- Joined
- Feb 6, 2023
- Messages
- 4
Honestly, it's actually pretty fun reading everyone's initial dramatic reaction to the manga up until this point. Nonetheless, there's never been any contest here. The childhood friend is not going to win.
I'm not saying it because Akari's on the covers, or because she's the female lead, or because her and Jirou share inverted eye and hair colors. That should have been a blatant-sized brick as is to literally anyone reading, but the story from the beginning bore the end result.
This is the series where I never and will never, support the childhood friend in this context. Maybe if it was any other series, but I can't see, even now, why she would be any legitimate threat to the end goal. Or why people would support her at all (no matter how minimal compared to Akari's) other than some desperate notion to have it go "the childhood friend" way because they want it to occur since it doesn't occur elsewhere and it's frustrating I suppose. It doesn't make any sense in this manga for Shiori to win though, so to expect something different is a fool's thought.
You know why? Shiori stated it herself:
Ever since Jirou began the practical, he's changed.
He's become more daring, more protective, more direct, more dependable, more amazing ("cooler"). I'm going to assume this is going to continue happening as the chapters go on. And is it because of Shiori? Hell freaking no. Lmao. Dude will no doubt have remained the spineless "beta" he's been if he was stuck with Shiori. Because she's the same way. They would be a detriment to each other and provide no real progress as individuals because the two of them are wet mops. Even the reason why Shiori is on act fast mode is because of Akari's presence.
She's the catalyst to everything, including Jirou's growth.
Just like he's the catalyst to her changing.
They're developing as characters in their attempts at pretending they are simply playing house when it's been very much real.
Shiori, which I found really fucking foul, just wants to call dibs to the work that another girl did rather than herself.
Gtfo. To her, and those who believe that she's better for Jirou. I mean, what are you smoking? Can you explain why a girl who's helping the MC grow a pair (in conjunction to character growth) is lesser for him than a girl who's...a blob? She's done nothing except be a forced plot device to get in between the leads.
I think there was a user here who mentioned Jirou's subsconcious vs. conscious. And something about nostalgia. Which is quite accurate with the narrative presented. Jirou's not dense in the typical way nor is he questioning every move the girls make out of being dense; he already subsconciously knows who he wants. Period. After a kiss like that with Shiori, DA ONE he's always wanted and loved and gets flustered over, where he's still flailing around despite the neon lights...I can't see how people aren't getting it. Read his inner thoughts please. Just recently he was trying to figure out what Shiori's words meant and her apologies for the kiss, debating whether she wants more or she wants to stay as childhood friends. This is the kicker though: he ends it with "should I feel relieved or grieved if it's the latter? (i.e. friends)".
Game over.
If a huge impact like that kiss didn't sway him on Shiori's corner completely, then that means his heart is set.
On the other hand, one look at a smiling picture of Akari in a group photo, and he with certainty, with no stuttering and/or doubt, willfully chose not to confess. This is not Shiori cockblocking herself (or Jirou doing so). Technically, a picture shouldn't really stop him from doing anything if she was the one. He could admit his feelings and decide to properly and fairly account it to Akari as to his progress. It's not like she hasn't been boasting about Tenjin and who knows what they act like when they are alone together. He's gotten consistently jealous over it. It's not like she hasn't blatantly gone gaga over Mr. Ikemen. In fact, Jirou thinks that's who Akari wants. They don't owe anything to each other.
Okay, so if the case is that he chose Akari, why the undecided fuss he keeps creating?
Because similar to how some users here like to insult and demean him, he himself believes he sucks. That there's nothing appealing about him, that there's no reason why any girl would like him, that someone will pick him over someone like Tenjin of all things, etc. Low self-confidence and low-self esteem and insecurities. That's what's keeping him restless and going around in circles and questioning these girls' moves towards him. He's not stupid, because he has directly confronted Akari on her tsundere tendencies and constant take-backs (but she chickens out) and he knows that what Shiori did was a clear pass on him (as he states). I don't think the self-hate is as bad as that incel of a protagonist in Rent-A-Girlfriend, yet it's something he has to combat.
Basically, he thinks Akari is too good for a guy like him. Not that she's helping matters by conditioning him to think how she acts is her teasing him, but more than once he's tackled that with his thoughts about her and Tenjin, even from the start. He's no match for him. He's no match for Akari. She's popular, he's not. She's a dime plus heck more of a girl looks-wise, he's plain (so he thinks, but he's not by any means unattractive honestly). She has a social life, he doesn't. He's a drag, she isn't. His behavior in public with her was sign enough about the actual core of the problem here - he feels he's holding her back by being with him.
