(CR) Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun 2nd Stage (Bottom-tier Character Tomazaki 2nd Stage)

[Frontier]

Yeah, I think it's become less about just dealing with Erika or making Mimimi feel better and just improving how Tama expresses herself and gets along with the cast in general.

[Thor's Hammer]

I wonder whether Aoi telling Yuzu to not see Shuji is part of her plan to turn everyone against Erika. Maybe she deliberately planned for Mika to see the boys + Mimimi at the restaurant so that Erika informs Shuji, forcing him to make the choice to confront Erika due to his frustrations with not being able to see Yuzu since he is the big boss in the class, even moreso than Erika.

Fumiya did state that for better or worse, Aoi would try to turn the class against Erika. If this is what Aoi is planning, I hope her plan fails, and it forces the guys aside from Fumiya to pick between Shuji and Tama, resulting in everything getting even worse, so that Tama can truly put all the skills she learned to the test. I'm not the type to root for ugliness, but I would gladly take some ugliness over Aoi preventing Tama from changing due to some trauma from childhood.

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Thor's Hammer

I wonder whether Aoi telling Yuzu to not see Shuji is part of her plan to turn everyone against Erika. Maybe she deliberately planned for Mika to see the boys + Mimimi at the restaurant so that Erika informs Shuji, forcing him to make the choice to confront Erika due to his frustrations with not being able to see Yuzu since he is the big boss in the class, even moreso than Erika.

Fumiya did state that for better or worse, Aoi would try to turn the class against Erika. If this is what Aoi is planning, I hope her plan fails, and it forces the guys aside from Fumiya to pick between Shuji and Tama, resulting in everything getting even worse, so that Tama can truly put all the skills she learned to the test. I'm not the type to root for ugliness, but I would gladly take some ugliness over Aoi preventing Tama from changing due to some trauma from childhood.

tBH I wonder if her plan isn't to break up the couple instead. I somehow remember (I may be misremembering though) that someone said that the long moves usually don't pay off compared to many more smaller ones when talking about the fighting game.

Breaking Yuzu and Shuiji up would be way faster and much less effort to resolve the situation. Frankly, given how Shuiji isn't on Tama's side there despite her being the clear victim makes me wonder whether he and Yuzu actually fit together as a couple in the first place. I think it was also implied at least once that he is straight up on Erika's side.

[Thor's Hammer]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

tBH I wonder if her plan isn't to break up the couple instead. I somehow remember (I may be misremembering though) that someone said that the long moves usually don't pay off compared to many more smaller ones when talking about the fighting game.

Breaking Yuzu and Shuiji up would be way faster and much less effort to resolve the situation. Frankly, given how Shuiji isn't on Tama's side there despite her being the clear victim makes me wonder whether he and Yuzu actually fit together as a couple in the first place. I think it was also implied at least once that he is straight up on Erika's side.

I would be surprised if he is straight up on Erika's side given how she was calling him a loser for losing to Fumiya at TackFam. He basically brushed her off like it was nothing. What we do know is that Misuzawa said that he brushed off Shuuji trying to hang out with him to help Tama, which I suspect is the main reason Misuzawa doesn't want Shuuji to find out about his involvement because it would put his loyalties and friendship in doubt that he is avoiding spending time with his long-time buddy to help someone he hardly knows.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Thor's Hammer

I would be surprised if he is straight up on Erika's side given how she was calling him a loser for losing to Fumiya at TackFam. He basically brushed her off like it was nothing. What we do know is that Misuzawa said that he brushed off Shuuji trying to hang out with him to help Tama, which I suspect is the main reason Misuzawa doesn't want Shuuji to find out about his involvement because it would put his loyalties and friendship in doubt that he is avoiding spending time with his long-time buddy to help someone he hardly knows.

I think he just knows that Nakamura doesn't get along with Tama.

[Frontier]

Erika has gone too far. Damaging the precious plushie Mimimi gave her? Making Tama break down and cry? That's reprehensible. Not to mention she's finally unleashed Hinami's wrath !

But it's nice of Yuzu to want to sew it up for Tama, even if her sewing skills are still basic. But it's the thought that counts .

