Home
I read the preview for 青春サプリ。この一瞬にすべてを.
I read 狼は嘘をつかない, the fourth story in 竜のかわいい七つの子. I already don’t like werewolves, but this one felt like it was actually about autism, and it was more of the “allistics make themselves feel good about all the ‘good’ they do for autistics” bullcrap, which makes it even worse.
ranting
It’s about werewolves, or rather, it’s about a woman and her werewolf son, and it feels a lot like an allegory for autism, and not in a good way, with how mothers of werewolves and mothers of autistic kids are all “I’m so heroic and strong for taking care of my [werewolf/autistic] child, they’re so difficult to deal with, look at me!” and sure they try to help their child, but it’s mostly so they can feel good about themselves, and it’s only incidental that they also help their child—although it’s often only for a certain definition of “help,” because they go to support groups, etc. where they bemoan how difficult it is to deal with their werewolf/autistic children and pat each other and themselves on the back and none of them ever actually listen to or consult with their children about what they want/feel/need, even going so far as ignoring what their children try to tell them (”Mother knows best!”). They just want to look like a good parent, not actually be one. Midway through, it transitions to the POV of the son, who’s now in college, and he’s been angry and frustrated for a while because his mother always makes it about her and making herself feel good with her manga and her lectures and her support group and never actually listens to him, and he finally yells at her and makes her listen to how he feels. I’d thought she’d finally see how she’d hurt him and start actually listening to him and stop making it all about herself, but oh, apparently that wasn’t actually what he’d wanted to say, he’d wanted to thank her, so he apologizes and does so. The story treats it as though it wasn’t just that he yelled at her that was in the wrong, it was that he felt that way at all. It felt very “After everything I’ve done for you? How dare you! You’re so ungrateful!”
And of course the mother’s one of those “I’m not putting him on any medication! I’m raising him 100% natural! Drugs bad!” types. I know with ADHD there’s this whole “Stimulants? What do you need stimulants for?” Uhhhh because our brains f-cking work different, which you’d f-cking know if you actually listened. But also just in general, there seems to be this whole idea among able-boded, neurotypical, etc. people that being on medication is bad unless it’s short-term, like when you come down with the flu or something. If you’ve got a disorder or a chronic illness or something, then you’re supposed to just “get through it on your own.” Yeah our brains can’t make the chemicals that would allow us to do that, that’s what the meds are for. Yours can. You don’t get to talk, or to dictate what we can and can’t do about our own situation.
And of course when he’s finally able to get the meds himself when he’s 20 (because you need permission from a parent or guardian when you’re a minor, and when he brought it up with her in high school, his mother flat-out refused to even consider it), he experiences side effects that are just as bad as what he usually goes through around his “time of the month” so to speak, just different. Drugs bad, so of course they can’t work! Like, yeah, not all meds are a good fit for everyone, that’s why there are a lot of different ones for the same thing, and, heck, some people can’t take them at all, but with these being the only ones in the story, on top of everything else? And it being at the end of the story, so he doesn’t even get to start to try to find something else to help, whether medication or coping mechanism (so, what, does he just keep doing what he’s been doing, not being able to have enough time to recover after his transformation because school only allows him two absences a month and he needs at least three days, and being unable to keep a job because of all the days he misses and the times he’s late, and being unable to make friends? But oh it’s okay now because he’s made up with his mother, who still doesn’t actually care about him, and now he’s probably made an actual friend, and she takes his mother’s side so that’s not exactly a good thing. That’s the exact opposite of a support system). Well, I can’t help but view sensei’s intentions badly.
So, yeah, screw that.
So, yeah. I did not like that one very much. Or at all.
After that, I had to read ch 6 of SPY×FAMILY so that wouldn’t be the last thing I read today. This is the first time I’ve seen 貴様 used in a non-derogatory way lmao that practically gave me whiplash. Anyway, this chapter was great.
Some vocab of note:
元祖 (がんそ) [noun] originator; pioneer; inventor; founder. I mostly chose this one because it’s the first time I’ve come across 元 read as がん.
著しい (いちじるしい) [い-adj.] striking; remarkable; considerable
産毛 (うぶげ) [noun] downy hair; down; peach fuzz; fluff. I never woulda guessed the reading for this one, not least because I’d never seen that reading for 産.
どうりで [adv.] indeed; it’s no wonder
架空 (かくう) [noun, の-adj., な-adj.] fictitious; imaginary; fabricated
報復 (ほうふく) [noun, する verb (自)] retaliation; revenge; reprisal; retribution
シラフ [noun, の-adj.] sobriety; soberness
代弁 (だいべん) [noun, する verb (他)] speaking by proxy; speaking for (someone else); acting as spokesman (for); representing (the views, feelings, etc. of)
八つ裂き (やつざき) [noun] tearing limb from limb; tearing apart; cutting (a person) to pieces
…I still haven’t tried changing the language settings on Netflix yet. I really meant to do that today, since I ended up getting really tired really early yesterday afternoon.
July 4th 
Hope you get to rest well! 
, sister country to Sweden 
.
July 4th 
Definitely a favored word lmao.
They’re going through some drama right now, 
but hey it’s fun so it’s all good!
Definitely relate to going way too hard when I feel like the end is coming, no better way to push yourself to new limits I guess 
