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 hide the fact that I was, most likely, searching around in the shounen-ai section when I found this manga. A manga that basically screamed “Read me!” and in the shounen-ai section? I had to absolutely read it. I will be honest, there was none of that shounen-ai feeling that I was searching for, but I loved this anyway. This is an emotionally draining, disgustingly realistic manga about sexual identity and sexual abuse.
The plot is depicted with dark realism. Someone out there might be living Jeremy’s life at this very moment. It’s disgusting and sick to think that something like this might be really happening but, yes, it happens. And not everyone comes out of it alive. Jeremy was torn between the sexual abuse of Greg, the man who married his mother, and the mental abuse of Sandra, his own mother. He couldn't, and most likely, will never be able to escape the trauma caused by the selfish people around him.
Sandra kept Jeremy chained to her with her selfish desire to be “happy”, often times invading his privacy or going hysterics, thus forcing Jeremy to subject to her will. From what I got of this manga, more than a son, Sandra saw Jeremy as her toy. She used him more than once to achieve her happiness, and didn’t care to hear what he had to say. It was easy to see the deep sense of (unhealthy) co-dependence that held them together until the very end of the manga.
Greg, who was no better than a monster incarnated, needs no excuse nor explaining. Even if the author tries to build a traumatic story behind his behavior, I still can’t find it in myself to understand. “Ah, so he did that because…” There was no such moment. From start to finish, I loathed that man. He toyed with the feelings and adolescence of a boy, who was only trying to be a good son to his deranged mother. He spoke of “true love”, but his actions closely resembled a butcher skinning an animal alive.
Truly, a strong enough plot to pull you forcibly inside. I, myself, came close to thinking that everything was a simple nightmare, that Jeremy’s brain constructed this elaborated tragedy. My own brain was trying to convince me this wasn’t real, save myself the trauma. And that’s such a human reaction. It’s something that happened to Jeremy as well; when the torture was over, he recalled those events with cold detachment, as if that wasn’t him. Perhaps, to read this manga, detachment is necessary. I was left numb for days, because I let the emotions of the characters overtake me.
For a manga published back in 1992, the art is superb. All characters are different, both in appearance and personality, it’s easy to know who is who. There were panels that were absolutely breathtaking and, unfortunately, most of them were of Greg abusing Jeremy. Depicted like grand art masterpieces, those pages I can still see if I close my eyes, leave a profound impression. There’s no need for words of descriptions, the page speaks for itself.
Speaking of characters. They feel like people. There was a point in which I hated most of them and, while that shouldn’t have changed, the characters evolved and I came to “undislike” some of them. Just as people aren’t easily categorized into “bad” and “good”, the same can be said for the characters the author introduced. Even Jeremy made me mad at times. However, it wasn’t a violent mad, it was more of gentle mad that only came from caring about someone. Many of Jeremy’s choices are questionable, normally no one would agree with what he did but… The storytelling makes it possible to walk in his shoes, and understand where he’s coming from. It’s the same for any other character, their emotions come alive through the pages and it’s hard to not understand why they do what they do.
It’s manga that’s easy to dislike, especially for those who are not into psychological analysis and dark tones. I’m not a fan of either, but I will always finish a good manga, no matter how much it drains me. If it’s something good, it’s always worth the read.
Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru is a challenge. I tried it out and was not disappointed.
