The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You - Vol. 16 Ch. 135 - Mother, Um

[3141592653589]

Feel like a whole lotta folks are missing the actual in-universe lesson here: Shizuka already sang in an earlier chapter and that alone was enough to cause multiple serious injuries to her karaoke mates by overwhelming them with preciousness. If she was out and about in normal society and using her natural voice she'd be a walking natural disaster.

Christ, just imagine if she'd gotten speech therapy before the idol arc so she wasn't relegated to the backup dancer squad. We wouldn't have had a heartwarming conclusion with cameos from prior arcs, we'd have been left with "Authorities are investigating a suspected terrorist attack at a local escalator school. At least 30 fatalities have already been confirmed, with significantly more injured. Attempts to accurately assess casualties are currently stymied by the large number of human-sized puppets being pulled from the wreckage. While details are scarce, our investigations have turned up multiple reports that some form of sonic weapon was used in the attack."

Rentarou's out here protecting society from a walking reusable nuke and peeps are calling him an enabler. Y'all need some perspective: the man's text-to-speech app has saved more lives than penicillin.

 

[LARGames]

If only it was this mom in the harem instead of the creepy one.

 

[zekromfan1]

The way to help her isn’t by forcing her to be one way or another, it’s by giving her the room to grow. And with everyone she has now, with the app Rentarou put together for her, with all of this in her hands. Sure she might find it easy to simply continue as is, and no one would blame her for it, but they’ll all be by her side if she ever desires to push herself and really grow.

Keep in mind it hasn’t been that long since Shizuka met Rentarou in universe, everything that’s happened to her, all the character growth has happened in a short time span. Normally for even a half of that growth would take a lot longer than that, I whole heartedly believe that if Shizuka ever chose to try speaking normally, she could do so with enough effort put into it.

Of course she doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to, our society has advanced so far in these decades that a lot of what’s done is over the internet and through text.

Her mom isn’t wrong, but she went about it the wrong way. Her actions most likely only served to further the issue. I’m glad Rentarou pointed out a lot of the things she didn’t know, or care to ask about Shizuka’s current life. And she doesn’t know him like we do, we know if Shizuka ever asked to start speaking normally, if she ever desired to learn to better herself, he would be there 100% alongside everyone else. He would facilitate a lot of that growth simply by being himself.

Honestly it’s refreshing to get these kinds of chapters every now and then, a good stop gap between jokes, and it helps us better understand and empathize with the characters. I like the more comedic chapters as much as the next guy, but these are nice too.

 

[infinity781]

God this was as hard as it hit the first time. I do not understand some things bc I’m not the targeted audience so I won’t speak about that. I see therapy appearing a lot so let me speak from my one of Asia’s country. Frankly speaking, therapy is few and far between here. Sure stuff like a psychology club exist in pretty much any private school that I’ve been apart of but they can only do so much. I have seen a friend of mine from secondary to half of high school struggle with school in general. He has expressed that since 6th grade and he is just on and off all the time. He really likes English as a subject and we typically have a competition to compete on our scores but he may sometimes just not attend the subject altogether. He would often display worrying behaviour like eating paper, eating chalk, etc. Not until high school did the school enforce this. He was forced to withdraw in the 2nd year and moved to another school. We met again when our class went shooting for the final year photobook. Now we are studying in the same university but different major, he studies psychology. What I’m trying to say is that therapy in Asia is a fairly outlandish concept. It exists in the form of a psychological club, and it’s only in private school and some of public school. Something maybe just aren’t supposed to be fixed, and I think for Shizuka it was a step in the right direction. You can’t rush these kinds of stuff.

 

[Erbakhan]

That was heavy damn

 

[Bluehammer12]

If only it was this mom in the harem instead of the creepy one.

Yeah because an abusive child beater is soooo much better.

 

[LARGames]

Yeah because an abusive child beater is soooo much better.

It is when she's this much hotter.

 

[Cooudxxx]

Peak once again

 

[durende]

Woooow, the mother will have to work REAL FUCKING HARD for me to ever like her. What the hell was she thinking?

 

[TheWisestofWolfies]

The real solution is to fix society so that it can accomodate people such as to make them comfortable. Normal people cannot complain, for it is their normality that would allow this to be possible. They have the ability to be accomodating, where the people who struggle do not. To reject that would be selfish, self-centered. Worried about your meaningless convenience where this is a matter of life and death for others. Shizuka's ability to communicate is not a problem unless you make it a problem. If you can't be bothered to just go along with it, then you're the asshole.

