Hello….not, and welcome to my read-through of Chapter 166: Rumor and Article, in which I’m uncomfortable, things are a little too real, and Ishizawa is the worst

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Rumor and Article

The Seed is Planted

While watching Instant 12, Shujin notices that Ririka Kitami was in the credits. Kaya wonders if she knows Miho as well. Shujin should have checked her blog to see if she appeared.

Kaya – accurately – points out there is no reason or Shujin to be so interested in her. He’s aware of that, but…

Then he reads the offending article. He gets suitably pissed off by it and notes she is not allowed to say ANY of it. Kaya freaks out at the fact that she refers to her hubby as a hottie, and the mention of Saiko and Miho’s dating life.

Shujin calls Saiko to start damage control. He asks if Saiko was watching Instant 12; of course, Miho’s in it.

He must be protected.

Shujin tells him that Ririka was in it and asks him to read her blog. He’s horrified and tells Shujin to call Kato and have Ririka remove the post. Kato freaks and promises to get Ririka to remove the post immediately.

A little late,r Shujin receives word that Ririka deleted the blog.

Damage Control

The next day, Kato apologized profusely and promises she told Ririka never to pull a stunt like this again. Shujin placates her: it didn’t get out of hand. And, not to be mean, but she isn’t very famous, and the blog had only been up for two days, so the news hasn’t spread.

Oh, you sweet summer child.

Saiko thinks no one would be interested in the fact that Ashirogi is two people, regardless of their relationship status.

Shujin rushes over to fix that mindset immediately: they don’t want people finding out that Miho is Saiko’s girlfriend: Miho’s fans would get majorly upset if they found out she had a boyfriend, and the shock would be injurious to her career. Plus, they want her to play the role of Naho in Reversi, so the boyfriend rumor will make people think that he’s using nepotism to get her the job

Naive Saiko believes that the fact that she’s going to get the job by virtue of auditioning is enough. Shujin points out that people may not read the situation that way under the circumstances.

He’s simply glad that it got resolved before it became a big deal.

Sees how many pages are left.

Yeah. Nah.

Kato apologizes again

Staff Meeting and Revenge

On Friday, January 26th, Hattori approves their storyboard and brings up the anime. The boys are eager for more info. The staff want to meet with them in the second week of February to introduce themselves and discuss the production. Saiko and Shujin vow they’ll be there even if they have to work ahead of schedule to get it done.

The staff want to know what kind of anime they’d like to make.

The boys drive home.

Finally. FINALLY. They’ve done it.

On that note, Ishizawa.

FUCK

In Ishizawa’s room in his mommy’s house, he’s furious to learn that Ririka deleted her blog. Surrounded by his coterie of plastic women watching him, he’s furious because he knows that Miho is one of Ashirogi’s boyfriends.

As he literally fiddles with one of his toys, wearing his *gags* oniichan shirt, he explains Ashirogi’s name: A for azuki, Shiro for Mashiro, and Gi for Takagi. He knows they were all classmates and that it’s too good to be true, but he knows it’s the case.

He jumps on a fan forum for Azu-kyun and mentions that she has a boyfriend. He explains his relationship as a classmate who went with them to middle school. He then breaks down Ashirogi’s name for the group of fna chatters:

His plastic toys watch him

The chat room is upset to learn the news of “Their Azu-kyun” (oy), but they also don’t believe he’s telling the truth. They want to know how he got his info and that they needs proof:

The rumor, however, has started

Tabloid Interest

At Tozai Sports, the editor-in-chief asks Yamaoka to submit his article once he’s finished. Another journalist asks whether people are interested in stories about popular voice actresses’ love lives.

The Editor-in-Chief thinks it matters who it’s about.

Miho Azuki. He knows that she is very popular; does he have any proof of her connecting with her boyfriend?

The journalist hasn’t, but her boyfriend is apparently a popular manga artist, and there is a lot of speculation about their relationship online. Especially due to her image as pure and innocent. The editor-in-chief wants more information, and he wants a photo of the two together.

Then he’ll have the article printed.

The Rumor Grows

At work, Saiko’s surprised to get a call from Fukuda. Fukuda tells him that he’s a big deal online and wonders how he’s holding up. Saiko has no idea what he’s talking about.

Fukuda reveals he’s learned that a friend from middle school spilled the beans on Saiko and Miho’s relationship. Yasuoka told him about it.

The boys are shocked to learn that the blog post was erased two days ago. They thought it was over with.

They go online and find the rumor spread, and more damning information is coming out: Azu-Kyun was in Ashirogi’s drama CD as her first heroine role. The internet – being the internet – believes that settles it: the two are dating.

