Title: Boy’s Abyss Vol. 8
Author: Ryo Minenami
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 200
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Drama
Publication Date: January 28, 2025
The Story
Volume 8 of Boy’s Abyss felt like an epilogue; however, it was far from that as we are moving into a brand-new arc with the series.
We begin with Reiji, Gen, and Nagi by the riverbank. After the last volume’s cliffhanger ending, something changes inside of Reiji and he calls Esemori for help. Esemori takes Nagi to a hospital and promises that once she’s recovered, they’ll leave town. For now, this is the end of the line for these two characters. Once that’s settled, Reiji’s mom is released from the hospital and his grandmother is placed into Elder Care. Reiji then realizes that his mother has amnesia and can’t remember getting hit by Ms. Shiba’s car or the attempt at a double suicide with Reiji.
Meanwhile, we look at the aftermath of all of the events. Reiji has dropped out and school and picked up a job at a warehouse. He never went to Gen’s construction company because Gen himself went missing. The rumor floating around is that he tried to kill his girlfriend and skipped town, obviously, a lie to protect Reiji and Nagi. Meanwhile, Reiji is unloading some boxes and runs into Chako’s parents who despise him for what he did to Chako; however, Reiji has no clue what they are talking about. Last he knew, Chako was going to school and was planning on moving to Tokyo.
He contacts Chako who, apparently, had her phone returned to her by her parents. She wants to meet up and arranges a meeting at her house when her parents aren’t home. Reiji visits and he can tell she’s lying about things to try and protect him. She tells him the truth about what happened to her and then wants Reiji to make a woman of her… the results of that were something I never expected.
After that, Reiji runs into Ms. Shiba who is leaving his house. She was visiting his mother and apologizing for everything that happened. They’re not supposed to see one another but Reiji has a talk with her anyway. She claims that she turned over a new leaf and will stay away but still says that he can use her as a resource if he ever needs help. She also asks for the spare key to her apartment back. Reiji doesn’t have it but will mail it to her. Reiji goes back home to get the key from his bag but realizes it’s missing. He apologizes and says he’ll pay to have a new one made. Chako also wants to return the ¥200,000 that Esemori gave to Reiji who he gave to her. He tells Chako that Ms. Shiba is willing to help in any way she can and says she should talk to her about going to Tokyo.
Chako agrees to go to Ms. Shiba’s with him. She’ll give Reiji the money back and Reiji can give Ms. Shiba her key back. When they arrive at the apartment, they make a shocking discovery!
Characters
During this volume, we received a brief flashback of Reiji and Gen when they were children. There, we learned something rather interesting about Gen. It explains quite a lot about how he’s so protective of Reiji and why he will go to any length to do so. Honestly, it was something I never suspected and it made things even more interesting… and complicated for Reiji… even though he has no idea about Gen’s true reasons for wanting to protect him. Funny how two simple little pages and create such a monumental revelation!
What happened to Chako and how she ended up is a bit heartbreaking; however, even though it has been severely toned down, you can tell there’s still a bit of craziness in her… especially when it comes to Reiji. Because she wanted Reiji to make a woman of her, it’s quite obvious that she still has feelings for him; however, her character is starting to resemble a girl who is hurt by a guy over and over and keeps going back to him because she feels she has nowhere else to turn and craves that attention. Despite Reiji not being controlling or abusive… just the act of professing her love for him despite what keeps happening resembles that type of mentality. We’ll see if things truly get smoothed over between them or if she slowly fades back into a mindset of desperation.
We get a little bit of insight with Kazu, as well. He no longer wants to be a shut-in. He wants to move out and feels that if he doesn’t, he’ll either kill Reiji’s mom and grandma or he’ll kill himself. Reiji has a heart-to-heart with him to let him know that he already knows everything about the past… his father, how his mother and Gen’s father stepped in, why they are indebted to Gen’s father’s company and family, the whole nine yards. Reiji asks Kazu for a little more time but we’ll see if Kazu will allow that. He could be another powder keg just waiting to explode and we know that this series has quite a few of them!
Lastly, Ms. Shiba. Oh… you poor innocent reader. Did you truly think she turned over a new leaf? I won’t go into details because it will unveil a major spoiler but… she’s scheming once again. It’s not over by a long shot with her!
Final Thoughts
At first, everything was being conveniently wrapped up. Chapters in people’s lives were closing, Renji even started working, we do a 3-month time skip, and everything seems to be healing… but then you quickly get reminded that this is Boy’s Abyss… and this series doesn’t believe in happiness. There always has to be something twisted and messed up and we get that all over again here. Whether it was Ms. Shiba’s newest scheme, Reiji’s mother getting amnesia, what happens with Nagi after Esemori and her leave town, Gen’s reason for protecting Renji, what happened with Chako and her transformation as a character, or even Kazu becoming the next powder keg waiting to explode, this series is moving into a new arc while keeping the drama and messed up situations at an all-time high and that’s why I’m so addicted to it.
There are times when you feel trapped in the town you live in… seemingly with no escape… and then there’s this manga where not only is there no escape but it’s constantly one thing after another after another dragging you back in and no matter how much you crawl and claw your way to escape, it’s futile. You keep asking yourself if Reiji will ever be given his big break… will that one opportunity ever present himself to escape? It seems impossible and even during a time of healing, when he’s finally getting on the right track, he’s utterly derailed completely. It’s thrilling and this continues to prove why it was my 2023 Manga of the Year.
Just another incredible volume!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