 

[JohnCtm]

I'm really glad that the arc was treated seriously, watching shizuka struggleing was hard . But thanks to the perspicacity and love from Nano plus the sincerity of Rentarou and specially the courage of Shizuka everything went for the best

 

[Onesquawkyboi]

tl;dr: these last two chapters are a little too heavy for a fun harem series

I'm sorry, but like I said the last chapter, her mother has a point. And obviously, abusing your child is a no-no.
It's not like she's retarded or anything (although severely lacks practice with talking because... she doesn't), and tbh, Rentarou/Rentarou's family are all just enabling her at this point. It's only tolerable in anime/manga, but not really in real life.
Again, cute and quirky anime traits are usually easy to "don't think about it too much it's cute/anime", but the author turned it into a serious issue with the talk and the um, abuse. 100 Girlfriends is a usually lighthearted series, which is why I found these recent chapters with Shizuka jarring and why I dislike them.

Not to mention that:

• Her mother has very valid fears for her future, although she did it the wrong way and actually made it worse, if not at least stalled Shizuka.
• Rentarou: "So what if she's not very good at speaking?!" Um, she's way WAY worse than "not good" at speaking my dude.
• Unironically, Rentarou did most of the talking for her.
• And then... the chapter just ends with all of them still enabling her. I guess her mom being a little less strict/abusive would help Shizuka, but now it just makes Rentarou look like he doesn't want to help Shizuka become better.

We can asertain that shizuka suffers from some sort of selective mutism, which means more likely than not she also suffers from extreme social anxiety and possibly trauma from her younger years being beaten and bullied about her shy personality. Unfortunately for shizukas mother, her beatings probably reinforced the condition shizuka had as a child and made it harder to fully cure and recover from. There are ways to treat this type of muteness, however we have seen that shizuka can still communicate with others in her own way, despite her being unable to in others.

I'm not going to say that shizuka doesn't have a problem with basic speaking, but what I am going to say is that people can have similar types of these genuine disabilities and still be productive members of society. Stephen Hawking is a fairly obvious example, if not an outlier, but it makes a good point. she DOES in fact have a way to communicate for now with others, meaning it is less of a problem than actual mutism.

Besides all this, you also have to understand that currently, Shizuka is in adolescence. She isn't fully developed yet and we don't know how she will be like in the coming years. Maybe at some point she decides that she no longer wants to speak with a phone but wants to fully express herself, at which point I am 200% certain Rentarou would catch on and help her with the appropriate steps to do so. Either way, you gotta remember that while this manga can get serious, it is mostly silly, especially to think Rentarou could handle all this, but sticking to the actual lore it's very obvious that he can and will handle it.

That's my two cents fr, felt like saying stuff

 

[radstylix]

We can asertain that shizuka suffers from some sort of selective mutism, which means more likely than not she also suffers from extreme social anxiety and possibly trauma from her younger years being beaten and bullied about her shy personality. Unfortunately for shizukas mother, her beatings probably reinforced the condition shizuka had as a child and made it harder to fully cure and recover from. There are ways to treat this type of muteness, however we have seen that shizuka can still communicate with others in her own way, despite her being unable to in others.

I'm not going to say that shizuka doesn't have a problem with basic speaking, but what I am going to say is that people can have similar types of these genuine disabilities and still be productive members of society. Stephen Hawking is a fairly obvious example, if not an outlier, but it makes a good point. she DOES in fact have a way to communicate for now with others, meaning it is less of a problem than actual mutism.

Besides all this, you also have to understand that currently, Shizuka is in adolescence. She isn't fully developed yet and we don't know how she will be like in the coming years. Maybe at some point she decides that she no longer wants to speak with a phone but wants to fully express herself, at which point I am 200% certain Rentarou would catch on and help her with the appropriate steps to do so. Either way, you gotta remember that while this manga can get serious, it is mostly silly, especially to think Rentarou could handle all this, but sticking to the actual lore it's very obvious that he can and will handle it.

That's my two cents fr, felt like saying stuff

Thanks for the reply. I don't care too much about the chapter anymore though to reply properly, sorry about that.
I do still wish that the author didn't make these recent chapters, as well as the author setting it in stone that Shizuka's mom beat/spank her from her flashbacks in her first appearance. To be honest, my main issue with these past two chapters are that they're just wayyy too depressing for a silly and lighthearted series that it's extremely jarring to me, and I guess a couple of people who liked my original comment.

 

[InFiNiTeSensei]

Feels like people forget that Rentarou said in chapter 3 that obviously text-to-speech isn't ideal solution, but he is not Shizuka and can't perceive how difficult is for her to speak. And saying that Ren is enabling her is just weird, in recent chapters even before this arc Shizuka using her own voice occasionally, showcasing clear progress from what have been before, the tools and environment he created for her allows Shizuka to improve on her own pace. So where is the "not solving the problem" part, they not doing it fast enough? Don't buy your arguments, sorry

Yeah, after going back through this series like several times, yes, the text-to-speech is just so that it can help Shizuka grow her communication skills until she is comfortable and confident with speaking. We can clearly see signs of slow, but sure progress in her speaking normally as the chapters progress. She clearly has no trouble with basic communication at all. All she has to progress. and with support from her friends, is to be able speak.