Another poster has gotten rid of all their CDs and DVDs having to do with Miho, starting from her role in Saint Visual Girls.

Another notes they’ve been fans of Ashirogi since Detective Trap, as well as an Azu-Kyun fan, but now they’re going to sell their Ashirogi graphic novels.

Shujin thought they’d be fine, and thinks the internet is scary. Fukuda reminds Saiko that he has nothing to worry about. Saiko knows that. He and Miho haven’t done anything wrong

Neither Shujin nor Fukuda responds to that.

But Fukuda agrees: he was worried Saiko might be depressed. But he was worrying too much. Shujin thinks about it: They haven’t done anything wrong; Saiko’s right.

That said, he’s still worried about Miho’s well-being.

Spreading Outward to Miho

At the voice acting studio, Miho finishes her voice acting session for the day. She’s informed she has one more session at four o’clock for Instant 12 at X-2 studio. A taxi is waiting outside for her.

As they leave, her handler notices a lot of fans today.

The fans – all quite homely men and women – all pound her with questions about her boyfriend status. Is it true? Is she not single? A reporter from Tozai Sports is among them, as well.

DOES THE A in ASHIROGI stand for Azuki?

Are the rumors true?

Her handler protects her while she watches in shock. She’s pushed into the car, and they bus it as the group continues to shout after her. The handler looks up the rumor on the internet, and he asks if it’s true about having a boyfriend.

Yep.

He’s surprised by her speedy reply. He also confirms whether she’s been going out since middle school. Yes. That’s a while, and it’s also bad. She is told never to publicly admit to this news.

Miho is scolded: this is a vital time in her career, and he does not want her seeing her boyfriend under any circumstances. She mentions that she hasn’t seen him and that they haven’t done anything wrong.

The handler doesn’t know what to make of that. But he scolds her anyway: no matter what, don’t say anything about this.

Infesting Jump

At Shonen Jump, an editor receives a phone call in which the caller simply says “DIE ASHIROGI” before hanging up.

Yujiro asks the editor – Monji – what’s happening. He explains the death threat. Yujiro mentions the rumor spreading on the internet. They’ve been fielding calls all day. Monji looks it up and is shocked to learn that Azu-kyun is Saiko’s girlfriend. He’s shocked.

Yujiro thought he only liked Mayuyu.

Yoshida yells at everyone – in true, and admirable fashion – that the private lives of mangka are just that. Private. Do not share anything about it with the public. The other editors deny and deflect about the information.

Miura observes – for once soberly – that he understands voice acting sells a dream, so he understands why people might be upset when the bubble is popped, but this is too much.

Don’t Let it Get You Down

On Friday, February 3rd, Shujin asks if Hattori has heard the rumors. Hattori confirms it and mentions that they’ve been getting phone calls at the office, but they haven’t said anything. He wonders why they’re worried. It’s unusual for them.

Shujin understands that, but he’s worried about their desire to have her play in Reversi and the optics of that now. Hattori reprimands them: if they let all the criticism on the internet affect them, they’d never get anything done. What would they do about the people who don’ like their manga online. They should be motivated to push forward.

Shujin agrees, but–

Siako interjects. They need to keep their eyes on the prize and continue making Reversi as good as it can possibly be. Miho needs to focus on doing what she can to be the best possible voice actress.

Hattori looks on the bright side: mangaka often have voice actresses in mind and actors for their work. It’d be weird if they didn’t have preferences for who they wanted voicing their series. They should definitely express their desire to have Miho perform.

Shujin agrees: he created the story with her in mind for the heroine if it ever got animated. They’ll say they want to use Miho with their heads held high.

Hattori’s glad: that’s the spirit

Plus, it’s just a rumor with no info to back it up. This is only going to be a flash in the pan; don’t let it get them down. Just stay focused on being the best you can be, ashirogi.

In Spite of that

Tozai Sports

The next day, orihara wishes them a good morning and gets o the office early. He asks if they read today’s Tozai Sports. Saiko doesn’t read tabloids. He points something out.

It’s not a large article. But it’s bad.

They’ve found proof that Miho Azuki is Mashiro Moritaka’s girlfriend; they have photos from their middle school yearbook. There are ethical considerations.

On that truly dire note, the chapter concludes

Rumor and Article

Thanks, I hate it

Yeah, so this was a lot worse than I was anticipating, somehow. God, this was a frustrating chapter.

Super well done. But it’s justthat the emotional content was too much to stomach.

I think the effective thing about this chapter was that it set the spiral out very methodically and also very realistically. The first thing being that the deletion of the blog post doesn’t usually make things go away.

If you’v been on the internet for any reasonable length of time you know there is one fact about the internet: nothing ever truly goes away. Just ask Barbra Streisand.

