 |  |  |
Manabe-kun, you are too awesome for words. If you were my friend, I'd join in your perverted conversations any day. No, seriously.
Jokes aside, I think Manabe has proven himself a great friend, and an all around great human being. Pretending that eroticism doesn't exist amongst teenagers is laughable, and Kotoura-san doesn't make a big deal about Manabe being a little perverted, which is really refreshing to watch. It's human to have some quirks, to be far from perfect, and sexuality is one of those things everyone has, but we like to pretend isn't there. Manabe's fantasies don't make him a pig or unlikeable in any way; he's just a normal teenage boy who's honest about what he thinks and feels, and who genuinely cares for his friends. His relief at the fact that he was being targeted instead of Haruka wasn't false in any way, just as his concern for her has been real since the moment he understood what her life has been like.
This only makes the fact that Haruka holds so much self-hatred and guilt more painful to watch; she doesn't want to cause trouble for Manabe because she cares for him, and also because she understands how he feels about her. After a lifetime of blame for her mind reading, she can only think of herself as a burden, as someone who hurts others, and she doesn't want to do the same to the person who brought light back into her world.
The fact that Haruka was willing to forgive Moritani for her hateful act proves that Haruka is too nice for her own good, and that her own sense of self is so corrupt that she can only blame herself, instead of the person responsible. As for Moritani herself, hell knows no bounds for manipulative and jealous creatures, but I do think it's a little interesting that Moritani's target was Manabe rather than Haruka. When you think about it logically, it isn't really fair for the rival to always attack the other rival; most of the time the rival doesn't have anything to do with you, and it's the object of your affection that is the source of your feelings anyway. I'm not rationalizing Moritani in the least, she's still a bitch and she deserved to get publicly humiliated for manipulating her dojo members and for hurting Manabe, but it's just different to see the guy be the target for once, rather than the girl.
While I personally would have loved to destroy Moritani's reputation, Haruka is just not that type of person; after all her suffering, she still has the capability to love and to forgive, and that makes her a much stronger female lead than I've seen in a while. Unfortunately, it's going to take a lot more to prove to Haruka just how much she is loved, and how much more it hurts others when you take yourself out of the equation. It will be up to Manabe, Daichi, Yuriko (who is trying to seem like she's taking advantage of Haruka, but failing), and even Moritani to give her the means to forgive herself and to help her return from wherever it is she's run off to.
In any case, I think that in general this series has done a good job passing the three-episode test, and despite some flaws (ie. the pacing is rushed, the drama is occasionally forced), Kotoura-san is definitely in the running for one of the best series of the year so far, unless 2013 turns out to be another excellent year for anime.
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
No comments:
Post a Comment