Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru. "A Cruel God Reigns," in English.
Some call this a "Boys' Love" series. But that's a lie. Because there is no love. This is not a fluffy bunny shounen-ai or yaoi. This is a chilling, horrifyingly realistic story of long-term sexual abuse. It is the life inside a nightmare.
Never has my blood boiled so much in anger while reading a manga. Greg, the man who came from abroad to marry Jeremy's widowed mother isn't just interested in her. He's also interested in Jeremy. A two-for-the-price-of-one marriage. He says he loves
...
Sandra wholeheartedly. And he tells Jeremy that he loves just as much: he tells him as he rapes him.
Jeremy's sense of intimacy is shattered, and sex is now a dirty thing. He is shocked and dismayed when his girlfriend tells him that his way of kissing has become strange. When she wants to have sex, he is frightened, and afraid of the touch of skin.
And he has no one to turn to for help. His girlfriend would feel betrayed if she knew he'd been intimate with another person, and an older man at that. Sandra, his mother, has several screws loose. She is very mentally fragile, and had attempted suicide several times in the past. She has no skill in reading people's moods, and is utterly selfish. There is no way he can tell her that her adored husband is having nightly trysts in her son's room. Greg also holds her over Jeremy's head, threatening to tell her about their "relationship" if he tries to protest or run away.
Greg takes Jeremy and Sandra from their home in New England to his mansion in Britain, where live his two younger sons, he being a widower. As Sandra continues to smile and enjoy the happy illusion that all is well, Jeremy begins to have suspicions that Greg's former wife was murdered. People are hiding something. Could Sandra also be in danger?
As I said, this series made me very mad. Not mad at the author. Mad at Greg. At Sandra. At Greg's son Ian who doesn't put two and two together. At the woman who knows what is going on but does not stop it. Angry about this terrible situation that this boy is being forced into. I want to smack Greg, and kill him slowly, excruciatingly. He is a monster. He is insane. And the story feels all too horribly realistic. The tone feels very real. Sexual abuse by parents and step-parents happens all too often. I felt like I was watching real events being enacted. I felt sick.
The abuse is not depicted graphically, thankfully. But you can see enough to make a good guess what's going on. The shock, fear and helplessness comes through vividly. What I wouldn't give to see Greg with his cruel hands locked in a prison forever, and Jeremy taken somewhere where he can be safe, and never threatened again.
This is an older story, which began publication in 1993, by Hagio Moto, considered one of the "Founding Mothers" of the Boys' Love genre, and author of the 1974 work "Heart of Thomas." The art style is a little bit old-school, but not very. I'm very picky about my art, and detest a lot of the older shoujo styles, but hers I like. It is very expressive, and the characters have variety and…well, character. Also, because of her roots in early shounen-ai, may explain why she is careful to craft a good story, unlike most modern yaois, which have unrealistic settings, stereotypical characters, and are all about idealized sex.
The characters are all exceptionally-made. Jeremy is just a normal boy. He has a girlfriend, is attached to and protective of his mother as his only family member, and does things normal boys do. After his crushing experiences, he reacts as a person can be expected to. Sandra is a high-strung woman (who doesn't deserve her son) and has the immaturity of a young girl who dreams of a romantic prince coming to sweep her off her feet. And she constantly makes inferences about people, accusing them, something high-strung people really do. And her demands cause people around her to try to keep her happy, and keep her mind at peace. Greg is a filthy old pedophile, who can finagle anyone into doing anything, lying to himself, saying that what he does is "true love." He is one of those awful people who would do the world a favor by dying, yet they still life prosperous lives, leaving a wake of tragedy behind them.
I had heard of this manga a lot before I tried reading it. I generally don't read yaois, and I after reading the synopsis I thought it would be graphic and gratuitous and all about giving sadistic yaoi fans a "high." But I am glad to say I had sadly underestimated it.
This is a good story. A very good story. But it is very cruel. It won't make you very happy--if it does, something is wrong with you. But it is good. Good in the way anything is when it presents an excellently-crafted story, believable characters, and a high tone of realism. I think anyone who is a fan of good manga will appreciate this.
 Alternative TitlesSynonyms: A Cruel God Reigns, A Cruel God Rules in Heaven, A Savage God Reigns, After Us, the Savage God, Zankoku na Kami ga Shihaisuru Japanese: 残酷な神が支配する InformationType: Manga
Volumes: 17
Chapters: 55
Status: Finished
Published: May 26, 1992 to May 26, 2001
Theme:
Psychological
Demographic:
Shoujo
Serialization:
Petit Flower Authors:
Hagio, Moto (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #4732 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #2049
Members: 9,633
Favorites: 411 Resources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 18 / 18
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Jun 15, 2011
Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru. "A Cruel God Reigns," in English.
