If you haven't read the manga, this review may contain a minor SPOILER!
The story of this manga started off with a strong opening. As Ayumu, the main character, muttered in his heart "May I never be born again", he attempted to commit suicide by jumping from the school's rooftop. The first four volumes of the manga take us back to six months before the event. They tell us the story behind Ayumu's decision of killing himself.
In these four volumes, the painful experience of the main character was told in detail, started from the starting point of him bullied, the struggle he faced to understand the situation he was currently in, the blame he put to himself after (unintentionally) involving others into his problem, and the loss of hope after being trapped in a series of bullying game set by his own classmates. He was physically abused, but what's more is, he was tortured psychologically which is actually the common form of bullying in Japan.
In fact, bullying isn't special to Japan, but it is seen as one of major problems in Japan Education System where Japanese officials have put attention to. The nature of bullying in Japan isn't physical bullying according to Japanese researchers themselves. On the other hand, it's more about putting the bullied into the state of not belonging and helplessness, aka psychologically. This is portrayed really well in the first four volumes of this manga, and the author used many references in actual psychological theory to describe the changes of the main character.
But despite how well and detail it is in my personal opinion, some people may find these four volumes unbearable to read, especially the scene where Wa died. The bullying is also overkill, but I think it conveys the massage the author tries to deliver about how bullying is often just a game for the bullies and bystanders join laughing. The thought of the bullies are also rarely given in these volumes so they may feel one dimensional.
Actually, this manga provides many different perspectives, including the bullies. But it is barely presented before volume 6 after the MC finally took revenge.
While this manga may fall under "bullying-revenge" manga category, this is not a power fantasy manga to dominate bullies like most of "bullying-revenge" manga out there. There's no such thing as the MC suddenly becomes OP and beats everyone he hates. Instead, it takes time for the MC to gradually change psychologically and became desperate enough to finally decide to stand up and take weapon in order to get revenge. Doesn't it remind you to school shooting?. In addition, when the MC finally takes revenge, he slowly understands that even the bullies are just human after all. And the MC finally started to question whether what he is doing is right or wrong. But this scar the bullying is left is too big and hatred can be so scary it affects you not only emotionally, but also physically. Saying that, this manga takes a realistic approach to it's story telling which makes it stand out.
And I personally think that people who really care about bullying or practitioner at school -like myself as a teacher- should read this manga. Often, adults at school don't understand what's happening among the students until they are hit by a sudden bad news, that a student committing suicide or there's a school shooting as a revenge of bullied students for example (I never experienced such an extreme cases, though). We are supposed to be the place where students could rely on and yet we are often clueless of bullying and think that it is just a game between them. In other words, we passively join the bullies and make everything harder for the bullied student.
This manga presents three characters as perspective of teachers. Aoki sensei, a teacher who let bullying happen because he is afraid of the bully student's family influence. The female teacher who understands that there's a possibility of bullying incident happening unnoticed but won't try to do anything because she is afraid the students will be hurt if being accused, or the matter could end up being worse. And Shibasaki sensei who actively tries to help the students. The view of Shibasaki sensei is really rare to see being brought up in manga so this manga is really special to me as I share the same view as him as a teacher.
Tendo's mom also plays a big part in this manga. Research has shown that bullying is actually more common than we, adult, though. But we are not aware of it until the incident becomes more serious because many bullying victims don't seek for adult help in the first place.
Some readers may find that this manga's character as general is annoying. In fact, I can understand that view, but at the same time I don't share that sentiment. It's important to understand that people have different tendencies and trait. Reading this manga requires you at least to be able to be open minded to understand the character motives because they are actually presented and even explained in detail. But if you are easily projecting yourself into the main character or you are really clueless about bullying behavior, human personality and Japanese society, along with their collectivism then you are probably will be irritated.
Actually, I am amazed that what I find in this manga is actually supported by many research findings about bullying in Japan.
Bullying, justice, and revenge are the main subjects of this manga. And they are depicted in detail so it can be an uncomfortable read for some people. If you are easily offended by these topics then, I don't think you should continue to read after reading the first chapter because it will just get even worse until the last few chapters where everything sorted out and becomes clear.
You may think that this manga is full of negativity. While I agree that this manga depicts many negative things, this is a really well thought manga and true to reality for some bad bullying cases. More importantly, this manga actually delivers a strong massage about self-reflection. In the end, every character including minor character realized that bullying or revenge will bring only sadness. Bullying is terrible. It brings misfortunes to everyone involved and those around them and the parents are the ones more responsible to bullying behavior of their kids. That's such a strong massage from this manga.
