It's disappointing because the manga's premise is bold and its themes highly compelling, exploring the suffering and injustice of children during wartime, and the predicament the protagonist finds himself in. Using children as soldiers is obscene, and yet the protagonist believes the alternative for them is even worse (prostitution, death, etc). Their justification is to somehow make enough money to give them a better life, but they will have to literally kill to make this dream possible, which agonises the protagonist. This is all a good foundation for character study and just plain entertaining as a story.
But like I wrote, the author sabotages themselves with a grossly inappropriate relationship and lewd humour, which often depicts a young girl in sexual poses and scenarios. It's the ultimate betrayal of the manga's premise. How can you explore a topic like the sexual abuse of children while also using male gaze on them to titillate otaku readers? It's disgusting. There's also a disturbing rape scene, which fine, this is an act that happens in real life and is not forbidden to portray in entertainment, and yet the artist (Daisuke Kimura) felt it necessary to constantly show us close-ups of the victim's big tits. Again: this is a pathetic attempt at titillation and really unnecessary in the midst of a violent scene when she's being held at gunpoint. The artist could have just stuck to a profile shot of her, but no, we had to get close up of her boobs for...reasons.
What starts off as a dark drama/thriller about a guy who finds himself with the skillset for a brutal line of work, descends into a harem manga. I'm not even joking.
I gave it a 4/10 in the end because the last chapter pushed me over the edge with its obscenity.
