So an updated introduction between Yozora and Kodaka would be "Yo zorra, tu cobarde" (me foxie, you coward)
At least here "zorra" is not used to mean slut, for that we use "perra" (dog, female), which makes sense since sometimes you can see stray dogs doing the hanky panky on the street. Zorra is more like an ex-wife that gets all of your money. >_<
I defended Kodaka last episode on the grounds that he couldn't reasonably be expected to be clear with the girls' romantic interest in him when all of them have failed to be clear with him but I guess this episode kinda blows that argument out of the water. I understand Kodaka's desire not to lose the friends he has and he clearly has a point I wish the show would give more credence to (almost the entire episode was a great illustration of the wonderful friendship between the Neighbourhood club members), but that was still pretty low.
In any case, the SenaXKodaka ship has well and truly sunk now. I never expected Sena to just straight up confess like that and would've loved more build up from her perspective but it was evidently too soon and the mood it created around the camp was anything but optimistic on the SenaxKodaka ship as far as storyline hints go. Well it wasn't that much of a surprise since this ship was always destined to lose, but man it still sucks to see it happen. It's times like these when i wish another male character appears to sweep Sena off her feet and make her forget about Kodaka... [/AuthorAvatar]
Regardless if he was being selfish or not, his intentions are good. I think a substantial amount of this hate is unjustified. Sure, he could've handled it better but he is thinking about the welfare of the group.
You know what they say about good intentions. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I've never seen any of his actions/reactions as noble or good. I think his motivations have nothing to do with maintaining the status quo of the group or his friendship with the girls. When we saw a little bit more into Kobato's school life, I think it really highlighted that they both have serious issues with forming attachments to anyone aside from each other. So when he fled from Sena, it wasn't because he didn't want to hurt anyone, but because he didn't want to have to acknowledge there was a close relationship of some form between them.
Were his actions poor? Yes extremely poor, but I think of it this way. If Kodaka had a deep phobia of heights, and Sena was hanging from the edge of his building, I can understand his running back from the edge of the building instead of helping her up, though I or anyone else might criticize him for it.
Were his actions poor? Yes extremely poor, but I think of it this way. If Kodaka had a deep phobia of heights ...
... he decides to join a club of mountain climbing, where he is coerced into climbing by foot some smallish mountains, but he says he does not remember, was stoned, didn't notice he climbed any mountains at all. So during an expedition one of the members asks him to do some abseiling (there is no way you can't notice you have gotten suspended in thin air by a rope) and his answer is to drop anything he is carrying and run as if the IRS was looking for him. No, please excuse me but I can't understand it and if I did I think I would die a little inside. If Kodaka's issues are so big either he seeks a shrink or becomes a hermit.
I've never seen any of his actions/reactions as noble or good. I think his motivations have nothing to do with maintaining the status quo of the group or his friendship with the girls. When we saw a little bit more into Kobato's school life, I think it really highlighted that they both have serious issues with forming attachments to anyone aside from each other. So when he fled from Sena, it wasn't because he didn't want to hurt anyone, but because he didn't want to have to acknowledge there was a close relationship of some form between them.
Were his actions poor? Yes extremely poor, but I think of it this way. If Kodaka had a deep phobia of heights, and Sena was hanging from the edge of his building, I can understand his running back from the edge of the building instead of helping her up, though I or anyone else might criticize him for it.
i think the same kodaka really have big issues/fear of have true friends this was showed in previous chapter when he denied rikkar to say who "their are friends" he dont want this happen because in his selfish little world, if their become true friends(the reason of the club being created) everything gonna ende(why???), to extend to not even want have girlfriends, he just want who their things keep at the same " a bunch of weird girls making fusing" while he is just watching over then, another good exemple is the promisse he made to pegasus if indeed he dont want do nothing then why he promissed?(this making a untruthful person), like someone said: yosora is the past(she treasure more her past than the present), kodaka is the present(he treasure this creep weird type o friendship and don want change) while sena is the future(she want friends and boyfriends and continue progressing).
we have a coward chickening guy(disguised as a "dense"), who dont really want true friends or make progress because he is scared of this.
In any case, the SenaXKodaka ship has well and truly sunk now. I never expected Sena to just straight up confess like that and would've loved more build up from her perspective but it was evidently too soon and the mood it created around the camp was anything but optimistic on the SenaxKodaka ship as far as storyline hints go. Well it wasn't that much of a surprise since this ship was always destined to lose, but man it still sucks to see it happen. It's times like these when i wish another male character appears to sweep Sena off her feet and make her forget about Kodaka... [/AuthorAvatar]
I wouldn't be too sure about that. Taking Sena's character into consideration she will probably neither give up (well she is a bit annoyed and upset atm probably) nor stop working towards her goal.
