Dex-chan lover
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2019
- Messages
- 3,060
Yes, but also no. The writer is obviously going to work with what they're used to in Japan because that's their frame of reference and what makes it relatable to the Japanese audience even if the series isn't set in or meant to be obviously templated off of Japan culturally. I've seen multiple fantasy-world manga that have some sort of winter holiday that is blatantly just Christmas with a few tweaks and it invariably ends up having attention paid to the idea that it's meant as a romantic holiday for couples even though that attitude is mostly a very Japanese one and not shared in places where the more secular current version of Christmas grew out from its religious origins. It doesn't make sense for a pseudo-European feudal fantasy world, but it does make sense for something meant to be easily read and understood by a Japanese audience.
That would still be impolite. Not necessarily rude, but improper. Again, we're talking about a writer from a place whose idea of cultural normalcy for awkward situations is to dance around uncomfortable topics or outright rejection and expect the other party to figure out what you're doing and let you off the hook so that you don't have to bear the shame of saying something they don't want to hear.
It seems reasonably clear that she does have feelings given how much she enjoys spending time with him and how "normal" she acts around him, plus comments from others like her mother and their friends.
Again, that's par for the course in manga. Writers don't like being direct when they can dance around the issue and hint at it with the expectation that the audience understands what's going on.
They'll also stall because like 90% of romcom authors believe that the story ends at the confession and there's little to write with the characters in a relationship. So speeding to that point only serves to potentially hasten the end of the story.
