Imasara desu ga, Osananajimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimaimashita - Ch. 22 - It Happened, A Year, and a Half Ago

[MyGoddessRoxy]

Oh no! Don't try to blame the readers on it.
The story was sold as comfy, without quotes.
No, it was not clear that everything was her point of view, after all, ALL stories are told in the main character point of view.
Yeah, this could be a smart twist if the author didn't decide to take 20 chapters to pull this, sorry, you can defend this all you want, but nobody can complain about reads getting frustrated for waiting a specific kind of story just to have a totally different thing.
You know, people have their reasons to pick specific genres of stories. Sometimes a reader of a wholesome kind of story don't want to read heavy stuff, sometimes those readers have really good motives for this choice (like dealing with heavy depression and wanting to avoid heavy plot).
I can say that I was this kind of reader before, now I am stable, but I can totally understand why this is not the best way to write this kind of plot twist.
I am a writer that write short horror stories, in the sense that the stories that write ends badly a lot of times, but, I would never write chapters and chapters of a cute story just to totally change the genre to eldritch horror

Mulholland Drive did this exact same thing, except the topic was a struggling actress in Hollywood. Many mysteries switch perspectives. In Mulholland Drive, the movie painted a picture of Hollywood and the main actress as some sort of ultra-happy soon-to-be star, when all of it was revealed in the 3rd act to be a figment of her imagination. She was on skid row, failing as an actress, and the love of her life found her annoying. The crumbs were left for the viewer if they wanted to see. But the twist was legendary and lauded. But in a medium filled with tropes and self-inserting readers, it's not accepted. I loved it.

 

[animan095]

My boy fixed her 😭

 

[fflogschampion]

Mulholland Drive did this exact same thing, except the topic was a struggling actress in Hollywood. Many mysteries switch perspectives. In Mulholland Drive, the movie painted a picture of Hollywood and the main actress as some sort of ultra-happy soon-to-be star, when all of it was revealed in the 3rd act to be a figment of her imagination. She was on skid row, failing as an actress, and the love of her life found her annoying. The crumbs were left for the viewer if they wanted to see. But the twist was legendary and lauded. But in a medium filled with tropes and self-inserting readers, it's not accepted. I loved it.

You know the protragonist in that movie was schizo from the beginning, her life was garbage before the movie even started and she's coping through it. This doesn't apply here because Hikari didn't go through anything before like Ayami. What you're implying to be a good twist in this story needed to shift the perspective to Ayami's, from Hikari's perspective this is just a rug pull under both the character and the audience but that's also mishandled because as soon as the twist happened the perspective was shifted. We don't get to see the outcome, the consequences, we get the tragic backstory of a backstabber and the way the story is told it's obviously trying really hard to get people to pity her when what she deserves is a good beating for how she handled her supposed friendship.

Also, because it's very obvious the author is basically copying another story of his and Ayami is as unlikeable as any of the three fuck-ups from that.

If anything, this is closer to the Count of Monte Cristo except the author is trying to make Mondego relatable.

 

[Brainulator9]

In response to claims that there was foreshadowing/signs all along, when I reread all of the chapters in response to the last chapter with the shift in mind, I found that if there were hints at such a twist, they required that the reader go out of their way to interpret the characters as such to make it such. That is, this requires an unnatural reading of the characters and their motivations. So I don't blame audiences for being blindsided by such a total shift.

 

[bejad007]

In response to claims that there was foreshadowing/signs all along.

Written by Maruto is already a big hint of drama

 

[bejad007]

To backstab her at the last moment when she knew her friend was about to make a move. She's nothing short of a snake.

calm down and read again, she just realize it when Hikari and Yuu goes to date on Disneyland. she might be just broke up with with him that night, thinking Yuu is better with Hikari.
the kiss in previous chapter might be just to prevent Yuu from confession/ final goodbye statement

 

[bejad007]

I argue that Ch.18 suggest otherwise. He did has reaction to Hikari at that point in time, so you can still say it was just an excuse for him to not admit it.

counterargument, if you read it again Yuu literally started blushing after Hikari stated "ex-girlfriend". He also said "you are too close" that can also means Hikari pitching too deep to other's private matter (not physically close).

there's lot of subtle hint in this manga

 

[Takuma_Aki]

counterargument, if you read it again Yuu literally started blushing after Hikari stated "ex-girlfriend". He also said "you are too close" that can also means Hikari pitching too deep to other's private matter (not physically close).

there's lot of subtle hint in this manga

I'd argue that if he meant Hikari is digging too deep into his private life, it'd make more sense if he beomes annoyed/frustrated rather than blushing; so I'm still leaning towards the physical distance on the 'too close' part. But this is completely speculation territory now and it will be swayed very easily by our own bias, so idk.