Some call this a "Boys' Love" series. But that's a lie. Because there is no love. This is not a fluffy bunny shounen-ai or yaoi. This is a chilling, horrifyingly realistic story of long-term sexual abuse. It is the life inside a nightmare. Never has my blood boiled so much in anger while reading a manga. Greg, the man who came from abroad to marry Jeremy's widowed mother isn't just interested in her. He's also interested in Jeremy. A two-for-the-price-of-one marriage. He says he loves ... 
Jan 8, 2009
The artwork is really eye-catching at times, great detail, very beautiful and distinct. A dramatic story that really grabs you from the very first pages. I come across this manga by accident, and was so glad I did.
It's a detailed story although the page count isn't high, a lot of info is discussed for a manga and things go on. It is a continuing series, so I will look forward to reading more from this writer. 
Nov 3, 2013
I've been itching to write this for a long time by now.
Story 10/10 Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru is a catching story about a high school boy trying to cope with his stepfather regularly abusing him. He's suffering, running away, crying and losing it, then he faces it and solves his problem only to find another one. He is constantly giving up and trying to vanish, then being forced to live and try again. It's not 'BL' as such, but certainly a piece full of love, desire, overlooking, suffering and regret. Art 8/10 This manga started in 1993. That is a year before I was even ... 
Apr 26, 2011
This is one of the earliest BL mangas out there, I believe, and you can definitely see the striking differences between the shounen-ai emerging 30 years ago compared to today. The visuals especially are different. Boys look like boys (kind of. Still have bambi eyes, still hairless. And Ian, who appears a bit later, is a definite bishonen.) There is a nice amount background and not a lot of skimping on the characters' details.
What struck me most about this manga was how disturbingly realistic it is. The abused protagonist is not a helpless creature. He's just a normal boy with normal friends and a normal ... 
Aug 3, 2012
[SPOILER WARNING]
Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru, otherwise known as A Cruel God Reins in its English translation, is much more than just your ordinary story. What's astonishing about this is that the plot is not extraordinary at all. It has no fantasy elements, no sci-fi, no action, and it's definitly not even close to being what many would consider a romance. No, what is most appealing about this manga is not any form of grandeur but the realism of it's plot and characters. This manga takes a serious plot line and actually portrays it and its subject matter in a true-to-life fashion. Rape, torture, emotional ... 
Dec 6, 2014
Vulnerabilities are like glass threads. Communicating, the desire to understand one another- there's always a risk of breaking. The world is filled with people in the process of breaking. If you want to go through life without getting hurt, the only option is isolation. If its one or the other, in order not to break and not be broken, is choosing isolation equal to death? If so, is death something to be so afraid of in the first place?
Maybe there's someone out there who doesn't fear death, in that vein, isolation. We don't really hear from them, so they seemingly don't exist. Surely they exist. ... 
Feb 13, 2019
Words cannot describe how much I love this manga. First of, I don't read shojo manga and I'm surprised by how hooked I was with a series that doesn't particularly cater to my tastes . Without getting into massive spoilers, A Cruel God Reigns is about Jeremy, a young man who is blackmailed by his stepfather Greg, after he marries his suicidal mother Sandra. If Jeremy doesn't comply, Greg will divorce Sandra which may be the last straw to push her off the edge and end her life. This manga is heavy, and I am only briefly going over what it's about.
I believe this manga ... 
Aug 16, 2021
This manga was a nightmare.
I could've gone to hell and back and would've seen still more horrendous substance in this manga. In fact this manga feels like a falling-down to hell, but one-way, without a return ticket. Jeremy, a Bostonian, immigrates to England with his mother after she remarries Greg, who renders Jeremy into his "weekend lover". When his mother and Greg eventually die, how is Jeremy left to deal with the dregs of trauma from Greg's abuse and guilt over their suspicious deaths? Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru is legitimately 86 chapters and 17 volumes long- and when I say it's long, ... 
May 5, 2019
I felt compelled to write this review in order to point out the hidden gem that this manga is. Written by Hagio Moto, A Cruel God Reigns is a tragic story that focuses on the life of Jeremy, a high school boy who is regularly sexually abused by his step-father, until in his fragile mental state, he decides to murder him. His plan is carried out successfully, however by accident he becomes responsible for his mother’s death as well.
