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Old 2010-11-06, 12:07   Link #96
Sol Falling
Senior Member
 
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Age: 35
Just read 17...as for the manga ending, well there's at least 2 further chapters left with the raws at chapter 19. Personally I would be happy to see it go on for a while longer.

Anyway. someone mentioned wanting to see a double date? Well, I guess they got their wish. Fireworks indeed. At this point, I don't think we can get around the fact that the only thing providing this series with conflict/tension is Yukina's utter cluelessness about love/her feelings for Shigure. However, personally I'm okay with that; Yukina's reactions are somehow cuter/more poignant and her scenes with Shigure are pretty sexy. Unfortunately though Mami and Akira are taking full advantage of Yukina's inability to clearly assert what she wants, which means we get terrible cliffhangers chapter by chapter despite the final conclusion being obvious a million years ago. I wonder if Yukina x Akira fans still exist and are enjoying these developments, despite knowing they ultimately won't really lead anywhere? Seems like this tension is just an ordeal for both sides.

This chapter is a fucking mindbender. Whose fault is it that Yukina's about to be kissed by Akira while Shigure can only bang his fist from the other car? Well first, maybe...Akira, because Yukina's clearly more interested/concerned about Shigure. Making excuses and taking advantage of her inability to resist him despite a clear lack of interest on her part. On the other hand, why did Yukina lose the bet in the first place? Yukina was almost successful in not speaking to Shigure for an entire week, even despite him confronting her. In that sense it can also be said that it is Shigure's own fault that he similarly latched onto Yukina's weak spot against her will until he provoked his desired reaction out of her. Beyond that though, despite both the boys being chauvinists in this manner (i.e. "I'll make her like it even if she doesn't want to"), the more frustrating mistake seems to be Yukina's cluelessness in going along with Mami's manipulation in the first place. "Mami doesn't like me being together with Shigure, I shouldn't just do as she says" seems like a basic idea which should have crossed any basically intelligent person's mind, but Yukina's grasp of love and related emotions clearly doesn't approach even that level. Finally however there is Mami, who is the mastermind behind everything in the first place and whose plan seems self-defeating if I ever saw one. Wanting to keep Shigure and Yukina apart, she bets on their feelings being strong enough that they can't resist not talking to each other for a week? Using their real mutual relationship, she uses a flimsy manipulation to create an artificial situation which will estrange them from each other? Isn't confirming for them that they do have a genuine connection counterproductive? How does she have any confidence that this will actually work out for her in the long run?

And so goes the cycle. The present cliffhanger is everyone's fault and won't make anyone happy, but it is happening anyway. About the only thing that you can actually cheer about as being 'right' about the situation is that Shigure is yelling 'stop' cause he doesn't want it to happen. Another roadblock on the way to a happy ending.

Anyway, check out the shot of everyone's four faces on the roller coaster. That really speaks volumes. Of course, Yukina's apathetic face and Shigure's terrified one are brilliant, but the more important thing is the virtual identicality of Mami and Akira's expressions. As far as the discussion above about how always smiling faces are creepy, I think one aspect of this is key: a person smiling regardless of the faces around them shows a self-centeredness of emotion, with being content in a sense of self-satisfaction regardless of whether that satisfaction is reciprocated by others.
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