 

[Takuma_Aki]

In response to claims that there was foreshadowing/signs all along, when I reread all of the chapters in response to the last chapter with the shift in mind, I found that if there were hints at such a twist, they required that the reader go out of their way to interpret the characters as such to make it such. That is, this requires an unnatural reading of the characters and their motivations. So I don't blame audiences for being blindsided by such a total shift.

I don't really see the apparent sign for the twist though (even though I used the word 'bread crumbs' once, which, in retrospect, quite misleading), but I just find a hidden layer of meaning and possibilities hidden throughout the story - like the kiss talk in Ch.5, the possibilities of Yuu talking about Ayami instead of Hikari when he refuse the advance from the Kouhai - it's more like, everything is now up for interpretation without any fatal conflict of evidence.

 

[intmanga]

Mulholland Drive did this exact same thing, except the topic was a struggling actress in Hollywood. Many mysteries switch perspectives. In Mulholland Drive, the movie painted a picture of Hollywood and the main actress as some sort of ultra-happy soon-to-be star, when all of it was revealed in the 3rd act to be a figment of her imagination. She was on skid row, failing as an actress, and the love of her life found her annoying. The crumbs were left for the viewer if they wanted to see. But the twist was legendary and lauded. But in a medium filled with tropes and self-inserting readers, it's not accepted. I loved

This example and this series are nothing alike in terms of foreshadowing and the "crumbs" you can pick on this series are mostly confirmation bias in action, any panel with yuu saying anything but "I LOVE HIKARI" will be taken as an obvious hint for this twist, give me a break. Also, if an author monetizes his work, is his responsability to tag it correctly, I don't want to buy a ticket for Cinderella only for the movie to switch to Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the middle.

 

[Betsybon]

I don’t care about ayami’s backstory! I want to see Hikari again 😞

 

[urmomgei]

dit con ME MAY

 

[aknighttoremember]

yo chill guys! let big bro cook for a bit

 

[huntercheco]

This is advanced darkness indeed

 

[draxdeveloper]

Mulholland Drive did this exact same thing, except the topic was a struggling actress in Hollywood. Many mysteries switch perspectives. In Mulholland Drive, the movie painted a picture of Hollywood and the main actress as some sort of ultra-happy soon-to-be star, when all of it was revealed in the 3rd act to be a figment of her imagination. She was on skid row, failing as an actress, and the love of her life found her annoying. The crumbs were left for the viewer if they wanted to see. But the twist was legendary and lauded. But in a medium filled with tropes and self-inserting readers, it's not accepted. I loved it.

It''s a movie. People that was reading this manga from the started is reading for more than a year

 

[Ariqrabbani17]

Girl I do not care about your feelings you are NOT the main character

She is, now

 

[shafiq95]

You are getting 20 chapters of Aya's pov. Shes the mc.

 

[TestAddress]

LET THE AUTHOR COOK! I love Maruto's stories and I'm a huge fan of WA2 VN

Watch WA & WA part 2 anime, pure gold in your eyes.

She is, now

True, this is the snake style bait & switch. I've seen this in WA.

 

[TestAddress]

We got rug pulled out of the romcom premise didn't we.

I've never seen anything like this ... since 20 years ago of WA.

What a coincidence! Chapter 22, the author must have waited 22 years for people to forget his quirk! Japanese are superstitious about numbers so ... the author is really praying for this.

 

[TestAddress]

This example and this series are nothing alike in terms of foreshadowing and the "crumbs" you can pick on this series are mostly confirmation bias in action, any panel with yuu saying anything but "I LOVE HIKARI" will be taken as an obvious hint for this twist, give me a break. Also, if an author monetizes his work, is his responsability to tag it correctly, I don't want to buy a ticket for Cinderella only for the movie to switch to Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the middle.

I remember always to check the ratings and deep insights so the kids won't see anything ... unnecessary or rather unwanted. The directors are wicked after all. I now have evidence this applies to authors.