Amnesia - 7

"VII"

Well, of all the overbearingly shoujo-stereotype boyfriends Shujinko's been with, I think I dislike Kent the least, so it's a bit of a shame that he only gets one episode for his arc.

Maybe it's because he's less obviously controlling or because he's a bit dense in the human communications department, but Kent seems to me like the most sincere of the three guys we've met so far in this series. He isn't completely free of convention of course (it's not as if there aren't a ton of guys like Kent in the shoujo genre), but he's just somehow less... demeaning about his relationship with Shujinko. If there's something I never could quite stand about shoujo series (and occasionally in other genres as well), it's that weird ideal of the perfect and self-justified boyfriend. If you've ever read a generic shoujo manga you know exactly what I'm talking about; it's that stereotype where the guy in a relationship is always portrayed as the one who knows exactly what he's doing and he has to push his usually ditzy girlfriend in the right direction for the sake of the relationship's progression. It's an almost laughable thing, really, and I can't imagine why any girl (or guy) would want a boyfriend that pushy and controlling. Unfortunately that stereotype is all over Amnesia, particularly when it comes to Ikki and Shin. Less unfortunately, Kent only possesses this in small quantities.

Instead, Kent is that overly studious boyfriend who's a little unsure what being in a relationship is supposed to be like. From apologizing for not knowing what's pissed his girlfriend off to petting her head a little too forcefully, he's a bit of a ditz when it comes to being a boyfriend, and while hardly original material, it's a bit nicer to watch than the other two were. He genuinely seems to care for Shujinko but isn't really sure how to please her because he's too analytical (and a graduate student in math) to understand social relationships. For me, the best indication of this was the moment where he hears from Orion (through Shujinko's mediation) that this Shujinko isn't the one he's been going out with, but rather a different version of her from a parallel universe. While he isn't overly emotional about it, he's certainly displeased and a little upset to think that his real girlfriend is gone, and for a guy like Kent, that says quite a bit about his feelings; more so than perhaps the other love interests have so far, at least in my humble opinion.

On another note, it is rather interesting that the love interest with the shortest arc is the only one so far to really understand what's happened to Shujinko. Shin may have guessed at her amnesia, but Kent understands that there's more at stake here than that and he even gets Orion to talk to him about it. His quick acceptance of it all is a little far-fetched, especially considering how rational he is (I would have thought Shujinko was an amnesiac and schizophrenic), but as I've said before, this series has always verged on the absurd. I also find it interesting that we again find out more about the real Shujinko of this world, and that she was just as fiery a personality as the one in Ikki's arc. This one apparently has a short temper, and Kent is conditioned to apologize often for his less-than satisfactory boyfriend performance. It would be nice to see the fully developed Shujinko at least once, though at this point it's possible that each world possesses a completely different version of her, just as Waka is extremely different in each arc. Still, seeing as Kent has been shortchanged an episode, we'll be moving on to Toma next week and getting a look at what his version of Shujinko is supposed to be like.