It actually makes Saiko and Miho look pretty good, all things considered, that they don’t try to curb the tide of the rumor, which would make it infinitely worse, and that they’re just trying to weather this storm as best they can.

But yeah. fuck. Dude.

Let’s start with the LVP: the least valuable person.

Ishizawa Disgusts Me

Yeah, so this should come as a surprise to zero people, but Ishizawa has truly bottomed out. I have the distinct feeling his face is going to be beaten in so hard that his jawbone punctures what little grey matter there is up in that dried-out socket of empty space he calls a skull.

But yeah, this is about as bad as it can be. Like, holy shit. The level of malice and pure ill intent that comes from his boy is off the charts. And like, Nakai’s arc was bad in so many more important ways than Ishizawa’s malicious behavior.

But the awfulness of Ishizawa, which is a strength of this little mini-arc before the conclusion, and I will get to my usual analysis in a little – is that his impulse to destroy Ashirogi is borne purely out of spite and misplaced malice toward them. Like Nakai, he blames the world for his problems. But…

And oh god we’re actually doing this. Oh god. Oh fuck.

UNLIKE Nakai *shivers violently*, who is doing things with his life, he fucked himself over by doing stupid, harassing, predatory things, but he has done things to get himself in the industry. Ishizawa is a pathetic NEET who believes he’s doing work.

And it’s so much more actively invasive and needlessly destructive. For Nakai, you could almost justify most of his behavior as self-destructive nonsense. Even Nanamine was trying to accomplish something. (You can’t, to be clear. But if you wanted to rationalize any of these monsters behavior, you could put them above Ishizawa).

But Ishizawa just wants to ruin people who punched him for good reason because he’s jealous and slovenly, and malicious. I don’t think Nakai will ever not be the worst character in the story, but Ishizawa might get first for pure gumption and malice aforethought.

It’s horrifying.

I think the sequence where he spreads the rumors is one of the most oddly cinematic in the entire manga. Because in each frame we see, from behind, a series of plastic dolls that are on Ishizawa’s desk as he spreads the heinous rumor, which we know is partially true, but not the whole truth.

The framing is excellent: three of them framed from behind, staring at him as he treats literal people like playthings. They don’t judge him. They just watch. And they are always in frame as Ishizawa spreads the rumor

And it’s so telling about how he sees people, and particularly women. And I’ll give Ohba props for this, because he doesn’t usually get plaudits for his treatment of women. Deservedly so. Or maybe I should give credit to Obata for visualizing Ishizawa’s literal objectification of women visually. But either way, it’s a good little detail.

But his depiction of sexist nonsense is actually entirely on point here.

Pernicious Misogyny

One of the elements that really sold how dire this is is the response of the editor Monji to the news that Miho has a boyfriend. In fact, I think he’s the reason why this whole sequence is so effective and why I’m so upset by the chapter.

His response is shocked; and then here’s an off-color joke by Yujiro about the only idol for him being Mayuyu.

That encapsulates everything like a fucking haiku.

And Look. I’ve had crushes on celebrities and hot internet strangers. Everyone does. If anything, this issue has only become more pronounced now that parasocial relationships have become so normalized and thirst traps drive profit for social media.

So now it’s even more common for women online to leverage their sexuality for money and fame. It’s not a bad thing, and I’m not condemning it.

But for a lot of lonely people, it can create an unrealistic expectation in the fan’s head: they are single, so I have a chance. It’s the same logic as winning the lottery. IT IS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

But as long as she’s not officially in a relationship, she can be seen as single. So the fantasy can live on rent-free.

And Miho’s agent? handler I don’t fucking know is making an unfortunately salient point: revealing her relationship will be damaging to her brand and her potential as an actress. It happened somewhat recently when a cute weather girl in Japan revealed she had a boyfriend. People had a fucking fit, and she got death threats.

Like what happened here.

But it’s also so heartbreaking that these cultures have formed around certain people by, let’s be real, more lonely than average persons who need that fantasy of a girl for whom they can put all their hopes and dreams, and then be horribly disappointed when she has a life of her own.

So yeah, Ohba nailed that part.

I also appreciate the character design of some of the fans we see. They’re unusually normal looking for a manga which sells that they’re just normal people. But the hurt in their expressions is real—the dangers of parasocial relationships.

I also find the detail that Miho is used to fans waiting outside the studio unsettling, but not surprising.

God, what a clusterfuck.

And then there’s Ririka.

Ririak Done Goofed

I don’t quite buy that Ririka did this unintentionally. But if she did. Holy shit, that girl has no thoughts in her head.

Also points for the entrenched sexism bit: Shujin being interested in Ririka even though he’s happily married and Kaya finding it sus. Very appropriate, Cute, Cute Kaya.

