Manga

Woah...that just kept escalating and escalating...

First the pregnancy, but I was expecting that, then Rei being an abandoned baby, then Takashi being already engaged, to the car crash, then Sawako's end, and finally the rooftop.

As somebody in the US, the issue of abortion has remained a thorny one for decades, and has become especially relevant in the past couple years since the overturn of Roe. I have had family members in the past choose to pursue an abortion after cases of rape in states for which that would no longer be allowed. And now, we are on the cusp of an election in which one of the major political parties is not so subtly advocating for a nationwide ban of the procedure at a federal level, making the issue more relevant than ever.

I went to high school in rural Pennsylvania, and there were a handful of people within my school that had children before graduation. I didn't know any of them personally, but it is hard to hide a pregnancy in a relatively small school with an overactive rumor mill. Thankfully, the issue of teen pregnancy is not treated as life-ending today as it is depicted in this work from 1970, so none of those girls (to my knowledge) had to go through the same style of dramatics as Asami did, but I am sure that they probably experienced social pressures one way or the other.

Thanks for sharing this. It is completely over the top dramatics, but it is thought provoking.