Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: A Couple of Cuckoos
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thepepin
Posts: 69 |
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All crushes are surface level at first. And it is Nagi's fault that she didn't know who he was ... it wasn't as if she had a reason or obligation to. Yes, wanting to date someone that you have a crush on and get them to reciprocate your interest is a self-serving goal. It is only when the actual relationship starts that you have the opportunity to move from superficial self-centeredness to depth and mutuality. The problem is that unless someone acts on their superficial self-centeredness then - parent arranged marriages and friends setting you up aside which basically everyone in the modern world including the teens in this show agrees to be varying degrees of bad ... indeed a huge point of the first half of this episode was "working to take command of your own fate and independence instead of having others make your life decisions for you" - no relationships are ever going to happen in the first place. I get the idea of wanting to limit the romantic scope to the biological sisters. But that would have robbed Nagi of his own romantic agency. Agency really is a huge part of this show, perhaps its central theme. Nagi and Erika oppose the marriage that their parents arranged. Erika wants to be independent of her parents and their wealth. Nagi doesn't want to inherit his family's restaurant business but he DOES want to do well enough financially to help them. Hiro doesn't want to be forced by her family into being a shrine maiden. Even Sachi is asserting independence from her father and older brother, which her budding relationship with her (newly found) biological sister is playing a huge part in. Also, having a harem MC who actually possesses healthy romantic agency is refreshing. Usually the harem MC is dense, a wallflower or a pervert. |
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thepepin
Posts: 69 |
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Why would that conversation do so? Erika did not say "your sister may have physical attraction for" (she doesn't) "or romantic feelings for" (she does) "you." She just said "your little sister isn't a little girl anymore. Because of this she is going to have romantic feelings and physical attraction. Your spoiler[ACCIDENTALLY kissing her] might have caused a moment of romantic or sexual feelings that - while heretofore not present and completely transitory - your sister nonetheless doesn't want to just forget about out of hand." Yeah, that is completely different from "your little sister is in love with you and wants to marry you." I hope that this show continues its - in my interpretation - subverting harem tropes by being one of the few that actually deals with the Westermark effect in some serious way. Because of it, there is NO REASON for Nagi OR Erika to consider the possibility that Sachi wants to marry Nagi BECAUSE SUCH FEELINGS AREN'T NORMAL. I hope that at some point - hopefully Erika, her biological sister - is the one to be the first to find out and tell her this, and that Erika lets Sachi know that because of this Sachi's expecting Nagi to have any obligation in any way to respond to and reciprocate feelings that aren't supposed to exist in the first place are thoroughly unfair. If this show takes that route where Erika says "yeah, I know that it is rough that you feel this way and truly empathize because a person can't control their own feeling but it really is better to let the guy who until 3 months ago thought you were his biological sister choose between me and Hiro because just like you can't control being in love with Nagi, Nagi can't control seeing you as his sister" then that would actually be good writing. Even if Sachi does the typical "I know what you say is right but I am still not going to lose to you!" harem cliche in response. |
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Ryw
Posts: 44 |
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thecritter
Posts: 68 Location: Northwest GA |
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I really dislike the new opening and closing credits, both the art and the music. The original closing theme and artwork were absolute butt-kickers, and then here comes this amateurish, limp garbage for the second season. At least the main show is still excellent.
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MFrontier
Posts: 11168 |
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So...they didn't tell Hiro about the fact that they're living together right? The moment Hiro grabbed Nagi's sleeve and pleaded with him for there to be no more secrets, my mind immediately went into thinking they didn't tell her.
I wonder if Hiro is going to cause Sachi to get more aggressive. |
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thepepin
Posts: 69 |
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Yeesh. I can't believe that the reviewer juxtaposes Nagi's choosing to retreat from a pointless street fight against strangers (that had no possible "good" outcomes but plenty of bad ones) and Erika's refusal to merely talk to a mutual friend Segawa to provide her with information that Segawa was entitled to receive due to Nagi's marriage proposal to Segawa. The former was a good decision by someone who while clearly flawed in some areas is still nonetheless mature, responsible and level headed (Nagi). The latter was a rash, impulsive "can't handle difficult situations that I had a role in creating" decision by someone who while clearly possessing character positives is still immature, insecure, needy and naive (Erika).
