Thread: Licensed Vivid Red Operation
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Old 2013-03-18, 07:27   Link #1604
Triple_R
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Age: 42
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This is how I think Rei sees it...

Akane is this girl that was, as Random Wanderer pointed out, hounding Rei for weeks. Rei was initially annoyed greatly by that, and did her best to push Akane away. But Akane persisted, and Rei's tough girl front was slowly broken down by this.

In her exasperation, Rei had two reactions to this. One logical (this came first) and the other emotional (this came later, and was focused on this episode).

Logical: Well, she clearly isn't going to quit, so I might as well make the most out of this and see what valuable information I can gain from her.

Emotional: I have to admit it's touching how hard this Akane is trying to befriend me. I thought I never needed friends, but maybe I was wrong, as the idea of being friends with Akane makes me happy. In any event, Akane is clearly a very wonderful and sweet person. I'll make a pleasant farewell to her, and apologize for destroying her tomato, to pay her respect for being such a wonderful person.

There's no false pretenses here. Rei was never like "Akane, you and I should be BFFs!" Rei simply shifted from an initially harsh response to a largely passive "fine, if you want us to act like friends, I'll go along with that since you want it so badly". It's just that in the process of passively "going along with it", Rei found that she was actually finding it pleasant and heartwarming.


Rei is upset after seeing "Superhero" Akane because it greatly shifts Rei's perception of Akane.

"So that's why you were so friendly to me?!" is what Rei is now thinking. For understandable reasons, Rei now thinks that Akane was hounding her, and going to incredible lengths to try to befriend her, simply as part of something akin to an entrapment launched by the police. Rei's suspicions here makes a fair deal of sense, especially from a cynical perspective.

Rei never "played" Akane like how Rei now thinks Akane "played" her. Akane initiated just about everything in their relationship. Akane constantly went out of her way to win over Rei, and befriend Rei. Rei never went out of her way to win over Akane - She simply responded positively after Akane's dogged persistence proved overwhelming.


So sorry, Keroko, but your accusations of stupidity and hypocrisy really are a bit unfair. Rei has been slightly manipulative in her treatment of Akane, but it really is a world of difference between that and what Rei now suspects that Akane did to her. Rei now thinks that Akane did nothing less than entrap her with completely false promises of friendship.

It's important to remember that Rei is just a young girl, and that she's hoping that the Crow is telling the truth due to how dearly she wants her parents back. What Rei knows about the Alones and the Crow are that these guys are powerful. If they're powerful enough to cause this much destruction, are they also powerful enough to undo similar destruction? I can understand Rei taking hold of such a hope.


All of the above being said, the writers made a debatable choice with how Akane and Rei's big revelatory meeting was handled. Akane ought to be every bit as shocked as Rei is. Akane arguably should be saying "You're the one who's been aiding the Alones all this time?! Why, Rei, why?!" But of course, if Akane said that, it would make Rei's accusations towards Akane not work as well, and maybe not even work at all. So the story chooses to put Akane on the defensive instead of Rei. That's fine for the dynamics between just the two of them, but I hope that Rei is put a bit on the defensive herself next episode.

Somebody really should say "Your actions almost killed Akane, do you know that?! We all tried to be friends with you, and this is how you repay us, Rei?!"
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