History YMMV / BoysAbyss

* BrokenBase: [[spoiler:Gen revealing gender insecurities]] near the end of the manga. Some don't see a problem with it, since there was subtle foreshadowing for it throughout flashbacks and to them it didn't seem like the manga was demonizing [[spoiler:Gen]] for it since [[spoiler:Gen was questioning way before the traumatic events of Reiji's life began]]. On the other side of the fence, critics felt the reveal came too late (as it came in the way later half of the manga), thought the foreshadowing wasn't handled well and that the story wasn't really interested in exploring this angle, and seemed like a superfluous add-on to an already loaded and complex backstory. Detractors also point to the fact that [[spoiler:Gen only reveals this after having seemingly killed Yuko and [[CreepyCrossdresser in Yuko's poorly applied makeup and clothes]]]] as a reason why it wasn't handled well.

** Reiji gets a lot of flak from readers who believe that his passivity and one-sided obsession with Nagi are huge detriments to his character. They feel as if Reiji is not pulling his weight as a protagonist and merely reacting to the circumstances around him, and while some understand that his obsession with Nagi is born from a desire to get a bit of freedom for himself, Nagi's absence in most of the story makes people wonder what [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim he sees in Nagi]] that doesn't involve her taking his virginity. His wishy-washy stance on certain goals is also a point of contention. However, some fans do understand that a lot of the circumstances are either beyond his control or put into motion years before he was even aware of them, and his behavior is very realistic for a depressed and suicidal teenage boy.

** There is no denying that Yuko is a very toxic individual; she's incredibly possessive of her loved ones and doesn't care how hurt they are by her actions as long as they don't leave her. Once we see ''how'' she got that way, it's hard not to feel a little bad for the childhood she was robbed of and her need to feel loved.

** Yuko Kurose (Reiji's mother). First due to her increased relevance in the story after Nagi leaves, lastly on whether she's a cruel and manipulative woman that wants a pseudo incestual relationship where she dominates Reiji's life, or a victim of violence that couldn't break out of that cycle and actively perpetuates it.

* BrokenBase: [[spoiler:Gen revealing gender insecurities as the root of his complex]] near the end of the manga. Some don't see a problem with it, since there was subtle foreshadowing for it throughout flashbacks and to them it didn't seem like the manga was demonizing [[spoiler:Gen]] for it since [[spoiler:Gen was questioning way before the traumatic events of Reiji's life began]]. On the other side of the fence, critics felt the reveal came too late (as it came in the way later half of the manga), thought the foreshadowing wasn't handled well and that the story wasn't really interested in exploring this angle, and seemed like a superfluous add-on to an already loaded and complex backstory. Detractors also point to the fact that [[spoiler:Gen only reveals this after having seemingly killed Yuko and [[CreepyCrossdresser in Yuko's poorly applied makeup and clothes]]]] as a reason why it wasn't handled well.

* BrokenBase: [[spoiler:Gen revealing gender insecurities as the root of his complex]] near the end of the manga. Some don't see a problem with it, since there was subtle foreshadowing for it throughout flashbacks and to them it didn't seem like it was demonizing [[spoiler:Gen]] for it since [[spoiler:Gen was questioning way before the traumatic events of Reiji's life began]]. On the other side of the fence, critics felt the reveal came too late (as it came in the way later half of the manga), thought the foreshadowing wasn't handled well and that the story wasn't really interested in exploring this angle, and seemed like a superfluous add-on to an already loaded and complex backstory.

** While Gen is a very violent and possessive character, even hurting some of the main characters and [[spoiler:stabbing a girlfriend]], the kid has been through so much that it'd rival Reiji's suffering. [[spoiler:Murdering your best friend's stepfather, keeping that a secret for most of your adolescence, being manipulated by said best friend's mother and dealing with some ultra repressed [[TransTribulation gender questioning]] along the way]] would warp a person.

* {{Wangst}}: After everyone's backstories get revealed, some fans believe that Chako had it the easiest of all the characters since it boiled down to her wanting to go to college out of town (which her parents won't let her do) and an inferiority complex. While her situation is further explained later on by showing that she also suffers from a disturbing amount of ParentalNeglect for someone in a stable home, she still has it much easier than the Kurose family (full of DomesticAbuse and [[spoiler:one long case of child prostitution]]) and Gen ([[spoiler:made to kill Reiji's stepfather and live with that knowledge for the rest of his life]]), making some fans dismiss her as whiny. It doesn't help that she became more openly spiteful after the timeskip.

** While Gen is a very violent and possessive character, even hurting some of the main characters and [[spoiler:stabbing a girlfriend[[, the kid has been through so much that it'd rival Reiji's suffering. [[spoiler:Murdering your best friend's stepfather, keeping that a secret for most of your adolescence, being manipulated by said best friend's mother and dealing with some ultra repressed [[TransTribulation gender questioning]] along the way]] would warp a person.