(Wait, Kana Ichinose and Naomi Ozora were in this class the whole time ?)

Erika finally gets a taste of her own medicine and then the efforts Hinami has taken to sow distrust in her group finally bares fruit as they start turning on each other and start turning the class against Erika, especially when she lashes out at one of her biggest weakness' getting called out (her looks). And that's before Hinami outright calls Erika out and gets Nakamura involved .

Because it wasn't enough just to turn the class against her but to have the guy she likes and her best friend whom he's currently dating to call her out, when they're why she was unjustly lashing out to begin with. And just to really drive it home, Hinami makes sure Nakamura hands a crying Erika the hand-knit tissue Yuzu made him, making her instinctively lash out and look even worse. Hinami isn't just going to settle for an apology and breaking Erika down, she went straight for the jugular to utterly break her .

And then the whole class starts bullying HER, and while she deserves every bit of it...count on Tama to call out how unfair it is even if it's her just desserts, and thanks to Tomozaki's training she's able to rescue the mood thanks to the power of jokes. Go Tama !

Well, it's nice that Mizusawa is willing to be more honest here, even if I wish him the best of luck in his romantic feelings for Hinami. I don't think she'll make it easy for him...and I'd be way too scared to date her .

But all's well that ends well! Erika somehow manage to keep her friend group and keep some standing in class but Tama now has a bunch more friends and is more popular. Heck, even she and Nakamura are getting along better now! And the whole friend group gets their own "hanabi" of plushies together .

Though the mystery of Aoi Hinami continues to deepen...

[grecefar]

erika got what she deserved there and she should be thankful that izumi was there to pick up the pieces after that. Izumi was in a really awkward position in all this.

aoi went for the kill but tomozaki stopped her in time and tama changed the mood to with her honesty, it all ended well but erika deserved a little more punishment.

[Thor's Hammer]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Erika has gone too far. Damaging the precious plushie Mimimi gave her? Making Tama break down and cry? That's reprehensible. Not to mention she's finally unleashed Hinami's wrath !

But it's nice of Yuzu to want to sew it up for Tama, even if her sewing skills are still basic. But it's the thought that counts .

(Wait, Kana Ichinose and Naomi Ozora were in this class the whole time ?)

Erika finally gets a taste of her own medicine and then the efforts Hinami has taken to sow distrust in her group finally bares fruit as they start turning on each other and start turning the class against Erika, especially when she lashes out at one of her biggest weakness' getting called out (her looks). And that's before Hinami outright calls Erika out and gets Nakamura involved .

Because it wasn't enough just to turn the class against her but to have the guy she likes and her best friend whom he's currently dating to call her out, when they're why she was unjustly lashing out to begin with. And just to really drive it home, Hinami makes sure Nakamura hands a crying Erika the hand-knit tissue Yuzu made him, making her instinctively lash out and look even worse. Hinami isn't just going to settle for an apology and breaking Erika down, she went straight for the jugular to utterly break her .

And then the whole class starts bullying HER, and while she deserves every bit of it...count on Tama to call out how unfair it is even if it's her just desserts, and thanks to Tomozaki's training she's able to rescue the mood thanks to the power of jokes. Go Tama !

Well, it's nice that Mizusawa is willing to be more honest here, even if I wish him the best of luck in his romantic feelings for Hinami. I don't think she'll make it easy for him...and I'd be way too scared to date her .

But all's well that ends well! Erika somehow manage to keep her friend group and keep some standing in class but Tama now has a bunch more friends and is more popular. Heck, even she and Nakamura are getting along better now! And the whole friend group gets their own "hanabi" of plushies together .

Though the mystery of Aoi Hinami continues to deepen...

If it's a mystery, I don't think it's very hidden. Aoi saying if Tama were to change this will will be for nothing shows when viewed in conjunction with her saying that she used to be worse than trash likely suggests that she was once the target of a bully and forced to change into the conniving monstrous sociopath she is now who only cares about being in control of every situation and that on some level she regrets having changed herself, which is why she didn't want Tama to change.