Hagio Moto herself said that while in the works, she was pondering how it’s possible for mothers to know of the sexual abuse their kid has ... 
Mar 27, 2017
Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai suru ―or A Cruel God Reigns in english― isn’t the shoujo I expected nor the level of drama I ever read in manga. The author, Moto Hagio, is considered to be part in the Year 24 Group (24年組), group that revolutionized the shoujo manga, and I can say, that she did it with this.
Story 10/10 The story isn’t fanciful at all and that’s why this become one of my favorites manga. The drama is so real, is easy for the reader to empathize with the protagonist Jeremy who is suffering abuse from his stepfather to protect her suicidal mom and ... 
Sep 22, 2018
I let my instinct guide when choosing new manga to read, and never read tags nor summaries. When I came across this manga, I didn’t even read the title or anything, the front cover told me “Read me” and I did. I don’t regret my choice but, really, I would have loved to have been prepared for what I was about to read.
Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru, or A Cruel God Reigns, is not for the faint of heart. This wasn't a pleasant ride through a spring park, it was a free fall into the darkest realms of the mind. I won’t ... 
Apr 21, 2022
It's way too long and dragged out. I cried numerous times in the beginning of the story and was just captivated by the tragic events that unfolded, however, that captivation dwindled into boredom. The characters kept backtracking their progress and the same sad elements were overplayed so much I stopped crying and started rolling my eyes. It basically felt like this:
Introduction Rising action climax climax Falling action? No climax climax X10000 I dropped this because reading it just became exhausting. I liked the beginning and would love to know where the characters end up, but I've attempted to finish this twice and failed both times, it's not worth it. 
Jan 7, 2019
Would you rather have a shitty life where your abused everyday while the one you love most is happy, or would you rather you live without that life without abuse while the one you love the most, is in a deep state of depression yearning for the love they once had. That was how "A cruel God reigns" opened with Jeremy choosing his mother's happiness over his, either choice, someone is going to end up dead physically or mentally.
Jeremy the main character chooses to protect his mother from spiralling into depression by assuring that her fiancee Greg doesn't break up her. Jeremy has to ... 
Jul 21, 2022
How does it feel to have your feelings to be put on a leash? To have your freedom and chance to be happy taken away? Jeremy finds the answers to these questions through the hard way when he is forced with his stepfather’s sexual abuse.
This was a hard manga for me to read through. Seeing Jeremy fall victim to the horrible abuse that his new stepfather does to him is guranteed to bring up the feeling of disgust and hatred in all of us. Though it may sound negative, this is a praise to the series. The story is able to depict such ... 
Apr 17, 2019
THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY OUTRAGEOUSLY GOOD YAOI. That is if you enjoy something with good plots. I would recommend this to many people, they just need to push through a few chapters and I feel that they'd be hooked in only a few minutes. I read a LOT of yaoi and I can say this is one of the good ones.
However, it might not be a very good one to read while in the middle of something that takes up a lot of time. the yaoi is long and requires a lot of attention to fully enjoy it. The art might be the ... 
Sep 24, 2017
As someone who's experienced something similar, this was hard to read yet enjoyable.
The characters are complex, and I can say I admire that the most. Anyone who reads this might have a drastically different view of the characters than another person, mostly because the characters seem to have a whole different level of complexity than I have seen before. The realistic aspects of it, including how some of Jeremy's situations were handled poorly, add to the realistic aspects of the story(Realistic as in a lot of abuse cases are handled poorly). Jeremy even reminded me of myself. The struggles, every single struggle, and how is self-worth ... 
May 15, 2020
[CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS]
Heartbroken, after watching Banana Fish, I wandered online and I asked to the mighty google, “please, can you give me a manga like Banana Fish but with a happy ending? I beg of you, mighty google.” And the mighty google said “After us a savage god” This is a long one, a 17 volumes and complete manga, and I recommend reading all the warnings before even approaching it. The manga contains domestic abuse, grooming, assaults, suicide, murder, prostitution, drugs, violence, an adult taking advantage of a minor, unhealthy relationships, all the worst of the worst. There are no graphic scenes, but just the allusion to ... 
May 14, 2023
I’ve never read a story narrated like this one. It appears there is no structure, not even a well organized and hidden structure, no scenes to show you this, no dialogues to show you that, it is simply life. You see a part of a boy’s life and then you leave. There is no dramatic ending, only characters moving from one stage to the next. This is not to say it’s random and badly written, but it’s played so natural to the point where it feels as if you are living through him. It is flawless. You can hear its music. You can see the
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