Shinozaki-kun no Mente Jijou - Vol. 10 Ch. 42

[Minulaka]

Konpeito, truely the mvp of all time.

 

[Imryse]

this is such a weird fucking manga and I love it.

 

[Prominis]

Konpeito saved Orihime. Konpeito saved Rukia from execution. Konpeito saved Soul Society from Aizen. Konpeito...!

...

That aside, it's strange to say this considering we are nearing the end of the series, but I feel I have yet to fully understand Shinozaki.

Perhaps it's because we did not fully return to the moment of his presumed accident, seemingly due to wandering into their lab as an innocent child before requiring human repository magic to 'put him back together'*, but I am struggling to fit Yuuyake's wish in the present with Shinozaki. It should be equivalent to the same inner desires that we have seen expressed by other characters as the enchantment is being reapplied, but it isn't clicking in the same way.

It's a fantastic moment for Yuuyake to see her overcome her struggles with magic and even serves as a solid gag due to the incorporation of machines into the final application. Plus, in the process we get to see a flash of many of the major and even minor characters throughout the series here. But I'm not putting two and two together. What should have been an intense emotional revelatory moment, in my mind at least, was reflected more as a gag and a very simply presented earnest wish: a wish that Shinozaki has not embodied throughout this story.

Yuuyake has. After her grandmother's passing, she spends her days minding her grandmother's workshop and cafe, never growing close to any other magical folk. She fixes and fixes and fixes; all she does is repair inanimate objects that can be restored if ever they are damaged. These things cannot leave her, and once perfected they are optimized until they cannot deviate into a dangerous, unexpected, uncertain territory (in theory, but not in practice). She avoids using magic, an uncontrollable variable, possibly in relation to Shinozaki's accident. She is perfectly safe in that insular bubble, detached and unable to be harmed by the loss of any other.

In short, this revelation captures an underlying desire that drives Yuuyake's behaviour and history. She lost her parents, she lost Shinozaki, she lost her grandmother. She can't bear to risk being responsible for losing anyone else.

Shinozaki on the other hand? Where have we seen a similar impulse or drive? The closest element, off the top of my head, is his hopes prior to the festival for Yuuyake to cheer up. He's nice. He's kind. He's thoughtful at times. But I don't ever recall him ever expressing anything resembling this, nor any of his behaviour hinting at this. Every other major repository has had plenty of scenes and build-up to illustrate how they are ultimately kindred spirits.

I don't know. There's something on the page I am missing. A blind spot. Or maybe I'm shooting myself in the foot with these expectations. Either way, I can't help but feel a tad disappointed until the next chapter inevitably arrives.

...

*I vaguely remember this is a quote from some popular media series, but I digress.

 

[RanmaChaos]

Thank you for the chapter

 

[koppiki]

Konpeito saved Orihime. Konpeito saved Rukia from execution. Konpeito saved Soul Society from Aizen. Konpeito...!

...

That aside, it's strange to say this considering we are nearing the end of the series, but I feel I have yet to fully understand Shinozaki.

Perhaps it's because we did not fully return to the moment of his presumed accident, seemingly due to wandering into their lab as an innocent child before requiring human repository magic to 'put him back together'*, but I am struggling to fit Yuuyake's wish in the present with Shinozaki. It should be equivalent to the same inner desires that we have seen expressed by other characters as the enchantment is being reapplied, but it isn't clicking in the same way.

It's a fantastic moment for Yuuyake to see her overcome her struggles with magic and even serves as a solid gag due to the incorporation of machines into the final application. Plus, in the process we get to see a flash of many of the major and even minor characters throughout the series here. But I'm not putting two and two together. What should have been an intense emotional revelatory moment, in my mind at least, was reflected more as a gag and a very simply presented earnest wish: a wish that Shinozaki has not embodied throughout this story.