And tbh she is also the most likely in the vclub who could archieve it, due to the fact that Yozora lives in the past and just wants to be friends like back then
People from outside the club like Kate (Unlikely though since Catholic nun) or the Student council president are a different story though.
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Those who forget about the past are condemned to repeat it - Santayana
Sidenote: I'm seemingly too dumb for my current keyboard, so if you see the same character twice in a row, when it doesn't belong there just ignore it.
The idea that the entire Neighbors Club 'thing' (or a large part of it) might come crashing down if someone said "Hey, we're friends already!" is not totally unreasonable, since Sena and Yozora would almost certainly deny that they are friends in the most vehement manner possible. Both of them are very prone to escalation and reluctant to back down from something that they have said (and they have both repeatedly said that they hate each other's guts), so putting them on the spot like that really could do some damage to their already fragile relationship.
Another issue is that Yozora still subscribes to the 'You only need one good friend' philosophy, or at least she tells herself that she does. Any time anyone steals a march on her when it comes to Kodaka's friendship she either gets aggressive or starts to lose hope. Sena's confession (and any acknowledgement of it by Kodaka) could do bad things to her state of mind, and while she has shown signs of progress toward accepting other people as friends it might not be enough to bind her to the club if she thinks she's 'lost' Kodaka to Sena or anyone else.
Additionally, Sena just confessed to Kodaka in front of Yozora. Even if he wanted to turn her down, how is he supposed to do that without giving Yozora ammunition for more abuse? Sena may be resilient, but there are probably still limits to how much she will put up with - and the 'take her somewhere else to let her down easy' option was off the table because Kodaka just can't think that fast in social situations; his internal monologue says as much in this scene in the LN. It's still an option for later, but it wasn't something that Kodaka could do right then and there.
As such, while i doubt Rika or Yukimura's stakes in the Neighbor's club are threatened too much by Sena's confession, Sena and Yozora's definitely are, so i would disagree with folks who contend that Kodaka's flight was totally selfish or misguided. Suddenly being put on the spot like that was just more than he can handle with his limited social skills, so he ran away to buy time rather than say or do anything that can't be taken back (even though some would argue that running away is also something that can't be taken back.)
so he ran away to buy time rather than say or do anything that can't be taken back
It would be all fine and dandy if the preview showed him returning to the club, but ATM it seems he continues to run away and I think he will need to be dragged into the neighbors club by some/all of the potential fiances. IMO if he were a man he would return to the club and perform the terrible and famous fallen tiger martial arts move >_<
What do you think of Yozora when she was shaking when Sena was giving her confession?
She was about to crap her pants because she was seconds away from losing her only interest in life lol
Nah, I actually felt bad for her, seeing her so vulnerable was kinda adorable and heartbreaking at the same time. She should have shown that side more often, that way she would have raised more flags.
It would have been funny if the director had put some more focus on Kobato's reaction too, since now she knows that Sena could actually become her sister
Rika's flag is flying high during first half....
and now she's changing her clothes everyday.... ++ moe power
that ending really comes out from nowhere
just when I really enjoy the part when Yozora and Sena joined hands to bully Yusa... then 'that part suddenly showed'
poor Yozora.... she looks scared.... Kobato as well..
for Kobato's sake, don't ever accept Sena's confession, Kodaka!
Honestly, at this point, I'm going to drop the series. Not entirely because of these last 2 episodes(I've already read them in LN format and felt the same sense of disappointment in Kodaka as you guys have) but because, it's going to skip alot and spoil most of the future good parts of Volume 8(where we are currently in both the LN & Anime). Also..I was really looking forward to
Spoiler for Yusa finding out about the club:
For some reason Yusa seemed more shocked about us being fellow club members than she did about me not being her boyfriend.
"Is it really that surprising?"
"Yes! As far as I know, Sena Kashiwazaki is not a part of a club!"
"We just made the club this June."
"You did!? I can't believe it..."
Yusa opened her eyes wide in shock.
"...Is it really that weird?"
"Yes! I told Sena Kashiwazaki back in April that she should join a club and put her abilities to good use, but all she said was "There aren't any I really like." and completely turned me down! Fggh...!"
"Yeah, that sounds like something Sena'd say."
She gets freakishly obsessed about stuff she likes, but couldn't care less about anything else...
"Just what kind of club did Sena Kashiwazaki join then...?"
Yusa then looked over at the poster I'd been trying to take down before, and said,
"...The Neighbors Club...?"
