@SuperOniichan Literally look it up. It's... not exactly an obscure expression.
In Western. But in Japanese pop culture, this is a meme that dates back to the old MariMite scene of onee-sama tying her kohai's tie, which has been quoted for years in various media related to Catholic girls' schools. It may also carry homoerotic overtones like much of Class S, but trying to replace Japanese symbolism with Western one is just as rude and culturally insensitive as trying to see LGBTQ intent in any use of rainbow in anime or manga.In western parlance, "tying the knot" is a metaphor for getting married.
I am not familiar with "MariMite" so did not make that connection when I read this chapter. And I do not think RNDM1 was trying to replace symbolism as much as simply making a silly pun.In Western. But in Japanese pop culture, this is a meme that dates back to the old MariMite scene of onee-sama tying her kohai's tie, which has been quoted for years in various media related to Catholic girls' schools. It may also carry homoerotic overtones like much of Class S, but trying to replace Japanese symbolism with Western one is just as rude and culturally insensitive as trying to see LGBTQ intent in any use of rainbow in anime or manga.
Again, it's not about age, but about different cultures and attempts to see Western symbolism in Asian media. Even if we close our eyes to the fact that this is a fairly well-known cliché for those who are immersed in animemanga (for example, one anime this season already used a parody of this as a demonstration of the MC's adoration for all that fluffy wholesome girl x girl interaction), not to mention all-female and yuri bait/yuri, it would be strange to expect that Japanese media will play on Western metaphors. When people mistakenly tried to see the lesbian triangle in Liz and the Blue Bird it made much more sense, since unlike Western puns, LGBTQ terminology and symbolism is largely international.I am not familiar with "MariMite" so did not make that connection when I read this chapter. And I do not think RNDM1 was trying to replace symbolism as much as simply making a silly pun.
If my search was correct MariMite was published in 2003, or just over 20 years ago. I don't consider that old, especially in a symbolism context, but that may be a reflection of my own age more than the manga's. Certainly the expression Tying the knot is much, much older than that. Anyway that meme doesn't seem to be widespread, so labeling missing the implication culturally insensitive is somewhat of an overstatement IMO.