So... I just finished reading the entire series up to the last 2 chapters of Vol 23 in the last week or so... So I know I'm a bit late.
And I had to stick some thoughts out there...
First:
Takahisa acts like a child whose favorite toy was taken away from them and due to that no toy is good enough for them to now play with so they refuse to play at all. He also reminds me of a boy who tried to sexually assault me during high school, so just about every time he appears he makes me distinctively uncomfortable just to read. It's obvious other people are little more than objects (or rather toys) to him to play with at his whim. Hiroaki may be a egoist and self-centered, but Takahisa makes him look simple when it comes to his dark urges. His hate for violence/murder as a solution is his desire to both appear better than everyone else and escape any real punishment.
I feel kinda bad for Aki, though it's obvious her mom ended up messing with her head by not explaining things either. I really really really wish Haruto had manned up and explained everything to her before she lost her memories of him. Aki has been aching for character advancement for a long time since she became the 'unreasonably hates Haruto' character. I literally cannot understand how she can look up to Takahisa so much when his attention is so narrow. Btw Masato gets far more development, he chooses a path and becomes himself over the course of the series. Aki just kinda stays the same.
I absolutely hate all the uncertainty around Miharu. She's been left in the same place for like 6+ books now and while treated a bit like a main character in V23, is still only seen as the object of Takahisa's desire. I also feel very bad for the 'I will stay by Haruto's side!' thing which is now so obsolete I dunno what to even say... And this for the one relationship we start the entire series wanting to see them reunited... Or at least I did. It certainly feels they deserved it, but like all to many stories they keep characters circling around doing nothing new. Now it just feels really sad. And this is with her supposedly being the reincarnation of Lina...
Latifa/Suzune also really needs to be given a progression in the story... She's been actively training in combat and spirit arts for... what... 5 years in the story now? We see her fight very briefly in the mansion attack and that's about it. For someone who had already been trained as an assassin and who faced Haruto early on to a decent degree... It feels like she's been filler except to cling to Haruto. Which makes her feel like she has even less of a place in things now that she cannot remember him. In fact I find it hard to figure out how she can even forget, Haruto's presence in her life was literally life changing. And it's just ignored which feels horrible.
And that's probably enough of my thoughts for one post...
