Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R
Well, except I will admit that Haruka came across to me as a bit of a pandering character earlier on, when she didn't seem to serve any purpose in the story other than being a "hot MILF".
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I was a bit bothered by the blatant fanservice that surrounded her, but figured that her true significance was something that would be coming up in the future - particularly since it seemed as if some of the characters within GHQ knew her. As a result, I wasn't too bothered by how she came across at first.
I was doing a pretty good job of pacing myself with this series, watching no more than one episode a day (and usually it was more like 2-3 per week), but when I hit this arc I watched it all in one sitting. I just couldn't put it down
It may be that I watched it in a relatively short period of time and didn't have too much time to analyze it, but I felt that it was sufficiently done. Going into it a bit...
Spoiler for Motivations:
I found Hare's death to be a very moving scene, and felt that Shu's reaction was understandable. I wasn't exactly cheering as he beat the snot out of Souta, and I understood where Souta and the rag-tag group of Rank F's were coming from, but at that moment I was also thinking "Souta, you dumb shit." He deserved the blame.
Shu's shift in policies as a response was completely understandable. The threat of death was very real, and everyone was under a lot of pressure. Shu's initial policy of kindness required that everyone take responsibility for their own actions, and make the personal decision to work hard for the collective. In a way, Souta betrayed Shu's kindness. He ran off under the guise of wanting to practice, yet ultimately just endangered himself and the others in the group. Shu, feeling responsible for everyone, went after them. Sadly, Hare paid the price for Soua's well-meaning yet foolish actions, and for Shu's feelings of responsibility. What did Shu get for trusting others, largely letting them operate as they wanted, and for trying to protect them? He lost a close friend, someone who acted as a core pillar of support for him (particularly during that time - Hare was the most supportive), and someone who he arguably had romantic feelings for.
Shu's trust in others was violated, and he lost someone dear to him. That his policies shifted to the opposite extreme isn't surprising. I'd have a problem with that development, if it weren't for the fact that Shu expresses some doubts and unease with the situation to Inori. It showed that while he was handling others somewhat harshly, he was still Shu - someone who worried about how others were doing, and whether they were happy with him and his actions.
I think it's also critical to remember how tense the atmosphere must have been. Even though they didn't always remind us of it in every single episode, the school existed in a realm of relative social chaos. They had limited supplies, and the barricade was constantly being constricted. They were racing against time, but they also knew that they could be targeted at any moment. Even though the students had largely been united and a social order was eventually established, under the circumstances the social order could have broken down and devolved into total chaos at any moment. That aspect, in particular, kept me feeling pretty nervous throughout these episodes.
As for what happened after...
Spoiler for Betrayal:
This all made a lot of sense when I watched it, although in reconsidering it I can see where some problems might exist. For example, they show that some members of the "secret service" idolize Shu. It would be understandable if the low-ranked students revolted, and maybe even some of the higher-ranked ones, but for everyone - or at least, all of the members who were there to witness it - to turn against Shu together?
The way I reason it is that Shu's harshness had already turned a number of people to hold an unfavorable opinion of him. The catalyst that drove everyone to turn against him, though, was the revelation that breaking a void would end a person's life, and that Shu had lied about that (unknowingly, although the students couldn't know that). People had accused Shu of simply using them as tools, but that really brought those accusations to the forefront. Why else would Shu lie? (Of course, we know that Yahiro was actually the one who lied to Shu, but the general student body didn't know and probably wouldn't buy that explanation anyway.)
I thought that they handled this part really, really well. It would have been easy for them to slip up and turn the audience against Shu (and given that some people stopped watching here, maybe they did). To me, though, I was sympathizing with Shu the entire time. His betrayal was almost infuriating as a result: he went through all of that suffering and effort, and these ungrateful SOBs not only oust him from power, but completely cast him out from the group? Screw 'em!
While we're talking about characters, I'd like to bring up Kuhouin Arisa, who had some development that was painful to me:
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