Aoi's "no name" moniker on TackFam might be more than meets the eye in the sense that there is no real Aoi aside from the one who tries to be the master of every social situation because she killed off who she used to be long ago. Even her saying hexactly to Fumiya is probably fake as hell.

If you're unconvinced that Aoi is a sociopath, did Tama ever request for Aoi to have nearly the entire bully Erika, which was the result of a many weeks long plan? No, it was Aoi's own doing, likely because she wanted to exact maximum pain onto a bully to make Aoi feel like her past self got a win over whoever bullied her because this event seems to have triggered her so much.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Thor's Hammer

If it's a mystery, I don't think it's very hidden. Aoi saying if Tama were to change this will will be for nothing shows when viewed in conjunction with her saying that she used to be worse than trash likely suggests that she was once the target of a bully and forced to change into the conniving monstrous sociopath she is now who only cares about being in control of every situation and that on some level she regrets having changed herself, which is why she didn't want Tama to change.

Aoi's "no name" moniker on TackFam might be more than meets the eye in the sense that there is no real Aoi aside from the one who tries to be the master of every social situation because she killed off who she used to be long ago. Even her saying hexactly to Fumiya is probably fake as hell.

If you're unconvinced that Aoi is a sociopath, did Tama ever request for Aoi to have nearly the entire bully Erika, which was the result of a many weeks long plan? No, it was Aoi's own doing, likely because she wanted to exact maximum pain onto a bully to make Aoi feel like her past self got a win over whoever bullied her because this event seems to have triggered her so much.

It wasn't what Tama wanted but it was Hinami's own response to Erika going too far against Tama.

Basically Hinami played like a gamer and Erika was her Enemy, so she went all out to destroy her.

[Thor's Hammer]

Originally Posted by Frontier

It wasn't what Tama wanted but it was Hinami's own response to Erika going too far against Tama.

Basically Hinami played like a gamer and Erika was her Enemy, so she went all out to destroy her.

I don't think it was Aoi's reponse to Erika going too far against Tama. As Aoi said, if Tama changes, this will be for nothing, which showed Aoi almost certainly had a lot more on her mind than Tama's situation. I believe Aoi would have lashed out in this way for anyone who acted like Tama did in response to bullying, playing right into the bully's hand as a result, because of something similar that happened to Aoi in the past that she alluded to when she she indicated she was "worse than trash".

I do agree with you that Aoi saw Erika as her as an enemy, but I believe the situation hit really close to home, which would be why Aoi reacted the way she did, not because she was trying to protect Tama.

[FlareKnight]

Personally, I'm just glad this situation is resolved and we can hopefully move onto something a bit less extreme for the rest of season 2! I swear if they find a way to make things even more miserable I don't know what I'll do .

As for Aoi's move, I'm sure there are layers to it. But I do think one of them was that she was legitimately pissed at Tama being driven to tears. I've had nothing but issues with Aoi for a while, but this one I can at least give to her. I do think a solid amount of motivation was to get the maximum amount of payback.

Now are there parts of Aoi's own past mixed into her response? Absolutely. Her reaction to when the bullying first started and what she expected from the victim before she'd deem them worthy of assistance showed that. She definitely sees Tama or any victim changing as being a kind of loss. But I think she'd have been pissed at what was done to Tama's stuff this time regardless of how Tama had been handling it to this point.

Like anyone, Aoi is a mixture of things. It is certainly unsettling that she can both snap into a desire for revenge and yet keep that mask on without missing a beat. Orchestrated events and made sure to utterly demolish Erika.

Which...I'm honestly fine with. Erika has made this season utterly painful to get through. And that was before she actively started bullying Tama. She's just been causing misery left and right. Aoi was downright cruel, but some necessary lessons are painful.

Honestly I'd rather the situation didn't try to wrap up in a cute way since Erika deserved a good several months of that treatment. But sure, fine. Let's have Tama be a good person. I guess that's fine.

[Kuroageha]

Damn son, this episode was pretty gray to dark but still enjoyable to watch.