Yuuyake has. After her grandmother's passing, she spends her days minding her grandmother's workshop and cafe, never growing close to any other magical folk. She fixes and fixes and fixes; all she does is repair inanimate objects that can be restored if ever they are damaged. These things cannot leave her, and once perfected they are optimized until they cannot deviate into a dangerous, unexpected, uncertain territory (in theory, but not in practice). She avoids using magic, an uncontrollable variable, possibly in relation to Shinozaki's accident. She is perfectly safe in that insular bubble, detached and unable to be harmed by the loss of any other.

In short, this revelation captures an underlying desire that drives Yuuyake's behaviour and history. She lost her parents, she lost Shinozaki, she lost her grandmother. She can't bear to risk being responsible for losing anyone else.

Shinozaki on the other hand? Where have we seen a similar impulse or drive? The closest element, off the top of my head, is his hopes prior to the festival for Yuuyake to cheer up. He's nice. He's kind. He's thoughtful at times. But I don't ever recall him ever expressing anything resembling this, nor any of his behaviour hinting at this. Every other major repository has had plenty of scenes and build-up to illustrate how they are ultimately kindred spirits.

I don't know. There's something on the page I am missing. A blind spot. Or maybe I'm shooting myself in the foot with these expectations. Either way, I can't help but feel a tad disappointed until the next chapter inevitably arrives.

...

*I vaguely remember this is a quote from some popular media series, but I digress.

you raise a lot of good points. next chapter does address a lot of it, you will be pleased to hear. I do still think, though, even with what next chapter / the epilogue presents, the connection between yuuyake / shinozaki is somewhat tenuous (or rather, somewhat non-specific) if it is as I am reading it to be.
I do think it may genuinely just be enough that they care about each other, considering that magicians seem to generally... not really care about people. at all. which is a bit of a weak connection. very weak connection. but hey, it's something. they're a family, yeah? though... so are other repository/magician pairs, to some extent. Albeit, seemingly a lesser extent.
one could also make a joke (-ish) about how both of them seem to be averse to change or to letting go? There's a joke in an earlier chapter about Shinozaki finding places that are about to shut down deeply sad (abandoned, falling apart, etc.) and how he really likes store-revival-esque reality shows because of that, and... I guess that mirrors, in some ways. But yeah, the short of it (a really unfortunate short of it, really) is that we don't get a "here are how repository and enchanter are linked" chapter like we do with the other ones, since, well, they've been the focus the whole time, so they don't get their one-off.

in any case, there's stuff to think about.

 

[Hikineet]

Thanks for the chapter.

 

[Soneca]

This was such a beautiful chapter that I could't help but tear up a bit nearing the end. The gag at the end still got me though.

I think this is the cutest shot of Grey we've ever seen, there by page 9. It's nice to see him being so earnest to reassure Yuuyake.

Thank you very much for the scanlation, @koppiki and co.

This series is amazing, I really wish it could explode in popularity, just so we could get more of the characters and the universe. But it's been an amazing read so far, and after it's over, I'm sure I'll always remember it fondly.

 

[zalagires]

ah, so it's Konpeito.
i miss the Konpeito's bunny ear and Mahiru's glove trademark

 

[koppiki]

This was such a beautiful chapter that I could't help but tear up a bit nearing the end. The gag at the end still got me though.

I think this is the cutest shot of Grey we've ever seen, there by page 9. It's nice to see him being so earnest to reassure Yuuyake.

Thank you very much for the scanlation, @koppiki and co.

This series is amazing, I really wish it could explode in popularity, just so we could get more of the characters and the universe. But it's been an amazing read so far, and after it's over, I'm sure I'll always remember it fondly.

one character from shinozaki shows up in the author's next work (bakugatari snooze, which I'll be working on once this is done), which has me hoping that we'll see one or two more as well.

 

[sotokouya]

thanks for the translation!

also while it does seem to be konpeito, they're still acting surprised so i was like what if it was some alternate version of them? but we're already nearing the end to be asking that kind of question