She made a confused look on her face.
"Yep."
"The Neighbors Club... I've never heard of it before. I was sure I'd memorized the names of all the school's clubs too."
"Wow, all of them?"
"Yes. I was searching for a club where I could do the most good, in order to improve myself, and ended up joining the student council."
"In order to improve yourself, huh. Pretty cool..."
Her reason for joining the student council was like blindingly bright light compared to my reason for joining the Neighbors Club.
"No no, it's nothing special."
Yusa happily grinned like a little puppy.
"Well, like I said it was just made this June. You looked over the clubs before that, right?"
"Yes, that's exactly right! I didn't think to check for any new clubs after the start of the year! As I'd expect from one of Sena Kashiwazaki's fellow club members, your insight is truly splendid!"
"...Does being in a club with Sena have anything to do with how insightful someone is?"
I remarked, but Yusa ignored it, and asked,
"By the way, what does the Neighbors Club do?"
"Eh..."
I was at a loss for words.
The goal of the Neighbors Club is basically "to make friends", but we don't have any specific activities, and generally just kill time doing whatever we want. It's kinda hard to explain that to someone else...
...I'm pretty sure Yozora came up with some authentic sounding fake description when she made the club though, maybe I can fool her with that.
"Ummm..."
What was it... I can't really remember because of how ridiculous it was...
Let's see, I think it went like,
"The Neighbors Club is..."
"The Neighbors Club is?"
"Uses... No, follows(?) Christian teachings, and..."
"Uh-huh, uh-huh!"
"Basically, it's like, with Neighbors you see..."
"Yeah!?"
"W-with our Neighbors, we...?"
"Yes!?"
...Shit, I can't remember it at all.
"Simply put, we strive to,"
"You strive to!?"
Yusa's innocent and sparkling gaze was making this really awkward.
"We strive to be able to... adapt to a variety of situations with our neighbors."
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Yozora had something about adapting or whatever in there.
"Ohh!? And what kind of situations do you want to adapt to specifically!?"
I have no idea what to say now.
"...Umm............L-love situations?"
"Love!?"
I just kind of came up with it on the spot since the phrase "neighborly love" came to mind, but "adapt to love situations"? I know I'm the one who said it, but seriously, what does that even mean?
"!? So what does that mean exactly!?"
Figures she'd ask about it if even I don't know what it means.
"B-basically the Neighbors Club studies love... in various situations..."
"You study love!?"
"Y-yeah..."
I averted my eyes from Yusa as a cold sweat ran down my face.
"So how do you study love!?"
"Eh...... Uh... Um... I'm not too sure yet..."
I seriously have no idea (about studying and what I'm saying), so I just crossed my arms and answered her with a serious face.
Surprisingly though, in response Yusa simply made a meek expression on her face, and said,
"I see...... I should've known... It's quite a profound topic after all..."
"...?"
I have no idea why she "should've known" that, but whatever.
"...Pardon my silly question... This is a subject a sage as wise as yourself must dedicate his entire body and soul to in order to understand... There's no way I'd ever be able to grasp it simply by asking you about it."
It appears I'm a sage now.
"...The pursuit of love... so profound... I can't believe Sena Kashiwazaki is off studying such a deep topic while all I do is spend my days training in the morning, studying at night, doing student council work during the week, and volunteering on the weekends... She's on a whole different level from me now... I don't think I'll ever reach her..."
"W-well, you might be closer than you think. Haha..."
I made a dry laugh to try and cheer Yusa up (she's way too good of a person... is she a saint or something...?).
"So yeah, anyway I've gotta go. Good luck."
"Ah, thank you! Good luck to you too in your pursuit of love!"
"Wha...!?"
Don't say weird shit like that so loud!!
I quickly tore down the poster while holding back my desire to yell at Yusa, who was staring at me full of admiration, before turning my back to her and going on my way.
It's my favourite part of volume 8, so far but they skipped it and I was really looking forward to seeing that animated so yeah. Dropped cause I don't want to miss parts like the above and get spoiled. Plus it's this part that made me like Yusa alot more, she's actually one of my favorite characters.
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"Let the flesh instruct the mind" - Claudia, Sister Death, Interview with a vampire by Anne rice
That reminded me again that they have cut out anything related to catholic and christian symbols within the anime. The nuns don't wear crosses, they have "keys" (also Kobato's present was a cross in the LN). Within the church there is just a Maria-like sculpture with wings.
Animes that end up using any Christian iconography either end up looking a bit stupid or people claim they're being pretentious. It's probably just best to keep it a bit more agnostic on the point.
(me foxie, you coward) 
