Boy’s Abyss has been my manga north star of 2023 - not that it’s been the most amazing series, but it has been consistently decent, and that’s very rare in ongoing titles. Especially manga, where subsequent books to a strong/solid first volume usually sees a marked drop in quality.
Both Rei and Chako receive dramatic news about their futures and the various characters’ relationships become more complicated as a result. Rei and Nagi resume their doomtastic plan from the first volume and the mysterious author reveals his true colours.
Though the third volume sees the story becoming a bit soap opera-ish with its focus on this character’s feelings for that character, and this romantic entanglement leading to misunderstandings, etc. Ryo Minenami presents it with more substance than this kind of material usually is, which helps lend it more weight dramatically and feeds into the morbid themes of suicide and thwarted dreams at a young age.
While I keep waiting for something really crazy to make a particular volume stand out, I’m happy for it to remain at this consistent slow burn if the books continue to be as dependable as they’ve been up to now. And the conflict does seem to be ramping up so things are getting more interesting by the book, so who knows - maybe the next one is the great one? As it is, Boy’s Abyss is a fine adult manga series, perfect for readers looking for more mature subject matter in their manga.
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