Dream up a world where people find themselves so deeply in love with others that they are overcome with this strong pitting desire to kill them. Yeah, it sounds pretty fucking stupid but deals with me for a second. On a whim, I decided to read all 57 chapters of a manga that is based on that synopsis. A story about a high school guy who loves cleaning and his childhood friend, so much that he comes to the determinate he actually just wants to cut off her head.
Can You Just Die, My Darling? Follow the main couple, Taku Kamishiro, and his childhood friend/ beauty of the school, Mika Hanazoon. A bit of a coward Taku is usually at the butt end of Mika’s teasing, knowing damn well he doesn’t have the guts to confess to her even though they are obviously head over heels for each other. Deciding to stand up and finally tell her how he feels Taku runs into an odd sight late one evening, a man seeming to assault a woman in front of his house. Going outside he tries to break up the quarrel he is attacked by the man, forgetting what else happens that night waking up the following morning in his bed.
But one thing is clear, something had changed. The passionate love he had felt for his dear Mika has changed, instead of wanting to be her lover Taku wants nothing more but to end her life. Then a bunch of crazy shit happens and a lot of people start dying.
Being affected by a disease known as id. A rather nasty bit that had been spreading throughout the country forcing those infected to turn on their loved ones with murders contempt. Out of this madness, two organizations have formed. C.I.d. a group that is searching for a cure but of those who have already committed the crimes are likely to find a bullet in the back of their head. Then there is Rudiment, another group searching for a cure but are more aligned to rehabilitate those who give in to their murderous rage.
Taku finds himself siding with Rudiment after an event during a school festival lefts most of his classmates dead and his beloved Mika in the wind. At a loss, he joins Neibu, a man with the ability to kill people infected with Id just by touching them.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, with the homicidal rage also comes superpowers. So quite literally there are just a bunch of people runnings around ripping people apart in some of the most absurd and stupid ways. While I was reading the manga I keep thinking about how I felt when I read Dead Tube and it feels a lot of the same way. Mika and Taku are not pathetic self-loathing psychos like Machiya and Mai but there are a lot of people within the book that just seem to be there for the shock value of the fucked up stuff they do.
Anyways so Taku is with Rudiment trying to discover a cure while going from place to place capturing other people infected to treat them. Oh, and he has super strength and super eyes sight so he is pretty strong. During one of these missions he stumbles upon my favorite character of the story, c.I.d. super solider, Yuuna Hayashi.
Hayashi, unlike the members of Rudiment, is not infected with id, however, she is a specially trained hit-man tasked with eliminating id who fell to their madness. The kicker is, Hayashi is every bit of a sociopath. Pulling her gun on Taku she is impressed by his ability to keep up with her, though not understanding emotions such as love or basic empathy she takes a great interest in the boy before retreating. It sets up pretty much right away that even with the other ‘bad guy’ forces, Hayashi is without a doubt the most dangerous, her cold, logical demeanor allows her to create and cut alliances on a whim to benefit. Added to the fact she challenges Mika, swearing she would steal Taku’s affection for her.
Then shit gets complicated.
Though still AWOL we discover that Mika is not only alive but she, like her partner, has been infected with id and wants nothing but to kill her dear Taku. This is complicated by the fact that even as strong as Taku is, Mika is a bit different, a person who obtains the type of ability that can destroy cities, Mika is extremely powerful, and if thrown into a blood-thirsty rage, unstoppable.
But ya know Taku says fuck all of that imma save her anyways, and well, does.
Can You Just Die, My Darling? Is pretty dumb. It is a silly, over the top violent-filled cuckold of a story that had little to no interesting moments outside of the few Hayahi bits. I am a big fan of character types like hers, but outside of her most everyone that surrounds themselves around the main pair is remarkably meh. Ryouko Etou is a supporting beam for Rudiment, her past shadowed in an abusive relationship. Tatsuya Kawamura is just a Pikachu with glasses.
Neibu is a pretty cool father-type figure but he turns to be a bit of an ass hole near the end.
The art is fine, the story is sub-par, I find myself not caring much about any of the characters at any given time but the final ‘boss’ fight is again Hayashi as she turns against everyone, knowing that Taku will never love her so she will settle with making him hate her with a passion that will live within him for the rest of his life.
And to be fair she does a pretty good job of it.
All and all the manga was fine, it wasn’t too boring, the gore wasn’t over the top like it is in Dead Tube and it did have enough engagement to keep me reading it even after 10 or so chapters. I can’t say I recommend this story, 64% average score on Anilist seems fitting but if you want a wacky horror-ish read, well, it is definitely that.
As always thanks for the read!
Otaku Post 