The Gods Lie.
The Gods Lie. (Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuku.) is a 2013 Seinen manga in 5 chapters.
Nanao Natsuru is just at that age where boys began to turn into men. He dreams of being a great soccer/football player, but he dislikes his new school coach, no matter how good he supposedly is. He finds a stray cat but he can't keep it since his mom is allergic. By chance, he finds his classmate Rio and her little brother and decides to give the cat to them, and then he discovers that Rio and her little brother somehow live alone without any parental supervision...
Written and drawn by Kaori Osaka, the same author of Immortal Rain. Published on Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon.
Tropes used in The Gods Lie. include:
- Alpha Bitch: Himekawa has the physical beauty, the apparent wealthiness and the flock of girls. When she is rejected by Natsuru and later discovers his attraction towards Suzumura, she begins to treat the latter girl badly.
- Bittersweet Ending: Suzumura and her brother are taken by social services, she gets a bad reputation because of the incident with her grandfather, Natsuru gets involved into dumb fights trying to defend her, and they are separated. However, years later it seems they will be reunited and she is living a much better life than before.
- Daydream Surprise: A more positive example than most. We see Natsuru playing soccer/football, but then it's revealed it is only Rio's dream. That doesn't make her disappointed, instead she is sure Natsuru will become a star, and he seems to be walking this path.
- Foreshadowing: Natsuru talking about the garden of Suzumura's house smelling weird. It turns out he is feeling the smell of a decomposing body.
- Insufferable Genius: Sakai is a good football/soccer coach, but he treats his students pretty harshly.
- Male Gaze: Used to demonstrate Natsuru's nascent sexuality. A panel gives focus to Suzumura's butt and the following ones imply it is showing the boy's point-of-view, looking at them.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Natsuru's mother is a writer, but of light novels instead of manga.
- Ojou: Himekawa's mannerisms, clothes and acessories and the fact she receives gifts from her father from France imply this.
- Parental Abandonment: Suzumura's mother abandoned the family long before the start of the story. It also turns out Suzumura's father left her, her brother and their grandpa basically to die an imprecise but short amount of time before the start.
- Reality Ensues: At chapter 5, the kids don't manage to run away for much long before someone calls the police on them.
- Title Drop: The title is finally said in the final chapter, as Natsuru thinks about how parents lie to their children.