I actually want the opposite. I want to see him fail, yet still have no regrets about his choice in the end. That would directly challenge Sensei’s philosophy that big dreams lead to big disappointment. All of Sensei’s previous students ended up regretting their decisions, so it would be refreshing to have one who fails but remains unrepentant.It’d be kinda interesting for Shotaro to succeed on his path. The caveat will be that Shotaro’s success story will become so successful, his future students will use it as an ammo against him, spiraling sensei further into depression knowing that it’s a life or death gamble that only a few will make it.
Although the plot seems going towards Shotaro failing
That would be a great foil to the main condesension of the narrative and him as a character. Big dreams inevitably lead to big disappointment, arguably whether you succeed in them or fail in them, you end up with no mountains to climb or a shell of an existence as we have seen in the previous stories. What truly matters is that the kids are allowed to dream, fail, and go on anyways which his hostile attitude towards ambitious students fails to address, he never fulfills that mentor role giving them a pillar of support as a confidant because he has been conflating his personal trauma with his percieved reality of the world. He fails to see how his use of personal anecdote isnt allowing him to be an excellent mentor/educator because he's trying too hard to make sure the kids dont end up like him instead of trying harder to make sure the kids end up better than him even if they fail.I actually want the opposite. I want to see him fail, yet still have no regrets about his choice in the end. That would directly challenge Sensei’s philosophy that big dreams lead to big disappointment. All of Sensei’s previous students ended up regretting their decisions, so it would be refreshing to have one who fails but remains unrepentant.
I think one of the main point of the story is how dream is blinding. You sacrificed your entire future for your dream and when it failed, you got less than nothing left. You tried to hold on to it so much that the dream itself became twisted like that girl who want to become a voice actor or the idol guy. You might get lucky and your family is still their to help you get up like the girl but for the idol guy, you basically crawl back to normalcy.That would be a great foil to the main condesension of the narrative and him as a character. Big dreams inevitably lead to big disappointment, arguably whether you succeed in them or fail in them, you end up with no mountains to climb or a shell of an existence as we have seen in the previous stories. What truly matters is that the kids are allowed to dream, fail, and go on anyways which his hostile attitude towards ambitious students fails to address, he never fulfills that mentor role giving them a pillar of support as a confidant because he has been conflating his personal trauma with his percieved reality of the world. He fails to see how his use of personal anecdote isnt allowing him to be an excellent mentor/educator because he's trying too hard to make sure the kids dont end up like him instead of trying harder to make sure the kids end up better than him even if they fail.