>>3177600>>3177651Same here. Nezumi is so much better done in the novels. In the anime version he comes off as your typical abusive badboy, despite them making up for it towards the end.
After reading the novels, I totally fell for him and for the way he was written. There so much play on the contrast between them and it always keeps you wondering who's the vulnerable one.
Their relationship (which feels abusive and one sided in most of the anime) is also far more complex. It doesn't give you the usual sugary view on love but rather a more mature approach to it. As you read, you realize that both are looking for something they're lacking themselves and consequently create this projection of the other.
Nezumi, for example longs for innocence, while Shion craves his experience. Since people don't embody ideals, you constantly expect them to get hurt or wait to see if and how they overcome this.
Fuck, sorry for the autism. I still have shrapnel from this feelbomb.