Forum - View topicI Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class (TV).
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b-dragon
Posts: 627 |
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I mean, it's absolutely a toxic, terrible thing to say. Guilting someone into something to soothe your own anxiety is shitty behavior. And yet- it's a very "teen" thing to say. I have little doubt that for many teens in their first relationship, it's the sort of thing that feels true, and sounds romantic. So it's certainly not something that I hold against the character (even if I do think someone should have a come-to-Jesus meeting with her about it.)
Dad is....kinda shitty, though in a way that mostly makes sense. There's not a good way to tell your son "Yeah, I don't love your mother. I love some other woman." That's just never going to go down well. That said, as a parent, his responsibility is to be a good model on how to have these difficult conversations...and I can't really say that happened either. My big issue...isn't the new woman his assistant? Someone he has occupational authority over? I don't know that I'm familiar with Japanese standards on this sort of thing, but that's a big yikes from me if so. |
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Edjwald
 Posts: 3518 |
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I bring up context because Umi has already talked about how she has an anxiety/inferiority complex that she's struggling with in regards to Yuu. Her comment about not being able to take it if she lost "Umi too" was explaining why she still struggled with seeing him and Yuu acting close. For context, She said it after Yuu's comments about wanting a guy like Maehara and directly prefaced it by mentioning the two friends who betrayed her and used her to try to get closer to Yuu. Hence the "too."
My point being, it's not like Umi goes around being all clingy and insecure or manipulative 24/7, this is a specific issue that comes up in a specific context and she's self-aware of it. Communicating it and being honest about the feeling is part of trying to deal with it, even if imperfectly. But without that context, the comment sounded like everything that's been said without any proviso or filter, and not only that, it came at a time when Maehara is dealing with a mom who's suffering after her husband left her. He's got his own context, and it's not one he's really expressed out loud and seems to be in denial baout how much it's really messing with him. I have a feeling there are still a few layers to be added between whatever went on between the dad and the mom btw. |
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The Scream Man
 Posts: 309 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Well we have some more answers this week about that. Looks like Dad has been supporting them and Mum was stubbornly not using his money, which led to her overworking. But I agree ther eis also something else to the intitial breakup thats not known atm. Maybe Im wrong, I dont know.
Also Umis family are awesome. I like that her Dad is basically a softy who is just naturally large and intimidating. He wasnt trying to make Maki feel scared, he just has that presence. And then the way that they handled his breakdown, then letting him sleep over (In Umis room no less!) also felt very together and smart. Then Dads chat with Maki.... yeah overall this felt like a really... Mature episode? I dont know how to explain it. It just feels like a relationship, and series of people in relationships, that arent overly dramatic, but very grounded. I know I said this beofore, but Im REALLY enjoying this show. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 5017 |
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I am just glad that Maki can finally let his emotions show regarding the divorce and the damage it did to him plus actually starting to come to terms with it. It was painfully obvious that he has in fact not until now and kept bottling it up. I agree that his father is not winning awards regarding the situation. The whole situation and episode are a good reminder that not everyone is part of a loving family.
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Edjwald
Posts: 3518 |
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Yah, most anime dads of female romantic leads are over the top nutjobs or scumbags, insanely over protective or coldly indifferent. Umi's dad was cool, but not in a completely unrealistic way.
I don't know how to explain it either, but I know that while I was watching it I felt that some of this anime comes from a writer's real experience as opposed to those anime where you can tell somebody is just replaying the same old fantasist stereotypes that have never happened to them. Not saying that's always bad either. Just saying. The reason I thought about all this was because there aren't any easy answers or perfect actions or totally pure emotions. Not because the anime is icky or the characters suck, but because real relationships have lots of jagged edges and more than one side. The marriage of the Maehara's family is a bit mysterious to me, but what we've seen from his perspective seems real in a way that most high school romcoms don't. |
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 876 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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Based on the setup, I fully expected Umi's dad to be super intimidating, but just a big softie on the inside, so tick that box.
If I'm being honest, I felt like his advice to Maki went too far in the opposite direction. Maki bottling up his feelings to not hurt his parents isn't fair to him and it is very unhealthy, this is true. But Maki behaving like a child, throwing a tantrum, and demanding his parents get back together isn't fair to them. He has every right to be upset about his parents' divorce, and he has every right to tell them he's upset about their divorce, but he can do it in a mature way. |
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