interestingly departs from ryukishi's other works by moving away from longer-form narratives somewhat and towards a structure more reminiscent of a collection of short stories linked by setting, character, and theme. on the one hand, the stories set against each other take on an interesting dialogical quality where they could be said to both expand on and contradict each other's ideas and sentiments, but on the other it also means the stories vary wildly in tone and, ultimately, quality. chapter 5, in particular, is ugly, vulgar, and beneath the caliber of ryukishi's usual work, a truly rather vile text that almost soured me on the whole game. however, art (especially transgressive art) hardly exists to repeat to us our own already-solidified feelings and ideas, and i can appreciate the way that even the ideas here that i find utterly wrongheaded set this in opposition to expected discourse around the notions its toying with. this is a very high concept treatment of bullying, cyclical victimhood, and the nature of power in hierarchies, and it certainly intends to unsettle as much as polemicize. in that capacity it's successful, albeit i have to admit that this is a distinct step-down in my estimation from higu and umi.