Welp, I guess most people here would have seen my posts in the Medaka Box manga thread. To start I've dumped a couple KumaMeda pictures...for the moment, Kumagawa is pretty much definitely my favourite character given I'm not too happy with Medaka's state of character development (on the one hand, if the present Medaka x Zenkichi development turns out to be a troll I will be able to say I totally called it, but for the moment I can only say that I agree with Udou Bukiko in that looking at Medaka's foolish blushing face is totally pitiable).
The reason I like KumaMeda in the first place is, well, that Kumagawa's an actual man who'd be able to take care of her. In the first place Kumagawa has had to live his life being denied any kind of true victory; the concept of happiness to his life being totally inconceivable. Even now/later, you can tell that Kumagawa's recent happiness has been pretty much only account of being accepted by others and making friends; that the happiness he has received has only come from "protecting the weak" and giving himself to others rather than achieving or attaining any actual thing for himself. Kumagawa still operates under the curse of "never winning"; the only thing he has achieved is that, by losing for the sake of someone else, he is able to protect others and bring them happiness.
What remains are Kumagawa's actual selfish desires. The things that he himself wants--the things which he has been denied all throughout his life, his personal happiness. On a totally shallow level you can just describe this with things like "panties" or "naked aprons", but seriously it's not like such shallow desires can really describe the true depth of Kumagawa's character. What does Kumagawa
actually want? What kind of happiness is he
truly trying to achieve? When I think about those things, one of the foremost images which jumps to my mind is basically, Medaka.
The farthest existence away from Kumagawa. The most impossible thing he could achieve. The brilliant, superior, most charming personality, whom Kumagawa loved and hated the most. That is Medaka, and that is why I think one the most fitting ends to Kumagawa's story would be for him to end up together with her.
Then on Medaka's side we still have the fucking pathetic childish mentality which is still so emotionally weak, still so pathetically dependant on the words and friendship of a clueless brat from two years old. Hell, I thought we just got through this with Akune's development--that blind dependence, that total debasement of self, the unsightliness which emerges when a person allows themself to be completely dependent on another. That is Medaka right now, towards Zen. That is the "foolishness" on Medaka's face which Udou Bukiko spoke of. It's fucking unthinkable to me that Nishio would ever present this thing as genuinely "romantic". I'm pretty damn certain he's setting things up for a troll. But even if he is, for having done this to one of my favourite characters, right now it's not that fun to read.
Anyway, back to Kumagawa, lol. If you ask me, what Kumagawa represents is, well y'know, basically all of fucking humanity. Even if we move away from the "eternal loser" thing for a sec, alright, let's consider this thing that Kumagawa said at three years old--before he became a true failure, a liar, a man who hid behind his words:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ch. 51
Seriously, what do they mean, 'what reason'? They're all adults, but they're missing the point.
People are born for no reason, they live unrelated, and they die worthlessly. You think the same thing, right? Medaka-chan?
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Okay, so then Medaka became convinced of this, but then she met Zenkichi, and he gave her a reason, yadda yadda yadda. That's all history, lol, right? Now Medaka's reason to live has been stripped away from her, and we're basically back here again. Although as for the last two statements, "people live unrelated", "people die worthlessly", well now, probably even Kumagawa has been convinced away from that. His relationships with people now are precisely the thing which makes Kumagawa happy, and as far as dying meaningful deaths, Kumagawa's reversal is/was so complete that he became even able to think that it was happy to die protecting a woman.
But to return to this fundamental question, "why are people born". The answer that any rational mind would first think of is "they are born for no reason". That is correct. That is how Medaka and Kumagawa, at first, began to live. But of course, for any human being to actually find happiness, that answer is not enough. It's impossible to be satisfied with that. And so, for the near or far future, that will be what Medaka and Kumagawa of Medaka Box's story are searching for.
So, what does Kumagawa represent? Like I said, if you ask me, he's the one who asked that question. Or, to put it more accurately, the one who provided that answer and now perseveres in living his life while struggling with it. To pull things back into his "eternal loser" mentality: the truth is, what Kumagawa said are things that all humans can come to realize at some time. The question he raises is one for all of humanity. "Why were you born? Why do you live? Why will you die?" But in truth, the reason why the Kumagawa of three years old probably came up with all those conclusions was precisely because he's a born loser; that he saw the harshness of life, the meaninglessness of reality, the absurdity of humanity and was forced to ask those questions. And so, Kumagawa's feelings of failure linger and remain to remind us of the incompleteness thus far of this aspect of Kumagawa's personality. When will Kumagawa win? For what will he live? How will Kumagawa truly become happy? When these questions are solved, that will be the end of Kumagawa's story.