Title: Boy’s Abyss Vol. 13
Author: Ryo Minenami
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 217
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Drama
Publication Date: April 28, 2026
The Story
We begin with Ms. Shiba talking to Reiji’s mother, letting her know that she was the one who sent Kazu away. She’s also doing her best to try and get Yuko to forget about Reiji so that he can continue to be on his own; however, Yuko has completely lost the plot and is trying to get Ms. Shiba to help her bring Reiji home from Tokyo. Meanwhile, Chako goes to a dirt magazine with photos of her and Esemori together in bed. She also tells them about Esemori’s relationship with Nagi Aoe. All of this is an attempt to slander him; however, after she leaves the editorial department, she collapses on the streets of Tokyo.
Ms. Shiba learns about Chako’s collapse when the police visit Chako’s mom, and she, in turn, goes over to Yuko’s place to blame her for the incident. Ms. Shiba heads to Tokyo, but when she gets there, she learns that Reiji is on the bullet train back to town! She pleads with him to turn around and not go back, but he doesn’t listen.
When Reiji comes home, he discovers that Gen is there… and from there, we just go through one pitfall after another as a series of insanely twisted events happen.
Characters
Okay, so in the last volume, Esemori claimed he wasn’t Reiji’s father, and then in this volume, Yuko flat-out says that Esemori IS Reiji’s father. I feel like we need to get Maury Povich over here to sort this one out, but one of them is obviously lying. Given how Yuko reminded Gen that he killed Reiji’s father (which we know is actually Kazu’s father), I think it’s highly likely that Yuko is the one who’s lying here. It also shows just how far her mind has fallen… especially when she talked to Ms. Shiba about trying to get Reiji back home from Tokyo. She looked absolutely crazed to the point where no amount of reasoning is going to sway her. Something has to be done about her (and for what it’s worth, the ending may have revealed that something has)
For a moment, I thought Ms. Shiba had finally revealed that she truly was looking out for Reiji’s best interests by trying to warn him about coming home. She even went so far as to go to Tokyo to warn him in person, but she was too late. Then we see her little self-confession, and it served as a reminder that she’s still just as crazy and obsessed over him as she was before, but unlike before, she seems more in control of her obsession. She still loves Reiji and wants to be with him, but she seems as if she truly cares about him and genuinely wants to protect him. The more we dive deeper into Ms. Shiba’s character, the less crazy she actually seems. Instead of being deranged like everyone else, she just has a normal attraction to Reiji… even if it’s an illegal one due to the fact that Reiji is still a teenager.
Chako continues to go off the deep end, too. I’m not sure if this was her true goal, but it does seem as if one of her reasons for going to Tokyo was to put out that smear campaign on Esemori… which seems odd since he’s already on his deathbed. Maybe she wants to ruin the legacy that he has, knowing he’s not in any position to try to prevent it? Whatever the case may be, it looks like her eating condition caught up with her. While it’s not officially revealed yet, it doesn’t have to be. Eating condition + pushing yourself = anemia, and that means passing out in the middle of a Tokyo sidewalk. I’d put money on that being the reason for her passing out.
Then, we have Gen… oh, Gen, you poor, poor soul. I’ll leave it up to all of you to discover it since it plays a huge role in this volume’s ending, but I can sum up his newest development in one word…. YIKES. Well… maybe a few more words. All I will say is that it did confirm something I suspected a while ago. And now, I’ll leave the topic at that.
Final Thoughts
Every time I turn the page, we fall deeper and deeper into the darkness of the abyss. It’s fitting because the series’ title isn’t just about Reiji’s abyss, but the abyss that we, the readers, fall into alongside him. Just thinking back to everything that we have witnessed thus far, and all of the things that continue to happen, you find yourself no longer asking ‘it can’t get much worse, right?’ and are now asking ‘Okay, what fresh hell are we walking into this time?’
There is always room for things to get more and more messed up, and this volume proves it. If there is a character in this series, they are going to eventually lose the plot. I’m just waiting for Nagi to do the same because there is no way in heck she is getting off easy with just a simple suicide pact with Reiji. Wanting to die with him seems too normal for a character in this series, so there has to be something deeper that she hasn’t revealed yet. But seriously… Yuko, Ms. Shiba, Chako, and Gen… all of which have lost the plot completely. Esemori didn’t lose the plot… he just lost the lottery of life with terminal cancer. Even Gen’s father lost the plot in his own way. Nagi is the only one who got her act together (somewhat). We can’t allow this to happen! She cannot keep the plot!
I am a bit facetious, but I feel as if that’s how it goes with characters in this series. Eventually, something snaps inside them, and they succumb to the curse that is this town. It truly makes you wonder if there is a true escape or if everyone who lives there is damned to hell.
Anyway, we will see the aftermath of Gen and his million plot twists, probably learn about Chako’s anemia, will probably see her parents completely lose the plot next, and maybe we’ll see Ms. Shiba try to snag Reiji again. Who knows at this point? Either way, this is one massive convoluted mess… and I’m loving every second of it!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
