lol and as it turns out, yes I liked chapter 19. It finally put Medaka's altruistic personality in some perspective and created some grounds for empathy. Way back at the start of the manga, I had a reaction (upon reflection) pretty similar to Unzen's when it was revealed that Medaka's primary motivation was 'I want to help people'. lol, what kind of self-righteous, small-minded, self-serving goal was that? That went a long way in creating my impression of this manga's mediocrity. Now, however, we can see that Medaka's desire to help people and self-serving care for them probably stems from a deep-seated insecurity about her own worth. As a character who has been given everything (treated too well), this is just as relatable (at least to me) as the repulsion for the small-minded ugliness of humans that Unzen embodies.
Unzen and Medaka are two sides of the same coin. Unzen hates humanity, so he inflicts punishment upon them. Medaka hates herself (because she is human), and, as a result of being loved and praised and honoured despite her own petty humanity, seeks to help others to allieve the guilt of not deserving their good faith. These two basically share the same perspective, at least with regards to what it means to be human. My only hope for this arc's ending now is that Unzen puts up a bit of a fight, if only for show
.
Anyway, I really think this thread is pretty...iunno, pathetic, y'know? All these voices coming down on it when the manga is actually finally just starting to show the real thought behind it. It's failure is in taking so long to get into it (as well as not providing so much as even a hint of effective foreshadowing), not its core construction, y'know? Try to appreciate it for what it is (I think unfortunately though it has really failed to draw in an appropriate audience, if all these people raging for romance with Zen really represent it).