Tsumi to Batsu no Spica / 罪と罰のスピカ, Chapter 1 Manga Review

~ warning ~ This is a horror manga! Some of the relationships featured in this chapter are inappropriate and may make you uncomfortable.

You can read this manga for yourself here!


What’s this manga about?

Our main character, a high school teacher, suspects his student, Tsumugi, of being bullied in class. While that does end up being the case, we quickly learn that she is far less helpless than she first appeared. While the two are talking, she explains her circumstances to him, and basically it boils down to “a popular boy confessed to me, and now a rich girl who likes him is lightly harassing me”.

They have this conversation while stranded in a shelter, waiting for rain to stop. And while it seems like Tsumugi is a rather strong-willed character, she quickly breaks up the somewhat calm atmosphere by grabbing her teachers hand. She then tells him that she knows he doesn’t really want to be a teacher, and runs off.

This really affects how the teacher sees Tsumugi, as she really hit the nail on the head: he never actually wanted to be a teacher. Being understood so quickly by his student has him a little bit frazzled, but he tries to forget about the weirdness, and help her live a normal life at school the next day.

This want to help her is made difficult when her supposed bully / accoster comes up to the teacher, accusing Tsumugi of sugaring for money. The teacher says he’ll look into it, though he doesn’t really believe that this is a true accusation (after all, she’s been harrassing Tsumugi until now). Sadly, that night, he spots Tsumugi himself as she’s out on the town with a much older man. The manga leaves nothing to the imagination – she’s dating this man for money.

And just when I wasn’t exactly sure where this manga was going to go, once the old man gives Tsumugi a wad money at a train station… She pushes him down onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train. All where the teacher, who she knows is watching, can see.


Gallery Sample


What I Like About This Manga

💜 I support both womens rights and womens wrongs – go get that money Tsumugi.

💙 I really had no idea where this chapter was going to go when I first started it, and I’m happy I stuck it out! It ended up being very entertaining!

 💚 I find Tsumugi to be a very interesting main character! I feel like she’s a chronic liar, and I’m excited to learn more about her relationship with her classmates (like, I kind of feel like she’s lying about the reason she’s being bullied to gain sympathy).

💛 TBH the old guy who tried to buy a HIGH SCHOOL girl friend kind of got what he deserved.

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I’m Maddie

Welcome to my blog! I want to share my two passions with everyone who visits: reading manga, and studying Japanese. I hope that you enjoy your time here!

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