The fact that the bozo really said "not solving the problem" part, really leads to believe me that they HAVE NOT read this series at all. Like calling Rentarou and the girlfriends "enablers" is such a stretch, considering how supportive they have been towards her, especially in the moments she actually spoke.
Radstylix's comments really rub the wrong way honestly. Like what do they know???

 

[InFiNiTeSensei]

The way to help her isn’t by forcing her to be one way or another, it’s by giving her the room to grow. And with everyone she has now, with the app Rentarou put together for her, with all of this in her hands. Sure she might find it easy to simply continue as is, and no one would blame her for it, but they’ll all be by her side if she ever desires to push herself and really grow.

Keep in mind it hasn’t been that long since Shizuka met Rentarou in universe, everything that’s happened to her, all the character growth has happened in a short time span. Normally for even a half of that growth would take a lot longer than that, I whole heartedly believe that if Shizuka ever chose to try speaking normally, she could do so with enough effort put into it.

Of course she doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to, our society has advanced so far in these decades that a lot of what’s done is over the internet and through text.

Her mom isn’t wrong, but she went about it the wrong way. Her actions most likely only served to further the issue. I’m glad Rentarou pointed out a lot of the things she didn’t know, or care to ask about Shizuka’s current life. And she doesn’t know him like we do, we know if Shizuka ever asked to start speaking normally, if she ever desired to learn to better herself, he would be there 100% alongside everyone else. He would facilitate a lot of that growth simply by being himself.

Honestly it’s refreshing to get these kinds of chapters every now and then, a good stop gap between jokes, and it helps us better understand and empathize with the characters. I like the more comedic chapters as much as the next guy, but these are nice too.

YES. THIS.
And I honestly forgot about the in-manga time of this series (I'm not gonna question some weird time shenanigans okay, just roll with it), seeing as Rentarou is still a first year, and seeing Shizuka able to speak in bits when she wanted in that small of a timeframe, that is already good signs of slow, but sure progress.

And like I said in the other reply above to the other person, Shizuka has full support from Rentarou and her friends, she is able to clearly speak even for a bit in the chapters she is seen doing so. No one in the Rentarou family is "enabling" her like what the bozo "radstylix" is saying. Shizuka is simply progressing how she wants to with full SUPPORT (NOT ENABLING) from Rentarou and his family.

 

[InFiNiTeSensei]

Thanks for the reply. I don't care too much about the chapter anymore though to reply properly

Yeahhhh. sureeee...

To be honest, my main issue with these past two chapters are that they're just wayyy too depressing for a silly and lighthearted series that it's extremely jarring to me

Well maybe if you just left with that, then sure.
But no, you had to go on regarding Shizuka and her "not getting any progress by being enabled by Rentarou and her friends". Ngl, you sounded apathetic.

 

[radstylix]

Yeahhhh. sureeee...

Well maybe if you just left with that, then sure.
But no, you had to go on regarding Shizuka and her "not getting any progress by being enabled by Rentarou and her friends". Ngl, you sounded apathetic.

🤷‍♂️

 

[Taper]

When I was in high school, i knew a little girl whose family went to the same church as ours. She had a number of disabilities, but the important part for this story is that she "talked" through an assistive device, basically a computerized lap desk on her wheelchair with icons of different concepts that she could tap, and the machine would speak them out. It was essentially the only way she could communicate at all.

One day, she was at some church event without the desk, and someone asked her mom if it was being fixed or something? No, the mom said, she was misbehaving so we took it away from her as a punishment.

I'm not going to say Shizuka's difficulty with speech is on the same level as that little girl. But this story helps illustrate why I feel these chapters so viscerally: why I am very much a proponent of assistive technology, and why I take such a dim view of discussions of "enabling".

 

[yazh]

Shizuka mother reminds me of Tsubasa mother from Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! When we first got to meet her. Strict first but later turn out they really cared but couldn’t express it properly

 

[gelato345]

Feel like a whole lotta folks are missing the actual in-universe lesson here: Shizuka already sang in an earlier chapter and that alone was enough to cause multiple serious injuries to her karaoke mates by overwhelming them with preciousness. If she was out and about in normal society and using her natural voice she'd be a walking natural disaster.

Christ, just imagine if she'd gotten speech therapy before the idol arc so she wasn't relegated to the backup dancer squad. We wouldn't have had a heartwarming conclusion with cameos from prior arcs, we'd have been left with "Authorities are investigating a suspected terrorist attack at a local escalator school. At least 30 fatalities have already been confirmed, with significantly more injured. Attempts to accurately assess casualties are currently stymied by the large number of human-sized puppets being pulled from the wreckage. While details are scarce, our investigations have turned up multiple reports that some form of sonic weapon was used in the attack."

Rentarou's out here protecting society from a walking reusable nuke and peeps are calling him an enabler. Y'all need some perspective: the man's text-to-speech app has saved more lives than penicillin.

Out of all the arguments presented about Shizuka, this is by far the only one that truly gets it.