Mr. Yamabuki does care about his daughter, but Hareta is naïve for thinking him caring for Mei's safety equals love/care. If Mei was something like a prized possession to him, like a valuable tool, he would care just as much about keeping her safe. Fortunately it's not like that, but it doesn't make it any less complicated a situation.
Anyway, loved that Misaki saw himself in Mr. Yamabuki. It's impossible not to hurt someone you love when making them happy becomes your identity.
Misaki's earnest little speech made me tear up. I'm aware it's partly because Mei is my favorite girl, but I loved the sincerity in it. I'm a sucker for things like that.
A chapter that started out with such a deceptively simple script is actually so nuanced and thought out. It's very well structured. This author is really good at writing characters that come across as generic at first sight but in context feel truly organic and alive despite their constraints.
Last three pages made this a perfect chapter. What a poignantly beautiful way to end Mei's character arc. She's been such a great depiction of learned helplessness that it makes me emotional to see some light at the end of the tunnel for her at last.
She smiles as she loses her flags.
Hareta and Misaki chose Yamabuki to be their friend and this allowed her to be free from the prison that was being a heroine
Absolute cinema... ;_;