[Haak]

Originally Posted by potchip

This a part where it's confusing as to whether Sena is really aware. On one side I expect her to call out a battle royale for Kodaka's hand if she's aware of Yozora's feelings - her personality dictates she can't wait for Yozora beating around the bush and would prefer a straight up and fast settlement.

There shouldn't be any confusion regardless of what anyone thinks her personality suggests. Sena very pointedly brought Kodaka away from Yozora to speak to him about the engagement issue and expressed concern of the possibility of what it would mean to Yozora if she found out. Not only that, but Sena also got angry when Yozora became dejected and told her to snap out of it. Why would she get angry if she's not aware of what it means to Yozora?

This isn't the first time Sena's has shown she's aware of the situation. When Kodaka and Sena were getting pa present for Kobato they took a break and talked in the cafe and Sena specifically said she didn't want to lose to Yozora. The subject was about what Sena thought about Kodaka and Yozora being childhood friends. And just before that Sena was asking what Kodaka thought about the other girls. And just before that Sena talked about how she understands how "girls can take a long time to decide on things": The context is pretty damn clear. She knows she's in a competition with Yozora, Rika and even freaking Yukimura over Kodaka's feelings.

The duality of her noble intention, and at the same time unfair due-process is a constant theme. An analogy is a Knight(Sena) challenges an Scholar(Yozora) in honorable combat. The knight is simply not aware her method is inheritly disadvantageous for the other party and only doing so for honor. Doesn't mean the other party and other observers would think the same however. This is also what's happening for Kodaka - Sena is not aware putting him on the spot is a bad idea, both for him and herself.

I don't recall any of that ever being a theme. What exactly is that based on?

Because in all honestly I got the exact opposite interpretation from that scene. The interpretation i got was that they were trying to portray Sena's confession as something positive that shows how far she's come. The reason for this is obvious. The rest of the episode previously went out of it's way to show the best of Rika and Yozora and so followed that off with Sena. Why? It's a narrative cue to put it in direct contrast to Kodaka's evasion which the story portrays as a character regression. Everybody's growing up except him: That was the meta concept I was getting. Portraying Sena's confession as a character flaw would undermine that.

Like I've mentioned before about intent and outcome - in Sena's case, is good intention/eagerness/lack of awareness enough excuse for the outcomes? So is she deserving of her current predicament? (Funnily enough, despite what she says, she probably doesn't care all that much about her bad relations with her peers, at an emotional level. I think her reason to join the club is nothing more than the perfectionist seeking perfection and annoyed at not getting her way, rather than specific yearning for friendship. Even now she's still struggling with the emotions of a real budding friendship with Yozora)

Can I ask why you think that? The scene in the very first episode of the first season makes it clear what Sena's intentions are. She said "I saw that poster too! (referring to the poster that Yozora specifically said that only people who truly desire friends would see) I just want friends too!". I don't think the story said that for shits and giggles, you know. The story was clearly portraying it as a moment of truth for Sena. Kodaka even then later clarified that it would be natural for her to feel alienated and desire true friends in the scene right after that.

This isn't just clear from a character point of view but from a narrative one. All the members have a genuine desire for friendship (with perhaps the sole exception of Yukimura who's character role has that leeway since she's only ever been used as a comedic device thus far). It makes no sense to portray one of the characters as having cynical motivation. That would inherently undermine the underlying theme of the story when they're all having fun and acting like genuine friends with one another, which the story always portrays as genuine. For example, take the ending of the OVA (episode 13) when Yozora caps it off by reminding everyone of the core ideal of the club "To make friends" and how everyone else is already smiling in approval before she even says it. Having one character in the group who's not there for that reason (and for cynical reasons to boot) would undermine that message completely.

Originally Posted by finalfury

I said that it makes sense, not something that she deserves. After the episode in season 1 at the pool where she kept on insulting the guys to the point where they were going to go violent on her tells me that she needs to learn some restraint. Does she deserve all the abuse that has happened, NO. Does she absolutely need counseling, YES. As does every character in the club for that matter. .

Those two are entirely different things. Of course there's room for improvement but abuse, especially physical abuse is not the way to go about it if it's not deserved. It can even be counter-productive.