It would've been more believable if they said that they liked each other, not that they were IN LOVE with each other. It's only been five chapters, calm down. Also it's revealed that the love interest was in a very bad relationship with a man a whole lot older than him. The relationship started when he was young, so he was essentially groomed. It's not seen as a good thing, which is great, but it's such an unimportant thing and is never brought up again, not even to the main character, so I'm not seeing why that had to be added in. 

UmeSaruma Nov 9, 2020

9.9

I really love the descriptions made. So beautiful and conveyed so amazingly. It's definetly worth a read.  Movie-Making is so much fun ;)))

tsukinohana Jul 23, 2023

8

The story is very much like an indie film. It's rather bittersweet, but has a pretty sappy and fitting ending. It's rather angsty. The romance went at a very agreeable pace for a one-volume manga. Spoiler, but important to mention: the love interest is in a toxic relationship and was groomed; this is thankfully presented as very awful. I was somewhat uncomfortable by the sex scenes here due to his trauma, but there's nothing wrong with them. There is somewhat dub con scene early on but it's because the character is very ill and has been abused for a long time; I wasn't too bothered by it (they talk it out) but it might be triggering. This is a single volume so it's not like anything is going to be touched on too in-depth. The art is very pretty. Hair moves to express sentiments, and limbs have a very particular flow. There is something about the way blushing is depicted here that's really appealing to me. The paneling is a bit stiff on occasion. The characters are rather weak - the main character is a typical quiet, introspective person who's also the cameraman in the production they're filming, which fits his role of "stoic point of view." The love interest is one of those "punks" who have dyed hair and piercings but are very quiet people. He's suffered emotional abuse and that's treated well by the narrative (in as much it could be in one volume). But the couples works pretty well. Overall, it's a nice short read that satisfies a very specific craving for bittersweet love story. It's not perfect, but it's quite good and gorgeous.