Quote:
Originally Posted by Sol Falling
My primary reason for rooting for Kumagawa x Medaka is due to Kumagawa's continually expressed interest in the relationship. As a fan of Kumagawa, I have no choice but to pay attention to one of the most recurrent aspects of his characterization.
There is a great deal of weight to Kumagawa's feelings for Medaka (and at times, Medaka's feelings for Kumagawa in return; their joy of finally arriving at the battle they had waited 300,000,000 years for remains one of the most memorable aspects for me of the climax of the Minus arc). Having lost to Medaka then, assimilated into the Student Council, being reduced to just another one of Medaka's endless friends/enemies, leaves those feelings unresolved. Initially you could have just assumed that Kumagawa buried them quietly, offscreen, embracing his new personality and forgetting that those developments in the Minus Arc ever happened. This was my initial attitude as well. However, the persistent resurfacing of Kumagawa's romantic emotions for Medaka show that this is not the case. In the end, nearly all (actually, pretty much all) of Kumagawa's moments of being 'real' (dropping the brackets) after the end of the Minus arc still have to do with Medaka (whether saying he would beat her, that she would return to him, or 'achieving' his first victory). So you can clearly see that Medaka was and still is necessary to the resolution of Kumagawa's arc.
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Or Medaka is essential to a number of people's arcs as the protagonist?
I don't really think it's "persistent romantic emotions", but more the relationship of being defined by their enemies, the whole "valuing enemies more" thing. I may be harping on semantics, but I think these relationships can be defined as more than pairings.
While you do point out instances of Kumagawa's development relating to Medaka, it seems automatically tempered towards romance in your view, which I do think is a stretch. What does he really love about Medaka? Is it just attributed to the illogical, instinctual aspect of love isn't really explainable?
Delving into personal reasons, one of my misgivings about the pairing is that it's a bit too...blatant for me. The whole "opposites attract" without much else makes it feel more like some predestined relationship than genuine development. Of course, being her main opposition Kumagawa has ironically given Medaka some of her happiest moments, but they may hold different weights to people.
You know what, why hasn't anyone really talked about Medaka having a harem? Or perhaps I haven't been reading the right forums.