** While Gen is a very violent and possessive character, even hurting some of the main characters and [[spoiler:stabbing a girlfriend[[, the kid has been through so much that it'd rival Reiji's suffering. [[spoiler:Murdering your best friend's stepfather, keeping that a secret for most of your adolescence, and dealing with some ultra repressed [[TransTribulation gender questioning]] along the way]] would warp a person.

* AccidentalAesop: The only option for growth when you're stuck is to move out of your old environment with no regrets. While everyone else has some kind of attachment to The Town, the only two people who escape the story mostly unharmed are Yuko's brother (who left as a teen and hasn't been seen since) and Saki (who moved out because of her husband and has the best life of any focus character bar none).

* MisaimedFandom: Rather than observe the story as a character drama, a huge portion of the fandom instead looks at the manga as if it was ''really'' a {{Harem|Genre}} manga and all the girls in Reiji's life as haremettes. Reiji is also thought of as a loser for not choosing a girl, as if the biggest problem in his life is that he's not immediately happy with the attention he's getting. Tellingly, Kazu's MotiveRant even includes a section where he reveals that he's jealous of Reiji getting to have sex with Shibasawa and thinking he "has it good" for losing his virgininty.

** There is no denying that Yuko is a very toxic individual; she's incredibly possessive of her loved ones and doesn't care how hurt they sre by her actions as long as they don't leave her. Once we see ''how'' she got that way, it's hard not to feel a little bad for the childhood she was robbed of and her need to feel loved.

* EldritchLocation: Although not obviously stated, but with how much the town has unnaturally screwed over ''everyone'' due to its toxic conformity and societal stagnation, fans have begun to speculate that the town is absolutely ''cursed''. Cue memes on how the fanbase wants to 'nuke the town' to save everyone living there.
* EvilVsEvil: Yuri vs Yuko can be considered this, as both are depraved Yanderes both over obsessing on Reiji and are incredibly ruthless.
* MisaimedFandom: Rather than observe the story as a character drama, a huge portion of the fandom instead looks at the manga as if it was ''really'' a {{Harem|Genre}} manga and all the girls in Reiji's life as haremettes. Reiji is also thought of as a loser for not choosing a girl, as if the biggest problem in his life is that he's not immediately happy with the attention he's getting. Tellingly, Kazu's MotiveRant even includes a section where he reveals that he's jealous of Reiji getting to have sex with Shibasawa and thinking he "has it good" for losing his virgininty.
* [[JustForFun/XMeetsY X Meets Y]]: It is often considered to be the lovechild between [[Manga/DomesticGirlfriend Domestic Girlfriend]] and [[Manga/GoodnightPunpun Oyasumi Punpun]]. In that it combines the tropes from the Harem and Incest genre with the psychological and existential horror of Punpun.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Some fans view the series as a whole as a deconstruction of both the Harem/Romcom genre that [[VisualNovel/SchoolDays School Days]] tried to replicate but somewhat failed and Japanese society as a whole. For the former,for starters it presents the kind of people that would willinglly participate in a harem, thenshows how inherently destructive harems are in terms of relations and how such a system would eventually breed an utterly toxic relationship between the various participants. Bullying, manipulation and ruthless competition reveals how nasty it can be which is made worse by the latter. In this case, Japan's cultural norms of conformity and 'sweeping things under the rug' reveals itself as a enabler of such toxicity. With the town's societal obsession on controlling the next generation to conform to the 'old ways' only ends up birthing despair and sociopathy as a result.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Some fans view the series as a whole as a deconstruction of both the Harem genre that [[VisualNovel/SchoolDays School Days]] tried to replicate but somewhat failed and Japanese society as a whole. For the former, it shows how inherently destructive harems are in terms of relations and how such a system would eventually breed an utterly toxic relationship between the various participants. Bullying, manipulation and ruthless competition reveals how nasty it can be which is made worse by the latter. In this case, Japan's cultural norms of conformity and 'sweeping things under the rug' reveals itself as a enabler of such toxicity. With the town's societal obsession on controlling the next generation to conform to the 'old ways' only ends up birthing despair and sociopathy as a result.

* MisaimedFandom: Rather than observe the story as a character drama, a huge portion of the fandom instead looks at the manga as if it was ''really'' a {{Harem|Genre}} manga and all the girls in Reiji's life as haremettes. Reiji is also thought of as a loser for not choosing a girl, as if the biggest problem in his life is that he's not immediately happy with the attention he's getting. Tellingly, Kazu's MotiveRant even includes a section where he reveals that he's jealous of Reiji getting to have sex with Shibasawa and thinking he "has it good" for losing his virgininty.

* AccidentalAesop: The only option for growth when you're stuck is to move out of your old environment with no regrets. While everyone else in the town has some kind of attachment to The Town, the only two people who escape the story mostly unharmed are Yuko's brother (who left as a teen and hasn't been seen since) and Saki (who moved out because of her husband and has the best life of any focus character bar none).