The end mark, 7, is a result of complex math in this case.
It’s a thought-provoking, decently written, dramatic seinen on an unusual, but very relevant topic – usury. I don’t know about the place where you live, but here there’re a lot of shady businesses that offer “money now, no documents needed”, and the reports about the results of such deals are scary. That’s basically what this manga is about, pachinko addiction, forced prostitution, beatings and greedy yakuza included. The unorthodox topic, the courage of introducing a completely unsympathetic cast and the hard, unyielding wall of misery, this manga meets you with, deserve some credit, right? So maybe 8?
On the other hand, reading this is unpleasant, horrifying even, if you’re, perhaps, not financially secure. The topics of forced prostitution, violence, extensive humiliation and illegal activities are highly uncomfortable, and what’s worse these actions are performed by none others than by the characters that we follow! You shrink away in horror, so utterly people are destoyed and beaten in the mud. Normally, I give the rating of 6 to the series, that can be recommended only with a warning.
And as the plot goes by, the story shifts towards the other dealings in the world of the yamikin, i.e. moneylenders, besides their relationships with the “clients”, it becomes slightly easier to read… and you start to feel vindictive after the heavy initial scarring – you start to notice flaws. You see that this manga is less realistic and more sensationalist, than it wants to seem, there is the lack of direction, and the moral system is seriously weak (which is bad for a story exclusively about wrong). You’re forced to follow and sympathize with the main character, but his harsh mindset is not properly explained or condoned (yet we know he likes rabbits and has them as pets, that’s kinda endearing… but towards a wrong person), and the actions of moneylender Ushijima go way beyond what can be ever forgiven or atoned for. In the later arc the main cast commits what can be described only as a sadistic murder and that feels as too much even for them and sort of out of character.
The misery is everpresent and directionless, it’s like a journey through hell (with ethnographic info and numbers), but not only sinners suffer. I don’t understand where this is going. I hope the workers of the usury firm will reach their tragedy in the end or the matter of the evil unpunished will be addressed better. At the beginning we saw some snippets, that indicated that Ushijima’s psyche is also dying (I am not sure about soul with him), but currently there is too much admiration – he is special, he is strong-willed, imposing, can it all. It’s not even consistent with his place in the criminal hierarchy… And the few acts of kindness he does are a drop in the ocean. Maybe it's remedied later, but then it's kind of slow, in my opinion. But no, there is no glory in the lives of the criminals either, thankfully.
So, yeah, among the cast we have the titular Ushijima and his workers – two thuggish older guys, each with his own quirks, a younger former host, a female receptionist and, later, the boy Ushijima saves and employs, the other complex character with his distinct goal. Other than that there is the endless line of victim-clients.
Each arc has its own group of miserable, weak, mostly stupid people getting in Ushijima's net and losing their everything in the end. Yeah, the people are despicable, but their fates are heart-breakingly sad.
As a matter of fact - one relatively safer and softer arc is dedicated to a gay group, the depiction is very progressive for manga.
The art at the beginning is a bit shaky, but lately it develops. The end result is your good, big-form, detailed seinen art with some edited photo elements. The highlight are the memorable and unique designs of the main characters with their ghetto baggy clothes and ugly features (an overkill realism-wise, imo, the clothes, I mean). Some of the secondary characters are a bit difficult to distinguish though. And yeah, there is little pretty, the author went for a different feel, understandably.
Well, I ended up arguing morals, which is useless, but morals is what you’ll think while reading this, I guarantee. I also guarantee thinking, which, I guess, is good for seinen. Maybe that’s what solidifies my 7...
All in all, this is an interesting manga to explore, a fine cautionary tale, perhaps, but it’s hardly a good entertainment material. It’s powerful, especially at the initial stages, very bleak, very scary, very close to the real horror around us. It strikes true, yeah. But, and here I can speak only for myself, it strikes so hard that it causes animosity, and further reading makes you think that it doesn’t know what to do with its plot and characters, their development is slow and not very well displayed.
Frankly, it would be easier if I didn't know about the existence of this manga. In Japan there are already 36 volumes of Yamikin Ushijima-kun… I want to say that I don’t want to stick, cause I value my mental state, but I also feel the tug of morbid curiosity, and turning away from this manga seems cowardly. Decide for yourself, what is stronger for you, but in any case it is a pain, probably intended pain.
