Kinda lol. Like I wouldn't have minded Komi,Tadano and Kawai having a relationship,but these point against it:
1) Kawai had to be part of the gang before Komi and Chadano became a couple and develop feelings in a normal way.
2) The whole Komi/Tadano/Rumiko triangle wouldn't have happened,what would have meant Rumiko would have been reduced to probably a background classmate.
3) I would approve it if Kawai was a least a little bit normal and not a total nutcase.
Now if you would have asked me when the whole Komi/Rumiko/Tadano triangle ended if I would have been fine with a polygamy relationship between these three,I wouldn't have hesitated.
Let's be honest: Chadano is probably the only one who could treat each girl equally and feel loved equally by him.
Football guy and Rumiko may look nice,but I will always prefer Rumiko and Tadano. I feel like Rumiko got (hot) leftovers. I almost forgot Rumiko and the guy interacted before they started focussing on it again after the whole Komi vs Kawai thingy.
Agreed. With the development of the story thus far, Kawai really came off as a "last boss" character, the one final hurdle Tadano and Komi had to cross before they go sailing off into the distance. In turn, that implied to the audience (through her introduction at such a late stage) that Kawai is entering the stage having gone through a similar amount of character development as Tadano, Komi, and Manbagi offscreen. I expected a really long arc where we see Tadano and Kawai have some alone time, and in doing so, accomplishes a few things
1) establishes that Kawai is a fleshed out character in the same way Manbagi is.
2) Add tension to the story by-
2a) Giving Kawai and Tadano the opportunity to reconnect and to show how both of them, now more matured, show more chemistry between Tadano and Komi
2b) Give Tadano the opportunity to grow and to show his struggle as he sorts his feelings about a past love reblossoming versus a new love and a new life
2c) Give Komi the chance to grow and to show her wrestling with genuine jealousy as she looks towards a rival who she thinks might be a better match for Tadano in compatibility/romance/growth/life. If she loves him, does she hold him as tight as best she can, or does she let him go?
Obviously, none of this happened to the extent that I wanted, and instead Kawai gets a bog-standard "new quirky/gag friend arc." Needless to say I was v. disappointed. I can see that there's still the opportunity for Kawai to have a significant character development arc (in the same way Manbagi had hers with the class play and trip to NYC), but I can't really envision how Oda-sensei would pull it off.
In the same vein, I really despise this current subplot with Wakai and Manbagi. Similar to the current portraying of Kawai, he feels extremely shoehorned into the story and that this new relationship is being forced down our throats. While he's been around for some time, the relationship doesn't feel authentic. Maybe Oda is being inspired by My Dress Up Darling, and maybe I'm a Kometani fan high on copium, but these are my thoughts and feelings.