[Thor's Hammer]

It has occurred to me that Mizusawa might have been Aoi’s pupil. Mizusawa did wonder aloud whether Fumiya and Aoi were teaming up in Season 1, which is almost impossible to predict without firsthand experience, say that he expected Aoi to be with Tama when Fumiya was giving her lessons, and say that Fumiya probably knows better than he does certain aspects of Aoi, which suggests Mizusawa didn’t need as much help as Fumiya did.

Mizusawa also said a certain someone in the past told him to do whatever he wants, which strikes me as very much an Aoi thing to do since that is how most sociopaths operate.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Thor's Hammer

It has occurred to me that Mizusawa might have been Aoi’s pupil. Mizusawa did wonder aloud whether Fumiya and Aoi were teaming up in Season 1, which is almost impossible to predict without firsthand experience, say that he expected Aoi to be with Tama when Fumiya was giving her lessons, and say that Fumiya probably knows better than he does certain aspects of Aoi, which suggests Mizusawa didn’t need as much help as Fumiya did.

Mizusawa also said a certain someone in the past told him to do whatever he wants, which strikes me as very much an Aoi thing to do since that is how most sociopaths operate.

Considering their relationship and how he seems to be trying to better understand her because he's interested in her, I don't think that's the case.

[Frontier]

Oh snap! Hinami actually beat him! Though I guess Tomozaki was thrown off thinking about what happened with Erika...though before she can enjoy gloating he just beats her three more times. You've still got a ways to go, Hinami !

Well, Hinami's not hiding that everything she did to Erika was calculated or that she was personally invested in bringing Erika down completely and absolutely, no matter the consequences. It was what Erika deserved for going after Tama like that. All the same, it's still unsettling, especially for the severity, but that's just Hinami when she's angry .

Things are a little awkward for Yuzu when she's in a friend group where two people talk smack at each other behind their backs, but it's good of her to try to mend things. She's trying to be a better person too .

Culture festival time! And Tomozaki is usually not into that kind of thing, but he wants to give it a try (especially when Hinami will probably make him do it at this point), and Mimimi's enthusiasm is infectious !

Who is Tomozaki going to date? Especially when he has so many girls in his orbit who would be quite the catch...even Yuzu, despite actually being in a relationship. I don't know what it says about Hinami that she put Yuzu out as an option on the off-chance that she and Nakamura break up and she hooks up with Tomozaki. Although poor Tomozaki, neither he nor Hinami think any girl would confess to him .

So Tomozaki has to choose two girls, get close to them, see what happens, and eventually pick one...I don't see that ending well, to be honest. And is Hinami really someone we should be getting romance advice from ?

Tomozaki on pinsta! He probably won't be able to get as many followers as Hinami, but it will help him socially .

It's nice to have a girl like Fuka who is happy to help you, and who can sense the things about Hinami that you can and ask similar questions, and all the moreso when she wants you to personally read her new novel !

Tomozaki needs to get a selfie with his bros! And good thing Mizusawa is there to smooth things over with Nakamura. Not that the picture comes out looking great, but it's a start .

So we've got the culture festival with Tomozaki's guy friends, Yuzu, and Mimimi. Should lead to more interaction between Tomozaki and both girls. probably especially Mimimi .

[grecefar]

we are bringing the guns now with the romance.

all of them are good options but if it were for me, it would be tama or mimimi. I know it won't happen with tama but I can dream (❁´◡`❁)

I think the top race will be between mimimi and fuka.

[AC-Phoenix]

"Why is Yuzu even an option?"
Yeah, that's what I thought too. But who knows maybe Aoi is into that?

On a more serious note, I guess they are setting the stage up for her breaking up with her boyfriend.


As for Erika: The scummiest thing that happened there was ruining Erika's friendship. - Everything else : Well deserved.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by grecefar

we are bringing the guns now with the romance.

all of them are good options but if it were for me, it would be tama or mimimi. I know it won't happen with tama but I can dream (❁´◡`❁)

I think the top race will be between mimimi and fuka.

The OP definitely makes it look like the love triangle is between Mimimi and Fuka.

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

"Why is Yuzu even an option?"
Yeah, that's what I thought too. But who knows maybe Aoi is into that?

On a more serious note, I guess they are setting the stage up for her breaking up with her boyfriend.