But yeah. The internet has a long memory. And there are ways to retrieve deleted stuff.

It’s why I haven’t deleted or altered certain blog posts beyond a disclaimer. I don’t want to hide from my dumb takes or bad ones, or ill-considered ones.

I’m pretty sure my critique of Yoshida the character could be read poorly by the real one. But I don’t know what the real one is like. I sometimes worry the people at Viz – or worse, Ohba and Obata – have somehow learned of this blog and that some of the shit I’m saying is going to get me blackballed. or some dumb shit like that.

Likely? No. And the chapter even mentions this offhandedly when Hattori tells them not to sweat online critique since it would make doing their job impossible. They also don’t speak English. I’m just tripping, to a degree.

But it is possible. Yes. It’s always possible on the internet.

And I do it anyway. Even though I try to be discerning about my opinions, they’re still honest.

So I kinda hope that Ririka just wasn’t thinking, rather than actively trying to harm Miho’s career. But it really doesn’t read like that. I’ll also admit my frustration with Kato took on a new dimension because she enabled this nonsense.

It’s very frustrating. Very frustrating.

Fortunately, I can kinda see a way out of this whole mess

First off, It’s a fucking manga

Yeah, so the one saving grace about all this is that this is still a shonen manga. Even though this chapter was painfully effective in being too real for its own good – down to the details of the voice actor studio where they put the mic’s next to each other while recording lines, it’s also in a story where good triumphs over evil, and no matter how anonymous you are, you’ll get found out.

And I’m pretty sure Ishizawa is going to be figured out directly for a few reasons:

First: there ain’t no way he didn’t give Tozai sports that middle school yearbook. He’s on a vendetta, so of course, he’s going to stoke the flames as much as possible.

Second: The only times we’ve seen Ishizawa in previous interactions, he’s gotten his ass beaten into he ground. First by Shujin so long ago, and then by Fukuda when I was shipping him and Aoki.

So I think they’re saving that final world-ending punch for this moment because it fits the narrative pattern established by his existence.

But there are some other things that I think are going to happen to fuck over Ishizawa more

He’s going to be outed as the rumor spreader, and then his own misbehavior is going to come to light. He was technically working on manga for a bit and was going to draw what amounts to Hentai for Aoki. I’m sure that will come to light.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if maybe Yamashita also involved himself by bringing counter evidence against this whole situation to speak on Miho and Saiko’s actual character.

Or maybe I’m just coping because this is such an ugly turn of events.

Speaking of that

We Haven’t Done Anything Wrong

So this was mentioned twice. And the first time I read the chapter I didn’t make anything of it: yeah, the two haven’t done anything wrong because dating is not a bad thing,e ven if you’re famous.

But then, as I was writing the read-through summary, it occurred to me that this might have a double meaning. The way the other characters responded to the “we’ve done nothing wrong” – the handler, Fukuda, and Shujin say that there is more going on with that statement than just the statement of the bare facts.

I don’t know if it means anything, but the fact that it was repeated, and it created a specific narrative response, means, at he very last, it’s going to be part of the resolution of this horrible little arc.

But the truth is. They have done nothing wrong, and it’s infuriating that it has come to this.

I also like that they made a change from usernames to “Anonymous” because it really sells how pernicious these lies can be and how quickly they can spread.

Fuck. I was even agreeing with Miura. What an absolutely clusterfuck of a situation.

In real life, this would not immediately blow over, and there would be fallout that would follow them for a little while.

But we’re in a manga, and I take solace in that. They will resolve it. Maybe the next chapter, or the one after. But they will resolve it.

Onto some other speculation:

Meeting the Staff

We’re only a few days out from meeting the staff of the anime production. I wonder what they’re going o be like. We know that the voice actress situation is going to come up. And that it’s going to be complicated, at minimum. Hopefully, they are able to honor the audition request without the optics fucking it up too much.

Although the optics are toxic right now.

I have a feeling Miho will get the audition and that it will be her skills that get her the job because it’s SHONEN. But we’ll see.

Also, as if my last chapter summoned them, Team Fukuda came back this chapter. Well, Fukuda at least; it has been, what? Ten chapters since we last saw him. I think. I don’t know, man. Since Reversi started for sure, it’s always good to see this goobers face, even under the circumstances.

I hope we see some of the other members of Team Fukuda respond to this.

God, poor Saiko, poor Miho.

I will say that Miho’s dignity in this chapter was admirable. Despite all the nonsense she is putting up with. And I know, I know, it will be resolved.

But how awful for everyone involved.

I really can’t wait for next week’s chapter, if only to get this resolved.

Until next time

Peace