This might be one of my favorite chapters of this series. We’ve had many, many, many chapters with this format and they are a big reason why I love this manga so much, but this one feels different. These emotional outbursts are usually unabashedly melodramatic and have an over-the-top sincerity to them that makes you fall in love with its beautiful, if naively depicted, characters. This chapter on the other hand was sharp and smooth, delivered by two characters who are just plainly not as lovable as the rest of the cast. It’s not even like they’re presented as unlikable as the only characters who were presented as so were those guys who didn’t take prelims seriously. This manga promotes sincerity as an ultimate quality, and these two are as sincere as it gets. But they’re not the sweethearts this manga is known for, and they probably won’t change dramatically even after this confrontation, but that’s what is so exciting about this chapter. Imari’s been slowly boiling in the background and when she burst, that shit was cold and sharp and forcefully cut Miran’s self serving barriers to shreds and made her (and the audience to a certain extent) have to acknowledge the humanity of the other Ichiei members for the first time. I think it really shows the power of this chapter how people in these comments are struggling with finding a clear good guy/bad guy dynamic that the entire series has thrived on so far. I don’t know where we’re going obviously, but I really doubt we’re going to get a super clean conclusion to these characters and I really dig that. Max, we get a scene where Miran apologizes to Luka, but Miran’s weird upbringing, the lowkey purposeful malpractice of Kifune sensei, and the uncertain career status of the other Ichiei students will probably not be resolved. This is one of the most real arguments in this entire manga and it’s got me reinvigorated in a way that I haven’t been for the last year or so.