So he continues to revert back to the comfortable, familiar, and safe choice of his first love, whether or not it will go anywhere. Which is, you guessed it, Shiori. He's actively pursuing Shiori and blocking his feelings for Akari from his mind while doing so. If he doesn't, he knows, subconsciously, that he'll sway. It propped up consciously when he was directly confronted with Akari in a photo. What he chose to do was of no surprise.
This manga is actually exploring the "why" on why childhood friends don't win, and why it's rare that people who end up marrying each other in real life aren't childhood or high school sweethearts majority of the time in statistics. Once you start growing up and your experiences expand, and you get to know other girls (or guys), you realize what you like, what you look for, and what you truly want. Honestly, the childhood friend thing is unrealistic as all hell. Who in the flying bonkers are going to wait years or still hold a flame for someone you liked in middle school? A person changes drastically from then until adulthood. And even still.
When Shiori got asked what she likes about Jirou by Mei? He's "kind and sweet". But so is Tenjin, so...what is the specifics here? She more than likely doesn't know herself. They simply stick to one another due to the fact that they are all they know. They are shy, introverted, social failures who haven't spoken to anyone else of the opposite sex aside from themselves until recently. And that's why it'll never work. Jirou won't ever evolve with her. And it's why I don't at all ship the childhood friend with him. Ultimately, I wonder what Jirou will decipher from their connection and if he'll reach the same conclusion.
Anyway, this is what Jirou is going through, along with Akari herself. She thought Tenjin was what she wanted and likes in a man, but hers was genuinely what I would really label a crush. Tenjin is an ideal. It's not Jirou who is the rebound and second option for her, that's what Tenjin's become. She wasn't upset by the rejection. If anything, it finally freed her and gave her closure to chase who she has actually fallen in love with. There's no what-ifs. She doesn't have to follow this pretense that every action they make is "lol for da points".
The one thing that will throw her off now is that she's aware Jirou is pursuing Shiori and loves her instead.
Whoever that beta user is who is pathetically self-projecting because she wasn't 100% all for Jirou, is a joke.
Enjoy the Jirou/Akari ride, because this is their story.
I'm not saying it because Akari's on the covers, or because she's the female lead, or because her and Jirou share inverted eye and hair colors. That should have been a blatant-sized brick as is to literally anyone reading, but the story from the beginning bore the end result.
This is the series where I never and will never, support the childhood friend in this context. Maybe if it was any other series, but I can't see, even now, why she would be any legitimate threat to the end goal. Or why people would support her at all (no matter how minimal compared to Akari's) other than some desperate notion to have it go "the childhood friend" way because they want it to occur since it doesn't occur elsewhere and it's frustrating I suppose. It doesn't make any sense in this manga for Shiori to win though, so to expect something different is a fool's thought.
You know why? Shiori stated it herself:
Ever since Jirou began the practical, he's changed.
He's become more daring, more protective, more direct, more dependable, more amazing ("cooler"). I'm going to assume this is going to continue happening as the chapters go on. And is it because of Shiori? Hell freaking no. Lmao. Dude will no doubt have remained the spineless "beta" he's been if he was stuck with Shiori. Because she's the same way. They would be a detriment to each other and provide no real progress as individuals because the two of them are wet mops. Even the reason why Shiori is on act fast mode is because of Akari's presence.
She's the catalyst to everything, including Jirou's growth.
Just like he's the catalyst to her changing.
They're developing as characters in their attempts at pretending they are simply playing house when it's been very much real.
Shiori, which I found really fucking foul, just wants to call dibs to the work that another girl did rather than herself.
Gtfo. To her, and those who believe that she's better for Jirou. I mean, what are you smoking? Can you explain why a girl who's helping the MC grow a pair (in conjunction to character growth) is lesser for him than a girl who's...a blob? She's done nothing except be a forced plot device to get in between the leads.
I think there was a user here who mentioned Jirou's subsconcious vs. conscious. And something about nostalgia. Which is quite accurate with the narrative presented. Jirou's not dense in the typical way nor is he questioning every move the girls make out of being dense; he already subsconciously knows who he wants. Period. After a kiss like that with Shiori, DA ONE he's always wanted and loved and gets flustered over, where he's still flailing around despite the neon lights...I can't see how people aren't getting it. Read his inner thoughts please. Just recently he was trying to figure out what Shiori's words meant and her apologies for the kiss, debating whether she wants more or she wants to stay as childhood friends. This is the kicker though: he ends it with "should I feel relieved or grieved if it's the latter? (i.e. friends)".
