Komi-san wa Komyushou Desu. - Vol. 23 Ch. 300 - Confession
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If anyone's reading this comment section before finishing the chapter, I advise against it.
It's unfortunate that the confession chapters came out while MangaDex was offline, because otherwise they would have 4-digit comment numbers, guaranteed. As an emotional climax to the story, I don't think we could ask for better than Manbagi's confession and Tadano's response to her and Komi. I don't want to spoil what happens in the next chapters for those who read later, so I'll limit my comment to what happens here.
This poor girl! I remember when she was first introduced with that ungodly makeup, and some commenters here just piling on the hate chapter after chapter. People couldn't stand her, just as they couldn't stand... well, basically any of Komi's friends before we got to know them. But Manbagi deserved none of it. And she tried so hard - hell, harder than Komi did in the pure romance aspect! - to get Tadano. She changed for him in a much more visible way and actually went on the offensive. She reached out for what she wanted, didn't just wait for it to be handed to her. She was scared too, dammit! Look at her rival!
And Manbagi could have had it! Tadano would have accepted, would have been a good boyfriend, dutiful and loving and all the rest - but she was too good. Morally, too good. She could not accept happiness if the person she loved could maybe have someone he loved more. So she asks him; of course she asks, right? And you know, and I know, that the author wouldn't have her ask unless the answer changes things. And we know what's going to happen, don't we? So does Manbagi. That's why she's asking. She had happiness in the palm of her hand. All she had to do was close it... and she can't. She gives that up, sacrifices what she wants, so that the protagonist of the story could have a happier ending. Manbagi deserves better.
We all knew it would end like this. Komi's name is in the title of the manga - of course she's going to get the guy in the end. And holy hell did the knife twists hurt. Every time Manbagi and Tadano get a little closer, every little interaction that shows just how sweet and kind and giving both of them are, every wall broken between them that softens her towards him... and this is the result. He accepts; and she asks again. And we all know that her heart will be broken, because that is her purpose in the story. The tragedy to make the romance bittersweet. The sacrifice to give the happiness meaning.
Manbagi deserved better. It was always meant to be this way.
If this was in a worse manga, it would be more dramatic. They would have gotten together, it would be tumultuous, they would break up - maybe Manbagi would have been made a villain. It would have been tawdry and awful. But instead, these people are being so adult it's painful. You want them to be happy, and know that some happiness can only be bought with pain; the pain of others. No one is this understanding in real life. No one is this mature, to say "No, he might be happy with me, but he would be happier with her. Even now, after she has abandoned every opportunity given to her to make even the slightest iota of progress towards her love, I will support them being together, because that is the right thing to do." But Manbagi did.
Raise a toast, ladies and gentlemen, to the one who stepped aside. The one who loved her friends enough to ignore her own desires and push them towards one another. The sacrifical lamb, the actually proactive love interest, the inimitable Manbagi Rumiko. May she find happiness with someone else - someone who deserves her as much as she deserves the good ending.
There's going to be more to the story, obviously - this manga is about Komi making friends, not getting a boyfriend. But like I said before, this is the emotional climax, what 300 chapters have been building towards. And this is the chapter that makes the romantic sub-plot exceptional. That the mangaka chose to focus not just on the eventual happy couple, but the third wheel and the choice that she made. To treat her as just another person trying to be happy, to be a good friend, and an unflinching moral paragon when push came to shove and the critical choice needed to be made. 10 out of fucking 10, I'm going to go cry into some hot cocoa.
It's unfortunate that the confession chapters came out while MangaDex was offline, because otherwise they would have 4-digit comment numbers, guaranteed. As an emotional climax to the story, I don't think we could ask for better than Manbagi's confession and Tadano's response to her and Komi. I don't want to spoil what happens in the next chapters for those who read later, so I'll limit my comment to what happens here.
This poor girl! I remember when she was first introduced with that ungodly makeup, and some commenters here just piling on the hate chapter after chapter. People couldn't stand her, just as they couldn't stand... well, basically any of Komi's friends before we got to know them. But Manbagi deserved none of it. And she tried so hard - hell, harder than Komi did in the pure romance aspect! - to get Tadano. She changed for him in a much more visible way and actually went on the offensive. She reached out for what she wanted, didn't just wait for it to be handed to her. She was scared too, dammit! Look at her rival!
And Manbagi could have had it! Tadano would have accepted, would have been a good boyfriend, dutiful and loving and all the rest - but she was too good. Morally, too good. She could not accept happiness if the person she loved could maybe have someone he loved more. So she asks him; of course she asks, right? And you know, and I know, that the author wouldn't have her ask unless the answer changes things. And we know what's going to happen, don't we? So does Manbagi. That's why she's asking. She had happiness in the palm of her hand. All she had to do was close it... and she can't. She gives that up, sacrifices what she wants, so that the protagonist of the story could have a happier ending. Manbagi deserves better.
We all knew it would end like this. Komi's name is in the title of the manga - of course she's going to get the guy in the end. And holy hell did the knife twists hurt. Every time Manbagi and Tadano get a little closer, every little interaction that shows just how sweet and kind and giving both of them are, every wall broken between them that softens her towards him... and this is the result. He accepts; and she asks again. And we all know that her heart will be broken, because that is her purpose in the story. The tragedy to make the romance bittersweet. The sacrifice to give the happiness meaning.
Manbagi deserved better. It was always meant to be this way.
If this was in a worse manga, it would be more dramatic. They would have gotten together, it would be tumultuous, they would break up - maybe Manbagi would have been made a villain. It would have been tawdry and awful. But instead, these people are being so adult it's painful. You want them to be happy, and know that some happiness can only be bought with pain; the pain of others. No one is this understanding in real life. No one is this mature, to say "No, he might be happy with me, but he would be happier with her. Even now, after she has abandoned every opportunity given to her to make even the slightest iota of progress towards her love, I will support them being together, because that is the right thing to do." But Manbagi did.
Raise a toast, ladies and gentlemen, to the one who stepped aside. The one who loved her friends enough to ignore her own desires and push them towards one another. The sacrifical lamb, the actually proactive love interest, the inimitable Manbagi Rumiko. May she find happiness with someone else - someone who deserves her as much as she deserves the good ending.
There's going to be more to the story, obviously - this manga is about Komi making friends, not getting a boyfriend. But like I said before, this is the emotional climax, what 300 chapters have been building towards. And this is the chapter that makes the romantic sub-plot exceptional. That the mangaka chose to focus not just on the eventual happy couple, but the third wheel and the choice that she made. To treat her as just another person trying to be happy, to be a good friend, and an unflinching moral paragon when push came to shove and the critical choice needed to be made. 10 out of fucking 10, I'm going to go cry into some hot cocoa.
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@Endominus I wish they'd slip this in every copy of Volume 23 sold. Manbagi is so changed by her time with Hitohito that she becomes a version of him and finds her own version of Komi to play out their own version of the dynamic, only she's seen this movie before and doesn't waste time the way the OGs did, but as a consolation prize, it's not even remotely as much as she deserved.
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Way to end chapter 300
