[Mentar]

Originally Posted by Game8910

well, if you want to interpret her words literally, she said "Im not returning to Japan WITH YOU". She never said "Im never returning to Japan", so she isnt really ignoring her own words. We dont know what she will do in japan when she gets there so we can't judge her unfairly yet.

That's merely lawyerspeak semantics. The implication of Athena's scene was a goodbye from Hayate - which he also understood like this, as the use of the past tense "I loved you too" proved. And this splitup "I can't be with you, you need to return to your mistress" is very much at odds with the challenge "take care of this (empty ring box)".

You must have REALLLY been hurt by Athena's appearance if such actions manage to change your overall views on her so negatively so fast.

"Hurt"? I already said even before the showdown chapters that the question how Athena will deal with the aftermath will decide my opinion on her. And I was genuinely impressed that she DID seem to return him to her for just the right reasons (though I would have preferred her to add the "I'm indebted to her" one, too). I honestly thought that I might have been unfairly judging her character in the past, and said so.

And well, just one chapter later she shows exactly those traits again which made me dislike her in the first place. Hence my annoyed reaction.

Why wouldnt her thank be genuine? The way you describe her challenge is spot on, she probably does plan to claim back Hayate in the fufure,[...]

Which means that the farewell to Hayate was fake. It was no "I can't be with you now, you have obligations to your mistress. But when the time is right, I'll be with you again" kind of splitup, which would have been possible too.

As usual, you guys can't have it both ways. You can't hail her as the selfless saint when at the same time you agree that she lied to Hayate and plans to take him back in the future.

[...]but I honestly dont know why you would think she would belittle Nagi's person like that..."you little peasant"? really? I dont know where you got this image of her, I do not remember ever seeing Athena as the kid of person to mock her opponents as something inferior,

Handing someone a worthless ring box with the task to "take good care of it" and not explaining anything is not mocking and belittling in your opinion? The self-contented smile without explaining anything when laying down the challenge is your idea of showing genuine appreciacion? Or the low-eyebrow :3 look of her while flaunting the ring to Machina? If you ask me, she's enjoying herself, and she likes that Nagi does not know and understand what's going on. And don't get me started on the implication that she obviously sees Hayate as something which she can give back or take away on her own volition. Just like in the past she felt entitled to decide what he may or may not do on her own.

Many Athena fans just love her for this whimsical powerplay ... I feel repulsed by it.

So while I do not disagree much with your explanation, the way you are interpreting them is just a little too biased and negative in my view.

Naturally. I'm not saying that I'm necessarily right, or that people HAVE to see it my way. But you'll concede that my more negative assessment is well-founded.

Now, with that said, I'll give you a different interpretation. The reason Athena returns Hayate back was BECAUSE she was truly thankful to Nagi. If you think about it she could've easily persuaded him to stay right there and then, but she promised not to hurt Hayate and by that she means not hurt Hayate by hurting Nagi. Not takig Hayate away from Nagi is her way of thanks, the love rival's way.

But she isn't "giving him back". She's only borrowing him to Nagi, while pretending not to towards Hayate, and leaving Nagi completely in the dark. We're agreed that she actively plans to reclaim him. You don't reclaim gifts.

If she would be honest enough to tell Hayate "for now, you must be with your mistress, but one day we'll be together", I would have disliked it, but grudgingly accepted it. This two-faced deception however rubs me very much the wrong way.

She mentioned the situation is not like 10 years ago, Hayate now has people that care for him, its not just the 2 of them anymore, so giving Hayate to Nagi, but keeping the ring is her way to "level the playing field". Instead of "disregard everyone, acquire Hayate" and pretty much slapping everyone who care for Hayate in the face, by going to Japan on her own, and with Hayate now in the mindset that he has been dumped, she can slowly sip into the group of people that love Hayate and that way if she does manage to win him over...it will no longer come as an ambush to everyone around him.

Is that your idea of (quoting Athena from c265) "Farewell. I loved you..."?

You don't see a discrepancy to that? Like, honestly?

I don't want to requote everything from c265, but you really want to revisit that. Did all of this dramatic talk have any actual MEANING, or was that just self-contented "spur of the moment" tongue-flapping, said quickly and easily forgotten one day after?

That's exactly what I always disliked about her. And just when she managed to convince me that my earlier observations and conclusions were unwarranted and I was too harsh on her, she's just doing it again

If you think about it its pretty much the only way for her to "claim back" Hayate without taking him right now that their feelings are still fresh. Of course I dont expect her to take action any time soon, because at this point it would be "too easy".

She's deceiving Hayate, she's keeping Nagi in the dark and mocking her with a concealed challenge which Nagi cannot understand by design... well. There's reasonable hope that Hayate will have believed her.

If developed wrong it would be quite a bad move, but if done well it would be glorious...and personally if something like this would make you drop the series, then you should be in more shipping wars because this is not really the worst theres been. I guess im used to this atmosphere now....

I would strongly dislike if this kind of two-facedness would be rewarded in the end. We'll see.

Anyways....with everything said, I dont think you should jump to conclusions so far mentar...no one knows what and when Athena will actually show up on Japan, so save your negative views on her until she actually takes some sort of action next time

You are right in this aspect. But her "sacrifice", which after all only turns out to be a temporary borrowing (and is also terribly disrespectful towards Hayate, by the way) in the end, definitely made her a lesser person in _my_ book.