feotakahari

A manga that’s exactly as fucked up as it wants to be. Sometimes literally.

Out of all the characters in The Severing Crime Edge, the one who stuck with me most wasn’t either of the protagonists. It was a girl named Houko, whose little sister Yamane found a syringe that spoke to her. The syringe told Yamane to fill it and inject her parents, and now Houko and Yamane are all alone. But Houko doesn’t want Yamane to hurt anyone else, so whenever the voices become too loud, Yamane fills the syringe with saline and injects Houko.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: Houko and Yamane’s relationship is not at all healthy. Houko occupies a nebulous area between sister, parent, therapist, and pseudo-sexual partner, and not in the fetishy way other manga might do it, like “tee-hee; isn’t it cute to watch these sisters basically having sex?” Yamane barely knows how to interact with anyone who isn’t Houko. Houko resents Yamane for taking over her entire life, but is jealous of anyone else who takes Yamane’s time and attention. Houko even seems threatened by the possibility that Yamane might someday be emotionally healthy enough to not be entirely dependent on her.

But Houko loves Yamane, and she wants her to be happy. If a happy future for Yamane is one that’s not utterly tied to Houko, then that’s something Houko can accept. Jealous and possessive thoughts are ultimately just thoughts, and they don’t have to overwhelm Houko, just like Yamane’s thoughts don’t have to overwhelm her.

This is the difference between TSCE and Speed Grapher, which also took “mental illness = sexual fetish = superpower” as far as it could possibly go. In Speed Grapher, you’re either normal or dangerously fucked up, and if you’re fucked up, your only recourse is to act normal and hope it goes away. TSCE’s mental illnesses and compulsions–excuse me, “magic curses”–will fuck you up, but the fact that you need a coping mechanism doesn’t automatically make you a bad person. We see all kinds of people and all sorts of coping strategies, from the vitriolic friends who work out mutual frustrations to the long-term couple who’ve found a healthy balance to the desperate loner who’s been driven to the brink. The author never steps back or lets go of the metaphor, no matter how awkward or uncomfortable it gets, with perfect empathy for the issues these people face and perfect frankness when there are in fact issues. The goal is to get to a place of emotional stability, not necessarily to be “cured,” and that makes it one of the few depictions of mental illness I’ve seen in the fantasy genre that didn’t piss me off.

TSCE has never had a complete fan translation, and I’ve been told the anime adaptation sucks. I recommend buying the official translation off of Bookwalker.