As bad as Erika is, Sachi is worse and to a degree that it all can't be attributed to her being (slightly) younger. Her averting her eyes and clamming up both times she was introduced to Segawa was typical "little sibling who lets the big sibling do the hard work" behavior, made even worse by her being in love with one sibling (but refusing to tell him because she wants him to do the "hard work" of figuring it out and returning her feelings) and her having only recently met the second sibling. Also, at least Erika has an explanation for her behavior - being very sheltered - where Sachi isn't even availing herself of the advantages of being more worldly. And Sachi's getting angry at her friends for using her words to publicly humiliate her brother by trashing him to his face took the case. How about questioning her choice of friends, or at least her decision to trash her brother in front of such friends, and accepting a modicum of responsibility? Instead she was easily bought off at the promise of being bought a candy apple. Now as Nagi - who again despite his flaws - is a serious sincere kid seeking a relationship with the girl that he plans to ultimately marry instead of a shallow teen boy just looking for a hot date today, a roll in the hay tomorrow and another pretty young thing to repeat it with next week, who are these people who regard Erika and Sachi as better options for Nagi and why? Nagi knows that Segawa is better than him - more physically attractive, more intelligent, more mature, more well rounded with a better social life and a range of rewarding hobbies and all this in addition to being just as hard working and meeting her family responsibilities - so his goal is to become more like her to earn her respect and improve himself so that he will be more worthy of her affections, loyalty and personal investment, made even more so when she informed him that choosing him would mean severing her relationship with her own family. (You can't change your partner and you shouldn't try but your partner CAN change and should try.) By contrast, choosing Erika or Sachi would be the easy way out. The former would be accepting something arranged by his parents. He would be very rich and could even work in one of Erika's father's businesses to make it appear acceptable. And Sachi would still be regularly in his life because she is still his adopted sister - status quo - and Erika's biological sister. Sachi? Even more so. His sister loves him unconditionally and merely wants to add romance - and spending more time with her and less time studying - to their current relationship so no need for self-improvement. It would be an easy way out of the engagement mess with Erika ... yet he would still retain ties to Erika (and access to her family wealth and influence) by virtue of being her brother-in-law. So pursuing Segawa is the only option that requires personal growth, sacrifice and risk. Indeed it requires significant measures of all 3 for both of them. Don't get me wrong: I have seen far too many harem shows to root for anyone to "win." And I acknowledge legit objections to any "Segawa is best girl" stance. I am just amazed by how so many SOL harem romcom tropes this show is subverting while still remaining moderately coherent and entertaining. I really do hope that other writers pick up the ball from this show and advance it. |
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L0ken
Posts: 72 |
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As a manga reader I really don't recommend you to viewing this series through the lens of "subverting " harem tropes to not disappoint yourself. Author writes from patterns of her previous works who all had, to put it lightly, glaring issues and it's commonly become clear after the middle portion and Cuckoo is no different in this regard ,in a way it's a reverse "Rental Girlfriend" level of bad. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 11168 |
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I guess I'm not surprised that Sachi is deciding to go to their high school, especially since Hiro brings out her more aggressive side.
Although what did they talk about when Nagi was running towards them that made them gal pals? |
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Foranoda
Posts: 23 |
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I disagree with the statement in this week's review that Asuma is not a bad character. I hate every scene he is in.
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MFrontier
Posts: 11168 |
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It sucks Sachi couldn't go on the trip, but maybe what Nagi really needed was a wingman?
Okay, so Erika knew about the picture of them together as kids because she deliberately hid it when she saw it. So she remembers Nagi from back then? Is this what she meant about the person she's trying to find and how it might change Nagi's fate? Why would you confess in a grocery store... Hiro seems like she's being more overt than ever about her feelings for Nagi. Is she finally trying to eliminate the competition by helping Shion? Let me guess, Erika is just going to confess to Nagi that she's going commando. |
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Akcoll99
Posts: 226 |
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Yeah, this show has lost my trust on its cliffhangers, given how many have been downplayed or completely ignored the next episode. Did anyone else catch the funny moment when Nagi answered Asuma in English with "What?" but the subtitles switched to the Japanese with "Nani?" 
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MFrontier
Posts: 11168 |
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I love me some creative subbing. I wouldn't be surprised if the dub does the same thing. |
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Akcoll99
Posts: 226 |
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Re: episode 19
THIS. This was the dumpster fire soap opera melodrama I had been hoping for from the beginning with this show. More of this please. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 11168 |
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So instead of dealing with Sosuke and the fact that Nagi has a brother his biological parents are pretending doesn't exist...here's Erika in a bikini and Hiro in a tight cycling outfit! Fair trade, all things considered.
Wow, Amano Papa is surprisingly keen on the Sachi route. Well, Sachi isn't making any real progress so I guess she needs someone to egg things on. |
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Rogueywon
Posts: 251 |
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As for the sibling ick-factor... I think there are two triggers for this. Are they biological siblings? Were they raised as siblings? If the answer to either or both of those is "yes", then ick.
In Citrus, both were a "no", so that show never went anywhere near triggering an ick from me. In Cuckoos, the second is a "yes", so the Sachi route is definitely ick. |
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