Quote:
Originally Posted by Sol Falling
:P Dude, if by 'likes Shigure' you mean 'am rooting for him to end up with Yukina' then I think there are plenty of people on your side, myself (quite firmly) included. If you're talking about liking him as a person, though, then I think anybody has to admit he's got some faults. Shigure's treatment of Yukina throughout most of what we've seen so far has been highly insensitive towards a girl who actually has a romantic interest in him. It's somewhat justified because Shigure feels he's just being used and manipulated, a feeling which is used to quite good effect this chapter actually, but nonetheless that does nothing to reduce the sheer horror this manga sometimes induces for me when Yukina's 'first love'-esque innocent feelings are completely trampled on. It's only by virtue of a combination of Yukina's strength of character and a somewhat naive/oblivious lack of familiarity with her emotions on her part that their relationship has survived this far. If you remember, my statement about Shigure's lack of real or conscious attraction to Yukina thus far was to explain his almost schizophrenic abandonment of her last chapter in favour of Mami. Frankly, if Shigure really had any 'respect', 'intrigue', or 'notice' for/of her, he'd never have done that.
I agree with you that he's quite compatible with Yukina, in terms of what they both want and need. And indeed, since chapter 9, aside from the cliffhangers, their relationship has been setting off quite nicely. The 'princess' scene we just got in ch. 12 was really awesome in this regard. But it's not because I think Shigure was 'forced' into his deception game and he's looking for someone he doesn't have to play it with. If he were really consciously bored or lonely or looking for a challenge, he wouldn't have kept pushing Yukina away so callously. I think Shigure is only showed his real face to Yukina despite himself, because she sidestepped all his secrets and resistance by force, and the reason their relationship is good for both of them is because it will be one of those cute 'becoming a better person against their will/without knowing it' sort of things.
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I wasn't doubting that, what puts me in the minority is that I actually do LIKE Shigure's character. It's rough around the edges and the man definitely has his faults, I won't defend him on that score but I do rather feel people are a bit too harsh at times. Quite frankly, this whole thing started out in a completely insensitive manner given how he
was cajoled into it as you point out, that Yukina told him quite plainly she had no feelings for him at the beginning and was only using him for practice because he was inconsequential and convenient, and it wasn't as if he didn't show regret some of his actions toward her. If we're talking about feelings getting trampled on, I rather think Shigure doesn't quite believe or trust Yukina's feelings towards him which should also be understandable, and is represented in his resentment/jealously and his new goal of making her fall in love with him instead (look how off-guard he was when she told him she liked him at the end of their date and how self-conscious he felt acted) And c'mon, it wasn't all Yukina, she's wavered at times too and Shigure's own stubbornness and initiative also came to the rescue as well, like in the latest chapter. I'd say most of it probably is unconscious... REALLY unconscious, though I am rather keen to point out his awareness of it at the very least, even if he hasn't quite categorized or figured it out just yet, neither has Yukina quite frankly, and the relationship as a whole is rather fragile in comparison to say a child-hood friend. But the interest is there whether he admits it or not, else he simply wouldn't care, and it is growing day by day I would say.
Once again I think we're veering off too much into the conscious action department, because we've seen plenty of examples where Shigure takes certain actions in regards to Yukina and has no real explanation for it. And rejecting a foreign presence is a rather natural response, even if one isn't happy or is even harmed by the current environment he lives in he's at least familiar with and at this point probably used to it, so much so that a new catalyst which threatens to upend it will be initially rejected right away even if it isn't to his benefit to do so, a difference between what one wants and what one needs I suppose. I make that point in regards to both his callous and condescending attitude to how people treat him in comparison to how vigorously he works at trying to maintain it. Exactly, it's a process in work at this point, but he's becoming more comfortable with being honest with himself, which makes it more of being the person he really is rather then being a better person in general, I think. In a sense both he and Yukina have shut off parts of themselves and are now just beginning to rediscover, explore, and develop them.