Game over.
If a huge impact like that kiss didn't sway him on Shiori's corner completely, then that means his heart is set.
On the other hand, one look at a smiling picture of Akari in a group photo, and he with certainty, with no stuttering and/or doubt, willfully chose not to confess. This is not Shiori cockblocking herself (or Jirou doing so). Technically, a picture shouldn't really stop him from doing anything if she was the one. He could admit his feelings and decide to properly and fairly account it to Akari as to his progress. It's not like she hasn't been boasting about Tenjin and who knows what they act like when they are alone together. He's gotten consistently jealous over it. It's not like she hasn't blatantly gone gaga over Mr. Ikemen. In fact, Jirou thinks that's who Akari wants. They don't owe anything to each other.
Okay, so if the case is that he chose Akari, why the undecided fuss he keeps creating?
Because similar to how some users here like to insult and demean him, he himself believes he sucks. That there's nothing appealing about him, that there's no reason why any girl would like him, that someone will pick him over someone like Tenjin of all things, etc. Low self-confidence and low-self esteem and insecurities. That's what's keeping him restless and going around in circles and questioning these girls' moves towards him. He's not stupid, because he has directly confronted Akari on her tsundere tendencies and constant take-backs (but she chickens out) and he knows that what Shiori did was a clear pass on him (as he states). I don't think the self-hate is as bad as that incel of a protagonist in Rent-A-Girlfriend, yet it's something he has to combat.
Basically, he thinks Akari is too good for a guy like him. Not that she's helping matters by conditioning him to think how she acts is her teasing him, but more than once he's tackled that with his thoughts about her and Tenjin, even from the start. He's no match for him. He's no match for Akari. She's popular, he's not. She's a dime plus heck more of a girl looks-wise, he's plain (so he thinks, but he's not by any means unattractive honestly). She has a social life, he doesn't. He's a drag, she isn't. His behavior in public with her was sign enough about the actual core of the problem here - he feels he's holding her back by being with him.
So he continues to revert back to the comfortable, familiar, and safe choice of his first love, whether or not it will go anywhere. Which is, you guessed it, Shiori. He's actively pursuing Shiori and blocking his feelings for Akari from his mind while doing so. If he doesn't, he knows, subconsciously, that he'll sway. It propped up consciously when he was directly confronted with Akari in a photo. What he chose to do was of no surprise.
This manga is actually exploring the "why" on why childhood friends don't win, and why it's rare that people who end up marrying each other in real life aren't childhood or high school sweethearts majority of the time in statistics. Once you start growing up and your experiences expand, and you get to know other girls (or guys), you realize what you like, what you look for, and what you truly want. Honestly, the childhood friend thing is unrealistic as all hell. Who in the flying bonkers are going to wait years or still hold a flame for someone you liked in middle school? A person changes drastically from then until adulthood. And even still.
When Shiori got asked what she likes about Jirou by Mei? He's "kind and sweet". But so is Tenjin, so...what is the specifics here? She more than likely doesn't know herself. They simply stick to one another due to the fact that they are all they know. They are shy, introverted, social failures who haven't spoken to anyone else of the opposite sex aside from themselves until recently. And that's why it'll never work. Jirou won't ever evolve with her. And it's why I don't at all ship the childhood friend with him. Ultimately, I wonder what Jirou will decipher from their connection and if he'll reach the same conclusion.
Anyway, this is what Jirou is going through, along with Akari herself. She thought Tenjin was what she wanted and likes in a man, but hers was genuinely what I would really label a crush. Tenjin is an ideal. It's not Jirou who is the rebound and second option for her, that's what Tenjin's become. She wasn't upset by the rejection. If anything, it finally freed her and gave her closure to chase who she has actually fallen in love with. There's no what-ifs. She doesn't have to follow this pretense that every action they make is "lol for da points".
The one thing that will throw her off now is that she's aware Jirou is pursuing Shiori and loves her instead.
Whoever that beta user is who is pathetically self-projecting because she wasn't 100% all for Jirou, is a joke.
Enjoy the Jirou/Akari ride, because this is their story.
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