Yes. It is an assumption, but understanding that the mentality around sexuality in japan is different from America is important to understanding a piece of work.
Reminder that not everyone lives in the United States, it seems you ignored my point about your views on the mentality around sexuality in Japan is outdated.
Such mentality might still be influential in the publishing companies, which is why the author refrained from committing to any of Teru's ships, at least up to the current point in the raws. Which is why one could say that each ship is on a more or less equal playing ground, as none of them are explicitly canon.
An important thing to remember when shipping is to respect other people's ships, to respect the official material, and to respect the characters. If someone disregards the official material and force ships in out-of-character ways, it really makes one wonder why don't they just write their own independent story and bring their neat little idea elsewhere instead.
Now what did you do? You started off dismissing other people's ships as being narratively inferior to what you have in mind, and then goes on to present rarer pairings that either has barely any justification within the official material (Daigo) or has reasons against it within the official material (Nirvana), as the supposedly narratively "better" option. You complained about the lack of charity you were given, to which I apologize, but I already tried providing as much respect I could muster.
You seem to accuse me of denying your freedom to ship, when I explicitly stated that your ideas are interesting and could be turned into good stories. I was just saying that you don't need to stuff words into the author's mouth while doing so. They might just be some random musings or speculations to you, but if your view of the characters are too different from the way others view them, you can't blame people for being a little bit appalled.
For the following points, excuse me for omitting the quotes because the pics would clog up the message.
For Teru's first encounter Nirvana, that scene serves two purposes: The first is to highlight Nirvana's physical attractiveness, and the other is to lead into Teru's encounter with Sekilala, the actual focus of the chapter as seen from the chapter title and the much longer screentime. (If I really want to ship Nirvana with anyone it'd be with Sekilala, but I digress)
If Teru is as infatuated with Nirvana as you stated, why do we never see her express longing for him even in her internal dialogue, when we're seeing the story from her viewpoint most of the time?
For the part about Iko's interaction with Teru and your comparison to other media, as I stated, just because the characters didn't behave in the way you expect them during a certain situation does not mean the author did not intend for it to represent that certain situation. Especially when a significant portion of the audience do not agree with such views. I'm not saying that it's definitely what the author meant, but judging by how it's also the angle the anime staff working with the author is pushing for, I'd wager IkoTeru is probably one of the ships that the author expects the audience to support.
How else is that phrased used throughout the text? Because if it's how Pepesha's mother describes Pepesha and how Nirvana describes Mei's relation to Teru, then I would say it's more related to the non-romantic but familial theme that's prevalent throughout the work. Same way how the term "Habibi" literally means "beloved" but can also mean "Dear friend" or "close person" rather than literal bonds.
It is literally what it says, "improtant person", and what it means is completely up to interpretation. The Japanese like to define it as "a person one cannot live without", could be because of emotional attachment or simply because they're the one providing for their livelihood.
For the part about Ai and Tokimaru, I... absolutely cannot fathom how does Tokimaru stating the girl he likes (which is obviously the romantic kind in this context) being Ai herself not count as a cofession....
The three of them have familial love between them and Tokimaru has romantic love for Ai, this part is established, and this doesn't mean Ai is obligated to reciprocate his feelings. This might have been lost in the translation, but the "That's not what the main character in a romance novel should say" quote was originally "Even the main characters of modern romance novels wouldn't say corny lines like that". A servant isn't supposed to be in love with their master, so Tokimaru's feelings would've normally been taboo. Not reciprocating Tokimaru's feeling does not mean a rejection, she acknowledged Tokimaru's feelings and allows him to continue holding them despite the inappropriateness, but neither party expressed desire for their relationship to change beyond the current master/servant one.
The scene you presented as example of Ai being a tsundere is an interaction that's also often seen between siblings in manga and anime, yes it exhibits the tsundere trope, but that does not mean the parties are romantically involved. If Ai is such a tsundere and she also has romantic feelings for Tokimaru, why would she acknowledge his feelings so readily, and promptly move on to talk about Mai and her mission? If you haven't noticed, Ai cares for Tokimaru as a person, but what she actually concerns herself with are Mai and her mission as a ninja. (to save people, not following orders. which led her to Shy.)
The ship between Ai and Tokimaru can work, but it needs justification for Ai's familial love to be seen as romantic love, just like the way you claim Iko's love towards Teru does.
Okay I stand corrected. I said he seemed that way but I made it clear I was operating on the information I had available to me. Even then if the age gap is the size of that between Teru and Mei, it wouldn't be as inherently creepy as the person I am responding to framed it as, nor does it refute the core of the point which is that if he's still a teen, the age gap there isn't going to be very large. It's well within the bounds of possibility within that point and trying to dismiss the idea a girl might be infatuated with a slightly older man because it's weird is nonsensical.
He's currently 22 while Teru is 14.
There are indeed plenty of cases irl where girls became infatuated with older men, but actively seeking such plot in fiction... reminds people of a certain type of people among our society.
The quote is from CS Lewis's…… (omitted)
I wasn't directly disputing Lewis's argument, I was disputing your use of it. You're the one that conflated Eros with sexuality, what's with the way you demand sexual attraction as proof for romantic attraction and whatnot.
My point, on the other hand, is that if one desires a romantic relationship to be lasting, the relationship has to have Philia as a basis and not just fueled by Eros.
In this definition of romance, a certain pair of characters exhibiting Philia only makes them more suitable for a ship, instead of detracting from it.
Welp, I think I've spent too much time in this conversation so that'll be all from me.
Gotta work on the next chapters, and I won't be responding to further messages in this conversation.
