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Perishthethought · 2006-04-16, 07:10

I agree with you that the car was a bad example, however, the actions of another person to 'save' you are their responsibility and not yours. I 'would' want to repay them, however, I am not bound to by anything other than my own percieved responsiblity in wanting to ensure that they are treated with at least an equivalent amount of respect. There is literally nothing making me act in that way apart from my own desire to see their actions provided with reparation, which is something I hold within myself as a result of my life's experiences up to that point. I think that we can agree on. Whether anyone SHOULD act in reparation is what I have in question. It is a question of whether they see it as their responsibility or not, and for the most part, Taka doesn't. I'm not saying that is correct, or morally reprehensible, but Taka does not recognise gratitude as a motive for being with Mitsuki. He recognises all she has done for him, true, but the reason he gives for the two of them being together is that he can heal her wounds. If you can take him at face value in him telling her he loves her... why not this?

While the anime is made in Japan, and you're right, IS very japanese, the motivation for the characters' actions are provided in the anime. They do not need to make appeals to cultural norms or values in order to explain Taka's actions. While gratitude does probably figure as a possible motive for Taka's actions, one of many possible motives, it is not a notion he entertains while making his decisions. There is nothing more Japanese in Taka's actions than anybody else in such a situation of indecisive love. Where the show is so effective is in that Taka has no guiding principals in making a decision over who he should end up loving - if it were as simple as showing gratitude, he would go with Mitsuki every time, and what's more, would choose her a lot earlier on in the anime than the 14 episodes of tortured decision making we get. Instead, it is the weighing up of what each girl means to him, and his own internal constitution as an archetypal 'nice guy' that dictates his actions, not that of any cultural institution. As far as the notion of 'gratitude' is concerned, I would argue that it is something that you have brought to the table as an attempt to rationalise and make sense of Taka's actions, or at least give them some legitimacy, where instead it has no presence in the anime at all. And while the anime is wrapped and steeped in that which makes it Japanese, each action is explained and we are given enough of a demonstration of the thought processes of the characters to make such leaps of faith in discerning motivation not only unnecessary, but erroneous.

Literally, it is all there for you.

2006-04-16, 07:10	Link #63
Perishthethought Member Join Date: Mar 2006	I agree with you that the car was a bad example, however, the actions of another person to 'save' you are their responsibility and not yours. I 'would' want to repay them, however, I am not bound to by anything other than my own percieved responsiblity in wanting to ensure that they are treated with at least an equivalent amount of respect. There is literally nothing making me act in that way apart from my own desire to see their actions provided with reparation, which is something I hold within myself as a result of my life's experiences up to that point. I think that we can agree on. Whether anyone SHOULD act in reparation is what I have in question. It is a question of whether they see it as their responsibility or not, and for the most part, Taka doesn't. I'm not saying that is correct, or morally reprehensible, but Taka does not recognise gratitude as a motive for being with Mitsuki. He recognises all she has done for him, true, but the reason he gives for the two of them being together is that he can heal her wounds. If you can take him at face value in him telling her he loves her... why not this? While the anime is made in Japan, and you're right, IS very japanese, the motivation for the characters' actions are provided in the anime. They do not need to make appeals to cultural norms or values in order to explain Taka's actions. While gratitude does probably figure as a possible motive for Taka's actions, one of many possible motives, it is not a notion he entertains while making his decisions. There is nothing more Japanese in Taka's actions than anybody else in such a situation of indecisive love. Where the show is so effective is in that Taka has no guiding principals in making a decision over who he should end up loving - if it were as simple as showing gratitude, he would go with Mitsuki every time, and what's more, would choose her a lot earlier on in the anime than the 14 episodes of tortured decision making we get. Instead, it is the weighing up of what each girl means to him, and his own internal constitution as an archetypal 'nice guy' that dictates his actions, not that of any cultural institution. As far as the notion of 'gratitude' is concerned, I would argue that it is something that you have brought to the table as an attempt to rationalise and make sense of Taka's actions, or at least give them some legitimacy, where instead it has no presence in the anime at all. And while the anime is wrapped and steeped in that which makes it Japanese, each action is explained and we are given enough of a demonstration of the thought processes of the characters to make such leaps of faith in discerning motivation not only unnecessary, but erroneous. Literally, it is all there for you.