The Kegareboshi Bonus Chapter is Everything I Wanted it to be

Last year I reviewed Kegareboshi by Satou Kuuki, a Moral Degeneration and NTR manga about Idos. You can read the full review here. 

While I really liked the 4-chapter series, I had several problems with the pacing of the second half, thinking the third chapter is fun but ultimately unimportant (and leaves some loose ends hanging) and the last chapter, while good, lacks a satisfying end to Ibuki's corruption arc.

Shortly after the release of the fourth chapter and the mixed reception by the readers, mangaka Satou Kuuki announced there was going to be a bonus chapter/epilogue released in the next Comiket. When I wrote the review, that was yet to come, and the only thing shown of said chapter were sketches of some pages. So, I reviewed the series without taking that into account.

Eventually, it was revealed that the extra chapter would come in a tankobon volume collecting Satou Kuuki's doujin works from the last 5 years, that being the Netokano, Netosis, and Kegareboshi series. The book is called Kegareboshi no Kakeratachi (something like "Shards of a Corrupted Star", making reference to the broken shards a shooting star leaves after burning up in Earth's atmosphere), which is also the title of the extra story. However, the book was physical-only, and as such, beyond the reach of readers not residing in Japan. A digital release finally came yesterday, nearly a month after the physical.

I read the new chapter this morning and just had to talk about it. Because it's like Satou Kuuki entered my brain and addressed all the key issues I had with the later half of the series. I just had to write about it. This post is written in the spur of the moment and mostly gushing about what I liked in the chapter, so I recommend reading for yourself before continuing. As of the time I'm writing there's no translation yet but I'm sure one will be out soon enough, possibly by Biribiri who translated the 4 main chapters.

There will be spoilers from this point on.

Connecting chapters 3 and 4

One of the biggest issues I had with Kegareboshi was how detached from the rest of the series the third chapter, Kegareboshi Murasaki, was from the rest of the series. This may sound weird at first glance since it ends in a direct cliffhanger to the last chapter, but the issue is that it sets up a dynamic between Ibuki and Arisa that is never paid off (as we never see Ibuki discovering Arisa was Kurozuka's pawn all along, neither do they interact in Kegareboshi Kuro), plus it's jarring how Kuro begins with Ibuki wearing one of Kurozuka's slave outfits out of nowhere.

While Kakeratachi opens with Ibuki and Koharu, going to the special seat in the club (the same Kurozuka took Koharu to in Aka) as Kurozuka's kept harlots, it transitions into a flashback to that day. Covered in semen and aphrodisiacs, she watches Koharu and Arisa tease the bound and blindfolded Wataru as Kurozuka explains that Arisa is his daughter with Nanajima Midori and that Koharu is already his woman, and that she was selfishly indulging in her lust while Ibuki was sacrificing herself. There's also a panel showing that Kurozuka raped and trained Arisa just like the other girls, she wasn't raised a slave as one would assume. She's screaming that he can't be her dad. Just goes to show how evil he truly is. And it reinforces the idea already shown with Koharu that the women he trains develop into twisted sadists themselves. Keep that one for later.

Anyway, Kurozuka confronts Ibuki by saying that since her "love rival" in the dispute for Wataru's heart is out of the game, she might have a chance to take him for herself, and that he prepared suitable clothes for that. Seeing that Wataru is clearly excited, and still under the effect of the aphrodisiacs she agrees, and that's how she gets to the beginning of Kegareboshi Kuro.

Ibuki's devotion

The above scene also added another layer over the first scene in Kuro, as Ibuki was not only despairing but also aware of Koharu and Arisa's true selves and poisoned by Kurozuka's words about stealing Wataru. However, her narration as the flashback transitions also says that even if she blames the aphrodisiac or the two men's size differences, in the end, her disillusionment with Wataru was what pushed her away. 

Since the beginning of the series, Ibuki's motivator was Wataru. It was always about how he saved her and he showed her a path when she was lost. Unlike Koharu and Wataru who had their own dreams to pursue, Ibuki was always propelled by her idealized love for Wataru. Seeing that pedestal broken, along with her training, is what made her fall. This is the payoff to her arc I felt Kuro was missing. It used Ibuki as a vehicle to talk about Idols as a whole, but it never sat well with me that the main heroine of the series didn't get a moment of introspection like Koharu had in her chapter. She got that here.