As for Erika: The scummiest thing that happened there was ruining Erika's friendship. - Everything else : Well deserved.

I don't think anyone is saying Erika didn't deserve it so much that Hinami continually doubling down on it every time it seemed like Erika was about to apologize or give up was the problem. Tama's the one who ultimately saved the entire mood of the class.

[Thor's Hammer]

I almost puked in my mouth watching this episode. And the main reason would be Aoi suggesting/demanding that Fumiya date not 1 but 2 girls at the same time? Like wtf? I can understand Aoi not caring about Fuuka since she's not part of her social circle, but Tama, Mimimi, and Yuzu are all part of her social circle, and this strikes me as something you REALLY shouldn't do to your friends as she's treating them as disposable pawns for the sake of Fumiya's development. I understand she wants to give Fumiya confidence, but that should not come at the expense of other girls' mental health.

It suggests that Aoi really has no morals and maybe doesn't even believe in the concept of friends, and if I'm wrong about that, maybe she just doesn't consider anybody in her current social circle an actual friend. I really thought that Aoi cared about Mimimi given she tasked Fumiya with making sure Mimimi wasn't hurt too badly in Season 1 by making sure Mimimi came in a respectable second place when they competed with each other instead of a distant 2nd, but this episode makes me question that.

This coupled by Fumiya thinking in Episodes 2 and 5 that Aoi committed to a plan with 0 regard for how Tama would be affected and her remark that if Tama changes this will be for nothing suggests that Aoi is an extremely self-centered person to disregard Tama's own wishes to do that brutal take-down of Erika. Fuuka assessed that people get angry when they think that that's not how things should be, and Aoi stating earlier in episode that Tama's directness is beautiful and that some things cannot be forgiven, shows that she was adamantly opposed to Tama's changing, and I suspect that Aoi was the Tama to someone's Erika in the past, and that is why she reacted so strongly to the big incident of Season 2.

I began to think that Aoi didn't really consider Tama a friend but as someone she chose to be a part of the social circle of the character she is roleplaying as with Episode 3's developments, and now, I think it's possible this is the case with ALL of her friends as this Fumiya needs to date 2 girls task is extremely insensitive especially given she knows most of the girls she wants Fumiya to target well. I thought back to Season 1 after this episode when Aoi revealed that the reason she wants to help Fumiya's improve his social skills is not out of the goodness of her heart but because she couldn't stand that she lost at TackFam to someone who was terrible at life, which shows she did so to lessen the damage to her ego that she lost to him and that she wants him to be the best of the best at life so that her self-esteem recovers from losing to him. All of this leads me to conclude that Aoi is a monstrous sociopath who cares about no one but herself as even Fumiya is being used to recover some lost self-esteem.

[FlareKnight]

Tomozaki has to be a good guy for the show to work so I'm all for it. Although my personal feelings on Aoi's antics last time were...good work! That scumbag deserved everything she got. Frankly she got off easy thanks to getting bailed out by Tama. Aoi has her issues, but she does good revenge work.

Putting that aside though and moving on. Thank god for this episode. I wish the season had started here, but such is how it goes. Finally back to good stuff. Tomozaki continuing to grow his connections. And pushing the romance side right up front. I think it says a lot for how much Aoi does respect the person Tomozaki is and is growing into that she has brought even Hanabi into the mix on this debate.

I did share his immediate uncertainty with Yuzu being mentioned. But I suppose Aoi isn't wrong on this one. If things don't work out for her then Tomozaki is a completely legitimate option with how close they are. And technically it's not impossible to go with her. It's just an option I personally would push aside. If things don't work out with Nakamura then of course it's worth consideration. But until then I wouldn't give it more than a passing thought.

While Aoi teasingly threw herself into the mix I'd fully expect her to stay to the sidelines as she tends to. So it really comes down to Hanabi, Fuka, and Minami. I do question the idea of trying to turn him into a full blown harem protagonist here. Sure, I get her logic for what he'd gain out of all that, but it seems a risky choice with more demerits than gains.

But we'll see how this all goes. At least for now it's all about who he wants to get closer to. Should be easy enough with the girls on the committee. But things are in good shape in general.