As the scene continues, she thinks that she can barely remember the "Idol Asaba Ibuki" that Wataru made her, that every time she has sex with Kurozuka, the more the wants and worries of her former life are washed away and she becomes his woman, "Kurozuka Ibuki" more and more. This is something I neglected to mention back in my review, but while the first 3 chapters have the heroines' full names (Asaba Ibuki and Shirosaki Koharu) in their subtitles, Kuro doesn't have a subtitle at all but the back cover has their names listed as "Kurozuka Ibuki" and "Kurozuka Koharu" (alongside "Kurozuka Arisa") like they've become his wives. It's just a way of showing how they belong to him now. Seeing that Ibuki (and presumably, the other two girls) thinks of herself that way is pretty nice.

There's also the fact she's being screwed in the special seat of the club, introduced back in Aka, which is likened to the highest stage an idol (harlot) can attain, looked with desire and envy by all. We don't get a repeat of that explanation or see any reactions, but we do see that Ibuki reacts to the experience with the same kind of awe.

Kurozuka's influence on Ibuki's personality

One of my favorite things in the main series was how much Koharu changes. She went from a kind, slightly selfish, high-spirited girl to a depraved slut with a very nasty personality that is at the same time Kurozuka's bitch and a sadist who enjoyed every second of seeing (and eventually helping) him torment her "friends". This was noted to be due to Kurozuka's influence, especially her developing sadism towards people outside her master. 

So it stands to reason the same would happen to Ibuki over time. In fact, moral degeneration like this is common in Satou Kuuki's works. His heroines become completely submissive to their masters while sharing their low view of others and take sexual pleasure in mocking and tormenting them. I hoped for a time skip of sorts that would show Ibuki as a nasty bitch. And obviously, I didn't get that in the main series. And while there's no time skip in the bonus chapter either, we do see that seed starting to bloom.

When Kurozuka is having sex with Koharu, Ibuki notices a dildo on the ground and, without anyone saying anything, hesitantly, walks to it and shoves it up Koharu's ass. From there on, she starts demeaning her, talking about her orgasm face, and about how this is payback for all that Koharu put her through before. She's obviously excited and acknowledges that she "might like this tormenting thing". Ibuki, the girl who once had a strong sense of justice and a reserved, polite demeanor, is fucking her best friend's ass with a dildo for her own pleasure, not hers, and calling her a masochistic sow. This is a glimpse into her future self who will be just as nasty as Koharu and Arisa, for sure. And I'm so happy to see it.

Interaction between the girls

This was a big sticking out point for a lot of people. The lack of a proper harem scene with the girls interacting more. I didn't have a problem with it a first but upon re-reading the series for the review, it did feel like the ending didn't have enough action. Well, this whole chapter is basically a big threesome. Kurozuka fucks the two girls separately (with Koharu's turn being Ibuki's sadist awakening described above), there's double paizuri, fingering, and to cap it all off a scene where they get fucked at the same time by Kurozuka, using his dick and a strap on that is an exact copy of his dick (complete with a semen tank for ejaculations). It's a stupid setup but it makes for a hot scene with Ibuki and Koharu kissing and rubbing tits on top of each other while getting fucked.

Conclusion

All in all, this bonus chapter gave me basically all I wanted, including stuff I didn't expect to get at this point. My complaints would be just nitpicking like "I wish it was longer" or "there should be an outfit change like in other chapters". I can see some Arisa fans will be disappointed with her not being in this chapter for long. It's mentioned that she's "playing" with Wataru, and also that she joined a new idol unit, with the implication that those will be Kurozuka's next target. I don't think it's teasing a sequel (Kuuki already made his next project known, and it's a magical girl thing), just showing that this madness will keep going on. But anyway, Arisa had a lot of panel time in the main series, despite not being a main character, so I think it's the right call to not have her here for long. This chapter has sex with both girls but it is very much an Ibuki chapter, and it is the perfect complement to Kuro's weak points.

Seeing Ibuki squirt while begging to get cummed inside after how much of a big deal she made about it in her previous chapters is a perfect microcosm of her fall into depravity, and one of my favorite moments of the book